Most of you guys work on the same stuff every day so you know what you may need to do a repair. Most of the mechanic work i do is at a place were they dont have any 2 trucks or equipment that is alike and to make things even more fun if it has been modified or the truck will be metric and what is bolted on after the factory will be sae. How do you cut down on trips geting tools to were you are working?
I've been working on this same thing at my job, I'm in charge of maintenance for all town buildings and properties for the town. Sometimes I'm a couple hundred yards away from the truck inside a building and there's a lot of wasted time going back and forth to the truck for tools. I used to be a member of our local rescue squad and my thoughts went back to how we outfitted the ambulance with "crash kits", bags set up with everything you needed for different injuries. The injured party could be quite a distance from the ambulance and in that field seconds count. I'm working on applying this idea to my work truck, setting up bags for various types of repairs. There's quite a selection of heavy duty canvas tool bags at Home Depot and Lowe's that will suit my needs. I think you could do something similar for your service truck.
Thats kind of what i want to do is get one of those 8x8 canvas containers that stand up and are open toped and fill it with small tools needed to do small jobs.I am geting older and need to save steps.
I've been using a wheelbarrow and a half dozen heavy plastic crates. Been thinking of a trike bicycle and a trailer of sorts.
I use the roll-up wrench pouch's for combo wrench's.. very easy to carry and to MAKE SURE you leave w/ ALL your wrench's.. The blow molded cases for sockets.. again, very easy to carry and keep track of.. And I use what we call, a dock cart.. 2 large bike wheels on front and a stand on the back.. molded plastic for light weight.. very easy to throw in the back of the truck.. load all the tools.. and off you go..
I know its crude but I use a small galvanized steel bucket. Its probably about a 2.5 gallon size. I found it particularly handy while climbing up on rock crushers and screening plants. I can just tie it off to the side of the plant or my ladder. A 5 gallon pail works well for the bigger things too. I agree with the above post concerning roll up wrench pouches and cases or racks for your sockets. Very handy. A lot of the equipment I work on is involved in road construction and we all know those job sites get tight! Its pretty easy to grab a couple buckets, dump a pile of tools and rags in them and be on your way. And if you have fluid leaking you have a container handy. At times the closest I can park to a piece of equipment is the next side road down the street.
I keep a couple soft bags with common things like various adjustables, screwdrivers, allen wrenches, pliers, tape, zip ties, etc
Get a four wheel drive service truck ? .......
For ring spanners I used a length of 6mm airline and a plastic quick connecter to join it together through all the rings once i got fed up of the couplers coming apart i used old flint guns and threaded the spanners on to them
One thing I used for box end wrenches (ring spanners for the Aussies and Brits) was cheap carabiners: http://www.homedepot.com/p/The-Hillman-Group-Dark-Green-Carabiner-702275/205094058 Ha Ba Fright sells them in assorted sizes link above just for a picture. http://www.harborfreight.com/12-piece-snap-clip-fastener-set-67563.html
I do the same thing kshansen!
Believe it or not, but health and safety banned the use of carabiners incase you used them for climbing/working at heights. :beatsme
Banned them even to hold a set of wrenches(spanners) together? What's next banning the use of ladders because someone might climb up somewhere and jump off?
I guess it's back to using shower curtain hooks then.....
I got a metal basket when I worked at the cat dealer. I like to keep it on top of the tool box in my service truck with things I use most in it. couple screwdrivers, Wrenches I use most. 3/8 ratchet, rail of metric sockets. great if I have a job that takes more than one day, or if it's a late night on friday, I can just pop it on top of the box, lock up and roll down the highway. got a couple tool bags too (the kind you can usually catch on a deal at sears). They're great when the machine is far away and you can't get to it with the truck. Had a coworker had to work on a machine on a barge. Poor fella had to load up all his tools and hop on a boat every morning.
I do a lot of work on commercial and lobster boats, everything is in Milwaukee bags, then I put back everything back in my service truck boxes. Sometimes I make five plus trips back and for in skiffs. I also bill for time for putting my tools and parts that are not us back in stock. Wintertime skiff rides can be scary when it's zero outside!
I keep stuff on my truck as a kit. Electrical tools ,fuses and terminal ends all in one box.
AWP makes a backpack that works pretty good. I keep one in my pickup for as a "go" bag. I can at least troubleshoot with it. 2L-22419-1 is the part number. I also have 1L-20214vp-3. One has electrical testers in it and the other has small tools and supplies. I've found not to make my carriers too big as I tend to load the wagon to the point it's burdensome.
I have one. Drove into a site with a foot of mud. Uncompacted trenches everywhere. I have an empty toolbox in my truck for when I have to hoof it. This case it was three blocks through the mud. I go over in my head what tools I need. I do every job in my head before I start it anyways.