Let's see your event day toolboxes

One of my to-do items getting ready for race day is taking tools out of my tool chest, and then chucking them haphazardly into a soft sided tool bag to have with me for the day only to have to take them back out again and reorganize them in my tool chest after the event is over. In addition, I RallyCross, so I would rather keep my nice tools clean and in the garage and take cheapo tools out to the events so if they get lost or muddy I won't care as much. So I'm thinking about putting together a permanent toolbox just for event days that just stays together all the time. 

I'm looking for creative solutions to creating a track-side mobile tool box. Anyone doing anything more interesting than just using a regular old handheld toolbox or softsided bag?

I just have a tool roll with all the sizes that I know my car takes. Each of my cars has its own tool roll. 

I have AAA. All of my events are within 25mi. Keep the tools at home. 

So keeping in mind that tow my car to the track here is what I keep a basic tool kit in the  camper van

I have a bare bones Craftsman tool kit. It's the briefcase see one with the basic sockets. In addition to that I have a plier set (adjustable, needle nose and dykes), a screw driver set (one each Phillips and flat screw drivers in normal and stubby), a torque wrench, pry bar and then a small bag with some 1/2 drive sockets. 

Here are the tasks I'm willing to do trackside at vintage races; alternator, water pump, , starter, thermostat, distributor, clean carbs, plugs, brake & clutch master and wheels. Other than that the car is going back on the trailer.

For autocross beyond plugs or a wheel I'm not doing much more than that.

Figure out what tasks you will realistically do trackside and only bring tools for that.

I did the same with spares before  had the van; I kept a water pump, alternator, starter, thermostat and gaskets for the pump & thermostat in a large plastic tool box. I also had small a milk crate with some coolant, oil & brake clean. I kept all this stuff on a cheap rolling cart. Roll it up to the truck and load it in. 

For stage rally, we have a "kit" as well. Usually travels on the trailer on the long haul, but for local service use, it moves...

(we also carry the tool roll in the car for small stuff we can fix on stage)

In reply to irish44j :

Cool setup, but how do you keep it in your possession over night? That would be gone in a blink around here. 

_ said:

In reply to irish44j :

Cool setup, but how do you keep it in your possession over night? That would be gone in a blink around here. 

I mean, that's really just used for service. Usually the rig is parked at an air bnb house, This photo was at a hotel at a rally, but the lot was full of trailers with $50k rally cars on them and stuff. We do strap a ratty camo-pattern tarp around it at night so nobody knows its a tool chest. it's also chained to the hitch mount. If someone wanted to steal it, sure they could, but would make a lot of noise cutting the chain and it dEfinitely takes two people to lift it lol. And we always park within view of the lobby or cameras. 

Usually it's on the trailer with the car (the hitch basket mounts on the trailer for long hauls)

This thing has scissor legs that extend out so it sits at a good hefty, and wheels and an extendible handle so you can wheel it around. 

The wenches are in wench rolls, the sockets are on rails. Makes it quick to deploy, take attendance and pack up. Good for stage rally service. 

This is almost all we bring to races.

This is kind of cheating, but I have an enclosed trailer so I use a 6-drawer rolling Craftsman toolbox, ratchet strapped to the wall using e-track.

As far as what goes in it, I started out with a basic "mechanics" socket/ratchet/wrench/etc set along with a pliers & screwdriver set, and then added specific tools that I knew were useful for the specific tasks I was likely to want to do at the track.  What those tasks are depends on what you're doing -- if it's a Lemons support trailer, then you're expecting to be doing engine teardowns in the paddock, whereas if it's just a track day you might want to bring stuff for brakes and just accept that anything more significant than that and you'll just call it a day and tow it home.

The other technique I used was that before every event I would go through my garage toolbox and pack stuff that wasn't in the trailer set.  I'd keep a list of what those were, and then look for opportunities/deals to buy duplicates of those specific tools to keep in the trailer.  My eventual goal is to have the trailer be a "track appliance", where everything I need for a track day is in there and I can just hitch it to the truck and go without needing to think about what to bring.  I'm 90% of the way there, although the last 10% are the expensive things that I'm not finding justification for duplicates (18v impact wrench, for example).

I went to a tool back pack from Amazon that I bring along to events as well as u-pull yards. It has places for all the typical pliers, screw drivers, hammers and can even fit a cordless impact inside, I also have a tool roll in there for a set of metric wrenches. It works well, especially in the yard where it frees up hands. I also carry a fold open 3/8" and 1/4" socket set as that wont fit inside. I feel like the price of the bag has gone up a bit but the quality is pretty good.

https://www.amazon.ca/AmazonBasics-Tool-Bag-Backpack-Pocket/dp/B079Z2HWVF/ref=sr_1_7?crid=3RKMRB9AEJ0U0&keywords=tool%2Bbackpack%2Bbag&qid=1577282226&sprefix=tool%2Bback%2Caps%2C166&sr=8-7&th=1

In reply to codrus :

Great minds think alike... 

I'm also in the process of slowly obtaining duplicate tools so I don't have to load/unload anything into the trailer tool box for events.  Fortunately, that's pretty easy with a Miata.  At this point, I think I have a full set in the trailer, with the exception of power tools (electric impact and screw gun) and torque wrenches.

