Garage Tools
DEWALT DCF900 Impact Wrench Review: Living With It in a Home Garage
A retired heavy-equipment mechanic puts the DEWALT 20V MAX DCF900P1 through a year of brake jobs, tire rotations and suspension work on his 2014 F-150.
It was supposed to be a forty-five-minute job. One seized lug nut turned it into a fight, and a DEWALT impact wrench ended it in ninety seconds.
A retired heavy-equipment mechanic puts the DEWALT 20V MAX DCF900P1 through a year of brake jobs, tire rotations and suspension work on his 2014 F-150.
A hands-on comparison of the DEWALT 20V MAX DCF900 and the Milwaukee M18 Fuel half-inch impact wrench, tested on real lug nuts and seized bolts in a home garage.
Ten plain reasons a cordless impact wrench earns its spot in a home garage, from stuck lug nuts to saving your shoulders.
It was supposed to be a forty-five-minute job. One seized lug nut turned it into a fight, and a DEWALT impact wrench ended it in ninety seconds.
A step by step tire rotation on a pickup using a cordless impact wrench, a jack and stands, plus the torque wrench step you must not skip.
A retired heavy-equipment mechanic runs the DEWALT DCF900P1 through a full year of truck work and tells you where it shines and where it annoys him.
A retired mechanic reviews the Craftsman 159-piece socket and mechanics tool set after months of oil changes, brake jobs and bench repairs.
Two mechanics sets, one home garage. After a month turning bolts on my 2014 F-150, here is where each one earns its place and where it comes up short.
Why a complete SAE and metric socket set earns its spot on the workbench of any one or two car garage.
A retired heavy-equipment mechanic on the 159-piece Craftsman set he recommends to every neighbor who asks where to start.
What it takes to swap the front pads on a pickup with nothing but a jack, a pair of stands, and one 159-piece socket set.
I ran this Craftsman set through a full season of truck work. Here is what holds up, what does not, and what I would buy instead.
A retired heavy-equipment mechanic puts the BIG RED Torin T83006 3 ton floor jack through years of pickup and SUV work in a two-car garage.
The BIG RED 3 ton trolley jack and a low-profile racing jack look similar in a catalog. Under a 2014 F-150, they are not the same tool at all.
The factory scissor jack gets you out of a bind. A real floor jack gets you through the whole job without cussing.
A short story about moving from a bottle jack to a BIG RED floor jack for seasonal tire swaps on a pickup.
Where to put the jack, how to set the stands, and the checks a retired heavy-equipment mechanic makes before he gets under a truck.
What nobody tells you about the BIG RED T83006 before you buy it, from a guy who has used it on his own truck for a year.
A retired mechanic runs the Battery Tender Plus through a full Scranton winter on a parked F-150 and reports what three months of float charging actually did to a four-year-old battery.
Float charging versus trickle charging, and why the difference matters for a truck that sits.
Ten practical reasons a battery maintainer belongs in a home garage, from cold starts to short-trip driving.
One frozen morning in January is all it took to make me stop trusting the battery and start maintaining it.
A plain-spoken winter routine for a pickup that sits in the cold: hookup, cleaning, checking, and the one tool that does the work for you.
I've kept one on my F-150 for two winters. Here's what it does well, what it won't do, and who should buy something bigger.
Six months of oil changes, brake jobs and underbody work on a 2014 F-150, all from the garage floor. Here is what the Pro-LifT creeper does well, and where it falls short.
A padded flat creeper and a folding 2-in-1 Z creeper both have a place in a home garage. Here's how they compare after a winter of real use.
Ten reasons a creeper makes underbody work faster and easier on the body for home mechanics.
A retired mechanic's honest story about the creeper that got him off the cold concrete and back under his truck without paying for it the next day.
A tidy walkthrough of an oil and filter change on a pickup, from positioning the creeper to cleaning up.
What I learned rolling under my F-150, and the parts the product photos leave out.
A retired heavy-equipment mechanic puts the DEWALT 20V MAX DCF900P1 through a year of brake jobs, tire rotations and suspension work on his 2014 F-150.
A retired heavy-equipment mechanic runs the DEWALT DCF900P1 through a full year of truck work and tells you where it shines and where it annoys him.
A retired mechanic reviews the Craftsman 159-piece socket and mechanics tool set after months of oil changes, brake jobs and bench repairs.
I ran this Craftsman set through a full season of truck work. Here is what holds up, what does not, and what I would buy instead.
A retired heavy-equipment mechanic puts the BIG RED Torin T83006 3 ton floor jack through years of pickup and SUV work in a two-car garage.
What nobody tells you about the BIG RED T83006 before you buy it, from a guy who has used it on his own truck for a year.
A retired mechanic runs the Battery Tender Plus through a full Scranton winter on a parked F-150 and reports what three months of float charging actually did to a four-year-old battery.
I've kept one on my F-150 for two winters. Here's what it does well, what it won't do, and who should buy something bigger.
Six months of oil changes, brake jobs and underbody work on a 2014 F-150, all from the garage floor. Here is what the Pro-LifT creeper does well, and where it falls short.
What I learned rolling under my F-150, and the parts the product photos leave out.