| Author | Message | ||
     Just_ziptab |
This is a tool used to disconnect the hydraulic clutch line at the bell housing on GM trucks.  http://www.toolsource.com/hydraulic-clutch-line-se parator-p-112105.html SPX makes one for $98.47 Or......you can just use two screw drivers at 180° apart to depress the quick connector. How do they come up with that price on a $3.00 stamped steel piece of sheet metal? | ||
| Blake |
Hey man, it has a neat little logo stamped into it too. Art costs money you know. Seriously though, it's probably an issue of being hardly worth the time and trouble to even manufacture the things. This is where the small producer can grab up some nice business. | ||
| Just_ziptab |
Kent-Moore is tools. OTC is tools. OTC makes one for $29.95 and it is double ended to work on two different styles of connectors. WTF Kent-Moore? | ||
| Zenbiker |
I am not saying that I agree on the pricing structure for these tools, but the real story is that the auto manufacturers and tool companies negotiate the price, it is not set by the tool companies alone. Also, Kent-Moore is just a brand name now-adays, the tools are made by OTC and have been for the last 15-20 years. SPX stands for Sealed Power Corporation. OTC was a stand alone company (Owatonna Tool Corporation), it was bought up by SPX and then started making all of the tools for almost all of the OEMs. | ||
| Ratbuell |
It's like anything these days. They charge it because they can. When people stop buying their stuff, you'll see sales, and discounts, and price drops. Since they're tied to a lot of OEMs, though...they have a captive audience of sorts. | ||
| Court |
Could also be a mistake. Companies apply (often) a universal pricing algorithm. We used to have to go through the thousands of Buell part numbers each year and look for the "oops" items. You could, as an example, have a left and right foot pegs where the left was 3X the right and virtually identical. Before I dismissed this as greed, I'd drop them a note and politely inquire. | ||
| Thumper74 |
These were the tools the parts department kept behind the counter, like the Tec II... | ||
| Bandm |
Zip,the clutch kits I use include a disconnect tool if needed, I have a drawer full. If you need one PM me your address. | ||
| Akbuell |
Ran into a similar situation before w/tools for aircraft. Could be a propritary/license deal where the vehicle manufacturer sets the price, not the tool maker. Doesn't make the situation bite any less, though. | ||
| Drkside79 |
Whats the volume? Buy one send it to china they mold it and kick em out at 3 bucks a piece. See I'm trying to embrace my capitalistic side. Actually I do know who to send it to if interested. | ||
| Just_ziptab |
I go ballistic on this type of stuff....because when I worked at a Ford dealership (17 years),we'd get these plastic boxes with "essential service tools" that we were forced to buy as part of the franchise..........at an outrageous price($100.00 a pound?). Some had pretty handy tools.......other were simply generic flats and shafts. One box had the handy tools in it plus a drill bit and a vise grip. C'mon,we are mechanics......who the heck thought we didn't have drill sets and vise grips? Nice crooked way to sell...what...8,000 drill bits and vice grips? In looking through the boxes at the local Chevy Garage a couple days ago,I found hundreds of really cool tools that had never been out of the package...essential my ass! This was a 51 year strong dealership,so it's not like they had un schooled mechanics that didn't know to look for the service tools when needed. Simple to find the tools with the way the shop manual ID'd the tool and the box they were in. Don't even get me started on how stupid the shop manuals have become over the years. Any mechanic from the 70's will know what I am talking about. | ||
| Just_ziptab |
Thanks Bandm.........a true brotherhood Bueller  The tool is so simple,if the two screwdrivers don't work,(but I'm sure they will)...........I can whack one out with the band saw and a hole saw in a few minutes. | ||
| Sifo |
This is why I have so many specialty tools that have been hand crafted by myself. | ||
| Thumper74 |
Yeah, me too. I paint them lime green so other bastidges can't steal them. | ||
| Mr_grumpy |
Zip as a 70s apprentice I know exactly where you're coming from. We were taught to make the necessary tool if we didn't have one. Generally I just look at it & think "not got one of those but I've got something similar that'll do the job". Then it's just a question of finding it! Then there's the mechanic's motto "When in doubt, give it a clout." or "If at first you don't succeed..... Bodge it!" (Message edited by Mr_grumpy on December 03, 2011) | ||
| Aesquire |
Had a tool box stolen from my van with a bunch of specialty & homemade tools. Really not happy about that, then or now, but somewhat amused that the thief would have no idea what the Suzuki valve adjustment tools or the special wrenches ground to fit between the fins on Nortons and some other brit bikes were. Still chuckle at some idiot trying to use the Whitworth wrenches.... "this isn't a 1/2 inch??" Worst from one view was the foot long, 3 inch diameter titanium chunk I was using as a lightweight bucking bar ( for aircraft rivets ) with an eye towards making something cool, later. Oh, and about $600 in craftsmen tools, many no longer made the same way. | ||
| Leftcoastal |
Patrick - the thing about tool thieves is that they aren't the ones that will end up using the stolen tool - they're usually addicts that are looking for a quick sale for more $ for their drug of choice. If thieves could work, they wouldn't be thieves! Any remote bit of compassion you have for your fellow man, goes out the window when it comes to tool thieves - Man, I wanna kill EVERYONE when I discover some tool or tools of mine have been ripped off! Back on topic - I've got a bunch of 'homemade' tools and tool accessories (something to use with a tool you already have) that I've had to make over the years. Sometimes you can get away with it, but once in a while you GOTTA have that special tool, or you are boned. They know it, and charge accordingly! Have you priced some of the special H-D stuff lately? Yikes! | ||
| Azxb9r |
Kent-Moore has long been known as "Cost-Moore" to mechanics due to the high price of their tools. They do work well though. | ||
| Just_ziptab |
And then I have Sears trying to yearly sell me a new water filter cartridge for my fridge/ice maker at $55.00. WTF,I can buy a complete whole house filter and an under sink filter unit for $55.00........or a shit load of cartridges for those two filter units I already have......./ |
