What is your "Must have" Road Tool Kit? (Check the List and add to it)

[Singing Land Cruiser]

What is your "Must have" Over The Road Tool Kit? We are converting our 1987 MCI 102A3 and would like to know what tools you would have on board? We will be on tour for aprox. 2 years+. And where do you stow them? PIC"S PLEASE. We will be making a list. All the Best, Michael & Christi
The LIST:
Coach-Net road service and a high-limit Visa card.  Everything else is optional.Sean


Two full sets of combination wrenches from 3/8 to 1-1/4.  1/4, 3/8 & 1/2" socket sets in English
3/8" drive metric sockets
50' of air hose with tire chucks and a blow nozzle
Multimeter
wiring pliers
side cutters
vice grips
water pump pliers
needle nose pliers
forceps
Drawer full of screwdrivers from jewellers' to really big
Hot glue gun
soldering kits
hammers
3/8 cordless drill & a complete drill index
3/4" drive socket set
1" impact with tire sockets to fit the bus
1" breaker bar with a 4 foot snipe
2 x 20 ton bottle jacks
a variety of C-clamps
staple gun
caulking gun
electronic leak detector
Cat 5 cable tester
2 really big (like 14") Crescent wrenches
Oil and fuel filter wrenches
2 1/2 gallon yellow diesel can filled
crimper and a selection of crimp-on electrical terminals
5-tool combo kits, (the kit came with a drill, sabre saw, reciprocating saw, mini circular saw, chain saw, and flashlight
right-angle drill
Jack stands & cribbing
big channel locks
A/C guages
Magnifying glass
dremel tool
bullseye glass repair kits
hacksaw
butane torch
step ladder
those little stretchy numbers with the round ball on the end (?)
And, as we discussed last night, that most versatile tool of all --- the IR thermometer
utility knife
hammer
handheld grinder
heat gun
5 foot folding ladder also stows under a bunk bed inside
I carry a parts drawer set of various lamps ( marker, turn sig etc)
peumatic connectors, Tee's, valves, of various sizes,DOT tubing.
6 amp 12V battery charger
Don't forget the duck tape! (DreamscapeEagle) LOL
3 gal compressor
air assist bottle jack
run up ramps
Pencil and paper for "what if"
DOT flare kit
A piece of Wood to Knock On, Hence " Knock on Wood"
Big tool chest
three orange warning triangles
duct tape and bailing wire
starting fluid
selection of wire ties
WD-40

[cody]

Table saw, shaper, router, dovetailer lol, glue clamps, assorted saws, drills, pipe clamps, etc, just the basics lol, oh and maybe a cresent wrench and plyers, along with a planer, molder etc.

[Singing Land Cruiser]

OK Cody, now thats a cabinet tool kit. M&C

[cody]

oops sorry lol

[Paso One]

With a shop full of tools, and knowing it is not possible to take them all.

I adopted a rule that if I used a wrench or tool when working on or servicing the bus I put a duplicate in the tool box that is carried in the bus.

You never know what you need till you need it.  But if you needed it once you can bet you will need it again.

[bobofthenorth]

This thread ran on Escapees for a while and eventually it comes down to two camps: those who carry EVERYTHING and those who carry as little as possible.  We fall in the former category so I'll kick off the list.  Two full sets of combination wrenches from 3/8 to 1-1/4.  1/4, 3/8 & 1/2" socket sets in English.  3/8" drive metric sockets.  50' of air hose with tire chucks and a blow nozzle.  Multimeter, wiring pliers, side cutters, vice grips, water pump pliers, needle nose pliers, forceps.  Drawer full of screwdrivers from jewellers' to really big.  Hot glue gun, soldering kits, hammers.  3/8 cordless drill & a complete drill index.  Three grease guns and spare cartridges.  That's probably the end of the stuff that gets used regularly but its only a fraction of what I carry.  There's also a 3/4" drive socket set, a 1" impact with tire sockets to fit the bus, a 1" breaker bar with a 4 foot snipe and 2 x 20 ton bottle jacks.  I carry a variety of C-clamps, a staple gun, a caulking gun, an electronic leak detector, a Cat 5 cable tester as well as a bunch of other stuff that I have no doubt forgotten.  I've got an 11 drawer mechanic's chest that sits on the end of a set of 5' full extension slides so that I can carry oil, filters, and big tools behind the tool chest.  Personally I subscribe to the notion that whoever dies with the most tools wins.  YMMV.

