Thought I was saving money buying my own specialty tools, turns out the shop's loaners were better

Spent $150 on a set of pin extractors off Amazon for pulling engine cowling pins. First time using one, the tip snapped off inside a pin and cost me 2 hours of downtime. The old Snap-on set in the shop toolbox never gave anyone trouble. Anyone else learn this lesson the hard way with cheap tools?

2 comments

2 Comments

mila39515d ago

Tip snapped off inside a pin" haha oh man I felt that one in my wallet. Yeah I bought a cheap torque wrench once to save a few bucks and it was off by like 15 foot pounds, nearly ruined a whole set of cylinder head bolts. Its funny how you think youre being smart skipping the expensive stuff but the shop tools have been abused for years and still work better. Now I just wait for the loaner set to come back or borrow from the guy next to me.

caseyrivera15d ago

Actually happened to me once with a cheap chinese torque wrench from amazon. I was doing brake calipers on my civic and it felt fine until I went to recheck with a buddy's snap on wrench. Mine was clicking at like 50 ft lbs when I set it for 40, no wonder I kept thinking the bolts were tight enough. Ended up snapping a bolt head off because it was overtightened so much. So now I treat torque wrenches like I treat my relationships - if it was too cheap to start with, its going to cost me way more in the long run lol