Holiday Stocking Stuffers For The Mechanic In Your Crew

Check out these holiday stocking stuffers for the mechanics on your crew.
Holiday Stocking Stuffers For The Mechanic In Your Crew
Jim Abel, vice president and co-owner of Jon’s Auto Repair in Mosinee, Wis., wouldn’t mind finding a can of brake cleaner in his Christmas stocking.

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The 12 days of Christmas are right around the corner. But for the onsite installer, this time of the year also means working in the shop tuning up equipment ahead of the next busy season.

Today you might be performing annual maintenance on your mini-excavator. Tomorrow it could be time to tweak your pickup truck to survive the long hauls to job sites. Your tools and the consumables in your shop are heavily used in the winter and the mechanics in your garage would appreciate a few handy items in the toolbox this year.

So we decided to go looking for stocking stuffers to keep your crew happy while they’re working under the hood and asked some seasoned mechanics for advice on thoughtful gearhead gifts. Here’s what they had to say:

Fuel and oil additives

Don Barlow, mechanic with Three Lakes Truck & Equipment in Three Lakes, Wis., says a bottle of Sta-Bil Red comes in handy when storing vehicles. The fuel stabilizer helps keep gasoline fresh from 30 days to 12 months. After a year it’s best to cycle the fuel out. The recommended amount of stabilizer is 1 ounce for every 2 1/2 gallons of gasoline. Tip: Add Sta-Bil to a full tank of fuel.

Sta-Bil Ethanol Treatment is another stocking stuffer Barlow finds useful around the shop. It removes water and cleans injectors. Recommended for every fill-up, it’s best used for everyday protection, especially when fuel quality is questionable.

A bottle of Marvel Mystery Oil might also find its way into Barlow’s stocking.

“You can use that stuff for almost anything,” he says. “A rust penetrant for breaking seized parts loose. You can use it for air-tool lubrication. It’s just good all the way around.”

Marvel Mystery Oil has been around since 1923, providing upper cylinder lubrication, while reducing acid and sludge buildup. Marvel recommends adding 4 ounces to every 10 gallons of gasoline to prevent carbon buildup on injectors. It can also be used with diesel but does not comply with sulfur content requirements for 2007 and newer vehicles. It can be added to the crankcase and is compatible with synthetic and semi-synthetic blends of oil. Marvel recommends adding 1 quart to 4 quarts of oil or a maximum of 25 percent of crankcase capacity.

Jim Abel of Jon’s Auto Repair in Mosinee, Wis., is another fan of Marvel Mystery Oil. “It’s not a real high strength cleaner that’s going to eat up seals and O-rings because it’s oil-based,’’ he says.

Sea Foam Motor Treatment is also high on Abel’s list of additives.

He uses it for cleaning injectors and dissolving gum and varnish in fuel systems. Developed for the outboard motor and marine market in the 1930s, the petroleum-based cleaner, lubricant, stabilizer and moisture controller can be added to gasoline and diesel fuel, as well as oil crankcases.

“It works,” he says. “It’s just a good product. It’s good for keeping fuel systems clean. It’ll actually help clean the upper cylinder under the valves, the seats and faces of the valves where the carbon gets accumulated in the combustion chamber – the top of the pistons up to the first ring.”

Abel also keeps Sea Foam Spray on the shop shelf for cleaning intake systems and fogging engines, as well as Sea Foam Trans Tune for cleaning transmissions, power steering or hydraulic systems.

Other stocking stuffers to consider are brake cleaner, JB 80 penetrating oil from Justice Brothers or a tube of high-temp disc brake wheel bearing grease.

LED work lights

Rechargeable LED lights are gaining in popularity due to their convenience and the dependability of the improving LED lighting technology. Barlow says his Steamlight lasts about six hours on a charge. “It’s got a swivel head and nice strong magnet; just an all-around tough light,” he says. LED lights are designed to use less power than incandescent and compact fluorescent lights, run cooler and last a lot longer. Pen-sized, clip-on lights are also producing more consistent, high-intensity beams these days and are a significant upgrade over older lights.

Tools, tools, tools

Spark plug wrenches might not be high on your wish list, unless the vehicle you’re working on is a top-selling 2004-2008 Ford pickup with a 5.4 liter Triton engine.

“Because the plug sits so far down in the hole Ford pressed on about an inch-and-a-half extension,” says Kevin Baumann, an ASE-certified mechanic with 30 years under the hood. “After awhile the cylinder hole fills up with carbon, but when you take the plug out, the carbon prevents the extension from turning. The plug screws itself out but the extension stays in there.”

Ford’s service bulletin recommends six hours to replace the plugs and a special tool is required to extract the extension. Ford has since corrected the problem.

Crowfoot wrenches and locking socket extensions are a few other specialty tools that come in handy for those knuckle-scraping jobs.

Offset, ratcheting box wrenches are good for getting into spots where a regular wrench won’t do, while one-click wire strippers make quick work of electrical jobs.

A set of stud extractors for removing broken bolts also comes in handy, along with a 90-degree drill. Something as simple as a set of punches or picks for extracting O-rings or disconnecting wiring clamps also make thoughtful gifts.

A word of caution to the gift buyer: Good mechanics are possessive of their tools. For many, not just any brand will do, which is why gift cards were invented.

“Gift cards are great; they’re always good,” says Brian Stroetz at V & H Trucks in Marshfield, Wis. “You can get gift cards for the Snap-on truck, Matco. Some people like Craftsman.”

Some last-minute stocking stuffers

For all you last-minute shoppers, here are a few other items everyone in your shop can appreciate: shop rags, safety glasses, gloves, hand cleaner and screwdrivers.



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