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[darkelvis]

now that's an angle i never really thought about. what other regrets/choices do you have or wish you had done differently? also, is the student discount for matco/snapon tools a lot less than what you get off the truck, and if so, what should i look into buying?

long quote is getting annoying...

regrets/different choices...Getting into this business in the first place.

And yes the discount is fantastic.  My advice as far as the discount goes...buy as much as you can possibly afford while they are offering the discount.  As far as one thing to absolutely get...A GOOD LIGHT.  Streamlight stinger.  I just traded mine in on the Stinger LED  a few weeks ago and I fucking love it.

[spoonfedcrx]

Buy a used box and spend the rest of your money on tools.  Tools are more important then a shiny new box. 

[j.h.christ]

Buy a used box and spend the rest of your money on tools.  Tools are more important then a shiny new box. 

my thoughts exactly. i have a craftsman box that was like 400$ that i'm going to use. 2 grand for a box boggles my mind.

[junkyard racer]

even being a backyard mech, I think id rather have a cart over my super swoopy snap-on chest.

Also, craigslist. Lots of mechs and shit outta work and need money. If you have money, its a total buyers market.  :yes:

[fearsomedan]

I'm an ase master tech who has the most cheapest set of tools out of almost 30 techs. Even the lube techs have bigger and better boxes.  However, I often flat rate in the top five of the most hours for the week and I seldomly need to borrow any tools. The brand tools are great, but they sometimes cost 3 or even 4 times more than the china freight tools. There are some tools that you should definetly buy the brand one and other tools that you can get away with the china version. It's the money with me. I would rather put $6000 dollars towards other things in my life that a nice looking box.

[Passenger]

Craftsman is not a professional grade tool, period.

I have mac, snap on, matco, hazet, wurth/zebra, gearwrench, and husky pro/stanley (same as mac)

I like the mac/stanley/husky pro sockets the best. For ratchets the flex head snap on 1/4" and 3/8" take the cake as the most versatile and quality ratchet. I actually prefer gearwrench for wrenches, snap on and mac open to easy, westward are actually better, but gearwrench I have had better luck with. Hazet are decent wrenches, but not top notch. For sockets I like stanley/mac/husky pro.

Tool box, I have an offshore stainless model from costco, honestly, its not that bad. and it looks real nice, but its not pro.

[highroller54]

I seldomly need to borrow any tools.

I work with many people like you, your "seldom" and the guy whos tools your borowings "seldom" could differ a bit. If I borrow something once I buy it, I dont feel right making money and wearing out something some other guy had to pay for because I'm to cheap. I bet its never your turn to buy beer either.

[hotrex]

o vote hotrex.

hotrex uses whatever the fuck tool vatozone has dumped in the clearance bin.

 red package 7 dollars,  blue package 4 dollars....   fuck u

[snm95ls]

The vast majority of my hand tools are Snap-On as well as my box.

For a professional mechanic, Snap-On is the best, assuming your tool dealer is worth a shit, when it comes to sockets, wrenches, and ratchets.

MAC seems to have better air tools, but anymore, I would honestly rather just buy Ingersoll Rand stuff when it comes to air tools.  I am lucky enough to have several IR dealers in town.

Specialty tools are a mix of Matco, < MAC, Snap-On, OTC, and ching chong meow.  I generally try to avoid the china tools as they always fucking break.

Craftsman is really hard to beat for the money,  but their standard tier ratchets are utter garbage.   The Professoinal ones are actually worth a shit though, and more than enough for the backyard mechanic.  I abused the hell out of my long handle flex head Snap-On 3/8 ratchet before I finally broke it.  lots of cheater pipe action, and two fatasses finally broke its back.

SK seems to have some decent stuff, but honestly all I won is a set of stubby wrenches from them.

[highroller54]

I actually prefer gearwrench for wrenches

gear wrench (KD) makes nice wreches  :yes:
I have 8 full sets of gearwrench.

[t_cel_t]

ive piped a few of them and they didnt break, just make sure you get the swivel head ones
and if you want to be totally baller get the x beam ones

[AbaZ]

Tools, I'd go with any of the 3. However I'd go with a matco box, Between both of our shops I'd say 90% of the techs have a matco box. I love mine and wouldnt change a thing about it.

[Joseph Davis]

For those of you that do this for a living, what did you end up with? I'm about to make a rather sizeable investment into a box+tools as I will be entering the mechanics field within the next year.

Run.

[mulletcar]

Craftsman is not a professional grade tool, period.

I have mac, snap on, matco, hazet, wurth/zebra, gearwrench, and husky pro/stanley (same as mac)

thats where youre wrong, i used craftsman for 3 years on heavy equipment with zero problems. they were the standard series hurt your hand wrenches everyone complains about, and the pro ratchets. who gives a shit now-a-days anyway, theyre all made in fucking china...

[Passenger]

I actually prefer gearwrench for wrenches

gear wrench (KD) makes nice wreches  :yes:
I have 8 full sets of gearwrench.

ive used them and they feel suprisingly strong on the ratchet.  how are they with torque abuse?

I've piped and or double wrenched mine from 10mm to 19mm, never had an issue yet. They are actually pretty nice wrenches. I have the flex head, I'll have to look into the x beam, sounds neat.

[mulletcar]

6-point wrenches fucking pwn regardless of brand on box end. 

spend the $ and get a quality set of 12pt if you are going to strip shit out




and mike you apparently have never had a tool dealer who cares.  i can call my rep up and tell him 'hey i broke my ratchet using cheater pipe' and he'll say 'hey sure come on over i got one on the truck' and just exchanges that shit out for me

well fuck me, all 6 of the truck guys i've had were lazy fucks that didn't care about anything except making money.

if you were not spending any money on the truck they didn't give a shit about you or your problems.

true that shit, every snap-on guy i have dealt with was a fucking piece of shit..

[Tim]

I have a pair of knock of chineese vise grips, a old claw hammer and a sweet stick

we know.

This had me rolling

It used to crack me up how you (complex) would go on and on about your $300 snap-on wratchet and every time you were at my shop making fun of my 'crapsman' tools and how they were shit when I worked down the street in butler.

JD is right I can be too much of an asshole to good friends, so stop talking about stuff in reality you have not much experience with like you're an old hand.

[Joseph Davis]

Wow, Tim.  That was embarrassing to read, and I've been down on the guy in the past.   

[LS1pwNzJ00]

i use chi-com shit, even use it on the impact wrench and even press the sockets on my 20ton press to bend metal.  If shit breaks who cares i have a bunch of replacements.  I prefer to abuse my tools until they break and then just get some more.  i probably have like 10-15 of those kragen/pepboys/vatozone tool sets in my tool box

[Tim]

i use chi-com shit, even use it on the impact wrench and even press the sockets on my 20ton press to bend metal.  If shit breaks who cares i have a bunch of replacements.  I prefer to abuse my tools until they break and then just get some more.  i probably have like 10-15 of those kragen/pepboys/vatozone tool sets in my tool box

fuck that shit I probably have 6 stanley and other chinamen socket and extensions shits and they don't do shit.  I snap or round that shit off the day I buy it only own any of it cause walmart is 24hr so I'll get 3 if I need to use one once in a bind so I know I won't have to drive back after I break the first two.

[Conceptz-X]

I do this shit for a living, matco box got it from the snap on man for 400. Slightly abused he took on commission
 
Tools, mostly craftsman, snap on ratchets and swivel sockets.  Lisle or whoever for specialty tools, my carquest store takes care of me on them.

That's how I roll and turn 60+hrs a week if its there to make