Booo, garage door didn't close, now I'm out some tools.

Long story short, something caused the garage door last week to not close and retract back to open last week when my girlfriend left work. I didn't notice until the afternoon and just the garage door, didn't think about it. On Monday she asked where the toolbox was, "The same place it always is." Alas, it was not. 

SO the jerks took the equivalent of this:
https://www.craftsman.com/products/289-pc-3-drive-mechanics-tool-box?taxon_id=6488

Plus a set of metric and SAE, Gearwrench brand ratcheting wrenches. And whatever other random wrenches/sockets/pliers, etc. that were in the top of the little craftsman box.  

That was basically enough for me to build a swapped E30, multiple engine changes, with suspension/brake work on the Miata, etc. 

What would you buy now to best replicate what was taken? I don't need a monster sized box filled with power tools and such.

The big thing would be a similar set but with a more durable box, that it is still somewhat mobile so I could throw it in the car for a trackday or similar.  

Start checking pawn shops. Could be a quick boost and sell. 

That sucks.

You're looking the same place I would for replacements. Those big "mechanics sets" are a pretty good value, but look for one without a box because those blowmolded ones aren't awesome. Just find one that covers as much of your needs as possible, as the little random stuff adds up. Gearwrenches tend to go on sale on Black Friday so that's an option.

So, my Sears is still open somehow.  I didn't walk up and down every aisle, but every pricetag I saw had a 50% off sign on top of it.

If your nearest is still open, may be worth checking

Wasn't that always the case for Sears, though? One of the reasons FM doesn't do sales very often is to avoid what we call "the Sears Effect" where nobody ever buys at full price because there will be a massive sale soon.

That really sucks. Hopefully you can replace or recover quick!

I've never trusted my garage door since I saw it bounce one for no apparent reason. About once a week I can't remember if i watched it close all the way and loop back thru the neighborhood to check. Really need to set up some kind of open/closed text alert to i always know the state without laying eyes on it

When I checked out our local Sears when it was having their "Closing Sale", everything was still high.  It almost seemed like they marked up the retail prices and the sale prices were what they should have been in the first place.

Sears tools are now no better than Harbor Freight, with a worse warranty, and fewer distribution channels.

Best way to get tools, in my opinion, is the long con.  

Find a mechanic selling a loaded box of truck brand tools for a reasonable price.  Reasonable price is 30% of new if new style and no engraving, 20% if older style and/or engraved.  Those tools are worth 40-60% of new on the open market when pieced out.  Build sets out of popular stuff, sell the oddballs as looseys for guys needing ones to fill out a set.  

Once you sell off enough that the rest of the lot was free, those are your tools to keep.   

Continue repeating this until you have a full garage of free Snap-On Tools.  

Ask me about my big ol Matco roll-away full of Snap-On and Milwaukee tools, whole thing cost me maybe $1500 in total and no one is gonna walk away with it if your garage door is open.  Took a few years though.  

Sucks having stuff stolen, but just as with parts failing on the car, there are two ways to look at: replace with like and call it a day, or upgrade. How much do you care about the nuances of your various tools? How much are you willing to work to find stuff you really enjoy using?

The HF tool chests are quite good these days, but I'm not sure they have anything that small.

Mndsm said:

Start checking pawn shops. Could be a quick boost and sell. 

I'm sure. But honestly, I wanted to replace it anyway. As Keith mentions, the blowmolded boxes themselves aren't great. This one had the tabs broken, nothing stayed in, etc. What I was actually pissed about was the two 80v Kobalt batteries and chargers for the lawn equipment they also took.....................but they apparently didn't notice the trimmer and edge attachment or the mower in front of the Miata. 

In reply to Keith Tanner:

Are there any options that are similar to those blowmolded cases, but more durable? I'd love if they made a metal cased one even if it was 20-30 lbs heavier. It wouldn't be moved that often so not a big deal. 

 

In reply to Mr_Asa:

I'm not sure, I'll have to check. But I like the idea. 

