I trained as a heavy mechanic as an apprentice but gave it up as soon as I qualified
I bought a truck 6 months ago (a muck shifter)
I intended to grease, tweek, adjust and repair breakages myself but let a mechanic have it for anything big or planned.
I’ve done more mechanicing in 6 months than I’ve done in 25 years but I must say I’m quite liking it. (new fuel pump this morning) £140 no labour 
Question
How many of you do
All work
Some work
No work
& why
When I was on tippers I took a fairly active role in maintaining my motor with the firms mechanics doing inspections and more involved stuff. That said regularly I’d be tasked to help him as my motor was off the road anyway and ended up doing the majority of the spannering on it.
Since being on fridges I’ve done nothing beyond oil, water, screen wash etc and a quick repair on my air duster I’ve not done anything and I don’t intend to
Don’t do any of it as I’ve never had an interest in it, don’t have the patience for it & would probably make a haymes of it anyway.
something I have been looking very closely at lately am spending a lot of money putting it in a garage for silly little repairs I don’t mind having a go at minor repairs but more complex stuff not a chance mainly because I haven’t got the equipment to do the job but after the xmas I intend buying the tools to do more work on my trucks and trailers when I have a quiet day I might as well a take one off the road and have a go a doing a job then put it in the garage when I make a balls of it !!
lee mat:
something I have been looking very closely at lately am spending a lot of money putting it in a garage for silly little repairs I don’t mind having a go at minor repairs but more complex stuff not a chance mainly because I haven’t got the equipment to do the job but after the xmas I intend buying the tools to do more work on my trucks and trailers when I have a quiet day I might as well a take one off the road and have a go a doing a job then put it in the garage when I make a balls of it !!
i have got a socket/spanner set from Halfords, it is not too expensive, compared to Snap-on, most of the work i do on my trucks is done with that
i do have bigger spanners/sockets that i have had for donkeys years which get used
Halfords professional stuff is good quality and comes with a lifetime guarantee.
I own a car repair garage and we have a couple of apprentices. I’ve supplied a workshop took box and tools.
I got a quote from Snap On for about 8 grand for everything I wanted.
Halfords on line did the job for under 2 grand. Lifetime guarantee and good quality tools.
All my own tools are Snap On but if I was starting out now I’d consider halfords
I bought a britool socket, and spanner set when I was serving my time 40 years ago and its still good 
on the other hand I once worked at a place where gear walked so I bought, and got a fair bit of work out of some tools from a market stall .
What I’ve not bought I’ve inherited from my dad ,uncle and great uncle,my favourite weapon is a multispeed pillar drill with wind up table which can be used for milling too it cost £20 from auction it weighs 300 kg .
have sold all my stuff now I have retired…but wifey goes in my garage from time to time and goes mental so maybe theres still some boys toys in there …cant get rid of it all can I…
Years ago it was common for drivers to do some maintenance, where I once worked the drivers (at one time before I went there) used to go in on sundays and do greasing etc for no extra money. The last firm I worked for (11 years ago now) I used to do most of it on ‘my’ truck like relining brakes, servicing, changing springs, MOT preperation etc but there were only three of us and two trucks so we all mucked in together. I would get a little extra in my pay packet as a thank you, however I was a time served HGV mechanic. Nowadays however trucks are not so straightforward and I guess that I would be struggling with some tasks? I would say that if you feel capable and dont mind getting dirty then go ahead, but if you are unsure about your abilities and can afford garage fees then leave well alone as a little knowledge can be a dangerous thing! Just my thought’s! 
Pete.
I do some light repairs but I have a rule, if you can’t undo a nut with a Poundland spanner then you shouldn’t be touching it.
I have a shed rammed with tools to help keep my 4x4 on the road as it does get abused offroad a tad.
When I started where I work now I was a labourer shunting about 200 forklift trucks about but as it became clear I could muddle my way through the mechanicals I kind of found I was getting a bit more oily
I didnt want to keep ■■■■■■■ my tools from home to work so bought this set from Halfords
halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stor … yId_255215
To keep in work, I paid about £75, keep your eyes open as the £75 offer pops up every three months or so, quite a few of our engineers bought them too when the offer was on.
Life time guarantee except for the ratchet mechanism.
Harry Monk:
I do some light repairs but I have a rule, if you can’t undo a nut with a Poundland spanner then you shouldn’t be touching it.
