TOOLRAGE Automotive News Feeds

Around our shop we have lots of jacks. Some are old, sturdy guys we've had for years, others are new-fangled deals we bought for specific purposes like the aluminum racing jack that turned out to be junk. One specialized jack we have and love is our motorcycle jack -- and we don't work on motorcycles. Check it out to see if it could make your job easier. There's a good chance it will!

Not Just Another Jack originally appeared on About.com Auto Repair on Friday, July 30th, 2010 at 23:37:56.

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Snap-On Tools reported last week that their profits for the 2nd quarter are up 21 percent. Big deal, right? Believe me, I'm not trying to hand out investment advice. I have no idea how their stock will perform, nor do I hold any. But I do find it interesting that they seem to be selling more tools. Do-it-yourselfers rarely buy Snap-On tools because of their higher cost. If you want professional grade, you have to pay to play, and most how mechanics don't abuse their tools enough to worry too much about it. I will say this: My biggest Snap-On rolling box has seen more than 2o years of hard use and is still tough as nails and smooth as butter. But I digress. I only mention Snap-On's profits because the recent report seems to bolster many people's theory that drivers are holding onto their used cars longer and paying to have repairs done rather than diving in for a new car. If you fit into this category, you can save some serious cheddar by doing some of your repairs, or at least your maintenance, all by yourself. Get to it!

_{If you're interested, you can read a report on Snap-On's earnings along with some analysis at The Motley Fool.}

Snap-On Profits Are Up ... So What? originally appeared on About.com Auto Repair on Sunday, July 25th, 2010 at 22:40:09.

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Old hardware can be frustrating. No, strike that, it can be infuriating. I've sat down countless times to do a half hour repair only to have it drag past the two-hour mark thanks to a single stripped, rusty, worn, miserable nut holding the old part on. It can be a nightmare. There are lots of fixes available, but so many of them are simply brutal. And some of the remedies can be very time consuming on their own. Trying to grind new angles into a rounded nut can take more than a minute or two. Among the solutions is a product by Craftsman that we tested recently. It's called "Lug Out" and is designed to get those nuts off using a fierce steely bite. If you're wondering whether it worked for us, check out the full review and maybe you'll discover a real time saver!

Brutalize Your Nuts, But Only If You Must originally appeared on About.com Auto Repair on Wednesday, July 21st, 2010 at 23:40:14.

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If you park in a garage -- not the big ones in the city but a cozy two-car garage attached to your house -- you know how important the car's position inside can be. Pull too far forward and you can't walk past to get in. Too far back and you might nail your trunk with the garage door! Everybody has their own tricks for finding their garage sweet spot. If you're frustrated, there's a new product out that can make your parking job a total breeze every time! To be fair to history, this isn't a new invention, but it's a well refined version that you can buy and install the same day. Check it out!

Finding Your Garage's Sweet Spot Just Got Easier originally appeared on About.com Auto Repair on Friday, July 16th, 2010 at 22:58:23.

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Sometimes a reader's letter can really shed some light on how confusing auto repair can be. Tim recently bought a torque wrench because he wants to be sure his wheels are properly installed on his car. He has safety and tire wear in mind. A torque wrench is a good thing to have in your tool box as it allows you to be more precise in all of your repairs. His new wrench arrived in the mail, but as he read the instructions, they stated it should never be used to loosen or tighten wheel lug bolts! Huh? Isn't that why he bought it? Yes and no. He bought it to be sure his wheel bolts were tightened to the correct torque, but not to use the torque wrench every day as a long-handled ratchet wrench. Use your breaker bar or your lug wrench to loosen and initially tighten your wheel bolts, then switch to the torque wrench to get it exact. Never use your torque wrench to break tight lugs or remove them! This can cause damage or premature wear to the wrench and cause you to get inaccurate readings.

Torque Wrench Not For Torquing? originally appeared on About.com Auto Repair on Monday, July 12th, 2010 at 14:46:45.

