I’m a Toyota master technician and when I first started I bought a Pittsburgh tool set to start out. 15 years later I still have all my wrench’s, sockets, and screw drivers. Now if only someone invented something to track your 10mm wrench then I would probably pay money for that.
I stopped by a garage sale with some tools. The guy sold sockets for $1 each and had about 5 10mm sockets. I bought them and he asked me why I wanted them so I told him I can never find mine. I asked him if he had trouble misplacing his and he said no. Lucky guy.
If i was a young man starting up as a mechanic, i would have just bought all my tools from Tekton. I have some of their stuff and man, ooh man..love the quality of their stuff. Super nice, great quality and an amazing customer service! Mr, 🐻..thank you for sharing your love and passion with us all. Always your fan!
tektons warranty is great. broke a ratchet wrench at 6pm on a saturday emailed em not expecting a response til monday and got an email an hour later saying "replacement ratchet will be shipped out first thing monday" had it tuesday
I started 45 years ago with a scratch and dent discounted craftsman box filled with craftsman tools. Over the years I’ve upgraded some of the specialty tools from Snap on such as ratchets, torque wrenches, and my favorite is there Collett style stud remover. With patience I’ve gradually upgraded my tools getting them from eBay, Pawn shops, and an occasional estate sale. My point is that as long as you’re patient it doesn’t have to be an all or nothing. Nothing wrong with upgrading your tools as long as your patient and wait for the deals to come
Great video. I really liked the investment plan at the end, great way to drive home several points to the young folks about being responsible with your hard earned money and your future. I'm a recently retired automotive educator and multi decade technician. A few points if I may. IF you are a trade student its likely the Snap-on stuff will cost about half of the prices shown in the video if they represent full retail. The other tool truck brands have student programs as well but in my experience, good luck making that work. It will likely depend on the dealers in your area. Snap-on has industrial reps that work with trade schools so they are definitely more available. Having said that, all the other options you mentioned will STILL be at least half the cost. My personal favorite is Tekton as well and they DO have a student program which takes 15% off the list price plus you still get their 10% rewards bonus. I own quite a few of their tools and have had nothing but the best warranty experience. For any one else, home hobbyist, weekend warrior or even pros, you WILL be saving the kind of money shown in the video. I agree 30-40 years ago their were few options to the tool trucks. Today its a whole other ballgame. Really like your channel and how you keep it real.
True story. In the 80's and 90's no serious professional tech was buying his go to tools from Taiwan or China. Now the quality is absolutely across the board
I've followed Jeff's channel and advice and I've been able to pick up my tools on sale and outfitted my shop with good tools for much less than I could have otherwise. My neighbors come into my shop and are just blown away.
Man, this cheap Husky tool kit and a handful of Harbor Freight additions is getting me through a transmission and clutch refresh on this old Boss Mustang. Inexpensive tools aren’t necessarily cheap tools.
Our Tool Bear is speaking truth; listen up young guys! Don't be a slave to the tool truck guy. Your tools are supposed to make money for you, not the other way around.
My uncle owned a very successful shop for 40 years. 95% of his tools were craftsman. Rural community but there was a sears 45 min away. If he broke or needed something my aunt could run and get something in 2 hours. Snap On would only come if called and it would be a day or to later. He said he never broke a craftsman tool unless he was doing something with it he knew could break it.
I wholeheartedly agree. I as an aircraft mechanic an invested heavily in snap on tools. I’m not in a mechanic role anyway but left my 1/4 inch ratchet at our garage so the snap on tool rep can replace it. The mechanics told the snap on truck only comes maybe once a month and they haven’t seen the truck in a couple of months. After a month and a half I took my ratchet back and will try and get it replaced or repaired through a friend at another shop if possible. I’m done buying from tool trucks. There are other alternatives out there with better customer service.
I think it up to the person. Like my Matco guy said most younger guys like me buy other brands but you then have warranty it yourself and buy it somewhere. Truck dude walk in every week and can get you stuff without even stopping work. I get the service you pay for but I’ll save the money
@@johnmassaro6915 yep I’m going into the aviation maintenance industry myself and have other things I would much rather spend my money on. I have no problem with craftsman Pittsburgh etc. as for things like ratchets i do like snap on but that’s about all that I care for.
