Do it Yourself
by Jerry Cole

Basic Tools for Do-It-Yourself Projects

 
Beyond Mercedes-Benz cars, I like tools. A lot. It’s no secret. I see each automotive hiccup as another excuse to buy tools. I’m a DIY guy, and when I was asked to contribute a series of technical articles for The Star, we agreed that it would be a good idea to start by describing the basic set of tools that a shade-tree mechanic should have in his garage. I have an opinion on a lot of things and sometimes, I’m even right.

First, there are the common tools that every mechanic is going to need, regardless of the age of the Mercedes in his or her stable. The easy answer for the occasional mechanic is to run down to Sears – I like the Craftsman brand because it comes with a lifetime warranty – and buy a mechanic’s tool set that has screwdrivers, wrenches, sockets and ratchets. You can get a good set of tools for under $200. Most come in a nice–fitting case. 

These tools will get you started, but you’ll soon find that special tools can make a job easier and you’ll eventually want to replace the basic tools you use often with those of better quality. I do believe in buying things once, but in this case there’s no contradiction. Once you’ve got a good basic set of high-quality tools in your toolbox, you can tuck the starter tools back into their case and put it into the trunk to use for on-road emergencies.

Because you’re going to be adding other tools, you will need a real toolbox, but you don’t need one of the fancy roll-arounds – yet. Buy a good-quality three-drawer box with side handles and a lid – one drawer each for screwdrivers, wrenches and sockets, and use the lid compartment for miscellaneous gadgets. Put your new set of tools in the box, too, but save that fitted case.
If you’re working on a Mercedes, all-purpose tools won’t be enough. Hex bits were popular into the 1990s when Mercedes made the switch to Torx and E-Torx. You will find these types of fasteners everywhere on a Mercedes now. The Craftsman Professional 7-piece Torx screwdriver set is a real time saver when working on anything having to do with the doors. They have longer shanks than their standard counterparts and will reach the recessed screws on a Mercedes door handle whereas the standard length Torx drivers fall short.

In addition to your typical pliers, you should have vise grips in several sizes. I stick with the original vise grips made by Irwin because the release mechanism works best. Irwin also makes a locking wrench; a popular model is the 7LW. It’s another set of vise grips with funky jaws, but it can really save your hide at times. The odd shape of the jaws allows it to firmly grip three sides of a nut without doing damage. It will even grip rounded-off nuts and bolts as well as the shanks of bolts where the head is completely broken off. The tool is easily worth the price the first time you use it.    
    
You’ll also need at least two hammers – a mechanic’s tool set never comes with hammers and that claw hammer in your drawer wasn’t intended for use on an automobile. Get a 2-pound plastic dead-blow hammer and a ball-peen hammer.

In addition to tools, you really need a workbench – a good sturdy one. Go ahead, build it yourself; you’ll get exactly what you want that way. A three-quarter inch or thicker plywood top, four-by-four posts for legs and two-by-four or longer framing will work well. A few electrical outlets along the back are nice, and if one outlet is switchable, it’s easy to turn on and off the light that you’re bound to want above the bench. And I put thick pegboard on the wall behind my bench to hang tools that won’t fit in the box or are needed all the time.

Once you have a bench, you have a place to mount a sturdy bench vise. Don’t get a wimpy little vise; invest in a good one. Aside from good quality, a few things to look for are a swivel base, a flat anvil-like area on the back, and pipe jaws, in addition to the regular jaws, to hold things like an exhaust pipe. I use the anvil area as often as the vise itself – like for pounding the dents out of a transmission pan. A decent vise will run about $50 to $150. Mount the vise securely to the bench. The first time you clamp an old brake rotor to remove the bolts to the hub, you’ll know whether you mounted the vise to the bench securely.

At the other end of your new bench, you have a place to mount a 6-inch bench grinder. The new grinder will come with both coarse and fine grinding wheels. Place the coarse wheel in a drawer somewhere and install a good quality wire wheel on one side of the grinder in its place. The wire wheel is going to be your best friend when it comes to removing rust and old paint from parts and hardware. Safety first: The wheels are spinning at approximately 3,500 rpm and if the wire wheel grabs whatever you are working on, it will throw it incredibly far. I learned the hard way so you don’t have to.

Here we’re talking about purchasing a pair of good mechanic’s gloves and a comfortable set of safety glasses to wear whenever you’re working. No matter how much money you save doing your own work, a finger or an eye is way too high a price to pay. A box of disposable nitrile gloves will keep your hands clean while working on small finicky jobs that require removing the mechanic’s gloves.

At times you’ll need to remove the wheels and sometimes even crawl underneath. You’ll need a good roll-around floor jack with 3,000-pound lifting capacity. Don’t scrimp here. The parts stores have them for under $50, but I prefer an aluminum race jack. These are easy to move – the NASCAR guys jump over the pit wall with these jacks in hand – and unlike their cast-iron counterparts, they can access low spaces and lift the car high enough to put the jack stands in place with only a few pumps of the handle.  Get a good set of four jackstands, too.

I can’t emphasize this enough: Never crawl under your Mercedes when it is jacked up without chocking the wheels first and then setting it on jack stands. Not even for a moment. You would literally be betting your life that your jack won’t fail.

When I’m on my back underneath the car, I just place a large piece of cardboard on the floor and slide around on top of that. It’s free and that appeals to my cheap side.
This list of tools and equipment is a good start and will handle most basic jobs. I do warn you that if you live with a spouse and family, there’s nothing more tempting than a convenient repository of tools that can be borrowed for household and yard tasks. You’ll need to reach an understanding about that; maybe while you’re at the home-supply store, you should also pick up a small toolbox and household tool set for non-car uses.

As I discuss specific tasks in the future, I’ll mention the additional tools needed, keeping in mind my garage maxim, “No job is worth doing unless it requires a new tool.”