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Once you have an adequately equipped tool box to work with, you'll start to notice tools that may not be useful every day but can sure help you get out of a tight spot. These are the tools that seasoned mechanics have on hand, and it's how they can make even the most frustrating job look easy. One such tool is an extended reach plier. These pliers give you a few extra inches of reach at a time when you might need a few extra inches. Extending your reach certainly qualifies as an advantage under the hood. Check out some extended reach pliers and many more useful tools in the tool section!

Extend Your Reach originally appeared on About.com Auto Repair on Friday, July 9th, 2010 at 22:10:38.

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It looks like the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration's  pushing of a requirement that all new vehicles be manufactured with the automotive version of a Flight Data Recorder is working. Both the House and Senate have provisions in their Motor Vehicle Safety Acts that call for a vehicle "black box" that will record and save everything that happens in your vehicle. Of course the stated claim, and probably the truth, is that the data culled from these boxes would provide invaluable info the carmakers can use to make vehicles safer in the event of a collision. That's great, but if every vehicle sports one of these devices, how long do you think it will take for the courts to start subpoening the information for use in criminal cases? They already call in the data when it's available -- remember the recent Prius unintended acceleration fraud? In the end, it's probably not a big deal, but I happen to think that even the smallest intrusion into our privacy is one more step toward living entirely under the eye of Big Brother.

Do Cars Need Black Boxes? originally appeared on About.com Auto Repair on Monday, July 5th, 2010 at 12:40:45.

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It's all green these days, or at least according to marketing experts. If you can work the term "green" into your product strategy you're almost guaranteed some green stuff of a more spendy sort. Auto repair has been slow to jump on the green bandwagon, probably because it's just a really tough fit. There's very little green about cars in general, and even less when it comes to fixing them. Slowly but surely, the industry seems to be adopting some greener practices. Oil changes are the new hot green thing. It's always been a more green choice to use synthetic oil in your engine, but who knows what goes into the production of the stuff? It could be scary. If you want a greener oil change, find a shop that offers recycled, or re-refined, engine oil. Eco Ultra -- a popular brand of re-refined oil -- claims that one barrel of recycled engine oil makes as much usable motor oil as 50 barrels of crude. Wow. That's saving a lot of oil, even at a single oil change!

Are Green Oil Changes in Your Future? originally appeared on About.com Auto Repair on Thursday, July 1st, 2010 at 23:39:47.

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It's never a bad time to start doing your own repairs or maintenance. If you've been putting it off, now's the time to dive in head first and get a little grease on your fingers. Or you can wear surgical gloves and stay clean, but it's still time. I believe in starting with the basics, and there's nothing more basic than an oil change. It's a simple procedure that you can do yourself with simple tools. It shouldn't take more than an hour or so, and you'll feel great when it's done! If you're ready to change your own oil, I'm ready to show you how. What are you waiting for?

New to Auto Repair? Start With the Basics originally appeared on About.com Auto Repair on Saturday, June 26th, 2010 at 22:36:56.

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There are so many cup holders out there I generally avoid even talking about them. The last time I wrote about a cup holder was the famous Universal Cup Holder and until now there's been no reason to go any further. Enter Kaz e Kup. The designer of this cup holder has thought of every drinking eventuality and put a solution into practice. It's a pretty impressive product to say the least. In fact, he is so inventive he couldn't limit the cupholder's abilities to cars -- he invented attachments for the cup holder so it can be used at work, the beach, probably in a rodeo -- without spilling your drink! I'll let you read the review to see how well it performed in the car. My colleagues and I were all impressed, and I think you will be, too.

As a side note, I was excited that this product was the result of one man, who had a great idea, and did everything it took to get it into production. No massive fund backing his research, no paycheck while he sorted out the details. This is the kind of thing I think we should all be supporting.

A Revolution in Cup Holders? originally appeared on About.com Auto Repair on Monday, June 21st, 2010 at 10:48:45.

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