No matter what job you decide to tackle on your truck, you won’t get far without tools. Basic maintenance on our trucks doesn’t require many special tools, but there are a few basics you may want to have on hand before you get started. In this guide, I will offer some opinions on tools and offer a few guidelines to buying, maintaining, and storing tools.
My father used to say that the difference between a handyman's DIY project and the professional DIY project is having the proper tool. I've come to learn how right he was. Like many home mechanics, I bought my first set of wrenches from the a dubious source. I knew there were good tools and bad tools, but didn't really know how much of a difference there was. I would encourage anyone to begin their purchase of tools with the mindset that tools are an investment. There are places to save some money, but there are places where having a good tool can be invaluable.
Fundamentally, there are only a few types of tools you will need to do most work on your truck. They are wrenches, ratchets and sockets, screwdrivers, striking tools, and torquing tools. Those with coil sprung trucks (defenders, range rovers, discoveries, freelanders) will find that it is necessary to purchase both Metric tools and SAE (inch based) tools because the truck uses a mixture of each. Series owners are probably familiar with Whitworth tools and so I will leave those out of our conversation for now.
Brands of tools is a touchy subject, and I will stop short of telling you what is the best tool for you. However, there are certainly premium tools, midrange tools, and cheap tools. Contrary to popular belief, all of the best premium tools are not made in the USA. Many are made in Germany and France. Some even come from Japan. However, if you live in the US, and are buying midrange tools, it makes sense to buy US tools as the quality is good, and the price is reasonable. Each manufacturer of tools shapes their tool a bit differently, and we will discuss this further. They also use different steel, and have other variances, that may cause you to favor a certain tool over another. Let's examine each type of tool separately.