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I have never tried to make a living turning wrenches, but have fooled around with mechanics for more than 40 years as a hobby and on the farm. In my experience, you never get all the tools you need.....there is always something that would make a given job a bit easier or less of a hassle. Over the years I have accumulated thousands of dollars worth of tools of all kinds. I have favored Craftsman hand tools, because of their reasonable cost, reasonable quality and, in my experience, unconditional replacement guarantee. I have broken a number of Craftsman hand tools and have never been questioned at all about how I broke them. I have worn out a few too--all were replaced with similar models. I wish the Craftsman power tools were as good as the hand tools. If I had it to do over, rather than starting my tool hoard with a small mechanics tool set and adding tools bit by bit, I would save up my money, or even make payments on a large Craftsman tool assortment like those that are sold in the Sears tool catalogue. While there might be some stuff in those assortments that I would never use, looking at my inventory, I have bought most of the tools contained in the biggest tool assortment deals over the years. I would guess that I have paid more for my tools than I would of if I had bought a large assortment. More bang for the buck. One of my best friend is a diesel mechanic. He has lots of the high end tools and has accumulated them over about the same time I have. He says that sometimes he has run into situations where there is insufficient clearance for a thick Craftsman socket to fit, while a good Mac or Proto or ---- socket that is a little thinner will work fine, with similar or greater strength. On the other hand, once he needed a very large (I don't remember just how big) socket for a truck he was working on. He ordered that single socket delivered from NAPA, but sent it back because it cost well over $100 for a single socket!!! He said he ended up buying an imported set of huge sockets which cost only a little more than the single socket. He also has many Craftsman and off-brand tools, but he tries to buy very good quality for the tools he uses all the time. I am guessing that it would cost $25K to $50K to replace all of my friends tools, but he has made a very successful career as a mechanic. One very important way of cutting down on tool costs is being very careful to always make sure that you pick up all of your tools when you finish a job. A shipped tool won't do you any good, and usually a single tool replacement is the most expensive way to buy them. We all lose some tools, but it is a good idea to make it a priority to collect them and keep track of them. I like to have both 6 point and 12 point sockets. Sometimes it is a lot easier to get a 12 point to go on a bolt or nut if clearance is tight. Good luck, I hope you enjoy your time as a diesel mechanic.
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