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Depends if you have an air compressor or not. I have an air-powered Horror Fright 1/2″ Earthquake. Not the full-on Earthquake XT, but the next-step down. Seems to hit just as hard as any other similar-sized ugga-dugga gun from IR, Mac, Matco, Fap-Off, whoever. I’ve let a few other techs finger-f*** it, and they’ve said it’s a pretty nice gun, especially for ~$100. The controls are super nice too, just one trigger and one switch with 4 settings- one reverse setting and three forward settings which helps cut down on confusion and fiddling in the middle of a job IMO.
As far as an electric gun goes, I’ve heard the cordless 1/2″ Earthquake XT is a VERY nice gun, especially for something you pick up at Horror Fright. It is also well over $200…
Whatever you do, try to avoid the Chinesium stuff in Horror Fright and find something made in Taiwan instead. I know that’s easier said than done in that place, but the Taiwanese know how to build quality tools, the Chinese, not so much. And get yourself some proper impact sockets and accessories too. Regular hand sockets and stuff are too hard and brittle to stand up to extended rattle gun use.
Welcome to the wild, wonderful world of the stealership. My last job was at a woefully outdated stealership shop (seriously, the place was built in like 1969 and hadn’t been updated much since then.) as flat-rate tech. The manager who brought me on was pretty understanding, but he was canned after I had been there about a month. The new service manager got on me for some of the same stuff. The thing about being the new guy is you’re gonna have to eat a lot of s***. I know for a fact that as the new tech, I was taking on some of the jobs that other techs didn’t want because they knew they would loss their lunch on those jobs. To make matters worse, my hours sucked because I wasn’t certified to do warranty work. In fact, I had been there SIX WEEKS before management got me squared away with all the stuff I would need to get certified to do warranty work. I was still working through all the stuff I needed to do to get certified to do warranty work when they let me go.
My advice is don’t quit your day job, but start looking at other pastures. I’ve got a job at a different shop now and I’m looking at doing the same thing…
[quote=”kgallich” post=87122]Buy gear wrench ratcheting box wrenches, money well spent. [/quote]
For my money, I like my DeWalt ratcheting combination wrenches. I still kick myself sometimes for losing the 15mm. I replaced it with a similar Gear Wrench wrench, and it’s just not as nice IMO. $100 for a full metric set, every size from 10mm to 19mm. In one case, the 10mm was able to get into a spot and get the job done where another tech’s ratcheting Blue Point couldn’t. 😀 A lot of folks don’t know that DeWalt makes hand tools now, but they’re another good brand to look into. Every one I’ve bought has saved my backside at one point or another. Sure wish they were making hand tools when I was buying a lot of mine!
If you can find them, DeWalt hand tools are FANTASTIC. The first DeWalt hand tools I bought were a set of 10 to 19mm ratcheting combination wrenches. I still kick myself for losing the 15mm somewhere and replacing it with a “similar” GearWrench wrench.
GearWrench does make pretty good “specialty” tools though. Lisle too.
Channelock for pliers, the exception being their needlenose pliers. Bought a pair from Sears and bent the tips on my first job (removing a cotter pin, no less.) Sears couldn’t warranty it, said I had to go through Channelock. >:( Replaced it with a pair of U.S.-made Craftsman needlenose pliers.
Speaking of pliers, it’s a good idea to invest in a good multitool, just because sometimes you don’t want to walk back to your box or cart for that one tool you can carry on your belt. I carry a Leatherman Super Tool 300 with a Leatherman Micra on my keychain. They came as a set, $75 at Sears. 😀 Leatherman also makes the Crunch, which has a pair of vice grips for the pliers.
As much as I hate to admit it, Horror Fright (A.K.A. Harbor Junk A.K.A Harbor Freight) does have some good stuff… My service cart at work is one of 5 drawer models. I have one of their Earthquake Pro 1/2″ impact guns in the bottom drawer next to a set of their torque sticks and thin-wall sockets.
Don’t be afraid to hit up your local mom-and-pop stores for stuff either. Lots of good pro-quality brands you’ve probably never heard of- Ecklind, KD, Starrett, Wright, Gray Pneumatic, Klein, you get the idea. Sometimes they’ll have weird names. Where I went to school, those stores were called “(name of town) Bearing” and “(name of town) Brake and Clutch.” lol
But to really get the best deals, my recommendation would be to use the interwebz, especially if you don’t need the tool right away. Just make sure you’re buying from a reputable source like Amazon, not some fleabay page that’s selling knock-off Mitutoyo digital calipers for $33…
Good to know. I got hired on as a tech at GMC/Buick/Cadillac dealership not terribly long ago, and I’m started to get re-acquainted with their silliness. When you say you lifted the truck, did you lift it on the rack or did you lift the body off the frame?
There’s plenty of alternatives to being a tech! My first summer internship, I worked as a service engineer at Ford’s technical assistance center. A lot of guys there were former service techs. Some who did well there they sent out to be field service engineers. One young guy really wanted to be an actual inganeer and was taking classes at night. After a while, they hooked him up with a direct-hire engineer position while he took night classes.
My second summer internship was with FCA at their training center in the Detroit-Metro. It was a bit of a 50/50 split between development (coming up with training material) and delivery (actually teaching said training material). The development side was a pretty exclusive gun-club and required a certain amount of computer-savvy that sometimes I couldn’t even keep up with. The delivery side was a bit more hands-on and most of the folks in the class were techs. There was also a pair of contracted guys that were responsible for coming up with the monthly MasterTech episodes. Like others mentioned, there’s always school instructor positions too.
Hey, guys! :cheer: Name’s Ian and as the name suggests, I like Jeeps (and Mopars in general lol.) I’m a little bit of a different bird, did 4 years in the Army, didn’t like my job and got out, tried going to school and working for a bit, didn’t like either of those much either. I decided that if I was gonna have to work for a living, it would be doing something I enjoyed. I had taught myself just enough to get myself in trouble in the automotive hobby shop in the Army, but I knew there was a lot more to learn, so I enrolled in the automotive program at a local community college. Did pretty well at that, even made dean’s list my last semester there. However, due to factors outside my control, the school “temporarily suspended the program indefinitely” after I had been attending for about a year. They brought everybody in for academic advising and tried to shuffle them off to the welding or machining programs until they could pull their heads out of their fourth-points-of-contacts. I decided I didn’t want to waste my GI Bill on that, and was fortunate enough to find a school nearby that offers a 4-year automotive program.
It’s been pretty good, I’ve had the opportunity to work as a paid intern out in the field for manufacturers two summers straight. Currently, I’m in the process of finishing up my degree and am looking at working full-time and taking a few gen-ed courses at night at a community college and then transferring them back to the school for credit. I’ve already applied for at least one position that interested me in the automotive field, but I’m pretty sure I shot myself in the foot by being honest and saying that I didn’t have any actual experience in a shop (although I’ve got plenty in the school shop.)
That being said, I’m going to start my job search looking for entry-level technician positions in a shop, so don’t be surprised if I ask a lot of general, lube-monkey type questions here. (at least, at first) I know I’m gonna have to chew some grease and grime for a bit before I can move up, but hopefully I can prove to the shop management and the other techs that I have a little bit more maturity and knowledge than your average 19-year old coming off the street pretty quickly. Sorry for the novel, but I’ll make it up to you-if you guys ever need an “escape plan” let me know! Plenty of good jobs in the field for experienced techs like you guys. 😉