For the tool box, I used one of the HF rolling tool chest/carts, and set it up to 'dock' in the workbench I built for the trailer.  I ended up shortening the legs by ~3" to get the proper height, and I put heavier casters on it.  If I need to, I can roll it out in the pits, but so far, it hasn't left the trailer.

We need a toolbox we can roll out to grid. It has a jack, jack stands, fuel jug, nitrogen tank, toe plates and all the tools we may need if things go bad and repairs are needed. It gets towed with our pit bike.

Some of y'alls track setups are nicer than my garage. 

Keith Tanner said:

This thing has scissor legs that extend out so it sits at a good hefty,

Mr. Tanner, When I grow up Do you think I can sit at a good hefty? 

Stupid autocorrect 

These boxes seem to come and go, I've seen them as "Toolstud" or "Grip". 

I also carry a small box with organized fasteners and hose clamps. The toolbox not only contains wrenches and screwdrivers, but electrical tools and electrical/fusing/duct/foil tape and zipties and two sizes of safety wire.

In reply to _ :

Keep eating your wench rolls and you may.  Autocorrect makes things so entertaining.

I load my escalade with my garage and unload the escalade one part at a time as things all break down each lap. I am going to ballpark 450 lbs of tools, plate metals, clamps/presses, snips, hammers, cutoffs, grinders, etc and a minimum of 45# of random used fasteners. Oh, and always bring 5 or 7 old license plates since the adhoc more repairs than anything else I have ever found.

I dont know how ya'll "load up and go home", wish I A.) Lived that close to a good track and B.) Drove a miata.

My german machine request love and tender care every 5 laps or else. And these are basically quickish parade laps we are talking about.

It's a lot easier to work on the car at home before the event. If you're breaking that often, is there anything you can improve on your prep?

Our solution has been cars robust enough that they don't need any day of work, and that we couldn't really do anything to even if we wanted to. For the autocross car we carry enough tools to swap tires and change bar settings. For the rallycross car it was enough tools to swap tires and replace fasteners on the underbody panels. In both cases there's not much else the cars could need that would be fixable without spare parts that we wouldn't have anyway.

Olemiss540 said:

I dont know how ya'll "load up and go home", wish I A.) Lived that close to a good track and B.) Drove a miata.

My german machine request love and tender care every 5 laps or else. And these are basically quickish parade laps we are talking about.

My BMW is far more reliable at the track than my Miata is.  Main difference is that the BMW was put together by a pro race car builder, whereas the Miata was done by some random yahoo in his garage (that would be me) :)

As for the "load up and go home" thing, it depends what you're doing.  If you're 3 hours into a 2-day, 16 hour endurance race that's one thing.  If it's 1PM on a random track day, it'll take 2 hours to bodge something back together, and there's only a single 20 minute session left after that, then packing up starts to look a lot more appealing.

I autocross an ES miata, so my main concerns are tire pressure, lug nut torque, and possibly ripping loose some body trim.

I still carry an assortment of wrenches, sockets, pliers, screw drivers, tape, zip ties, and a couple of torque wrenches. When I grid, I take a separate box with a tire pump, gauge, duct tape, etc.

I haven't bought a trailer, but I do have AAA. 

Miata trunks are shallow, so I bought some low profile tool bags. That worked only until the first heavy rain. I unload my car into a tarp, then cover things up, but that's not going to keep your stuff dry when there's a half inch of rain in 15 minutes. 

Now I use storage totes to keep things dry. The larger size here is an under-bed storage box. The smaller box goes to grid, along with a chemical sprayer full of water to cool the tires between runs.

My main box, which stays with the other contents of the car.

This box goes to grid.

My magnetic numbers are kept in a cardboard folder. BTW, I glue rare earth magnets to the numbers. They're not coming off!

The trunk. I'll often have a folding chair in there too. I used to carry spare fluids, but this car doesn't seem to lose or consume any, so I'm out of the habit.

Wow, this forum is amazing. I'm glad this one remains so active even with facebook siphoning off users from other forums. 

There are a lot of amazing setups shown here - way more than I think I could justify. I just do maybe a dozen rallycross events a year with a fairly reliable and well maintained Mazda3 so luckily I haven't needed to do any major repairs at the event, but I feel like if I don't come prepared that's inviting trouble. 

For me at this time, I actually really like the concept of the backpack that Adam525i mentioned, especially given dual use for the pick 'n pull junkyards and keeping a basic tool kit together for events. There were a lot of great suggestions for things to bring as well, so thank you to all! That toolbox that Keith posted up is pretty innovative too. 

Floating Doc, I liked how you separated things out into different totes and I will probably copy that to some degree as well especially for grid supplies. If you want to consider an alternative for storing your numbers, a friend of mine uses an old cookie sheet to keep his numbers on, which super easy and quick to remove/install.

Thanks again everyone for the great ideas and suggestions. 

buzzboy said:

This is almost all we bring to races.

Just out of curiosity, what brand are these kits?

https://www.lowes.com/pd/CRAFTSMAN-VERSASTACK-216-Piece-Standard-SAE-and-Metric-Polished-Chrome-Mechanics-Tool-Set/1001345004

I'd highly suggest this.  It's an awesome system that stacks many different craftsman boxes.  If you need wheels they have an attachment for it.  Currently the tool set is at 100$, and it's a real bargain at that price.