This is the best video that I’ve ever seen you do. As an aircraft mechanic, I didn’t buy into the “buy once, cry once” mentality. I used mostly craftsman tools (30 years in the industry). Do I have some snap-on tools? of course. Do I have snap on socket and wrench sets? Hell no. Young people… pls listen and be smart. The Bear is dead on! One more thing. Contribute to your 401k and always get your full company match. 85% of Millionaires got their money by contributing to their 401k.
I'm a Aircraft mechanic also and most of the guys in my hangar have either tekton,gearwrench,knipex or craftsman. Ofc they have some snap on but 90% of the tools are the brands he named.
I’m also an aircraft mechanic and have upgraded a lot of tools to Snap On. My old Craftsman wrenches were gouging in the jaws. My Tekton sockets were rounding internally. The Knipex needle nose and duckbills sucked with their lack of crosshatching. Buying SO doesn’t mean you can’t contribute, preferably to an IRA and not a 401k, to retirement and that you need to purchase everything through them.
I’m a General Motors Master Technician and I certainly agree. Snapon makes good stuff and I’ve always been lucky to have good reps (can’t say that about other tool trucks) so I have a fair amount of Snapon, it’s typically the sockets and air tools I use everyday. However I have plenty of Gearwrench tools that have not let me down, and I gladly shop at HF and Amazon for stuff I don’t use all the time. Snapon is convenient and that’s what you’re really paying for.
I have repeatedly heard the classic line to justify spending on the tool truck brand: "I can't afford the downtime if a tool breaks". If you can't afford the downtime, then you ought to be buying the brand you can afford to buy multiples of to have spares at hand. Even if the truck comes by every day, he's not parked at the curb with full stock from dusk 'til dawn.
That's exactly my point. If my gearwrench, husky, milwaukee, or HF tool dies on me, I simply go my local HF or Home Depot and come back with a replacement after warranty. Worst case scenario I have to leave work for half an hour, or I skip my lunch. Beats being SOL or borrowing a coworkers tool for a few days waiting for the tool truck to come on by.
Really wish more young people would listen to this advice, too many times I've heard young people drop out of these fields as "you can't make money in this" majority were in major debt to tool trucks. As a latecomer to as diesel mechanics, I have been especially sensitive to prices and bang for buck as I support two kids and a wife. I got a hold of the college lists and company tool list and came in at 3 grand with equivalent equipment to a college graduate. I've built a helluva a career around Tekton, harbor freight, and Mayhew. I get a lot grief over my us general boxes, but they've held going on two years now and if they do fail I'll buy new and still be money ahead. I'm on par tool wise with a senior tech and can still get my jobs done without borrowing tool truck tools. If I find that the cheaper ones aren't good enough, maybe I'll look closer, but until then well they work for me and I own them 100%. Not much more to say.
I can’t agree more I used to be a Snapon guy and a little of the older MAC stuff and that was it. Like you said I haven’t seen a tool truck in months he stopped coming. I’m learning from my mistakes and going with these same brands he is talking about and just as happy with them. My wife even has asked what happened because I’m not making a payment every week and still have nice tools i work with every day! Listen to this great advice!
I would simply recommend starting out with these good and more affordable tools and upgrade the tools you use a lot over time. I have a friend who went to mechanic school and bought a huge MAC set of tools and tool chest and then he quit that and went to work driving truck. He was still making payments on his tools years later.
You go into an old pros tool box when they started it was all Craftsman. Because that was the affordable quality alternative at the time. Over the years they may have replaced a lot of the everyday tools with Matco or Snap on. But you will still find a few old Craftsman tools that they love so much they just can't part with. Harbor Freight and Snap-on have the exact same warranty, they both will turn the bolt. Sure the Pitsburg ratchet is more likely to brake. But you can get several free new ones. The Snap-on a lot don't realize it they fix the tool they don't replace it.
