Useful hand tools and supplies

For flat bed loads, a claw hammer and large pribar/ wrecking bar is a must. most shippers will build any bracing on your trailer, but you will need tools to remove them after delivery. Most floors are oak and it is hard to pull nails out. I also carry a cheep 1/4 3/8 socket set and a set of end wrenches and a adj wrench

 

When I used to flatbed, I always carried a 4 ft piece of pipe (cheated bar) for my snap binders.

Also useful for fending off wild dogs and lot lizzards.

 

company van driver here. got the same as "pinball" said. also screw drivers, pliers and vise grips, different sizes. I use them to pull nails out of tires before they get in too far. also asked shop for some extra fuses. no sense sitting waiting for a repair truck for some 50 cent fuse of an oddball size.

also most companies don't want you doing a whole of work on the truck. lol. somebody can really screw it up.

 

I have a couple of flat blade, and phillips screwdrivers, couple of different sizes of pliers, pair of vise grips, 3/8 socket set, hammer, adjustable wrench, and a set of wrenches, 3/8", to 3/4" in my toolbox.

I'm a company driver, and most of the people I work with said "well if I break down, I'll just call in, and get paid while waiting". Well, that's nice, but if it's 0 degrees outside, the trucks not running, help is an hour or more away, and a pair of vice grips would have gotten it running again, I'm wrenching!

 

Vice grips. Channel locks. Crescent wrenches. Slip-joint pliers. Combination wrenches...3/8" up to 1-1/8" (and metric equivalents). Screw drivers. Sockets...3/8" & 1/2" drive, add the 1/4" if you have room, but I've RARELY had a use for them on a large truck. Multi-meter & circuit test light. Wire cutters/strippers/crimpers and some miscellaneous crimp-on connectors (I prefer the ones with the heat-shrink insulation). Various hammers & mallets. Some punches & chisels. External ez-outs. Pipe wrench. Bolt cutters. Box cutter.

The truck has a built-in air compressor, too, so you may as well take advantage of that...just put a quick-connect on your air tank and carry an air hose. 1/2" impact gun. 3/8" air-ratchet. 3/8" chuck air drill. 3" air-cutoff tool. Tire inflator. Drill bits. Spare cutoff discs.

If you still have room in your tool box, you can carry even more. 40" long 3/4" drive breaker bar w/ a 36" cheater pipe. 3/4" drive sockets to fit your lug nuts. 20 ton bottle jack. Heavy (minimum 4 gauge, 20 foot long) jumper cables.

Don't forget the duct tape, bailing wire, WD-40, ether, various gauges of wire, brass air fittings and splices, spare light bulbs, tire inflation gauge, valve core tool, tread depth gauge, and all of the other "miscellaneous" stuff that you might need.

I've still probably missed 1/2 the crap I keep in that side box....I'd rather carry around the extra weight than have to pay an arm and a leg to watch someone else perform a roadside repair that I COULD have done myself IF I'd had the tools...I've actually had mechanics borrow my tools because I had something they needed that they didn't have...IN THEIR SHOP!

 

Most companies would rather the driver not turn a wrench on their truck...but I've never received any grief from a company over my roadside repairs. If you are going to try to redneck something together, you'd better have a pretty darn good understanding of what is broke, why it broke, how it is supposed to work, and how to SAFELY either patch it together or bypass it. If you don't have a clue how the truck works, you're almost better off not having any tools with you...because you're more apt to screw it up worse than you are to actually "fix" anything. If you can SAFELY patch things together and get the truck to a shop under its own power, my experience has found that companies are glad you saved them a $500 road service call for a $0.50 part that broke. When your patch job on that $0.50 part caused damage to a $1000 part which now needs replacement, they would have preferred to just pay for that $500 road service call.

 

Marker lights and light bulbs. that will save you money ask any driver that has pretripped the truck and then noticed a marker light is out later or worse the DOT notices. most company shops will give you a couple.