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Tool advice


Yeah,I went to UTI and I definitely wish I would have bought up a bunch of tools and box when I had a 50% discount...oh well.
I love Snap-On very expensive but very high quality...and it does depend on the guy on the truck. However, it sucks bad when a tool guy goes out of business. I carried a MAc ratchet in my truck for 2yrs before I got it replaced..
Craftsman sockets and wrenches will get you through, but once you use a Snap-on 80 ratchet everything else is junk.

Major +1 on the ratchet :icon_thumby:

We lost a Snap-On guy for about a year and a half. We called about it and eventually ended up talking to somebody in Lincoln Nebraska, they would send warrenty stuff to us.

It was a PITA, but it was much better than nothing.
 
Our Snap-on dealer only shows when no one is at work or there is a "sale". Other than that, he never shows up. One of our other tool guys sold stuff but never sent the money to the company. We found that out when one of our techs got a letter stating he needed to pay. Luckily he had a receipt.

Onto the tools

I buy Craftsman or whatever our independent tool guy has for sale in his book.

Craftsman tools are nice and easy to get new ones if one breaks.

Snap-On tools I do have are nice. I don't see them breaking any time soon.

Stay away from SK. New warranty only covers 10% of your purchase or some bullcrap I heard.
 
Our local Matco dealer told me he has Snap-on tools at home! :icon_rofl:
 
For at work, the stuff you use every day I'd get Snappy. The key is knowing when to buy. If you need something, tell your guy to put it on your list. When it comes on special his computer will flag it and it will pop up that you were looking for one.

For things that you use rarely or don't abuse, Craftsman is ok, so is Kobalt or even some cheaper ones.


My screwdrivers are Craftsman, my tap set is Kobalt, I just ordered a set of Mahue (sp?) pry bars, my head-bolt ratchet is a Tektron (a ratchet the size of my arm for $40, heck yeah). But for boxes, Snap-on.

If your school has a tool program, use it. Buy all the odd-ball stuff as cheap as you can. And don't buy a box with a tool kit. I know they are expensive, but if you can get it at 1/4 to 1/2 off through the school, buy the biggest one they will let you.

Or once you get into a shop, tell your tool dealer to keep an eye out for used ones.

Here is my current setup:

Pic0107.jpg



I bought the red one and a matching roll cab used for $3500 out the door. Then this past fall Snap-On was running a big sale, $600 right off the top of the sticker price, reduced interest, and $1500 trade on any metal tool box you had around. Didn't even have to have wheels. I bought the orange cab and brought my red roll cab home, traded my $200 (new) Craftsman unit for $1500. Went from having no extra room in any of my drawers and no space for my computer or for writing things up to having several empty drawers and that little space at the side of my bottom box (I call it my "Office").

Like I said, watch for the good sales. They usually come around at least once a year.



Oh, and if you end up with a tool guy that you buy from regularly, keep paying him $10 or $20 a week even if your account is paid off. It keeps your budget from getting screwy and builds a huge credit on your truck account. The loan on my toolbox aside, my Snap-On guy owes me $70 right now.
 
Our Snap-on dealer only shows when no one is at work or there is a "sale". Other than that, he never shows up. One of our other tool guys sold stuff but never sent the money to the company. We found that out when one of our techs got a letter stating he needed to pay. Luckily he had a receipt.

That is why I don't pay cash except to guys who I know are franchise owners. Franchise owners buy their inventory up front and make their money back as they sell. No risk of that happening.

My Snap-On dealer who is due to be moved to another route soon works straight for the company, takes run down routes and gets them profitable again so they can be sold as a franchise. I swipe my card when I buy from him, that way I have the receipt, the bank record, and the money never actually passes through his hands, it goes right from my account to Snappy's. Not that I don't trust Brad, it's just safer for all involved.

Snap-On tools I do have are nice. I don't see them breaking any time soon.

I have a bigger Snap-On ratchet that started skipping on me Weds around 4:30. It's less than a year old, but it gets abused bad. It only comes out when my 1/2 impact won't rip stuff off, or an impact gun isn't appropriate but the bolt is still stuck (I was doing spark plugs when it started skipping, and yes I needed it).
 
Good advice guys, I appreciate every bit of it! I know so far that Mac offers 50% off almost everything and that Cornwell is "at cost" for students, will have to wait and see what Matco and Snap-on discounts are, I don't know what the Craftsman discount is either. And I am definitely gonna buy as many tools as I possibly can. I'm already trying to find an internship so I have a place to work when I get out of school or at least the experience to go with the ASE certs in 2 1/2 years
 
For at work, the stuff you use every day I'd get Snappy. The key is knowing when to buy. If you need something, tell your guy to put it on your list. When it comes on special his computer will flag it and it will pop up that you were looking for one.

