'rest of my life' socket set for auto work?

I'm 63, and I'm already telling my adult kids what I have and where everything is.
I have everything printed out in the safe, bills and utilities websites and logins, for my wife in case something happens to me.
I have an Excel sheet detailing my firearm inventory and the value of each item.
What I paid for it and when, date of manufacture, what they are worth if they wanted to sell it, etc.
My wife and kids have no idea how much some of them are worth.
I get what you're saying, but it's never too early to discuss these things.

My Dad is in his upper 80s.
I know he has a lot of tools, some of which belonged to his father and grandfather.
His Dad was a machinist for Allis-Chalmers, among other things.
I'd guess some of those tools may be collectors' items, but I suppose many will be obsolete these days.
He gave me this tape measure a few years ago that belonged to my Grandfather.

 

Never too early to plan that stuff as we never know how much time we have.

 

Absolutely true.

 

For sure, as much as we hate to talk about it.

 

Anybody have good tool box organization going on? Always looking to improve mine.

 

Well dang I didn’t mean to derail things but agree with everyone, never too early to talk about stuff. Wife and I are expecting our first son in April and making a will is on our to do. In my wife’s dad’s case he was ignored by his primary doctor, they chalked it up to diet/lifestyle but he was active everyday at work and a healthy body weight. That motherfucker doctor even refused to write a referral for my father in law so that he could go and get free imaging done at his wife’s/my mother in laws work (she worked at an independent radiology clinic at the time). By the time they finally took him seriously after 6 months of stomach pain and not being able to eat without pain and losing 20lbs, when they finally ordered imaging, they found stage 4 bile duct cancer that had metastasized to his entire abdomen including other organs like his pancreas. He was diagnosed in November and died in January so this time of year always stings a little bit. That last Christmas he gave me a GearWrench torque wrench and although it broke not long after, I’ll never get rid of it. Getting a little teary eyed just writing this/thinking about all of it and wanna give a big middle finger to that shitty doctor who didn’t take him seriously.

 

That is just horrible and I am sorry to hear that! . For my dad, he goes to the VA. Due to him having pneumonia that hung around a while back when he was in his 50's (first time I ever saw the man sick) and it causing some lung damage/scarring, they were doing regular scans of his chest when he would go in for checkups. Because of that, they saw the spot on his lung when it was still so small that scans were inconclusive on if it was cancer or not. It grew some over the next few months so they took action and told him to choose a hospital for treatment. He went through chemo and then they did some directed radiation to make sure it did not spread to his brain and he has scanned clear for over a year now. Most lung cancer prognosis is very bad at best since most do not know they have it until symptoms emerge and its too late. He is even back on the motorcycle some now again which is awesome to see at 79 after having gone through that. But one big thing here is the reminder that even though you think you have plenty of time, spend time with your loved ones every chance you get.

 

I have some Workpro brand socket organizers that I like. They have a magnetic base to hold the sockets in as well as allow the rack to stick to metal surfaces. My 3 tier box is so full that all my SAE sockets (I rarely use them these days) are in their own racks that I stick to the side of the box so I can fit all the metric racks in the top of the box. I use the wrench racks that hold the wrenches on edge to make better use of space. But I REALLY need to get a wider toolbox now. Current box will move to the woodworking side of the shop and big box will be for automotive tools

 

I am not torquing something on an airplane or tank or something of that nature, I guess I can let Snap-on leave the chat for now.
I guess most work I do now and will do would need something accurate, but if off by half pound it is not end of the world.
Hell, if DT guys can high torque our wheels and not damage it, I don't think hand torque and going over by half a pound would make it worse....lol

 

I have been surprised about how less inaccurate some cheap ones are than may be expected. I have a 20 year old craftsman that as far as I can tell has no way to adjust for calibration. Has been the one that lives in my track box so gets used to tq wheels, gets beat up, etc. I rigged up a setup to check it last year and it was off by 1 lbft when set to 100 lbft. Not to bad considering! Of course test setup I am sure has some error too but I expected to find it to be WAY off at this point.

 

To tag along the digital torque wrench, Amazon has this set for special sale today, though I must admit, I have not see AC Delco brand for a long time.... much less in this field...

$180 ACDelco ARM601-34 3/8” & ½” Heavy Duty Digital Torque Wrench Combo Kit with Buzzer and LED Flash Notification – ISO 6789 Standards with Certificate of Calibration

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08V8KFC26

 

$105 TEKTON 3/8, 1/2" Drive Flex Head Non-Quick-Release Comfort Grip Long Ratchet Set, 2-Piece (12, 14 in.) | SRH99202

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CYM2PJ2F
Tekton is always a solid choice, just the price ain't too pretty.
Also, this is non-digital, but happily own this set for sure.

 

Oh buddy, I'm so sorry. Losing a loved one is always so hard. I lost my former FIL about 25 years ago and I still miss him. I have some of his machinist tools that I'll never let go until my time comes.
You didn't derail anything. God speed my friend.

 

I'm a little late to this thread, but it's hard to beat this Tekton socket set.

$550 TEKTON 1/4, 3/8, 1/2" Drive Shallow and Deep 6-Point Socket and Ratchet Set with Cases, 212-Piece (5/32-1-5/16 in., 4-32 mm) | SKT95304

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CX6KSQ69

 

Icon and Quinn sockets are going to be 35% off next month. I'm going to grab a set of the 3/8" semi-deep sockets and maybe a 5-drawer cart.

 

I'm a big fan of Ko-Ken sockets!

 

Wow my dad has one just like that but it measures feet in tenths!

 

Thank you so much for the headsup!!
I have a couple of Icon ratchets and they work great, feel good in the hand and are solid.
I'm glad HF has stepped up their stuff.

 

Well, damn, guess time to stock up on the socket for throwing at people, I mean, throwing them at the nuts.... I mean, whatever.....

 

This is a very good recommendation. Japanese tools are the bomb.

 

There is a few Japanese made and Taiwan made tools/sockets that are very well made and works very well.
Just, a tad on the expensive side. But buy once cry once and use for life, until you lose it.....then that's another story by itself....

 

I have some Czech woodworking tools by Narex that are very good for the price. I think they also make automotive tools and if so would not mind trying them out based upon the chisels I have by them.

I really want to support my local (aka US) economy where I can but damned is it hard to get myself to buy snap on! Even my dad, a professional mechanic moved on from them years ago. Just too hard to justify the costs unfortunately most of the time and more so when you dont depend on said tools to make a living.