When I started trade school. We had a list of tools to buy. I was in the paint and body program. On tool day all the tool guys were there. At that time it was Snap-On, Mac Napa and Matco. Snap-On had 60% off regular truck not list prices. For the required tools and a few other things. So that is the route I went. The discount did not apply to boxes. So I bought a big craftsman. Being 1991 Sears was still a thing and the Craftsman boxes were fairly good. I have only broken a couple sockets. I am very happy with my tools.
The last segment of this video, showing the actual cost over time is a lesson that the young don't understand, and that the old cry about because they did not understand either. If only we could go back in time with what we know now.
Our schools are worthless. In high school every kid should have to take a financial responsibility class that teaches everything from balancing your account to tax basics and especially about credit borrowing money and the importance of saving money.
Too many live check to check for the exact reason you pointed out, status. Others don't understand the value of money over time. Even pennies saved become dollars over time.
I agree that tool truck prices are high, but you didn’t mention the student discount prices which I believe is roughly 50% off list. with that being said I wouldn’t buy a tool truck tool box, way too many good options to save a ton of money (Icon being a great option) the Harbor Freight tool cart another great option, my only complaint on some of the socket sets is fitment on the fasteners other than that no problems. Also my understanding is a “former engineer” from Snap-On is now working with Icon, I am waiting to see if Icon will come out with a gray tool box with black trim, really like the USGeneral gray!!
When I was in trade school we got 65 percent off from snap on . Ordered a box and sockets and wrenches in standard and metric . Deep, shallow and semi shallow sockets , chrome and impact . Hammers breaker bars torque wrenches etc . I got the works, it was 13k for everything . It was a 6-10 month backlog because of Covid and we got last priority because of the discounts . I got the exact same setup from icon box and all the tools for 2500 . Icon worked great and never had a problem . I work in heavy equipment/diesel/cranes. Got my snap on a year later and ended up selling it for the price I got to the new younger guy to help him out . I’m glad I saved my money .
I will say there are a few things I would definitely buy from a tool truck like a ratchet that you will use the most. While other brands like gearwrench and icon work great they just don’t feel as sturdy. Also with snap on I can still get rebuild kits for my grandpa’s ratchets I inherited. You’ll never see me with a tool truck brand box or normal chrome or impact sockets. In my husky box you find my most used ratchets from the tool trucks and everything else from things like capri, tekton, knipex, channellock and such. Sunex is a go to for impact sockets for me. You’ll also see Wright wrightgrip wrenches and some Proto wrenches too which are high end but still fraction of the cost of snap on. Air tools IR hands down for me and then Milwaukee m12. Also one last thing if you do get a tool truck ratchet check eBay. You can usually find new or hardly used for a decent price especially snap on. But like the video says if you’re starting out don’t bother with the trucks and if you do decide to get a standard tool from them like a ratchet or socket set pay cash.
From a 60 plus year old, probably the best advice I have seen on starting out . Too many suppliers to choose from with great quality to spend more than you need to.
I was looking at the Tekton angle wrench set the other day. They look really good and are USA made. Talk about a fraction of the snap on cost. I'm an A&P and a good angle wrench set is a must.
Something not a lot of people mention about them that I notice is the clearance of the wrench around a fastener. On a standard wrench (even the regular tekton) the beam is roughly centered in the middle of the jaws, but the beam is offset from center on tektons angle wrench. Tested against some of my coworkers sets of angle wrenches from various brands and it really makes a difference.
One more to add on to that great advice.....AVOID credit like the plague!!! You'll pay through the nose and you tie up your credit for when you need to buy something important like a house or a car.
Thanks for looking out for everyone. Recommending RothIRA was something I wasn’t expecting. Only thing worse than buying expensive tools is taking a loan out to buy them.
Tekton, Knipex and Gearwrench look like great alternatives for tools when I need a replacement. I have a couple of excellent Craftsman sets (the old ones that were made in the USA) from my dad, which have been going strong. Put that savings into various investments and use that money for later when you retire.
I was a technician for 40+ years and bought my fair share of the big name tool trucks but I eventually wised up to the ridiculous prices. Too many cheaper, just as good options out there...
