Favorite tool

[Ross]

We've had first car,dumb **** you got away with and hinkey fixes. Who has a favorite tool? This is a loaded question for some of you I know. I like mine to but it can't fix my car.
A close second is the good old BFH,followed by the smoke wrench and last is an old motorcycle fork tube that has NEVER failed to remove(or break) a stuck fastener.

[632 Regal]

besides my closest friend that resides very close I'd have to say the Impact hammer...claims to have 600lb ft in reverse and I have busted some mighty large bolts in half with it.

[kyleN20]

i like my 4 in 1 screw driver, 2 phillips, 2 flatheads, that or my racheting snap on screw driver

[TheEndIsNear]

Vise-Grips hands down... Great for removing those pesky nuts/bolts that the previous owner rounded off... That's closly followed by the 5ft long steel pipe or Ross's motorcycle fork tube...

[rob101]

besides my closest friend that resides very close I'd have to say the Impact hammer...claims to have 600lb ft in reverse and I have busted some mighty large bolts in half with it.
pffft 600 ft lb i have used a hydraulic wrench that can do 3100 ft.lb only torqued the bolts to 1800 ft lb though.

[winfred]

i've got a old foot and a half long craftsman flat screwdriver from the days when they had real steel in them that is almost the perfect prybar that can on occaision remove screws

[Maki]

Vise-Grips hands down... Great for removing those pesky nuts/bolts that the previous owner rounded off... That's closly followed by the 5ft long steel pipe or Ross's motorcycle fork tube...

I really like a Vise Grips product called the "locking wrench" ... it's got a notch cut into the fixed jaw so you can grip three sides of a hexagonal surface. Here's a link to a picture:
http://www.mytoolstore.com/american/vis003.html

The small locking wrench is the best tool I've ever found to loosen flare fittings on brake lines. I've used it on half a dozen cars to change brake caliper hoses and never worry about twisting or cracking a hard line (I'm in the rust belt). It's also very good at removing rounded nuts because it applies torque to the center of the flats, not the corners.

I'm kind of an evangelist about this tool. Beats a flare wrench with a baseball bat.

[shogun]

http://www.bimmerboard.com/members/stpete/DSC00282.JPG
Little one mandatory 13mm for 2002 intake manifold work. Big one often does wonders for a pushed-in smooth dent. Also useful in removing stubborn centers of wheels sometimes.
http://www.bimmerboard.com/members/stpete/DSC00287.JPG
http://www.bimmerboard.com/members/stpete/DSC00286.JPG


All tool ideas from ShadeTreePete, copyrights pending ;-)

[Ross]

Do the crane in your pic. and the hyd. wrench have something in common?
I did a brief stint in a diesel injection shop as a kid, one of the guys formerly worked on heavy equipment, he had gigantic wrenches.
How large a fastener must it be to withstand thousands of FT/LBs?
The tightest thing I ever encountered was a wheel nut that siezed on my friends Shadow DN-9 vintage F-1 car when the motor locked up at speed. We had a 600lb. torque wrench with a 3X multiplier and couldn't budge it. He unded up destroying the nut to remove it.