 

In reply to Keith Tanner:

Always on sale stuff, yeah, that model has always been strange to me. But the largest customer of our software did ~$5.7 billion in revenue last year and that is exactly their model. Expensive, high-end consumer goods that go on sale often. 

In reply to TheTallOne17:

Thanks, it's not great. I got into the habit at my last house of not even leaving the driveway until the garage door is completely closed. If you don't already have it, something like this would work great for an older door opener.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B075H7Z5L8/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I actually had one delivered today, but since I'm now going to shop around a few different security/home automation systems, I'm going to wait to install it until I have a few quotes from different vendors. 

In reply to 93gsxturbo:

That's honestly more than I need and shopping for deals, selling stuff off to recoup money and such. I just honestly don't want to deal with that much effort. I'd rather spend that time at the lake camping with the lady and dogs.

In reply to 02Pilot:

I don't do the hardcore wrenching that some of you do. Like I said, that set was basically enough for me to do an OBD-I S52 swap E30 build in a gravel driveway. I still have some specialty stuff up in Tulsa at my dad's house and some at my mom's old house. I guess that was the long way of saying, I just want to replace it with like and call it a day.

I'll check into HF as well. I don't really have any brand loyalty. 

Do Home Depot/Lowe's/HF have the same type of warranties on tools that Sears used to be famous for or no?

call your homeowner's insurance?

Offer a reward to the local neighborhood kids for return of the tools. Chances are good you actually know the thief(s).

AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) said:

call your homeowner's insurance?

 

Not enough taken to be worth a claim on my record. The total loss would be right around the deductible, so it would have to be dramatically higher for me to want to do so. 

*ex-state farm claim rep for the theft team, funny enough.

The "always on sale" model has another advantage if you have homeowner's or renter's insurance.  You can claim against retail, not the 50% off that everyone waits for to buy.  Many years ago, my brother had tools stolen and his agent pieced together a list of the individual parts prices. By the time that was done, he was past his deductible and actually had money to buy replacement tools at the cheaper set price.

I don't know of any "mechanics sets" that include a good toolbox, but I also haven't looked. I would ASSume that I would buy a separate toolbox and then dump the loose tools I got as part of the set into it. Lots of good options out there for toolboxes for sure.

Sometimes I'm embarrassed by my paranoid need to watch the door close all the way.

Then I read something like this.

Be glad you didn't have something really expensive taken, like a really nice mtn bike etc...

Streetwiseguy said:

Sometimes I'm embarrassed by my paranoid need to watch the door close all the way.

Then I read something like this.

Nope. My wife has laughed at me for walking out to the garage in the middle of the night to double check that I locked everything up. I've spent decades collecting tools, it is worth a few minutes to make sure the are secured.

Some of the new garage door openers have an app that you can see if it's open or closed and close it with your phone if not.  That will be my next garage door opener.

Streetwiseguy said:

Sometimes I'm embarrassed by my paranoid need to watch the door close all the way.

Then I read something like this.

I have driven around the block to go back and make sure that I have put the garage door down and locked the door before.

My opener started working at random moments, replaced the manual button by the door and it's been fine since. I too watch for the door to close before driving off. Is there any sort of extra locking mechanism that could be installed and function automatically?

Placemotorsports said:

Some of the new garage door openers have an app that you can see if it's open or closed and close it with your phone if not.  That will be my next garage door opener.

They are HORRIFICALLY expensive. That's why I linked a $40 solution higher up the page. 

The top of line Liftmaster, around these parts, is $800 installed from 5 different companies. I'm sure they aren't colluding. :)

In reply to Gearheadotaku:

Yes, there are actually auto garage locks that tie into security/home automation systems. Known of them have great reviews. 

Placemotorsports said:

Some of the new garage door openers have an app that you can see if it's open or closed and close it with your phone if not.  That will be my next garage door opener.

My new house has these, kinda fun to look at if you think about it.

That sucks losing tools.   My wife would watch the door go down completely in case an ant walked under and opened the door via the safety crap.  

Me too! I just installed the myQ from Menards last weekend -$39.00.