I (prosumer/woodworker/home diy) bought a tekton wrench set 10 years ago and no issues at all. With how they are made and how little I use them I feel I am going to have that set for decades. I need to replace my crappy socket set (lost pieces, stripped some etc.) and I am going to Tekton, yes I will pay more then I probably should for how little I will use them but I know I will have it for a long time.
Love the spreadsheet and opportunity loss stats. At $9600 you could even buy an airfare, go to Japan and buy that list in KTC tools and save money. And KTC is expensive. 😉
Thanks for pointing out the truth, someone had to say it. Here in Australia we can't get Tekton easily and Harbor Freight tools are a non starter but we do have Gear Wrench and the two big auto parts stores have a "Pro" line of tools made in Taiwan that are good enough for pro use. My go to brand is Kincrome as they are pro quality tools at affordable prices plus they have a warranty they honour. I can buy a lot of Kincrome range at Bunnings (our version of Home Depot) and ratchet rebuild kits are around AU$25, imagine that a rebuild kit for a ratchet you bought at a hardware store . Kincrome are available in the US now and you may wish to check them out.
I cannot agree with this enough. I graduated from PCT in Collision repair back in '08. The school had a program with Snap On and we were really heavily influenced by our professors to buy everything from them. Looking back I wish I would have done things differently. As soon as I got in the field I realized how much money I wasted.
When I were a much younger man I would watch new tradesmen walk onto the Snap On truck and end up having a loan payment plan equivalent of a mortgage payment. I felt sorry for them.
I own a 4 pc gearwrench 120xp teeth semi lockable flexihead ratchet set that I bought for $270 aud & that I torture every day cracking loose bolts, hammering & I love them to bits. Haven't owned them for too long but I love them & are considering putting my current regular ratchets to my home box & buying more gearwrench ratchets
I purchased mechanics no skip Carlyle sets (on sale) of wrenches with the indexed jaws and ratcheting box end and absolutely love them. They're better than most wrenches I've ever used and can be warrantied as long as NAPA exists. I also purchased an expanded metric set of their standard style (no jaw grip or ratcheting box end) wrenches and I couldn't be happier with the combo. as a 3rd backup set I have that 20 piece ratcheting gearwrench set but the 0* offset really limits their use, but double wrenching with ratcheting box ends..... SO FAST. Kinda matters when I'm bent and twisted in an uncomfortable position, or barely have room for the wrench to swing. I own a few snap-on tools, but I generally try to buy from the company which sells their tools to snap-on, such as the Sioux Airtools, best I've owned and far cheaper than snap-on.
I’m not a master mechanic by any means but I have a nice husky box filled with a nice set of Craftsman gunmetal chrome hand tools that will probably last me a lifetime. Also have Tekton and Milwaukee impact sockets that are very nice. All of those tools have a lifetime warranty.
I'm about the same age as you, bear, and in my early years I was a tech full-time. I started out with a bunch of craftsman wrenches (made in Japan btw) and sockets that my parents bought me for Christmas when I was a teenager. At that time I found it more convenient to have the craftsman stuff because if it broke Monday I could go to the store after work to replace it instead of waiting till Thursday for the snap-on truck to show up. The sockets got stolen one night during a break in but I still have the wrenches over forty years later. The only things I bought off the trucks were the specialty tools that weren't available anywhere else. I wish HF had been around in those days. I bought a basic snap-on tool box used from the Mac truck for 700$ that was smaller than the US General box I have now ($400 2 yes ago, 44") and the HF box is as good quality wise. Most of the sockets I have now are kobalt from Lowes. Never get sucked into the tool truck tools. It sounds good get this now and pay me this much a week till it's paid off, but it never ends. Buy the less expensive stuff and save your money for vacation.
