Tools for the DIY'er
 

Up to now, I've pretty much had either the corrupt dealership service department or my local wrench take care of everything on my truck for me. I'm in the situation now where it is in my best interest to, and I'm ready and willing and wanting to, do as much on this beast as I can myself with the help of some friends and Guinness. I've been looking at a million different threads, and trying to amass what I can, but it's a needle in a haystack picking out different tools required for different jobs, if they are even listed, at all.

So, I'm a mechanical noob. I can change my oil, and tell you what most different parts of the engine/drive train are if you point to them. I've got a Chilton's manual, and I'm ready to bust some knuckles and get my fingers dirty. What's a comprehensive list of tools I should have to do scheduled maintenance, as well as some mods like: e-fan, torsion bar crank, headlight swap, brakes (ceramic pads and slotted rotors), etc...?

Get you a good quality mechanic's starter set. Craftsman is still your best bang for the buck, IMO. Something around a 200 pc. set can be had for about $100 (here anyway). This will give you what you need for the basics, then as you come up on stuff that would need a specialty tool, go get it. For the really specialty type tools that you'd probably use once and never again, we can borrow them from local auto parts stores for just a returnable deposit - things like torsion bar unloaders, etc. But I dunno if they do that over thataway.

You'll ALWAYS come across sh*t that you don't have the right tool for. Hell, I have a 42" wide by 60" tall tool chest that is PACKED, plus about four carry size toolboxes and the toolbox in my truck is pretty well loaded up too and I just had to go buy the right size torx bit just to change the lifters on the tailgate of my Jeep. Biggest damn torx head screw I ever saw...

we use mostly mac tools at the dealership but they are really hi. i agree that craftsman is still the way to go for the home rencher. kobalt from lowes aint bad either and both are still lifetime warranty.

Craftsman occupies most of my tool cabinet. I have quite a bit of stuff from Harbor Freight as well. HF is pretty good for tools you may use only a time or two.

Thanks for the replies. Besides the obvious spark plug socket, what are the other ratchet adapters that make spark plug changes as painless as possible?

Gots to have you one of these, preferably in 1/4", 3/8" and 1/2" flavors:

http://www.toolzar.com/images/impact...-joint-3-8.jpg

But honestly, I found the best single thing to get at them back two PIA plugs is a length of regular old garden hose, cut to about a foot. Push that summbiotch on the plug and go to twisting, lift it out and pull it out the hose. That would be "Redneck Mechanikin' 101"...

i wanna see a vid in the diy section on the garden hose trick.

craftsman here as well.

I'm 7000 miles away from having to do both diffs, tranny, transfer case, TB & PCV cleaning AND plugs & wires. Plan to do a hell of a DIY at that time. You'll see it, if you stick around that long...

Have had great luck with with stanley tools as well. I would recommend a starter air compressor with some basic attachments as well to make things easier.

Yeah at some point you'll wanna pick up some power tools, like an impact wrench and you'll have to decide whether you wanna go plug in electric, battery operated cordless or air...