With Thanksgiving and other winter holidays approaching we’ve been working hard to listen to our customers and create some simple lists of tools and supplies that any motorhead would love to have in their shop. Eastwood offers unique tools and supplies to help repair, restore, and revive vehicles new and old and you won’t find some of these tools at your local chain store! Below is our top 5 tools for 2020 Gift Giving season. See our entire gift guide HERE.
- Hydraulic Wheel Dollies- Moving a vehicle around can be a difficult task if it’s parked away for the winter or in long term project status. Hydraulic wheel dollies allow you to easily lift up each wheel of a vehicle and slide or roll it around to where you want it easily (even if it doesn’t run). Simply release the hydraulic valve by loosening the knob on the side, slide the dolly around the tire, tighten the knob, and pump the lever with your foot to lift the wheel off the ground. These dollies also work great for maximizing the space in your garage by allowing you to position the vehicle in a tight corner where you could never back or maneuver it by steering. Make sure you grab the dollies with the storage rack for easy storage when they aren’t in use!
- Body Hammer and Dolly Kit- Fixing Dents and Repair metal requires a good set of hammers and dollies. Expensive hammers and dollies might be too costly for occasional use; but an entry level set is perfect. The Eastwood 7 Piece Hammer and Dolly Kit gets your feet wet in autobody work and includes the essential and most popular hammers and dollies in the autobody industry.
- Belt and Disc Sander- Whether you’re a hobbyist or a hardcore metal fabricator you’ll find use in a benchtop belt and disc sander. These sanders allow you to do everything from reshape corners on a piece of metal, deburr a piece of metal, or sharpen a blade. The Benchtop size makes it easy to store for any size garage!
- Metal Jigsaw– Cutting metal can be a messy, slow, and difficult job if you don’t have the right tools. If you’re a professional you probably have a dozen different tools to cut metal but that doesn’t make sense for a home hobbyist. Our best all around metal cutting tool is definitely our Metal Jigsaw. The metal gears internally allow it to cut metal without breaking the gearbox like trying to use a wood jigsaw on metal. It can be used for thick or thin metal and blades are easy to change depending on the tooth count you want for the type of metal you’re cutting.
- Plastic Hot Stapler– Unlike metal you can’t just quickly weld it back together to repair it and plastic “welding” usually isn’t as strong as new. A plastic stapler uses stainless steel staples that melt into the surface and bridge a crack or tear to give it more strength than new. Simply insert the staple shape of choice into the holes in the tool and hold the button of the wand down until the staple begins to smoke slightly. You can then press it into the surface of the part and let the staple sink down below the surface and let off the trigger. The staple will then be set into the plastic and the ends cut off with metal snips. After a few of these staples you can have a clean, strong repair on any type of plastic. This works well even for your kids broken toys!