Siber Express

My neighbor borrowed my 1/2" beam and used it as a breaker bar, so I have the 3/8 Click inch pound and the 1/2 inch click, the 3/4 lives at our mechanics, don't use one enough to need to pay to own one.

Art161

I've had bad luck with Craftsman. My torque wrench doesn't click properly any more. Craftsman doesn't consider this to be a hand tool, so no lifetime guarantee. I also had a Craftsman socket for the wheel lug nuts crack down the side. I got a free replacement, but that is of limited usefulness if you are working on a project and the tool breaks. Fortunately, I had another socket that worked.

Now I use a regular wrench for my wheel lug nuts, with a Snap-On socket that is rated for use with an air wrench.

BlackShelbyGt500

damn i thought craftsman was one of the best brand. what are your takes on the husky brands?

BlackShelbyGt500

as far as socket goes do you guys prefer metric or inches? i'm kinda of confuse by these? or should i go both? i'm scared to start buying tools, specially sockets that i might already have. do you guys create a chart of some sort to keep track of all the tools,sockets ect..ect that you have?

Norm Peterson

If you can keep your tools at least half way organized in a tool box or on a wall pegboard you won't ever need a list - any "gaps" in your socket storage should only mean that the socket(s) that go there are in use on a job, you haven't finished picking up afterward, or broken and out so you'll remember to replace it/them. Lists will get lost, torn, too dirty to read from being picked it up in the middle of a job and actually referred to, or just too damn long and you won't even want to use one.

It doesn't hurt to have duplicates of at least the common sizes. Sometimes the nut that you're trying to break loose needs the same size socket as the bolt head that you need to put a wrench so you can hold it still.

Eventually, you'll probably need both metric and inch sizes in sockets and box/open/combination hand wrenches. Especially 13/16" and 21mm, which are common lug nut sizes that are nearly the same size, and it's frequently not clear which will best fit the lug nuts on the car being worked on. Sometimes you need deep-well sockets to get past excess thread sticking out past the nut so you can actually get the socket to grab the nut you're trying to remove.


As Art mentioned, impact tool sockets are better for jobs involving the removal and replacement of wheels, provided that they will fit into the spaces or holes bored for the lug nuts. Even if you don't have an impact tool of any kind.


Norm

Nohippychicks

It's hard to tell if these are real questions. If you need to work with SAE fasteners, you get SAE tools; if you need to work with metric fasteners, get metric tools. Should you need to work with both, buy a set of both...you can often get them on sale in sets for a great price.

If you have questions about which tools you have, go look at what you own. Should you find that you dont own a tool that you need, purchase the tool that you dont own but currently need; if you've lost your 1/4" drive 1/2" socket and you need to tighten a 1/2" head bolt, go buy a socket that has a 1/4" drive and says 1/2 on the side of it. If you find that you already own a tool that drives your fastener, then place the tool on it and tighten or loosen the fastener as required.

Where's the issue here?

Here ONE of the MANY, Many, many standard torque lists. I'm not sure how much good it'll do for you, though.

Read as much of this as you can stand, then ask questions you may have.

BrazenStang

One other thing that I didn't see mentioned in this thread is that you should have BOTH a torque wrench and a normal ratcheting wrench in the same drive size. Don't go using your torque wrench to remove bolts or get them snug. That is the job for the ratchet. The torque wrench should only be used for final tightening to specified torque of the bolt/nut.

SAE vs Metric just depends on the size of the bolt that needs to be removed/tightened. It is not "preference", they are different.

jz78817

the auto industry has been metric for decades now. It's a good idea to have both, but you'll rarely need customary sockets on a newish Mustang. Usually the only cases where a customary socket will fit is where it's very close to a metric size (e.g. 8mm == 5/16", 19mm == 3/4", etc.)

Derf00

Been using metrics on my mustangs since 2000. Only a few items are oddballish enough to where a SAE was needed (3/8" on the battery cable bolts of the old 2000). 8mm was too small and 10mm was too big. 9 was loose.

You guys forget about the 1/4" in/lbs torque wrench. Anything that requires under 20 ft/lbs of torque should use a 1/4 in/lbs torque wrench. Much more accurate. The 3/8" tend to not be that accurate under 20 ft/lbs.

12 in/lbs = 1 ft/lbs

BlackShelbyGt500

thanks guys i really appreciate all the inputs. i'm starting to get more tools every week.