For things that you use rarely or don't abuse, Craftsman is ok, so is Kobalt or even some cheaper ones.


My screwdrivers are Craftsman, my tap set is Kobalt, I just ordered a set of Mahue (sp?) pry bars, my head-bolt ratchet is a Tektron (a ratchet the size of my arm for $40, heck yeah). But for boxes, Snap-on.

If your school has a tool program, use it. Buy all the odd-ball stuff as cheap as you can. And don't buy a box with a tool kit. I know they are expensive, but if you can get it at 1/4 to 1/2 off through the school, buy the biggest one they will let you.

Or once you get into a shop, tell your tool dealer to keep an eye out for used ones.

Here is my current setup:

Pic0107.jpg



I bought the red one and a matching roll cab used for $3500 out the door. Then this past fall Snap-On was running a big sale, $600 right off the top of the sticker price, reduced interest, and $1500 trade on any metal tool box you had around. Didn't even have to have wheels. I bought the orange cab and brought my red roll cab home, traded my $200 (new) Craftsman unit for $1500. Went from having no extra room in any of my drawers and no space for my computer or for writing things up to having several empty drawers and that little space at the side of my bottom box (I call it my "Office").

Like I said, watch for the good sales. They usually come around at least once a year.



Oh, and if you end up with a tool guy that you buy from regularly, keep paying him $10 or $20 a week even if your account is paid off. It keeps your budget from getting screwy and builds a huge credit on your truck account. The loan on my toolbox aside, my Snap-On guy owes me $70 right now.

I'm really diggin your setup! :icon_thumby: Luckily at the school Snap-on comes by at least twice a month, if not once a week and Cornwell comes by every week for a couple hours. We use IR guns at my work and we only replace each one maybe twice a year... Usually can just take them apart and re-build them. And a $40 wrench the size of your arm-can't go wrong! haha:icon_cheers:
 
I like it too, some days I wish the bottom was a bit longer, but I really don't have enough room for the next one up.

I'm between a main support beam for the building and a door.
 
I like it too, some days I wish the bottom was a bit longer, but I really don't have enough room for the next one up.

I'm between a main support beam for the building and a door.


Dude, that Snap On setup is really sweet!!!! Me and the cats like!!!!

:icon_thumby::icon_thumby:
 
I like it too, some days I wish the bottom was a bit longer, but I really don't have enough room for the next one up.

I'm between a main support beam for the building and a door.

Not much room there to go wider. If you want to upgrade from that Classic base, go to a Master Series. For about double the price of what you have now, you can get a box 6" taller and 6" deeper :annoyed: .
 
Not much room there to go wider. If you want to upgrade from that Classic base, go to a Master Series. For about double the price of what you have now, you can get a box 6" taller and 6" deeper :annoyed: .

Yeah, which is why I am keeping everything in it packed as tightly as I can. I am hoping to make it last until I get out of turning wrenches.
 
That should be more than enough space tool wise.

I just bought the Classic 76 last spring. I'm yet to fill it up.

But I also don't need my own laptop or anything like that...all supplied in our shop. Plus we don't have dedicated bays, we move all over the place hoist to hoist.
 
That should be more than enough space tool wise.

I just bought the Classic 76 last spring. I'm yet to fill it up.

But I also don't need my own laptop or anything like that...all supplied in our shop. Plus we don't have dedicated bays, we move all over the place hoist to hoist.

I don't need my own computer either. We have 4 in the shop with plans to a few more here soon. I like having it and it's an option that is available to me, so I choose to take advantage of it. I do most of our driveability and electrical/electronics diag and I hate having a million paper manuals out all the time, but if I don't actually need the IDS to do what I'm doing using a shop computer for the manuals ties up a shop computer for a big portion of the day.
 
I have a mix..snap on boxes, a few cornwell air tools because there were on sale, blue point bit set, craftsman ratchet set, snap on screw driver set (a christmas gift when I was 16 lol), snap on pry-bars, a harbor freight air drill (can't complain one bit for $6!). I base some of my buying off of my tool guy. My Cornwell guy has a son with leukemia so I tend to buy the "more expensive" tools from him. I get tools I know I can't get from Cornwell from the Snap-On guy. The Matco guy rarely comes around so I've never bought anything from him.

A guy I know just bought a Harbor Freight roll-cart box, it is EXCELLENT for only $170. I have a blue-point box at work thats pretty much the same, and the harbor freight box has a few features (locking drawers, gas shocks on the top) that I wish mine had.
 
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I got a SK set of tools from the local tech school when I started there. This was before they went bankrupt. Now if I were to buy new tools, it would be mostly Snap-On or Matco. They make good tools and you really pay for them, but they are worth it.
 

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