Bear remember women are getting into the trades as well. Not trying to be rude. I’ve worked with female carpenters, electricians and mechanics. You’re speaking the truth. My son who is a air craft mechanic out of the Air Force had to go back to school for his civilian (FAA required) certification. Snap On truck came by with a school discount package, still overpriced. He bought it before I could give this same lecture, Lol Now, I’m helping him fill out his toolbox and your videos help me get the right tool for the job at a good price. Btw, the Snap On dealer that comes by his shop isn’t the same one that sold the school package and gave him a difficult time warranting a broke tool. Thanks for all you do!
Good comparison. Only thing I can say is if your a student at a tech school like you were saying you got the tool list from, snap on offers a student pricing on a lot of stuff. Not saying everything you get should be snap on but if you wanted to invest in some snap on tools it about cuts that price in half.
It would have been interesting to throw in made in locations for comparisons. For example tekton sockets to comparable bluepoint/silver eagle/blue power. Tekton Taiwan compared to snap on usa isn't the most fair comparison. The usa vs usa prybars was a stellar comparison. Still a great video with a great message.
I bought a $75 ~12" ratcheting screwdriver from StrapOn back in the day. Love it! Joke about my 80 buck screwdriver all the time😅 Also have a sweet 1/4 drive ratchet and others from when the truck would come prey on us.... With credit 😮. That was in the 90's. Like you, I have found less pricey options
I’m so glad RU-vid university exists. I wasted 5 years getting a Chemical Engineering degree, then sold coatings chemicals for/to the big boys for a few years, took my money and ran to my passion of auto body, and I just wrote up my first official invoice for over $7k for my business. Thanks to you and others, I spent just over that last year at Harbor Freight(materials included not just tools), and less than $10k elsewhere outfitting an entire professional shop. I also made close to $20k last year 1095’ing it, so I’ve more than broken even in a year. Tool truck would’ve had me in debt for years.
👍 Love the honesty. You can take a horse to water, but you can't make him drink. Please keep talking your common sense and maybe someone will hear you.
I own quite a bit of snap on and matco for my day job.. I own a good mix of gearwrench, tekton, tool truck, at my race shop. Functionally they are similar. Tool truck warranty is much easier to deal with. Gearwrench was a nightmare on a stripped 1/4 ratchet i had. Tekton stuff is awesome for the money. That being said i also own a Gshock watch and a Rolex milgauss so both functionally identical. The coolness is worth something to me.
I am preparing to start a mobile mechanic business and I am starting with some old craftsman and buying new Tekton as I go and as far as wrenches I found a nice husky Black Friday set get marked down and I filled in the gaps with Tekton and some performance tool brand as well. New to the trades people need money spent on quantity over so called quality.
Best video I have seen in ages, very well said! When I was young I bought some Snap-On stuff, thought I was doing it right, thought they were worth it (granted this was in the mid to late 90s, so not as many options then) but today I have almost completely replaced every single snap-on tool with one of the alternatives and I have yet to come up on a project I couldnt complete in the same amount of time and effort as with the snap-on... 🍻
I agree with this 95% of the time. I became diesel tech after the military and been at it for a year and I avoid the tool truck for almost everything the only time I do buy off the truck is 1. I can’t find the OEM 2. The OEM is hard to deal with for example Irwin makes great tap and die but pain to warranty so I pay the Mac tax 4. Or they are an exclusive
I agree 99% with what you are saying if you are looking strictly at price. There is almost no reason to buy from Snap On when you can get 95%+ same quality stuff for a fraction of the cost. Most brands offer lifetime warranty on their hand tools. Yes some Snap On reps suck, I've been blessed to have good ones that show up every week and will cut me deals. That being said, in my 12 years in the automotive industry at this point, I have not seen what I would consider a good tech working out of a Home Depot or Harbor Freight tool box. Most of the techs I've worked with have one of the tool truck brands. Not saying there aren't good techs using those boxes, I just haven't seen them.The biggest thing I try to remember when buying from Snap On, is I'm buying over 100 years of innovation and quality from them and I'm supporting American jobs at the same time. Some of the things in this video are American made, but a lot of them are from over seas, especially the Harbor Freight stuff. I know most people don't care or think about that, but that's a big factor for me.
You can be the first good tech working out of a US General tool box full of non tools truck tools. You will start a new trend. But seriously, it's great that you want to support US companies. Just remember you have a right to buy from whoever is going to give the best value. Everything else will take care of itself.
