Loaded tool chest

[djh3]

My mystery size is 8mm. Damn little sockets keep disappearing.

[BlueSky]

This thread prompted me to look on craigslist to see what was for sale.  One pro mechanic is retired and in bad health and is selling all the tools in his garage which includes one of those snapon huge double chests full of tools as well as many other things in his garage.  Price    $20,000  

Another guy is selling one of those 56" long Matco tool boxes empty.  Price    $6,000  Seems to me the prices are a little high but that's just me.  They probably spent that much and more when they bought it but still...   The harbor freight US General box that size which gets great reviews is less than $800. 

Edited March 7, 2021 by BlueSky
correction

[saddlebum]

1 hour ago, BlueSky said:

This thread prompted me to look on craigslist to see what was for sale.  One pro mechanic is retired and in bad health and is selling all the tools in his garage which includes one of those snapon huge double chests full of tools as well as many other things in his garage.  Price    $20,000  

Another guy is selling one of those 56" tall Matco tool boxes.  Price    $6,000  Seems to me the prices are a little high but that's just me.  They probably spent that much and more when they bought it but still...   The harbor freight US General box that size which gets great reviews is less than $800.

Trust me its nothing for a professional Mechanic's to sink over $100.00 into. A Snapon double tool box and even the  Matco filled with high end tools probably well exceeds that $100.00. So those dollar figures sound like a good deal to me but it all depends on how bad you need them. If I was an apprentice again starting out I would jump at those deals.

And even though Harbor Freight tool boxes are more than adequate you cannot compare them to Snapon or Matco 

Edited March 7, 2021 by saddlebum

[slowrollwv]

My son has a large Snap-on box that he paid over $9000.00 for when he was working for a local dealer. He is always getting new tools but now he and I deal with Cornwell there tools are as good as Snap-on and the service is better and a lot cheaper.

[Pro procrastinator]

I was at a local shop one day talking to the mech as he was working on a jetta. As he was removing the plastic underneath it a ratchet fell out and the owner said he had lost it the previous summer. Also had a semi pull in one day with a magnetic light stuck underneath that survived a 2500 mile run. Its amazing where tools end up.

[Pasta Burner]

If I remember the sizes correct  if the sizes are off the story is the same. My 91 F150 swallowed up a 7/16 socket that was mine when changing the alternator but spit out a 3/4 x ?? box combination that wasn’t mine when replacing the transmission.

[larrydr]

I bought  my  first tool box with tools in 1961 and have had to upgrade it several times since ..

No matter how often you have the number of tools you will need  figured out , a job comes along  you find out that your tools are to long , too thick or just will not fit . 

High grade tools from a tool company often fit better .

You will soon find out as you fix and ride ......it is the journey that counts not the destination

 

[saddlebum]

10 hours ago, larrydr said:

No matter how often you have the number of tools you will need  figured out , a job comes along  you find out that your tools are to long , too thick or just will not fit . 

High grade tools from a tool company often fit better .

You will soon find out as you fix and ride ......it is the journey that counts not the destination

 

In many cases this is very true yet I have had to replace my 1/2" and smaller Snapon wrenches many times because the open ends keep spreading or the box ends keep splitting open something that never happens with my Husky, Gray or higher end Mastercraft wrenches. One of my favorite brands of wrenches is Gedore. they are thin compared to most wrenches even Snapon yet extremely strong, They are just hard to find.

I also refuse to buy any more sockets from Snapon because they always split on me even when I am only using a it with hand tools. Here again I prefer Husky, Gray or higher end Mastercraft tools. Snapon are great looking tools and because they are thinner than other makes may serve the car industry very well but when it comes to Heavy duty work such as the trucking and heavy equipment industry I have found they just don't cut it.

[larrydr]

I also found that I did like the MAC  and Snapon tools great when I did my turn at working for GM ..Ford ...Chrysler  .

When I signed up with Cummins and Detroit  to  keep them running I went back to my old Gray tools , I had put  away in the shop ...

I never throw anything away , only draw back I found that the old Detroit  6V71 head bolts had no extra room around them .

I quit the heavey equipement thing in 1977 .

