I’ve seen so many new techs come through my shop over the years, and most of the time it always ends up the same way. They come in knowing they want to work on cars and have a completely different idea of what its actually going to be like. They start out making right at minimum wage and after a month want to move up and can’t understand why they’re not making any money. They soon quit and move to a completely different career path, giving up on being a tech. This happens almost every time we hire a new lube tech, so I’m going to talk about it some and what I think about this issue.

Starting out as a Tech is a long and hard road, something I’m glad I already have behind me. Unfortunately most young guys don’t understand that good things take a lot of hard work to get. I started out working 3 hours a day after I got off of school and working every Saturday. I busted my butt everyday to prove myself and listened to everything the guys around me told me. I showed up to work on time and never missed a day, after high school I worked 6 days a week for 5 years straight; if we were open, I was there. You have to prove yourself as a new tech, you have to show that you have the work ethic that its going to take to become a flat rate tech. I was an hourly lube tech for 2+ years before I got a chance to prove myself. I took out trash, swept the floors, and always kept myself busy even when I didn’t have much to do. People pay attention to work ethic, people watch and when you least expect it and you will be rewarded. Sure, I got frustrated along the way and felt like I was getting screwed and wanted more, but you have to just keep pushing on. Take the time you have as an hourly tech to learn, and watch people who know what they’re doing. This is your time to take advantage of the fact that you’re getting paid just to be there.

So what should you do with all of this? Just push through. Keep your head up when you get sick of doing nothing but oil changes and cleaning up. Be reliable and always do everything at the best of your ability. Take pride in your work and what you’re doing. You may feel like you’re just changing oil but people are trusting you with their vehicles to make sure they’re safe. Do good inspections and try to up sell work, if you’re unsure of something during an inspection grab a flat rate tech and have them take a look. Take advantage of any and all training that is available to you, this is one way you can prove that you want to move up. Make sure your manager knows your goals as a tech, this is huge, good dealerships/shops will invest in people who want to invest in them.

Work hard, don’t give up, prove yourself, and don’t ever get discouraged. Being at the bottom is a place we’ve all been. Yeah it sucks but no one has ever got to the top without starting at the bottom. So keep pushing on guys and you can make a great career out of the automotive world.

Lets talk about cordless tools. To start, above is my cordless tool drawer. I have since sold a few tools but I will still talk about them and why I sold them. As many of you probably have found out, cordless tools are awesome. They save time and really make so many jobs SO much easier. Why cordless tools? Why not air tools? This is a good question. Cordless is just more convenient and a lot of times much faster both in the sense that you don’t have to drag around an air hose and a lot of electric tools operate at higher RPM’s then air tools. There still are those times when you’re not going to be able to beat an air tool though, because air tools tend to have more power then cordless. There are all kinds of different cordless tools from brush-less to brushed and impacts to ratchets. I am only going to be talking about the tools in the picture above today. I know a lot of people love Milwaukee and Mac cordless tools but I can’t really speak for those because I have very little real world experience with either brand (even though Mac is just re-branded DeWalt). So here we go, lets talk about so tools.

1. Porter Cable 20v Cordless Angle Grinder

I haven’t used this tool very much but the times I have used it, it gets the job done. I mainly bought it because I used to have the Porter Cable 20v impact driver and it burnt up after a year of me beating the crap out of it which left me with two batteries and a charger, so I bought this grinder. This thing goes for about $50 for the bare tool so you really can’t beat it, I would defiantly recommend it if you’re looking for a cheap cordless grinder. Side note: Next to it in the picture is a Harbor Freight grinder, not cordless. I won’t really talk about it since its not cordless. I will say though, it gets the job done and is dirt cheap

2. Snap-On 14.4v 3/8″ Drive MicroLithium Cordless Impact

This thing is awesome. Go buy it. I could stop there but I won’t haha. Like most Snap-On stuff this tool is pricey, about $415 new with two batteries and a charger, but believe me its worth it. This little guy packs a 120 ft-lb punch and honestly that might be kind of humble but regardless for the size of the tool its pretty impressive. The trigger is awesome, its a toggle style trigger so you don’t have to mess with any buttons or switches which makes for quicker switching between forward and reveres. It has a battery indicator light on the side, its alright, sometimes hard to tell what color the light is but you can tell when the tool is low on charge so the light is kind of useless. While we are talking about batteries, the battery life is great, there are times I don’t change out the battery for a few days. Charge time is super quick too, so even if you do run low and don’t have a fully charged back up (which I always do) you won’t be down for too long. Overall this is a great tool, probably my favorite cordless tool in my box. I have yet to have any issue out of it and I use it very heavily every single day. If you need a good compact 3/8 impact, go buy this, you will not be disappointed.

3. Snap-On 14.4v MicroLithium 3/8″ and 1/4″ Drive Cordless Ratchets

I’ll go ahead and talk about the 1/4″ and 3/8″ together. These are awesome ratchets, I really can’t say enough about the 14.4v line, its really great. Why do I have both the ratchets you may ask? Because I use them for completely different jobs. The 1/4″ I use a lot inside the car, interior trim, and tight places that require smaller sockets and less torque because the 1/4″ has 10 ft-lb less torque then the 3/8″ (1/4″ 30ft-lb and 3/8″ 40ft-lb).  The 1/4″ does spin at a higher RPM then the 3/8″ though, but you really can’t even notice it. The 3/8″ I use mainly under the hood, you would be surprised the places you can fit these things. I find that I can fit these in more places then I ever could an air ratchet. At first I hated the 1/4″, I demoed one from my Snap-On rep and ended up having it for about 3 weeks. After the first week I had figured out how to get the most power out of it and by the third when the Snap-On rep asked for it back I was like, “I’ll take the 1/4″ and 3/8″ please”. Will these things break tight bolts loose? probably not, but you can manually crank on them and bust just about anything loose. Both of these are about $400 for the set with batteries and chargers, so once again very pricey but I can say they are very worth it.

