Basic Tool List. - Corolland: the Toyota Corolla Forums

I always wanted to know what is better when working on cars a 3/8 ratchet set or 1/2 ratchet set.

Also spark plug sockets and maybe screwdrivers and wrenches.

I am trying to put together a basic tool list of what is needed when doing maintenance on cars

Any help would be great.

Thanks. Frank

Just for giggles, I searched for "automotive tool kits", and there were many results. I would imagine some of those would be very good. As always, you get what you pay for, so you'll never go wrong with the better-made stuff.

Depends on what level of DIY you want to head towards. For simple DIY - maintenance sort of work - a 3/8" drive wrench would be plenty. For work with beefier buts and bolts - suspension, steering, engine and powertrain work - you'll likely have to add in a 1/2".

As mentioned by corollamike - you can get a set already put together for you. There you just have to pick what fits you budget and skill level.

I usually try and discourage people from duplicating another person's tool set - as these are not readily applicable from one person to another. One might really need a 1200 piece, $15,000 Snap-On professional tool kit, while another might only need a 8 piece, $10 Sears 3/8 racket mini set. Always some tradeoffs - price vs quality, buying a huge kit vs buying what you need, kit for just the car or one for the whole home, etc.

As for decent automotive and diagnostic kit - these are the tools/items I'd expect to see: (metric and/or SAE depending on the car)

- 3/8" and 1/2" ratchet sets, 1/4" wrench couldn't hurt

- socket extensions (3/8" - 3", 6", 10" - stack them if necessary)

- 3/8" to 1/2" adapter (so you can used 3/8" sockets and accessories on the 1/2" wrench)

- 3/8" and 1/2" socket wobble joints

- open and box wrenches, adjustable wrench

- breaker bar and/or piece of metal pipe

- screwdrivers (phillips and flat, assortment of sizes)

- sparkplug sockets (5/8 in, 13/16 in, 3/4 in and 18mm, if you want to cover all the plugs out there)

- torque wrench

- hex wrenches

- torx and star wrenches

- feeler gauges

- assortment of pliers (needle nose, lineman, bent, slip-joint, locking)

- volt meter or DMM, jumper leads

- magnetic pickup tool or just a magnet

- grabber tool (nice to have)

- inspection mirror (nice to have)

- good set of lights, LED or halogen, headlamp would be nice

- 4 way tire tool or impact wrench

- floor jack / trolley jack

- jack stands

- ramps, wheel chocks

- scrap pieces of lumber

- zipties

- masking tape, electrical tape, self vulcanizing tape, silicone tape

- soldering gun

- heat shrink tubing

- heat gun

- misc hardware (screws, nuts, washers, etc.)

- compression tester

- vacuum pump

- pressure bleeder

- drain pans, collection jugs

- car creeper or mat to lay on (cardboard works too)

- gloves

- safety glasses

- hammers and mallets (rubber/plastic mallet, ball peen, 3lbs sledge)

- prybar

That can be a serious investment there - talking hundreds or even thousands of dollars, depending on the brand. But now you can do probably 95%-99% of what you can do to the car before you start talking about major rebuilding, stopping short of fabrication.

Now going the other direction, as for a basic kit (barebones) for Toyotas like mine - this is what I'd recommend:

- 3/8" ratchet w/ 10mm, 12mm, 14mm, 17mm, 19mm, 21mm, 5/8"(16mm) sparkplug socket, 3" and 10" extension, wobble joint

(10mm is for the majority of the bolts you see, 12mm and 14mm are common for drain plugs, 17mm and 19mm for bigger stuff (suspension and chassis), 21mm is for your lugs, 5/8" wrench is just for plugs)

- hollow pipe for breaker bar use

- #0 and #2 phillips screwdriver, 3/16" and 5/8" flat screwdriver

(#0 for small screws, also sharp enough to act as a scratch awl - #2 will fit most of the screws there, 3/16" has a thin blade to pry up on trim pop clips, 5/8" screwdriver is big enough to act like a prybar)

- electrical tape (100s of uses)

- flashlight

- zipties (quick repairs)

- voltmeter, jumper leads (a need to have with modern cars)

- multifunction knife

(get a blade and usually needle nose pliers out of this, also might get access to wire cutters as well, extra phillips and flat drivers - got a Gerber one that was cheaper than buying a separate knife and pliers)

This is what I carry in the trunk as an emergency tool kit - cost me about $50 tops. Can't do everything, but will get you back home

Another thing to consider - myself, I have a dedicated set of tools that only touches the car, and another set only for the house. Inevitably - someone in the house will take a tool to use on some project and get sidetracked or forget to bring it back - that will be the tool that I need right then, Also, keeps the oil or grease contaminated tools out of reach of the kids and me - don't want to work on a piece of furniture only to find out that there is a big greasy handprint on it from the gunk transferred from the tool. Doesn't matter if you clean them off after use - they always seem to pickup oil, dirt or grease.

For grins - here is a picture of a Craftsman comprehensive tool set - over 1000+ pieces, about $8K of tools

Fish

Thanks. I will have to check out some tool sets. I did not know the tool sets came with all different tools. I thought it was just like ratchet sets per say.

Thanks Frank.