6 Underrated DIY Tools
There’s grease on your elbow. It stands as proof you’re literally elbow deep in your project car, and it’s at this point that you realize all your favorite tools are still in the toolbox. Instead, the floor and fender wells hold a wide variety of the tools you actually use, not just the ones you enjoy using.
It’s these tools that get the job done. They may not be flashy, pricey, or have a good story, but these are the chunks of steel and plastic that make our lives easier. They’re the unsung heroes of the toolbox, or at least some of the under-appreciated mainstays.
Ratcheting wrenches
The open end wrench is an indispensable staple of working with most types of threaded fasteners. Sockets and ratchets make the work easier, but the slim profile and extremely durable nature make wrenches critical for some tasks. Wrenches are a necessity, but ask anyone that has been forced to spend 20 minutes removing a three-inch bolt an 1/8th of a turn at a time and it’s easy to see why ratcheting wrenches can be unsung heroes of both disassembly and assembly. Switchable ratcheting wrenches make life even easier and prevent that situation where you use a ratchet to back off a bolt only to pinch the wrench against another part and be left with an even more frustrating situation.
Center punch
Need to drill a hole? You’d likely reach for your drill and bits, but those with experience know to grab a center punch as well. A small dent in the center of your planned hole will help keep a drill bit from wandering off course. Upgrade to an automatic center punch and you’ll likely never look back, but even years after doing so myself, I still have multiple “regular” center punches that get frequent use.
Small pry bar
Need help aligning bolt holes or popping two corroded pieces apart? You don’t need tons of persuasion, but just a bit more than can be imparted with bare hands. That’s the time a small pry bar comes out. My personal favorite has this spud end that can be used to aid in alignment and easy holding of parts during assembly. Everyone benefits from a little extra leverage, and despite their lack of size, these little bars provide just that.
Little hammers
The big hammer gets all the love from just about anyone who has been forced to deal with the corrosion and otherwise stuck hardware and parts that come pre-installed on every project car. Big hammers impart big forces though, and while a skilled DIY’er knows how to swing a large hammer softly, there is a time and place for the little hammers too.
Big hammers sometimes just don’t fit the work area or put a little too much smack on relatively delicate parts. A “big” hit with a small hammer can put just enough shock into part to break things loose while also being perfectly sized to cut gaskets. Little hammers hide in most toolboxes.
Wire wheels
When talking about projects, what most gloss over is the amount of time spent with the project apart, cleaning and dressing each individual piece so that when everything goes back together it will fit correctly. Just a small amount of rust or corrosion can bind threads or prevent good fit of mated parts. A wire wheel makes quick work of removing surface scale and junk. While a bench grinder with a nice 8″ wire wheel is great, even simple cordless drill wire wheels can be enough to solve a lot of problems.
Picks
For how big our cars, trucks, and other project vehicles are, there are a shocking number of tiny parts. Little o-rings or orifices that even dainty digits can’t investigate or grasp are easily handled by a pick. While tempting to ask your dental hygienist to slip you some spares, ones from your favorite tool company are likely a better choice—the ones designed for dental work tend to be more fragile. Maybe I need that cleaning though…
Regardless, even a humble tool chest is filled with literally hundreds of tools, and some get all the praise while others sit patiently waiting to be the star of the day before disappearing into storage once again. Have a favorite underrated tool? Tell us about it in the comments below.
Weller battery powered soldering iron . Uses 4 AA batteries , heats up much faster than a plug in unit , and with no cord to get in the way you can use it anywhere – all for 20 bucks .
There is actually a temperature range, within which you should solder.
If you are going to get the ratcheting wrenches, get the reversible ones
You just flip them over and they reverse.
That’s hysterical. 😂🤣
In some instances if you don’t think ahead you can get the wrench trapped and cannot remove the wrench, nor screw the bolt back in the hole to remove the wrench. I learned that lesson the hard way, but only did it once! LOL
Yup
Some have a slightly angled head so a reverse makes sense.
The flip over type are flat w/ no off-set. I have both and agree w/ TG, get the reversible.
Hope this makes sense with ratcheting wrench’s. When laying flat on a bench most tilt forward and back. There are good but I found a set that titled left and right. These are perfect when a bolt or nut is hidden from view and have little room to maneuver a standard. IE: the bolts on a brake booster between the booster and the fire wall.
Or left handed if needed
My adjustable wrenches give me a problem too. One side of the handle has “inch” and the other side is “mm”. I wish they would make them one way or the other.
I made the misteak one of buying a left hand open end wrench when I needed a right hand. Just returned it for the correct one. The new one worked fine.
Your kidding – – RIGHT????
i was in an auto parts store selling box wrenches with a sprag setup. i bought one, needing an 8 mm size. after using it, ratcheting wrenches became a dinosaur to me. it’ll get nut/bolt movement where a ratcheting wrench won’t even click once.
I purchased a 3/8″ drive sprag ratchet from Eastwood to give it a try. I was so impressed that I purchased a 1/4″ drive as well. I’ll never go back to a toothed ratchet.
I bought a 2 sets from NAPA in Niagara Falls, NY.. And I’m from Canada!
Yes, and don’t forget the purchase a left handed screwdriver set, they are really handy.
The ones I would nominate.