4. Snap-On 18v light

This is one tool in this drawer that I got rid of. Its a light, not much more. Kind of big and bulky and not as bright as I would think it would be for its size. It came in a 18v set I bought so that’s how I ended up with it. I just had no use for it and sold it.

5. Snap-On 18v 3/8″ Drive MonsterLithium Impact

I haven’t had this tool for too long yet, but it go to the point that my 14.4v cordless impact was out performing it, not a good thing seeing that this thing has twice the torque rating. Mentioned it to my Snap-On rep and was told that there was a unauthorized change in the motor midway through production and has since been fixed and the motors are much stronger. I just got the tool back this week so I will have to do an update later. I have high hopes for this tool but time will tell.

6. Snap-On 1/2″ Drive 18v MonsterLithium Cordless Impact

So my review on this impact is the same as the 18v 3/8′. I had both of the motors replaced at the same time so we will see how they hold up. The few months I did use this tool I really liked it though. I had very few things that it couldn’t break loose. Its defiantly a powerful tool and hopefully even more powerful and reliable now that it has the “updated” motor.

7. Snap-On 18v MonsterLithium Cordless Drill

Be careful with this thing, it might twist your wrist off! This drill has some power, if you need to drill through something, chances are, this thing will do the job with ease. It comes with a screw in side handle which is nice to really apply some force and have good control. The handle can screw in on either side, which is a plus. These are a lot of adjustments on the tool so you can really make this drill do whatever you want it to do. I bought this because I needed a powerful drill for thicker metal and hard material, and I made a great choice. I would recommend this to anyone looking for more power out of your drill, you won’t be disappointed. Also, all the Snap-On 18v batteries has a state of charge light on them, which is awesome and works great.

8. Craftsman 19.2v impact driver

This is another tool that I have sold. I bought this thing a long time ago and was one of my first cordless impact drivers. It was a decent tool, not very powerful but it gets the job done. Never had one single problem with it and still worked like brand new the day I sold it, so I guess it kind of speaks for itself.

9. DeWalt 12v Max 1/4″ Impact Driver

This is my go to tool, I use it on everything. Its not so powerful that it will snap bolts off but yet powerful enough to get most smaller bolts out. I use it mostly on air boxes, valve covers, hose clamps, interior and exterior trim panels, and the list goes on and on. You can get this impact driver for around $120 so at that price point it is hard to pass up. I would recommend this to any person just starting out in the automotive field, you really can’t go wrong with it.

10. DeWalt 12v Max LED Worklight

I love this light, I probably use it more than any other light I own. The battery last forever and it is very bright. This light is the main reason I got rid of my 18v Snap-On light. It has a magnet on the base which makes it even better, you can stick it anywhere and light up your work area. You can get the bare tool for about $30 so, once again its hard to pass up. I’ve had this thing for years and never had a problem. If you buy the 12v impact driver, just go ahead and buy this too.

11. DeWalt 12v Max Cordless Drill

I use this mainly for lighter drilling and tight spaces. It is a good drill, not a very powerful drill, but a good one. This was my main drill for a long time but I just needed more power for some things so that’s when I added the Snap-On. If you are just doing light drilling and nothing too crazy, this is the way to go. DeWalt makes great products so its really hard to go wrong with anything made by them.

12. DeWalt 20v Max Lithium-Ion Cordless Impact Driver

This is not the brushless version, which I’ve heard very good things about, but this is still a very nice tool. I have a very limited use for this impact driver, it basically covers the middle grounds of the 12v DeWalt and the 14.4v Snap-On. I used this a lot more before I purchased the 14.4v but ever since I haven’t gone to it as much. This thing really does pack a punch though and if you’re not careful you will break things haha. This might be a better option for some people instead of the 12v DeWalt if you’re looking for a little more power, you just have to be willing to be careful on the smaller bolts and plastic parts. Like I said, you really can not go wrong with DeWalt.

So that pretty much sums up my cordless tools, at the moment I fell like I have the perfect set up for what I am doing. I will post an update on the Snap-On 18v tools once I get a few weeks of heavy use out of them. If I’m still not happy with them I may go with Milwaukee or Mac. Hopefully this is helpful to anyone in the market for cordless tools, and as always please send me a message if you have any further questions for me! Keep up the hard work guys!

 

Hey guys, as you can see I’ve got some new things going on here. I’m going to start blogging a lot on everything related to the automotive repair field. I’m going to be doing tool reviews on tools I use everyday, must have tools, tech tips, help for new techs, video tours, and tutorials. Keep an eye out for new stuff, all of this is still very new so who knows where it’ll go. I would like to make this a community of techs that can share thoughts and just help each other out, and of course we all want to see awesome tool pictures…right?? So if you’re reading this, thanks. Stick around and see what happens! I hope I can share some great information and really make WCG a useful tool to other techs.