Whats in your toolbox?

[MNawman]

I put together a plumbing repair kit with a few pieces of 1/2” pex, T s elbows, straight connectors, Teflon tape, hose clamps, hose gaskets and some of that super tape for leaks. I had to use it on our last trip for a friend who sprung a leak.

Mark

[Mapnerd]

Originally Posted by MNawman

I put together a plumbing repair kit with a few pieces of 1/2” pex, T s elbows, straight connectors, Teflon tape, hose clamps, hose gaskets and some of that super tape for leaks. I had to use it on our last trip for a friend who sprung a leak.

Mark

Always a good idea to at least have the tape on hand and know your cutoff procedures. Water damages things suoer fast.

[superman11]

Regarding the Filter Wrench - what style/brand works the best? The band style or the three prong wrench that grabs underneath?

[grindstone01]

Once a year I remove all my tools and sort through the ones I haven't used. Those tools get left behind at my son's house. If I need a new tool while traveling, I just buy it.
I carry a small wire welder and a hand grinder which I have used often.

[GlampDaddy]

I carry an extendable ladder because sometimes you can't get to the thing you need to work on with the rear ladder.

[puttin]

Regarding tape, I've got Rescue Tape on board. It serves as an electrical tape and general repair purpose tape. It's self bonding and lasts a very long time. I also carry a wide roll of rubber tape- still useful but not as often as the Rescue stuff. Electrical: this past year I was going to add a soldering iron....and then I thought about how often it would get used (I've never needed one in the rig). A good crimp connector is all I've needed. I also bought 3 sizes of vice grips...maybe one would have been enough. Tin snips- bought those too- now in our 18th year rv'ing I've never needed any. Also stocked up on fasteners in common sizes. Roll of Eternabond, Plasti-dip, Pop rivet gun and common sized rivets.- I actually needed this when I replaced an awning lever on my first rig. Well, if I never set eyes on some of this again, maybe I can help someone else out.

[Renipladlo]

Gosh being old is hard. Found a small tackle box at garage sale, took out the top shelf, and keep all my fresh water plumbing spares, hose washers, pressure regulator, faucet cheater (to get water from faucet which does not have threads), new plumbing washers (think cone shape) hose repair ends-metal type, only fresh water stuff. It will fit on the floor of the services bay on new one, and then I don't have to think where is this or that, it's in that box. Oh, last rig did not have ladder, so bought a "Little Giant", new version, think it goes out to 17', folds up to about 5'. Won't need it in new one, so taking it home, to use in the house only. But those ladders are the safest ones made period. Most accidents on "over older than 50" is falling off ladder, or roof after ladder slides away. Little Giant is safest, tapered legs, and new type is not very heavy.

[TJ]

As of an hour ago, my toolbox now has a full set of micro screwdrivers in it! I needed to change batteries in some small remotes we have and needed to remove some #00 Phillip screws. My toolbox remains a "work in progress."

TJ

[AnotherMike]

Originally Posted by jayc2640

We've been fulltiming since May, and here's a few things I have purchased since being on the road that I found I needed.

jewelers/precision screwdriver set

wood glue

clamps

spare sheet metal and wood screws of various sizes.

wd-40

hope this helps.

WD40 has it's purposes but it is NOT a good lubricant, it's a penetrating oil intended to loosen things.
A good water resistant spray lube is CRC, another is Boshield T9, another is Amsoil Heavy Duty Metal Protector (despite the name "Protector" it's a good lubricant).
WD-40 does make a Silicon Lubricant and Gel Lubricant, it's just their base product that is not an oil.

[AnotherMike]

Originally Posted by superman11

Regarding the Filter Wrench - what style/brand works the best? The band style or the three prong wrench that grabs underneath?

All you need is whatever fits your MH engine, the MH generator and your toad.

On the other hand if I had a diesel then I'd add a wrench for it's fuel filter (if one of the others wasn't appropriate for it).

