October 28, 200520 yr Here's the question (you can skip the rest of the write-up if you want): What do you carry in your Subarus besides tow straps, jumper cables and a rag or two for road side breakdowns and mishaps? ----ramblings---- Background: I'm not a professional. I'm a bonafide, shade tree. I'll admit it... I'm a bit neurotic when it comes to tools. I have always been drawn to them. I love them. Sometimes it can be a hinderance too as you'll understand. In addition to all sorts of wood working tools I have a tall red rollaway toolbox full of various hand tools for auto repair in my garage. Not Snap-on or Mac quality... but mostly American made stuff none the less. I've collected most of them a little at a time over the past 15-20 years. I also have a large wall of peg-board in my garage with more tools... mostly low-end open ended combo wrenches, screwdrivers, pliers, crescent wrenches and vise-grips of various sizes, etc... So I can grab something quick when I'm sharpening the lawm mower blade or something. I love to tinker in general. Recently, I've been working on upgrading and adding tools to the tool box I carry in my Subaru. Twice I've had to get a larger toolbox as it acquiesced to a more and more bloated kit. It is now to the point where there's 3/8 AND 1/2 inch socket sets, in metric AND SAE, same for wrenches... my justification is if I stop to help someone in an American made car. I also have metric and SAE allen keys and all sorts of pliers, drivers and so forth. lastly, a multi-tester, some heavy primary wire and a 12v test light. In the toolbox under the rear carpet I also have a small compressor and a tubless tire repair kit, an inverter, jumper cables, high quality LED flashlight and small 12 V. trouble light, Haynes manual, tow strap and clevis, jumper cables, etc... Finally... cutting to the chase. I realize I should simplify my tool kit to something easy to carry and useful for 90% of roadside problems. So here's the question: What is the consensus on the most useful tools to carry in an older generation Subaru (mine's an '87) to repair most roadside break downs, like broken belts, blown radiator hoses, electrical gremlins and even broken timing belts? What do you carry in your Subarus besides tow straps, jumper cables and a rag or two for road side breakdowns and mishaps? Sorry to be so verbose. Tracy
October 28, 200520 yr Author Here's the question (you can skip the rest of the write-up if you want): What do you carry in your Subarus besides tow straps, jumper cables and a rag or two for road side breakdowns and mishaps? Tracy This site had some good ideas: http://www.film.queensu.ca/CJ3B/Tech/Tools.html
October 28, 200520 yr With only 190,000 km on my Loyale, all I carry is the stock tool kit. Strictly for use on OTHER people's vehicles!
October 28, 200520 yr OIL!!! pretty muchs basic tools, metric wrenches, metric sockets, cresent wrench, plyers, wire cutters, wire stripper, couple tow straps, come-a-long, deep dish sockets, screw drivers, and some zip ties thats pretty much most of it.
October 28, 200520 yr wow your prepared! for normal driving i stick with only a few tools... not much room in a gen 1 brat... i have a few wrenches, some screw drivers(magnetic ones for if i drop a bolt in a hard to reach spot), big flood lights(hand held, one battery powered, one plug in one), a dead blow hammer, jack(obviously), some duct tape... ummm... i always carry my leatherman and LED flashlight around with me... so i guess those count... FSM too...(in the car not in my pocket!) if i go on a road trip i bring everything... all my tools...(i just have a basic toolbox crammed full of tools and a complete ratchet set... some jack stands...) i also usually take along a spare axle or at least the stub... (for the front) ummmm... bungy cords... i can't think of anything else i carry...
October 28, 200520 yr I second the hammer, and would suggest it is a fairly big one (although small ones are useful too). Self Amalgamating tape is great to have - have heard of a guy who fixed his radiator hose with it and left it for 10 years untill he sold the car! Pliers are a must, vise-grips are very useful. cable ties are surprisingly useful.
October 29, 200520 yr My list: Tools 10, 12, 14, 17, 19, 22, and 36 MM sockets, various extensions, adaptors, etc. in 1/4", 3/8", and 1/2" drives, deep and standard, 6 and 12 point. 10, 12, 14, and 19 MM combination wrenches 18" 1/2" drive breaker bar Slipjoint and needle nose pliers GOOD wire crimpers All sorts of screwdrivers A decent hammer Multimeter 12V test probe Zippy ties Electrical tape Duct tape (but of course!) JB Weld And a really big Mag Light Parts 'n' stuff Spare timing belts Various sizes of hose Some bits of wire Fuses like mad Misc. hose clamps Misc. electrical connectors Oil More oil Power steering fluid Antifreeze Lots of water Some more oil Gear oil Recovery gear A burly come-a-long An equally burly tow strap Some chain Trailer chains (makes it real easy to pull the car in a nice straight line by hooking to both tow hooks at the same time) A folding combination shovel/pick Jackstands All the tools except the breaker bar fit into a little tiny tool box that lives under the floor in the back of the wagon, along with the vast majority of the other stuff. I definately need to snag a couple spare axles to carry around too.
October 29, 200520 yr i usualy end up taking a 1000 mile road trip during a blizard, and sub zero temperatures, so my list is very long. two things have screwed me a number of times alternator timing belt (you only reely need to bring the one side) and all the tools to change them. i also bring a distributor. dont bring the whole half inch set. just bring the 36mm for the axles, and the 21mm(i think) for the crank pulley. during one very unlucky period of my life i brought three full sized spares. from texas to minnesota and back.
October 29, 200520 yr DUCT TAPE! A big ol roll of it! And some extra stickers for those times when you need to slap on some extra horse power!
October 29, 200520 yr lots of oil factory tool kit plus 10,12,14,17,19,36 sockets vise grips screw driver cell phone and of course lots of oil
October 29, 200520 yr "SUBARU SURVIVAL KIT" 1/4" drive toos: ratchet, extension, 8mm, 10mm, 12mm 3/8" drive tools: ratchet, 10mm, 12mm deep, 14mm, extension 1/2" drive tools breaker bar, 17mm, 19mm, 7/8" or 22mm 36mm, ratchet, extension wrenches: 8mm, 10mm, 12-14 combo, 17mm, 19mm phillips and flat head screwdrivers, vice grip and pliers, wire cutter Electrical: various bits of wire and connectors, bulbs and fuses, test lite or multi meter this will fix anytthing to alternators to axles for those of you with open timing belts a 12mm deep, ratchet, and 7/8 wrench is all you need! 14, 17, 19 and 36mm , 3/8" punch will fix an axle off the side of the road. use a long bar or pipe to push the lower control arm down to separate the ball joint the rest will allow you to remove a trailing arm or the diff for rear axles, or pull the motor should you have a friend around
October 29, 200520 yr Author "SUBARU SURVIVAL KIT"........<snip>........ Excellent. I appreciate the replies to this thread. Like I mentioned, I'd like to simplify my kit. I don't really need to be carrying around a 60 lb. toolbox all the time. My Dodge Intrepid is pretty squirrely in the winter. I'd like to take the Soob on some of our road trips this winter and I'm looking to find the right balance between a functional toolbox that will "git 'er done" without taking up a lot of unnecessary space. Tracy
October 29, 200520 yr all of my tools fit in a small tool bag if you get some thing to keep all the tools togther, they dont take up very much space at all
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