Putting Together a Tool Kit

[jack maloney]

Long plastic zip ties are useful. Also, a tube of lithium grease for the hitch ball. And a Swedish splitting axe for firewood.

Tip from this old backpacker: 152 proof rum saves weight and space, goes great in hot chocolate (and even a tbsp. of it packs a wallop at higher altitudes!).

Oh - almost forgot - I always pack a US Army folding trenching tool. It takes up very little space and is useful for leveling sites, leveling a spot for the step in from of the door, dousing campfires, cleaning up sites, etc. But be sure to buy the genuine government-issue article, which is very well made and durable ; the commercial copies are pretty junky.

[Herb P]

People are going to scoff at me but I always travel with a few 6010 welding rods sealed tightly in an airtight tube (I made one out of ABS pipe and some fittings I had around). It takes up hardly any room or weight and cost about $.20 each; and I always have good jumper cables in each vehicle anyway, so you can weld things together when, for example, the frame on your trailer cracks and breaks, or you break a spring shackle, etc... You won't make pretty welds but you'll get home.

[John & Sandy M]

People are going to scoff at me but I always travel with a few 6010 welding rods sealed tightly in an airtight tube (I made one out of ABS pipe and some fittings I had around). It takes up hardly any room or weight and cost about $.20 each; and I always have good jumper cables in each vehicle anyway, so you can weld things together when, for example, the frame on your trailer cracks and breaks, or you break a spring shackle, etc... You won't make pretty welds but you'll get home.

Herb; could you elaborate a bit on this... perhaps as a topic in "owners helping owners". This seems to be a handy thing to know how to do!

Regards

[Herb P]

Herb; could you elaborate a bit on this... perhaps as a topic in "owners helping owners". This seems to be a handy thing to know how to do!

Regards

Here's a page describes emergency welding pretty well.

Anyone who is going to consider doing this should really practice on their driveway a couple of times. Your other option is to just carry the supplies with you and if something ever happens, you might luck out and find an experienced welder or old farmer at the campground or driving by on the road who'd be willing to do the weld for you but doesn't carry his/her own supplies ...

You will also likely want to carry some files or other methods of grinding... If you're welding something, it needs to be mostly free of paint and rust at the break or else (worst case) you won't strike an arc or (best case) get a poor weld.

Myself, I carry a Ready Welder around but they're a few hundred dollars and certainly overkill for the average RVer. If I was a boondocker though .....

[Gerry]

I carry a bottle jack and a four-way tire speed wrench.
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Funny that Roger would be the first posting on this thread.
The whole of last year I was confident with my tool kit of 3/8 drive sockets, set of American and metric open end wrenches, verious electrial connectors, and tools but...
when I went to take the tires off to replace them yesterday I realized that I didn't have a lug wrench in the camper...
I suppose one of the sockets would have fit but if the lugs were real tight the small handle of the sockets set would have been useless.
I now have the 4-way wrench in with the jacks and it will stay there.
Gerry the canoebuilder

[Gary Carvajal]

Gerry,

That is why years ago I put a couple of cheater bars in the tug. They are pieces of steel EMT electrical conduit, big enough to go over the ratchet handle and increase leverage.

You can take a 3/8 drive ratchet and generate enough force with a foot and half ot two feet piece of pipe over your ratchet to loosen even the toughest lug nuts or springe bolts or what ever. With a 1/2 inch drive set you can keep the trailer ball tight with the right socket.

Garo

[Brian B-P]

Rather than use a "cheater bar", I carry (and use in my garage) a 1/2" drive breaker bar, similar to (for instance) Husky model 24231. It fulfills the same function as a cheater of providing increased leverage than a typical ratchet handle (because it's longer), is very durable (because it doesn't have the ratchet assembly), and I think it's safer than a cheater.

I carry sockets to fit both the trailer's (and tug's) wheel nuts, and the hitch ball nut, and both are easily handled with the breaker bar.

In my experience, a "cheater bar" (which is normally actually a pipe, not a solid bar) is called a "snipe", but in searching the web today I realize that this is apparently an unusual usage; maybe it's a local thing...

[Herb P]

Rather than use a "cheater bar", I carry (and use in my garage) a 1/2" drive breaker bar,
In my experience, a "cheater bar" (which is normally actually a pipe, not a solid bar) is called a "snipe", but in searching the web today I realize that this is apparently an unusual usage; maybe it's a local thing...

nah, I also call them a 'snipe'. I also throw away those 4 way tire irons (lug nut rounding devices) and equip all of my vehicles with a breaker bar and appropriate socket(s) (for truck and trailer lugnuts as applicable).. I've confirmed that my small wife can undo a correctly torqued lugnut using the breaker bar and that's good enough for me.

Oh, and don't forget to anti-seize your lugnuts once in a while. Too many people put too much effort into checking their wheel bearings every year but never maintain their studs and lugnuts.

[Gerry]

You can take a 3/8 drive ratchet and generate enough force with a foot and half ot two feet piece of pipe over your ratchet to loosen even the toughest lug nuts or springe bolts or what ever. With a 1/2 inch drive set you can keep the trailer ball tight with the right socket.