I am a young guy, I bought just a few tools off a Matco truck before realizing that I could buy the exact same stuff for a fraction of the price. I buy harbor freight, I buy used, I even get old tools free from time to time. Most still have a hassle-free lifetime warranty.
My two cents I have bought GW and as something breaks I'll swap it with tool truck stuff, mainly locking impact extensions I highly, highly recommend staying away from gearwrench electronic torque wrenches cause I've had to warranty mine twice (85195 & 85196) and those turn off when trying to use them. I switch to click style ones from tekton and haven't had issues since. Also pliers exclusively from knipex cause it saves you time and saves you from hurting yourself
I’m a pro heavy duty mechanic. Got about 5 broken gearwench ratchets numerous sockets and supplier quite selling them. My Mac and snap on ratchets still work great. Drivers come to my shop for warranty which I barely ever need. You must a pissed off your tool guys. Because mine been coming 20 years and I already have most everything. I agree you can cheap out in some stuff but I’ve also seen Gus hurt from cheap ratchets breaking and junk wrench’s opening up.
great video and great advice to start that IRA early! Compound interest makes the banks rich of mortgages and gives citizens a chance for a more comfortable retirement!
Also, don't sleep on Olsa Tools and Capri. Capri has the most extensive sets of 3/8 drive impact sockets in deep, mids, and shallows. Olsa sells great chrome sets as well as American made ratchets. Also, Capri has a 3 piece flex head ratchet set for less than $100, although I went with Gearwrench's lockable flex head ratchets.
I’m not a pro by a very very long shot. I do a lot routine repair stuff. Brakes oil changed I put the lift on my truck myself plus household stuff. I’m working on stuff pretty much every weekend. Up until my dad passed away I had access to his shop at work which had everything and anything you could imagine. About a year ago I decided to set up my shop. I bought everything from harbor freight. I got the 400pc Quinn set a box all the Hercules tools jack jack stands plus a ton of other stuff. I spent about $3000 and my shop has everything I’ve needed.
I have been fixing my cars for years. I have had tools to get the job done but not an easy task at times and if jobs took longer no big deal. Now that I am retired and I now need the tools to make the work easy I bought the mid grade specialty tools. I never broke my mid grade tools. I only broke my low end tools. I think mid-grade tools have improved and they are good enough for most people.
I wish I would’ve know all this before I started A&P school. I bought the snap on set with a good discount which is cool but I get to my job to find out there’s no snap on truck. Broke some tools and had to buy them again from a store that has a warranty.
The "Like" button is not strong enough for this video and sage wisdom !!! Great information Jeff. As for the money spent on the trucks, I have a neighbor that is a retired dealership mechanic. When he retired (force out) he had to have a flatbed tow truck bring his massive snap box home, we helped him remodel his garage to fit that massive box in there. I will bet that when it is time to sell it off he won't get anywhere near what was spent on it. I estimate that he is well North of 200k in tools and while it is a thing of beauty to look at it now is just a lesson that spending that much money was not a wise thing to do...
great tips and I hope they listen. Tekton, Sunex, Gearwrench, etc., all do the same job and do it well. Saves a ton of money and you are absolutely right about investing. I hope they all do
Great video! I have built so many things, and kept running with cheap tools. You don't need the expensive tools starting out. $9,000 in tools... but I have no car to go to work, because I spent it all on tools.
I really like my Tekton sets. I am going to school for autobody and can take advantage of the snap-on student program for some really good discounts, but they are still more than 90% of the alternatives by a significant amount. I just can't bring myself to spend that much on tools, taking out a $10k loan just hurts.
