5 Pieces of Shop Equipment to Simplify At-Home Car Repair
A look at five basic pieces of shop equipment to help breeze through at-home car repair
Whether you’re new to the world of at-home car repair, or you’re a DIY veteran looking to expand your home repair capabilities, adding a few affordable and effective products to your car repair toolkit can help make a wide range of tasks easier and faster.
Is car repair your hobby? Passion? A way to save a few bucks? In any case, you’ll find no shortage of options to add convenience and efficiency to the mix when it’s time to wrench on your ride.
Here’s a closer look.
Rhino Ramps
Get your ride’s front or rear end up and off of the floor, lickety split, with a set of cheap, reliable, and highly effective Rhino Ramps. With a grippy coreTRAC non-skid base, these easy-to-use ramps won’t go skidding across your garage floor when you try to mount them, and they boast a 17-degree incline for easy use with even lower clearance vehicles. Whether you’re doing an oil change on your truck, an exhaust repair on your crossover, or a springtime fluid change on your sports car, these highly portable and durable ramps will provide easy access to your ride’s underside.
Improved Lighting
A little light can do big things to make car repair easier and less stressful when you’re working beneath your ride. Just a few bucks spent on a quality lighting gadget or two can be the answer: combine a cordless magnetic trouble light, which attaches virtually anywhere beneath your car, with a set of quality LED safety glasses, which shine light wherever you look, to complete all of your repairs with proper illumination, improved safety, and reduced eye strain. Look for units with LED lights, which are very bright, while using minimal power. With proper light where it’s needed, you’ll be working smarter, faster, and more comfortably.
Fluid Transfer Pump
When it’s time to change your ride’s less glamorous fluids, like transfer case fluid, transmission fluid, differential fluid, and others, a fluid transfer pump is an inexpensive way to give yourself a break. Many components within your vehicle are full of fluids that require periodic replacement, though many of those components have fill and drain ports that can be difficult to access with a funnel. With a fluid transfer pump, you place a flexible hose inside of the component in question, suck out the old fluid, and repeat the process in reverse, injecting new fluid back in. Most fluid transfer pumps have built-in measurement markings, and using one makes those trickier fluid changes faster, easier, and less messy.
OBD Code Reader
If you see a CHECK ENGINE Light (CEL) in your instrument cluster, one or more of a multitude of electronic or sensor-related components within your car’s computer network requires attention. Many folks take the dreaded CEL as a reason to call up their local mechanic and make an appointment. Want to save time and money, and diagnose the problem in seconds without even starting your car or crossover? An OBD Code Reader is the answer. Plug it to your ride’s diagnostic port, power it on, wait a few moments, and the cause(s) of the CEL will be displayed on-screen. Whether it’s a throttle position sensor, a thermostat-related issue, a bad O2 sensor, or anything else, you’ll know the cause of your CEL in seconds, without a potentially-pricey visit to the shop.
With many service centres charging $50 or more to diagnose a CEL, many OBD Code Readers can pay for themselves the first time you use them.
A Full Toolkit
Sockets, swivels, extensions and ratchets—go big with a comprehensive toolkit so you’ll always have the right tool for the job nearby. The most comprehensive kits include accessories like pliers, channel locks, drill bits, supplemental wrenches, a hex key set, screwdrivers, ratchets, and more. Look for a top-quality kit from a brand you trust for long life and durability. From there, keeping your most commonly-needed tools organized and at hand is a cinch.
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