Went back to motorcycles

 

[djh3]

Early in my years of the mechanic business I did some light work on the old Screamin Jimmy's. 8-71 6v73.  When I was working at the race shop here I had a Snap On top box, 3 or 4 long drawers and then the half drawers at top. Not a lot of tools really. Some creep broke in to my garage and stole it (hope he brought a friend it was heavy) Lucky we had went to Canada a few weeks before so I had an inventory when I reported it to my insurance. Alot of it was Crafstman stuff. Still was 70k I was shocked how much I had accumulated of the years. 

[Flyinfool]

My brother in law owns a service station, It was broken into and all of the rolling tool chests disappeared one night. The one that did not disappear had the wheels taken off and it was sitting on wood blocks. That one could not be rolled up a ramp into a waiting truck.

Once all the mechanics got their new boxes they all took the wheels off.

[saddlebum]

Reminds me of a funny but true story, that happened about 40 years ago. A crane repair shop across the highway from us received a bomb threat. So a swat and bomb team set up a discrete surveillance around the place.After some wait and coming to the conclusion it was probably an idle threat, they began to pack it in, when one of the officers notice the truck shop across the road, being broken into. After they had backed a van into the shop and closed the overhead door, the team positioned themselves and waited.  You can imagine the would be thieves surprise when after loading the van with stolen tool boxes and any shop equipment they could move, when upon opening the overhead door, they found themselves starring at the business end of a team of swat rifles. 

Edited March 13, 2021 by saddlebum

[Stasher1]

On 3/4/2021 at 7:25 PM, larrydr said:

In 1980 I was employed  by  the Tupperware Company in Morden Manitoba ..The company bought a lot tools but they kept on getting lost ..I went to see the plant manager to ask for a tool allowance . for each of the repair crew ...I went to Winnipeg to the Sears , and bought 6 sets of( Craftsman Tools )  tools for $1300.00 and 6 tool boxes and 6 roll cabinets $2400.00 and this did solve the tool problem ...The manager called me to his office to tell me that this tool purchase was saving them money ..Each of the guys had to agree that any tools lost was their expense  ........I agree with the comment that craftsman tools are bulky ...I SERVICED GM CARS FROM 1965 --1968,,,CHRSYLER CARS FROM 1968 T0 1971 ,,,FORD CARS FROM 1971 TO LATE LATE 1974 ,,,i DID FIND THAT MAC & SNAP ON TOOLS ARE A MUCH BETTER GRADE OF TOOLS  ...OPS..SORRY MY CAPS LOCK IS ON 

 

 

 

Requiring new employees to furnish their own hand tools usually solves that problem. For some strange reason, they treat their own tools better than they do the company's tools...and do a better job of keeping track of them. 😉

 

Many, many years ago I worked as an aircraft structure mechanic. All incoming mechanics were provided with a two-page list of hand tools (sizes, configurations, and quantities) they were required to purchase prior to their start date, including a rolling toolbox. You could buy cheap tools or expensive tool, your choice, but you had to pay for them out of pocket either way. A large part of day one was dedicated to inspection and complete inventory of tools, etching all tools with the employee's badge number, and shadowing the box so any missing tools could immediately be identified. In all the time I worked there, I don't recall a single tool being lost or misplaced.     

Edited March 15, 2021 by Stasher1

[saddlebum]

1 hour ago, Stasher1 said:

Requiring new employees to furnish their own hand tools usually solves that problem. For some strange reason, they treat their own tools better than they do the company's tools...and do a better job of keeping track of them. 😉

Nooo I can't see that as being true. As a matter fact in my entire 50 year carrier I have only met two individuals that were like that... Not Me and I Don't Know.

[Stasher1]

17 minutes ago, saddlebum said:

Nooo I can't see that as being true. As a matter fact in my entire 50 year carrier I have only met two individuals that were like that... Not Me and I Don't Know.

Hey, I know them!

 

Small world, huh? 😄 

[Pro procrastinator]

Huh... They must have kids who are friends with my kids cause that sounds awfully familiar to answers i get here at home.

[saddlebum]

3 hours ago, Stasher1 said:

Hey, I know them!

 

Small world, huh? 😄 

I never got the impression they were much liked by the rest of the crew either because every time you asked around about something it was either one or both of those two guys that got ratted on.