Would this include everything to work on car's bikes and do things around the house?
Professional Mechanic's Tool Set - 301 Piece
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Would this include everything to work on car's bikes and do things around the house?
Professional Mechanic's Tool Set - 301 Piece
Depends on what you're trying to do on a car or around the house. It'll do quite a bit of things. Somethings you'll still need tools not included though.
I would take this - Craftsman 309-Piece Mechanic's Tool Set: Love Your Job at Sears in lieu of the Pittsburgh set.
The warranty alone is enough to trump the harbor freight stuff. As a general rule, harbor freight is a good place to spend half as much money on tools that are 1/10th the quality of what you should have bought in the first place. Not ALWAYS true, but most of the time it is the case. We have a few tools from their collection in our arsenal, however, it's the oddball stuff you don't use but once every year or two.
Good looking set of tools. I personally have picked up craftsman from most yard sales I visit. Got one broke, took it to Sears for a free replacement. Recently I've been getting kobold on sale but wouldn't have an issue with a Pittsburgh if there was a harbor freight close by
...one thing i've learned about tools, ...is you never have enough! :D
...that should be a good base to build from, ...i'd also go for a sturdy tool chest of drawers to organize them in... also, you'll probably enjoy having a torque wrench or two... ;)
I've been a toolmaker for the past 28 years. I bought this solid oak tool chest in 1985 for $521.00, and then proceeded to fill it with over $3k worth of precision tools like swiss made indicators and american made micrometers that are needed in the tool trade.
http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/j...ps7080bf60.jpg
I have a roll around Craftsman chest in my garage full of Craftsman tools....
I personally do not like the Chinese made Harbor Frieght stuff.
^^ All this pretty much sums it up. Craftsman are lifetime warranty tools and are going to be of a higher quality than the Pittsburgh set. Like Zap said, for things that you don't utilize on a frequent basis, I'll spend a lot less at Harbor Freight for a tool than for Craftsman, Mac, Snap-On or the like. Then, if it should break, it's not really a big deal and I am still saving $$ if I have to buy another one. Stuff I have from Harbor Freight - center punches, drifts, media tumbler, inspection camera, stepped drill bits...
Like the others have said, start with a quality set from craftsmen or snap on. It's worth the extra couple of dollars upfront. The craftsmen set I started with over 20 years ago is still the base of my tool set. I've replaced the screw drivers, used as prybars, and the ratchets, that were way over torqued using cheater bars, for free at any sears store with no questions asked.
The only place i'd carry one of the off brand sets of tools is maybe the trunk of the car or truck for occasional use while on the road. I'd never consider them for a home use set.
Stay away from lower-line stuff. My dad bought a real nice Kobalt setup last year and it's been a great box. It's one level below the top of the line (we didn't need a car stereo and speakers in our toolbox...) We don't use it every day, but it doesn't fall apart every time we use it either.
I've had one almost identical to this for several years and it functions just like the day I got it.
Rolling Tool Cart w/ 5 Drawers
I have lots of money wrapped up in tools, and from what I learned over the years is you get what you pay for. As far as hand tools go I wouldn't waste your money one harbor freight tools, I had sockets blow apart first time using them. Craftsman is a lot better but it seems their quality had gone down with in the last 5 or so years. I'm so use to using Snap-On, Matco and other top of the line tools it's hard for me to go back to using the cheaper stuff. But for what you are doing and to get a nice tool set started my vote would be for the craftsman set, that is what I started with and slowly upgraded over the years.
This is the box I have in my garage now and its just about full.
http://i1142.photobucket.com/albums/...ps9aa8e9e1.jpg
Some small tool sets in this thread lol
That 309 peice is good, I bought it but just remember a lot of those are 12 pt only. You'll still end up having to buy 6pt on some. And I spent damn near 100 bucks on socket racks for all of those lol. Craftsman is also sold out to china now, if you go in and look. More than half the stuff I'm there no longer says made in USA. I have their torque wrenches and man I shoulda saved the money for a snap on.
I buy almost everything from Harbor Freight. I haven't had anything break yet...*crosses fingers*, oh except a t10 or t20 broke. I walked in there and showed them it. They didn't have what I wanted to replace it so I told them how much the set cost and as long as it says pittsburgh they will replace it, so I picked out a 3 piece set which had 2 full allen wrench sets and a T set because it was the same price.
Their ratcheting wrenches are a must, for things like the dipstick bolt for us automatic guys lol
If I was a mechanic it'd be different, but harbor freight works for me...