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Garry, I did use this cheater bar idea once while working on a 71 Jeep spring shackle and bent the head of the 3/8 breaker bar.
I just took off some nasty lugs off of a 82 plow truck of mine with a 4 way and bent the shaft but didn't round any nuts over so I will opt for this.
I never even concidered the ball loosening up in fact when I want to change sizes I need to go to a garage and have an impact wrench put to them.
Gerry

[Joy A]

I carry just about everything mentioned above but I also carry fuses for both the Scamp and Jeep. I didn't see them listed but I may have missed them. I also carry a 12Volt impact wrench that has sockets which fit both the lugs on the Jeep and Scamp.

I carry a AAA card and Visa however after my first and only call to AAA for a flat tire, I'll get my impact wrench out, change the tire and be on my way. I say this because it took nearly 2 hours for the tow truck to arrive which was at one point almost across the street from me doing nothing. With the impact wrench it only takes minutes to change a tire.

I carry a key hole saw which I purchased while in Coos Bay several years ago. I had decided that I wanted to take the round electric off the Scamp and replace it with a square locking door and also added a cable jack to the outside of my Scamp. I did this in my spare time while squatting at The Mill Casino prior to one of the Oregon Gatherings. Hey, I get bored easy and need something to do. I've kept the key hole saw in the Scamp as you never know I might decide to change something else one day.

Another thing I carry is one of those roller things that applies the spline to the screen door. I've noticed on occasion that the spline works it way out of the groove.

I have a box with all sorts of nuts, bolts, screws, cable connections, electric splicing connectors etc. This box gathers all sorts of things that I might purchase while on a trip. Once or twice a year I go through it and take things out that I think may not need.

Oh, and don't forget some lengths of nylon cord. I had to tie my solar panel down because of the wind at Joshua Trees. It'll come in handy for other things at times.

In my tool kit is a Water Thief for faucets without threads. I also have a half dozen or so handles that fit the various faucets. I can open just about any faucet with one of these handles without damaging the faucet with a wrench.

I can show you any of these when I see you.

[Matt O'Bryan]

Keep in mind, we have ALOT more cargo capacity then the average Egger, but here's what goes with us.

Repair Tools:
22 piece SAE/Metric combination wrench set.
1/4 and 1/2" ratchets, 1/2" breaker bar.
aprox 50 sockets, SAE and metric.
20 piece screwdriver bit set, doubles as my hex and torx keys, I only use them to fix other poeples rigs.
#1,#2,#4 phillips.
3 flat screwdrivers, one very large for double duty as a pry bar.
5 piece punch/chisel set
12" hacksaw frame and several blades, including some wood blades (doubles as a camp saw.)
sabre grip for the saw blades
3 vice grips
5lb single jack sledge
36" crowbar.
self igniting plumbers torch
several sticks of brazing rod, along with some 1/8th" 7018 welding rod.
large flat, meduim sized half round, and small round files.
Digital Multimeter, will double as the battery gauge for the trailer when we get that far.
crimp on electrical connectors, roll of solder, old style soldering iron.
10" and 18" cresent wrenches
12" channel locks
Large 4way wrench.
Rivet gun
needlenose and slip joint pliers
wood splitting wedge, useful for all sorts of stuff.

Expendables:
JB weld- original style
Gorilla glue
Duct tape
teflon tape
2 20' rolls of eletrical wire, 14g and 10g.
Zip ties
roll of baling wire.
random assortment of nuts/bolts/screws
Rubber cement, tire patches and plugs.
pop rivets

Misc:
Cordless LED trouble light.
US Army Entrenchment Tool
small tarp
2 20' 3/8ths log chain, 20' nylon strap
large jumper cables, plus one smaller pair, it makes on the spot welding easier.
Welding goggles
MAPP cylinder
random rigging gear.

Depending on the tug we are using at the moment, also ad a 12v air compressor and a heavy duty come-along.

Thats what comes to mind at the moment, though I know I'm missing some stuff.

[Roger H]

Gerry,

That is why years ago I put a couple of cheater bars in the tug. They are pieces of steel EMT electrical conduit, big enough to go over the ratchet handle and increase leverage.

You can take a 3/8 drive ratchet and generate enough force with a foot and half ot two feet piece of pipe over your ratchet to loosen even the toughest lug nuts or springe bolts or what ever. With a 1/2 inch drive set you can keep the trailer ball tight with the right socket.

Garo

Gary, I have several 3/8" drive sets and only one 1/2" socket set that does duty in my garage. I have four vehicles, however, and three of the four are equipped to do towing duty. Each of them has a basic tool kit in it with a good quality (that's important) 4-way wrench and bottle jack in them. My Tundra has a tool box in the bed and it carries the full gamut of tools because I use it as my maintenance truck for my apartments. If you rotate your tires regularly, maintain your studs and wheel nuts, and don't let the tire shop carelessly re-install them with an impact wrench, the 4-way works just fine and will do all of your lug nuts on anything you tow as well. They're also significantly cheaper than buying another 1/2 drive socket set.

Roger

[Roger H]

<Moderator's Note>

For all you acorn nut affectionados, I have split the rivet/acorn nut posts off into their own discussion thread here.

Roger