First Des Walker now John Terry’s in a wagon 
Is that a good rule?
The Halfords sets are good for having most of what you need in one set like the male/female torx and all those types of bits. I would say the quality isn’t what it was though.
Personally my top pick for a socket set, that’s not silly money, would be Bahco. Snap-on is the best though but even 2nd hand on ebay it goes for £££s
Generally the bigger the range of decent tools you’ve got the better the odds of getting the job done properly. Don’t forget though o/ds get 20% discount really with the vat back.
windrush:
Years ago it was common for drivers to do some maintenance, where I once worked the drivers (at one time before I went there) used to go in on sundays and do greasing etc for no extra money. The last firm I worked for (11 years ago now) I used to do most of it on ‘my’ truck like relining brakes, servicing, changing springs, MOT preperation etc but there were only three of us and two trucks so we all mucked in together. I would get a little extra in my pay packet as a thank you, however I was a time served HGV mechanic. Nowadays however trucks are not so straightforward and I guess that I would be struggling with some tasks? I would say that if you feel capable and dont mind getting dirty then go ahead, but if you are unsure about your abilities and can afford garage fees then leave well alone as a little knowledge can be a dangerous thing! Just my thought’s!Pete.
I would say there’s still a lot you can do without diagnostics on all makes really but more and more components are getting some sort of can link or ecu type thing integrated increasing the amount of parts you can’t just swap out without a plug-in.
Tipper Tom:
I own a car repair garage and we have a couple of apprentices. I’ve supplied a workshop took box and tools.I got a quote from Snap On for about 8 grand for everything I wanted.
Halfords on line did the job for under 2 grand. Lifetime guarantee and good quality tools.
All my own tools are Snap On but if I was starting out now I’d consider halfords
Is that really an option? I wouldn’t really have considered Halfords having the depth of products for a commercial operation.
Halfords tools ? Now that’s worrying no wonder bits fall of vehicles,not trying to boast here but any one who uses anything less than facom ,king ■■■■,britool,Bedford ,ect should stick to push bikes,I can see that halfords tools might get a driver out of trouble but really that’s the limit.
Dan Punchard:
Halfords tools ? Now that’s worrying no wonder bits fall of vehicles,not trying to boast here but any one who uses anything less than facom ,king ■■■■,britool,Bedford ,ect should stick to push bikes,I can see that halfords tools might get a driver out of trouble but really that’s the limit.
Britool and Bahco for me, as a general rule… Teng is ok but the spanners are too thin and tend to dig into my hands. The sockets are ok though…
Halfords ratchet spanners are bloody magic! Only the fixed head ones, NOT the swivel head! They stick everything that I can throw at them and just keep going - I cannot praise them enough! I don’t rate anything else in the range though, although I realise it is a very personal thing
Machine Mart do a reasonable selection but you have to be a bit selective. Their own brand stilsons are superb. Lightweight, good price and the 36 inch pair will cope with a six foot length of box section as a handle extension and me jumping on it! For anything that you know is going to be abused, beaten or lost why spend Snap-on money?
Yes I know what you mean about those skinny teng spanners ,I’ve got a mac tools combination spanner roll set they fit very well but are generally too long to use on vehicles.
there is nothing wrong with the Halfords socket/spanner sets
Dan Punchard:
Halfords tools ? Now that’s worrying no wonder bits fall of vehicles,not trying to boast here but any one who uses anything less than facom ,king ■■■■,britool,Bedford ,ect should stick to push bikes,I can see that halfords tools might get a driver out of trouble but really that’s the limit.
so, from that part that i have highlighted, are you suggesting that parts are regularly falling off my vehicles? 
for your information, and whoever else cares to enter the debate, i have successfully changed the head gaskets on numerous DAF XF’s using the Halfords socket set i have, admittedly, i have used a couple of other tools also, such as a large breaker bar to crack the head bolts, but, once cracked, back to the trusted Halfords 3/8 drive socket and ratchet, all the other bolts and nuts, Halfords spanners
let’s face it, a spanner is only as good as the tool holding it
i have had Britool, Facom, Snap-on and Halfords, they are all about the same
they all boast a ‘Lifetime Guarantee’ these days
have you tried exchanging a Snap-on spanner under guarantee recently?
Halfords on the other hand, just take it back, they will ask for the receipt and swap it without question