[WEC4104]

Bob's list was a real good start.  Personally, I am constantly reaching for two items: my electrical multimeter, and my 3/8" cordless drill.  Seems like I can't do anything without one or both of those items being involved.   .... Oh, and I would add the imfamous duct tape to Bob's list.

[Blacksheep]

That's easy!

Prevost parts, Central Florida Bus Repair & Jack Conrads phone numbers.
A little dog food for Bud and were good to go!

Ace

[TomC]

Add to that 2 really big (like 14") Crescent wrenches to take care of the really big hydraulic lines (or just carry a very heavy open end wrench set).  Remember the more weight you put on the bus, the more fuel it takes to push it.  Good Luck, TomC

[Len Silva]

If I had the choice, I would carry nothing but a check book.  Unfortunately, I do pack a pretty full tool box for every trip.

[RickB]

Oil and fuel filter wrenches. You will be changing filters on the road you can plan on it. Also a 2 1/2 gallon yellow diesel can filled with fuel for priming the filters.

Hope that helps

[Sean]

What is your "Must have" Over The Road Tool Kit? ...

Coach-Net road service and a high-limit Visa card.  Everything else is optional.

Seriously, the road service thing is not to be taken lightly.  We pay around $100 per year, and even changing one tire will save you more than that amount; a "routine" tow (whatever that is) with a heavy-duty wrecker will cost you upwards of $350.  So if you buy just one "tool" for the bus, this would be it.

We're full timers, so we carry every tool we own.  I would guess that adds up to nearly a thousand pounds of weight.  Before we hit the road, I went through every tool box and shelf and got rid of all my duplicates  -- it's amazing over the years just how many #2 Philips drivers one can accumulate.

The other thing I did was to sell off all my cordless power tools, which, while often "best of breed," all needed their own batteries and chargers.  Then I went down to Home Depot and bought one of those 5-tool combo kits, so now I have all tools that use the same battery pack and charger (the kit came with a drill, sabre saw, reciprocating saw, mini circular saw, chain saw, and flashlight, and then I added a right-angle drill to the mix).  In five years, we've used all the cordless tools at one time or another.

I carry two 20-ton bottle jacks, which have gotten us out of several jams (including tire shops whose floor jacks would not fit under our weird bus).  What I don't carry, though, are any tire tools.  We don't carry a spare, so having a 5' long lug wrench (or a 1" impact wrench) and other specialized tools doesn't make sense to us.  There isn't any place we can drive in North America where we can't get a tire brought to us, along with the tools and a guy who is more capable of humping a 300-lb wheel than I am.

We carry a small spade-type shovel, about 30" or so in length.  In addition to being legally required if you are going to build a campfire on public lands, we've had to use it to dig the bus out of soft spots.  Sometimes I only need to dig enough to get a board and a jack in the right place, to put more boards under the drivers, or whatever, but it beats digging by hand or with a kitchen spoon.

Absolutely do not leave home without a decent multi-meter.  If you have an MSW inverter, then spend the extra bucks to get a "true RMS" type meter, otherwise the generic ones will do fine.  Also, get a good crimper and a selection of crimp-on electrical terminals; I can assure you that you will need them at some point.

Outside of that, a normal complement of hand tools, plus a full set of SAE and metric sockets and combination wrenches, should meet most of your needs.

-Sean
http://ourodyssey.blogspot.com

[RichardEntrekin]

Land Cruiser,

That's a good list.

I would add.

Jack stands or cribbing, don't depend on the bottle jacks alone when under the coach.
A tray of assorted electrical crimp connections
A pair of really big channel locks, the REALLY big ones.
A/C guages
Magnifying glass

[Nick Badame Refrig/ACC]

This is the best tool for me..

So I can get a hold of you guys....LOL

Nick-

[uncle ned]

The most important thing for me is Davids coach repair 828 874 6105

and Reeses wrecker 828 327 0700  ask for jetter.


uncle ned
huggy bear