If you love maintaining your truck yourself, there’s a bunch of tools you must have in your garage. These tools will make your life easy when performing maintenance tasks like oil change, tire replacement, and such.
Here’s a list of 9 essential tools to have in your garage in 2024:
1. Floor Jack
Unless you’re running a full-service workshop, you won’t need a full-blown service pit equipped with a robust bridge jack to lift heavy vehicles. But what you do need is a floor jack. These cool tools enable users to lift cars, trucks, EVs, and all other types of vehicles effortlessly by employing the principles of hydraulics.
Floor jacks also have low collapsed profiles to fit under low ground clearance vehicles. They often come with metal casters for mobility. High-quality jacks like the Scorpion Floor Jacks from our stable can lift really heavy trucks high enough for easy undercarriage maintenance. For instance, the Scorpion MJ25 Floor Jack can easily lift 25,000 lbs. over 36”.
2. A Standard Toolbox
Your truck probably came with a toolbox. But it probably has too few options to work with in a full-blown garage. Make sure your custom toolbox carries screwdrivers, Allen keys, socket wrenches, standard spanners, ring spanners, adjustable spanners, nuts, bolts, pliers, and cutters of all the sizes you will need to work on your vehicle. Make sure you buy from reputable manufacturers only because you don’t want to be stranded in the middle of a repair job with a broken tool and a dismantled truck.
3. Flashlight
Trouble always arrives unannounced. You may find yourself stuck in the middle of the night with a flat tire or a dry radiator. And that’s exactly when you’ll begin to miss a flashlight if you aren’t already carrying one with you. Always keep a flashlight and extra batteries handy for exigencies. A flashlight with a range between 30 and 100 lumens should be enough for your workshop or roadside repairs. But if you are looking for a tactical gadget, you need something that produces light as bright as 100 lumens or more.
4. Duct Tape
It’s hard to imagine how handy duct tape can be. From leaking fuel lines and bared wires to rattly bumpers and broken windows, duct tape can be a quick fix for all sorts of issues. But don’t rely on it for a permanent solution. Use duct tape as a stopgap measure only and rush to your nearest garage as soon as you can.
5. Multimeter
Your truck has an electrical circuit and probably also an ECU on board to help it run smoothly. Everything from ignition to airbag deployment is monitored by ECUs in modern vehicles. So, it helps to have a multimeter in your toolbox. You can check for input and output voltage across circuits in critical components like the turbo boost or light setup in case of a malfunction. All modern trucks go through strict quality control before making it to the dealers. Hence, most electrical malfunctions are glitches that can be easily detected if you have a multimeter to check for current flow. But we suggest you visit a qualified technician if you aren’t confident about your skills as a DIY enthusiast.
6. Air Pressure Gauge
The most common tool to miss while packing for a long trip is the air pressure gauge. Don’t thump your tires with your hand or a crowbar to check for air pressure. Carry an air pressure gauge. It’s an inexpensive tool vital to the smooth running of your truck. Too little pressure and your truck’s tires will attract leaks. Too much pressure and they can explode after a long stint on uneven terrain in hot weather. Only an air pressure gauge can tell you if your truck’s tires are properly inflated or not.
7. Crowbar
From prying out nails and opening crates to keeping you safe on the road, the applications of the humble crowbar are countless. You can even break down wood pallets for firewood with a crowbar on a cold night! The hardened steel used to manufacture crowbars can withstand a lot of stress and won’t give up on you easily.
8. Claw Hammer
You got to keep a claw hammer with you at all times on the road! It’s one of the handiest tools to have in your garage. You can use it to remove nails, drive in wedges, straighten bent metal parts, and even for self-defense. Tap rusty lugs with the hammer to loosen them before changing tires.
9. Safety Gloves
Always carry safety gloves in your toolbox. Truck components like the engine and exhaust system can burn your bare skin on contact. Metal shards and nails sticking to your truck tires can give you nasty cuts. Broken windows produce shards of glass sharp enough to lacerate bare skin. Always wear safety gloves when working on your truck to protect your hands and fingers from cuts and burns.
Summing it up
No matter which tools you use in your garage, always buy from trusted manufacturers with a reputation for manufacturing quality products.
Check out our products page for award-winning lifting solutions for cars, trucks, and military vehicles. We use the best materials to manufacture our floor jacks, bridge jacks, and fast lube jacks. They are tested for quality and durability so that you can enjoy a good return on your investment.