A Dead blow hammer. Too few people have them and so many need one.
Plastic pry tools. Todays cars demand them to pull dashes and other parts apart.
One I just bought that really has paid for itself. A plastic stitcher and plastic welder. I just saved and restored a fender well with this tool. It looks like and is as strong as new. I paid little for it and already saved a $120 part.
I just learned about the dead blow hammer, have one, used it, works!!! learn something new all the time, never new they existed! 🙂
Too funny, I bought one a few months ago because with all the plastics on cars. This is a must have (along with the associated plastic non-marring removal tools)
Who makes those ?
I’ll use some wire mesh to melt in on back side for added strength
I must admit that I am a big fan of dead blow hammers.
Whenever I need to do some plastic welding I always use small pieces of mig wire as bracing. I place the new wire onto the area and then apply the soldering iron. The wire conducts the heat and the wire melts into the plastic forming very strong brace. It’s similar to rear in cement.
Various types of rasp. Sometimes you need to remove material to bring it back to level/flatness.
Clamps. A variety are good as small as 6″ but some at least 24″.
No dying man ever said, “I wish I hadn’t bought so many clamps.”
I have a pry bar just like the one in Kyle’s picture. No idea where I got it – have had it “forever”. And like he says, it’s really quite versatile and useful. I grab it often – just used it the other day, in fact. I really like it for lining up holes between two parts, but the pry head sure seems perfect for many tasks. I second Curt Unruh’s comment about clamps. We stopped at an estate sale not long ago, and I picked up a large assortment of old C-clamps for a song (nearly doubled the size of my stash). The lady taking the money asked what I was gonna do with them all, and Mrs. DUB6 chimed in, “He ALWAYS needs more of them”. My wife knows! They, along with several lengths of pipe clamps have been used extensively in a gluing project I’ve been working on.
The proper name is roller head pry bar, the first one I ever saw came in my U.S Army mechanics tool set I was issued in 1966.
👍
I always knew it as a Lady’s Foot.
Available through Harbor Freight for a set of three in various sizes.
interesting to know the proper name. i’ve always heard its name as lady fingers
Lady’s slipper
Lady fingers was a little firecracker in my day.
I remember a cookie called lady fingers
Crow’s foot pry bar.
C-clamps are handy, indeed. My wife uses them more often than I do, honestly.
One of the Taunton Press people wrote that, if you get into woodworking, “someone will tell you (more than once) that ‘you can never have too many clamps’, and you will believe this person.”
As an electronic tech, I believe that I can’t have too many meters or power supplies.
European Allen shaped hand socket wrench’s, they are the first ones I grab. Unlike flat open and boxed end that are hard on your hands their round holds are comfortable all day long. I have them from 6mm to 21mm 6point on the long end 12 point on the short end. Gotten sets for friends, some even insisting on Facom (France’s Snap On)but high quality Taiwanese versions are available in Europe.
I used hex drive sockets. They can be used with a ratchet handle that’s kind of like a 6mm ratchet spanner or a screwdriver handle or in a drill.
Extendable magnet for retrieving that socket that always rolls to the exact center under your project vehicle and a rechargeable LED flashlight to see it.
This!
I’d add the silicon and magnet parts and tool trays too.
Magnet 100% 👍
I also have an extendable grabber. Push on the knob at one end of the flexible shaft, and three spring steel fingers pop out of the other end. Relax the pressure, and the fingers close again. Great for retrieving non-ferrous items.
You mentioned a pick set, but another similar useful item is the Craftsman cotter pin removal tool. It resembles an oversized ice pick with a one inch 90 degree bend at its end. Useful for cotter pin removal, and invaluable for loosening stuck coolant hoses. Simply insert under the stuck hose, and slide it around the circumference to release the years of sticky crud that has glued the hose tight. Removes hoses easily without the risk of crushing or cracking aged brass and plastic coolant pipes.
It will damage some flesh that’s for sure.
As an electronic tech, I believe that I can’t have too many meters or power supplies.
I have a pry bar like that I got from my dad. He said that they were called a “ lady’s foot”.
++ Same here-“Lady’s Foot” great tool in top drawer of my tool box.
CW
How about a lady slipper is what an old machanic told me about 50 years ago
That is the state flower of Minnesota.
Brake hose clamp. Handy for clamping all sorts of hoses. Fuel, air, vacuum.
I have a piece of oak dowel that I sharpen like a pencil and keep it around in place of a pick/poker for surfaces I don’t want to ding or dent.
Chain wrench for when the going gets really tough.
I have an entire small drawer in one of my 4 toolboxes with nothing but various shapes and sizes of picks. It’s labelled abortion tools. It always gets a look and a laugh from someone new.
Careful—In “Some” states you might get arrested for having a toll named that–
1/4 inch drive hand tool with a long spring type shaft. The spring shaft acts like a universal joint such that the socket does not need to directly line up with the bolt or nut and it stays attached as you turn it! One of my favorite tools indeed.
I made my own assorted pick tools from old skinny screwdrivers & use them often. Also echo on the dead blow hammer to save a lot of ding marks on whatever piece you’re working on. I also use Phillips head screwdrivers for aligning parts to get a bolt in a hole. The magnetic probe & fingers are also must haves for retrieving those bolts that ALWAYS fall into some unreachable spot!