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Hello folks. After watching loads of ETCG videos…..Eric is keen to stress the importance of good tools. However, this might be true for those living in the U.S, where everything is either cheap or free, here in England, good tools are looney money. I totally agree with the idea of good tools, but for those starting out in the profession …….well look at this.
Snap-on 12 piece 1/2″ impact sockets. $400, 1/2″ 7 piece allen bit set $275, 3 piece gasket scraper set $115, Microscan scan tool.$374
Modis diagnostic tool $6000.
Just a sample of the sort of prices of ‘good tools’ . Iv’e listed the prices in dollars to give you an idea.
Oh, one more item….3/4″ wide cold chisel …8″ tall….$130!
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I’m in the same boat but remember not everything has to be snap on.
Trident tools
sealey
Teng
Ingersol rand
Facom
Bacho
Macare all good alternatives.
Indeed not, it doesn’t need to be Snap-On, but I have lot’s of Mac tools which are equally expensive. I know what you are saying though & if the tool works, then great, but I was just trying to emphasise the problems of good tools for people in this profession.
A lot now are offering a lifetime replacement if you have a receipt so that is good, but it’s that same old scenario…..you need the tools to do the job, but you can’t afford the tools in the first place.Tools will cripple you here in the first few years I’ve spent nearly £6000 so far got all the basics but diagnostic and speciality tools add up fast then the cost of swapping “worse makes” for decent ones I started working for VAG at the beginning of the year and retooling for them isn’t cheap either.
I work on HGV’s here in England & just one socket might cost you £250, say for a hub, so it is a very slow process & it is easy to break them too, as more often than not, bolts/nuts are seized.
Companies seem not to buy many specialist tools & as you say it is expensive, but even normal tools are dear!
Iv’e recently broke a 14mm flare nut spanner…£35….just like that!
As i said buying good tools is the right way to go, but certainly here in England it is cripplingly expensive.The price of HGV stuff is even worse than light car 3/4 and 1 inch sockets prices are unreal but hey you make more money than light vehicle so no complaining 😉
Well yes I suppose we do make more money, but I don’t think prices are very often relative. One reason being the total lack of HGV tools & the different toques involved, which brings me back to buying the best tools you can & the price. It’s easy to break spanners on lorries, so the better the tool the longer it will last hopefully, but you can break a £500 balljoint breaker in no time & whilst lorry mechanics earn more, it isn’t that much more…well not here anyway.
I think Eric is right in saying you never stop buying tools, but it’s being realistic with what you can afford to work with.Aye that’s one good thing with working in a main dealership most cars I work on are under 5 years old so my tools get very little abuse sure things still break from time to time but mostly if I’ve bought a good make the tool will just last.
TBH our prices are pretty similar to yours at least on the stuff you listed I know other stuff is astronomically different especially from SO.
With amazon and the like I would think you could get most stuff for reasonably around the same price.
I work on Big Rigs and to be honest while I own some snap on most of my stuff is not made by them it is just way to expensive and normally breaks really easy.
You might want to see if you can get Grey Pneumatic http://www.gpsocket.com/ . Their sockets are like 1/3 the price of SO and in all honesty guys I work with can’t seem to break them unless they go up a drives size and hammer one them for way longer then you should. Though their wobble sockets are collared and break if you put them on the next drive size up impact. I have yet to break any of them and I do abuse my 13mm and 10mm 3/8 wobble sockets all the time. Though I have headed the warnings about the impacts and drive sizes so… They also are great for extensions ball and pin types anyway.
I would also look into Expert stuff which is Mac’s Industrial line they are normally pretty cheap and it took me 1.5 yrs of abusing my 3/8″ drive ratchet for it to finally throw in the towel. I was trying to break loose a rusted on 18mm hex head bolt for a caliper mounting bracket helping a friend with his truck and in all honesty it really should have had the 1/2″ drive on there.
Those are the only 2 brands that I can think of that actually are really good atm. I am sure there are like 1-2 more but….
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