Basic Garage Tools

A small piece of paper with the phone number of a reliable local garage written on it.

This:

This:

on 24/02/2007, Krycek supposed :

In order of priority...

1. A decent trolley jack with a good lifting height. Forget the Aldi £10 special offers for this item, they don't lift nearly high enough. Expect to pay £60 to £100.

1. To go with it and for safety (never go under a car supported on jack) some axle stands. My own preference is for the type you crank up

- infinitely adjustable, rather than the type with a pin through a hole.

1. A good set of combined ring/ open enders.

1. A good socket set cost around £60 to £80 on special offer.

2. A bit of old thick carpet, until you can acquire a proper lie on rolling trolley.

1. A multi meter, plus all the usual basic hand tools.

2. A pair of ramps, which combined with the axle stands permit you to easily get both ends of the car up in the air safely.

1. A high capacity battery charger and a smaller maintenance one.

2. A large vice and some bench space on a good solid bench.

1. A good wander lamp or two.

2. A mechanics tool chest on wheels.

1. 2 and 3 arm hub puller.

2. A small stock of all the basic fluids, plus grease and brake grease, squirty oil can. Oil drainer.

1. Engine ECU diagnostic unit or adaptor for the the PC.

2. A pit, even a small one makes the world of difference.

Basically what you save on servicing and repairs over the first few years should buy you some good tools over that same period, that will last you the rest of your life.

Sadly much harder to obtain than the toolkit IME!

Chris

You can get away quite happily without a trolley jack when starting out. You can use the car jack to raise it then support on axle stands. Good hand tools are the first thing to buy.

This depends on the age and type of the vehicle.

I have looked everywhere for a shop selling these, but never found one.

Basically, it all depends on how far into a car you intend to go. Bear in mind that cars are getting ever more complex, with computers, and multiplex wiring, which almost make DIY work impossible, which of course is what the manufacturers are trying to achieve.

Brian wrote: [...]

:-)

Why do you think manufacturers would want to do that? What would be the gain to them?

It may benefit dealers, but that's not the same thing at all.

If anything, the increasing complexity of modern cars is driven by governments.

Chris

Brian formulated on Sunday :

I don't think the manufacturers aim is how you describe it. The functionality of cars is increasing and to achieve that manufacturers use the best and most reliable methods. For what you get in a typical car package, they would be horrendously complex to work upon without the computers and multi-plex systems.

I first DIY worked on my own car with ECU back in the early 90's and found the ECU surprisingly easy to work with, much easier and much more reliable than points and etc..

I now own an horrendously complex motor, but its mass of built in diagnostics make it fairly easy to sort out without even venturing from the driving seat.

Dave Plowman (News) pretended :

I would not argue with that, except the OP made mention of a trolley jack. I would never use the car supplied jack except for lifting a car high enough to change a wheel. I certainly wouldn't trust one for long enough to insert a stand. I also keep a few scissor jacks around as these are really useful for so many purposes where there is not enough room to get a trolley jack in, but I only use them for light duties.

In message , Brian writes

You're looking in the wrong places. Try a holesaler.

Neither computers or multiplex wiring make DIY impossible - you merely have to learn new skills. And many DIYers didn't bother to master even basic car electrics.

Nor could the car makers give a toss about how easy they are to DIY service etc as only the most tiny fraction of new buyers would do so. They are, however, interested in making them run more reliably for longer intervals between servicing and of course to make them compliant with ever more stringent emissions laws - which simply wouldn't be possible without complex electronics.

Which is high enough to get an axle stand under the car in most cases.

I'd say that is a quicker operation than changing a wheel. And no more dangerous if the jack were to fail.

Yes - they are useful.

Trolley jacks are wonderful things assuming you have a garage. But are heavy and unwieldy things to carry or move any distance.

It happens that Dave Plowman (News) formulated :

The essential difference being that to change a wheel you stay well out from being under the car and to put an axle stand in place needs you to reach under the car. I suppose you could always push the stand into place with a stick and keep your body well clear?

Depends where you're going to support the car. A block of solid wood under the sill is not a bad place for the axle stand on many, so wouldn't involve getting under the car.

However, the car lack giving way at the wrong time while you're changing a wheel could result in pretty severe injury too.

Dave Plowman (News) used his keyboard to write :

I think the multi-plex perhaps needs some explanation....

With so very many gadgets on a modern car and so much functionality, it would involve an absolute mass of wiring to take care of of the signalling between them all and even then they would have limitations placed upon them, to interact with the rest of the car.

My car has what it known as the Central Control Module (CCM) which looks after many of the low level things - alarm, door (un)locking, remote control, seat positioning, mirror positioning, window opening, putting the interior lights on all done by the CCM. Rather than a maze of wires coming out of the CCM, there is just one which goes around the various out stations to actually turn the bits on/off or tell the seat motors to move the seat and mirrors to preset positions in response to being unlocked by one key fob or another, turn the interior lights on. CCM communicating with the out station using data to identify which out station and which function is required.

Imagine even were it possible to do some of this with discrete wires, how complex it would be to diagnose faults. With the above system, the CCM can self diagnose to a large extent all you need to be able to do is tap into the diagnostics.

Oh do f*ck off. It's got everything to do with ever tightening emmissions and crash survivability requirements from Brussels. You can't meet the emissions standards with a car that's got carbs and points.

some reason . Regular , pin nose and long handled ( sometimes called waterpump) pliers are all pretty indespensible. Then there are inside and outside circlip pliers and a good pair of side cutters. The very long handled ( I call them reaching pliers) can be very useful too. Lou Bricant

Lou Bricant used his keyboard to write :

They came under:-

Many will already possess these items.

I'd put them as No. 1 along with some decent screwdrivers.

You forgot to mention a hammer. And a bigger hammer. And a huge lump hammer. And a length of scaffolding pole. (This week I have been mostly working on Land Rovers.)

You forgot the angle grinder too.