I used to have 5 or 6 different oil filter wrenches in my roll-around tool boxes, then I realized that there was no point in keeping tools that had no purpose except to fit cars I no longer had... these days I only have three oil filters to worry about, the MH engine, the MH genny and my daily commuter car... the girlfriend insists on going to Jiffy Lube...

[AnotherMike]

Originally Posted by Mapnerd

We’re going through our tools in the garage, putting together a toolbox of stuff we can just drop into the RV when we hit the road. I’m curious what tools you folks keep in your toolboxes. Especially those less common tools that one might never think to keep on hand.

(list deleted to save space)

Originally Posted by Mapnerd

Am I missing anything in my toolbox? Also, is there any need to carry any kind of heavy duty tool on the road? If so, what and why?

Thanks for the tips in advance!

Heavy electricians ("linesman") Pliers

Small, medium and large Diagonal Cutters ("dikes")

Small, medium and large Channel-lock pliers

Small and Medium Vise-Grip Pliers

Wide tipped Sharpie (permanent felt marker) for various reasons including making signs, or marking your belongings.

A fine point Sharpie and some white adhesive tape (takes the ink better then white electrical tape) for keeping track of which wire is which.

A spray can of Lithium Grease (with a plastic straw-like applier - see what WD40 uses)

Set of Small Hex-Key Wrenches - 1/16" - 1/4" SAE and maybe one in metric. Harbor freight has these in folding sets.

Fat (donut style) Hose Washers

An assortment of Tie-Wraps (3" - 7")

A selection of insulated butt splices and crimp terminals, and the crimping
tool to install them. Buy good quality ones, look at harbor freight to see what NOT to buy (and HF is not the only place that sells crap terminals).

A tape measure to determine how much electrical wire you're going to need, or how much ground clearance you'll have while trying to get over that boulder embedded in the road.
HF has a "free with any purchase" coupon for a decent tape measure occasionally.

A head-mounted flashlight

A dozen pairs of latex or nitrile rubber gloves

A sturdy pair of leather work gloves for the rough stuff.


- - - - Not quite "toolbox" but I'd have... - - - - -

2 or 3 popup orange safety cones

A dozen road flares (keep them in a metal 30-cal ammo can for safety)

A heavy tow strap (harbor freight)

A fire extinguisher in the bedroom, one by the door, and one in the compartment next to the generator.

Jumper cables - You can get ones that will last a decade from a tow truck supply company. Mine are 8-9 feet long and are made from #4 or #6 snowmobile starter cable. The ones with #10 wire (like those at harbor freight) aren't heavy enough.

A 4-way lug wrench AKA "star" wrench
(note these come in two different SAE sizes and a metric size, make sure the one you have fits your MH/TT lug nuts AND your toad lug nuts)

A folding shovel (for leveling small patches of dirt under leveling jacks)

A caulking gun (for applying roof gunk to leaks)

Good quality heavy drop cloth and a small tarp (HF has a usable small tarp that occasionally pops up on their "Free with any purchase" coupons).
Sometimes you have to crawl under your RV to figure out the source of whatever problem you might be having and murphys law says it will be on wet ground. When you do, putting down a drop cloth first will make the job much more comfortable. You could also use the tarp to double as backup roof protection should your roof spring a leak, but a plastic tarp it isn’t as comfortable to work on as a cotton drop cloth. And the next time you swap your mattress pad on your home bed toss the old one in with the drop cloth.

A pair of 50 foot 12 ga and one 25-foot 10-ga electrical extension cords.

[Renipladlo]

Presently I have this long plastic box, keep spare vacuum filters, misc. stuff in it, and then remembered, I keep 2 6-9" (cannot remember which size) C-Clamps. Well I had to change the alternator one time, and they were what I needed to do that job, if the belts need to be changed alongside the road, those will be the ticket, extra weight, they are coming out, but it's a thought. Other great ideas, which I have that stuff, but forgot about it. We also keep small little hand clamps to hold small pieces of whatever we glue back together. The C clamps held in the kitchen sink when its glue let go, and I had to fix that. So really our tool boxes are a work in progress, based on what breaks, and how much work we want to do.