We are FTers, and I do all my own maintenance, unless of course it’s something that I just can’t or shouldn’t do on the road, like changing a tire or rebuilding an engine. But, I am constantly either lubing, tightening, adjusting, checking, replacing, washing or waxing something. I keep our MH in tip top condition as much as possible and am a big believer in PM and practice it often.
When you’re on the road FTing, being able to repair or perform PM is essential and getting spare parts delivered to you in a pinch sometimes can be challenging at best. If you’re a weekend warrior, you won’t have to carry as much stuff on board as a FTer would or should. In many cases, you’ll just wait till you get home and fix it then but in other cases you need to fix it NOW.
When we lived in our S&B and being a former Journeyman Millwright, I always had a very well equipped garage with tools and never was afraid to work on practically anything. But getting ready to outfit our MH with a tool bay, I had to pair down all what I had to—what I needed and wanted—to carry onboard. I like tools.
So, since you were asking about tools and other associated items you need, lets take it a step further and that would be accessing and storing these tools, parts, lubes etc.
So here’s how I equipped and organized my tool bay.
When I first tackled this project, I dedicated one (1) storage bay for all my tools, lubes, extra common & critical replaceable parts, oils, lubes, filters, etc. That way everything that I have concerning repairs and PM items is in one place.
I first bought a carry bag that I accessorized that with the most used and common tools that I usually need for most jobs. That way, when I need to work on something, I just grab that bag first and usually it has most everything in there to fix most things. But sometimes it doesn’t have what I need. (I love this bag BTW) All the other tools that I may need from time to time, I used to keep in stackable, plastic bins. But I quickly discovered that was a real hassle to say the least.
I’d have to dig into the bay, remove things out of the way, find the right plastic bin, lift that heavy bin out of the bay and then start digging through the bin to find what I needed. I put up with that for about 6 months before I was done with that method.
So, I totally rearranged and organized my storage bay to make it easy to get to everything I needed and maximize space. No I’m not as organized and pretty as FIRE UP is—his tool bay is beautiful and meticulous for sure. But my tool bay is very well equipped and organized that works for me. I also have plenty of CCC to carry all this stuff as well. A consideration some owners will need to take into consideration when shopping for a MH or equipping their tool bay.
FIRE UP tool bay:
http://www.irv2.com/forums/f258/tool...ml#post3654432 — (post 13)
• So when redoing my tool bay, I measured—carefully—and bought a 5 drawer tool box that fit perfectly in a spot that allowed me to put my tool bag in front of that. Buying this tool box for all my other tools—especially the larger, heavy stuff—was the best thing I’ve done to organize my tool bay. Heavy stuff like, full set of 1/4”, 3/8” and 1/2” drive, shallow and deep sockets, extensions & rackets, set of American and Metric wrenches, pipe wrench, a couple of C clamps, hack saw, a few common taps, dies, assorted easy outs, drill bits, etc.
• Then I dedicated one (1) large plastic bin with all my lubes, sprays, powders, cleaners, paper towels, sealants, etc.
•*Next to that bin, I carry extra coolant, windshield cleaner for my reservoir, my 5 star tune unit, a battery charger, soldering gun, Dremel tool kit, large bag of assorted electrical ties and so on.
• I reused some of my other smaller stackable plastic bins for lighter items.
One for:
- electrical parts, fuses, wire, connectors, heat shrinks, etc.
- assorted tapes, glues, locktiite, etc.
- oils, filters, tubing,….
- and so on…
• I also carry 4, plastic, stackable, organizer bins for small things. Each bin specializes in carrying, screws, bolts nuts, plumbing items, hose clamps, electrical parts and so on.
• In addition to these things, I have a portable air compressor and digital air pressure gauge, portable LED shop light, LED headlamp (which I wear all the time when fixing things and love it), 1 large 1/2” drive and 1 medium 3/8” ft. lb. torque wrench and 1 small 3/8” drive inch lb. torque wrench.
• I reused some of my other smaller plastic bins to store my replacement parts and slid them all the way in the back of the bay since I don’t access them often. I won’t list them all here but it includes things like being able to do a complete 100 hr. PM on our generator. I don’t carry a lot of spare parts, but I do carry critical spare parts that would be difficult to obtain in a pinch.
Also carry a Dale Adams Enterprises The Bone-ster 4031 Mechanics Creeper which is absolutely the best creeper ever and I’m 6’ 3” @ 195lbs. You can even roll on gravel with this thing.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...RSC3P2QP&psc=1
So as you can see I carry quite a bit of stuff BUT it is rare that I have to run to the store and get something that I don’t have…but it does happen from time to time.
In conclusion—you or anyone else for that matter—starts to think through about what tools you’ll need, there are many components to this project and will take time to refine and organize them so that it’s fairly complete and efficient to access them and make it all work for you.