I love my snap on tools and don’t regret getting any of them. Just have to buy smart. I also wear redwing heritage boots. I’m on my 3rd sole. You can Get Walmart boots and harbor freight tools and Get the job done. But to me, I carry no debt whatsoever. Never had a loan on a car. I buy what I can afford and I keep my expenses minimal. I don’t have cable tv. I live modest. But the stuff I have is quality and I try to buy USA. I find in my experience a lot of guys have a lot to say about “wasting money” on snap on, but they’re in the vending machine all day, buying cigarettes every day, grabbing breakfast on the way to work, lotto tickets, drinking, etc. and borrowing on everything. I don’t know. I’m a pro tech and I have pro tools mostly. And this channel literally said you can get the snapon set on eBay for 1/3. So 3000 for the snapon set guys. At most. Used. Come on!!!
I don't care about socket I have some Icon socket they are great. But I carry one ratchet when I go offshore and I need that ratchet to work and my snap-on never let me down. Plus my snap-on guy warranty my gear wrench wrenches for me.
I'm a fairly "new" diesel mechanic. Been a welder my whole life but built a lot of race bike engines and other garage mechanic type stuff and was given a chance. I've filled my toolbox with mostly Tekton since I didn't want to bring tools from home, and I've filled in the gaps with Matco and Snap On. Most of the tool truck stuff just flat out isn't worth it; I buy it purely out of the convenience.
I've got a lot of Craftsman hand (mechanic's) tools. Been buying them since the 1960's. In the last 10-15 years, I've add Husky, Kobalt, and Gear Wrench to my boxes. I can't justify the prices of the tool truck brands, as I'm not a pro. Just a Hack. I haven't had any issues with any of them, nor the Harbor Freight tools I've purchased. I've also got three shops (2 at my main house, and 1 at my lake house), so it's rare where I buy just one tool. I can walk upstairs to my garage and get a tool, but it's a real job stopper if I have to drive 40 miles back to my main house and get a tool.
Hey tool bear. As a student at a major trade school. One thing you may not realize. Snap on offers a program called snap on student excellence program. You get all snap on tools 50-80% off. So that 9,600 turns out to to be about 3500 dollars. Granted that's still a lot of money but you gotta pay for the name. I did it that way and I'd do it again.
My everyday wrenches that are used on multiple nascar Xfinity series cars and other things are the napa Carlyle sets in metric and standard, I love them, but I also have craftsman, GW, snap on etc (I buy my tool truck stuff used or from pawn shops) except my Matco locking flex heads and I love them.
Those Mayhew pry bars are awesome, in fact they are the same ones that Matco sells just with Matco on them instead. I will always recommend those and the hyper tough ones that are made by Wilde which are also made in the States.
So, I was never able to buy lots of good tools till later in life, but an Engineer that worked with my dad gave me what I think is the best advice I have gotten. “Buy the most expensive tool you can honestly afford when you need it. When in break (which rarely happens so I have no excuse to get new ones) go out and buy the most expensive one you can afford at that point in your life. I have tools I bought in the ‘80s that are still good, I gift them to my kids friends to help them get started…now I can buy new stuff..don’t tell my wife.
Well done vid and anyone that watches your well-researched informative vids knows you're an honest bear who is unbiased. I wish I bought those long handle 6 piece metric ratcheting flex head Tekton wrenches with a case they were about a $135. a couple of years ago. Unfortunately they're no longer available after a sharp price increase and Tekton's search for a new supplier, anything close in quality will cost about double these days.
I agree, 💯. As a new mechanic get your tools on the cheap. Replace broken tools with decent tools one at a time. When you gain experience and ability you will be able to afford the finer tools. They are a write off on taxes. Remember, the mechanic makes the tool not the tool makes the mechanic.
Buy snap on ratchets capri impact sockets set of mac precision torque wrenches and air impact in 3/8 and 1/2 inch drive and a 5 drawer harbor freight cart and you will be set for a good while
I commented on a video about 1/4 drive master socket sets once. The Snapon set sold for $750 at the time. The Tekton set is still under $100 and was about $65 at the time of the video. I stated that I simply couldn't accept that there is $700 more quality in the Snapon set. My God. You would have thought I insulted a bunch of guys' mothers. Unbelievable.
I love my mayhew dominator pry bar set I got mine a few years ago for 70$ I think and if I do buy the tool truck stuff I always buy it used I really do like my snap on wrenches and ratchets both definitely feel great too use
