Y'all always give me good advice.  I need it now.

Many Years Ago....

I was a landscape designer.  Did only light installation, and worked out of a small pickup truck.  Subbed out anything that required equipment that was not hand tools, edger, or rear-tine tiller.  Did a lot of maintenance.   NEVER did turfgrass management of any kind.

The years passed and I moved on to other pursuits, but at the end of December I made a change, and ....

Now I'm mowing for a part-time income.

Got a beater f150 with a bed cover that hides a bunch of small equipment, a sweet little mower, and I'm running around having fun.

**Special thanks to all of you Homestead/Garden folks who contributed to my now-defunct trailer thread. One of you said, "you might get a bigger mower,"  and you were right.

Back to now.

Here's what I have:



The mess that is my truck bed:


The weed and feed is for my yard.  I don't do that for customers yet.  Soon though, maybe...


Battery chainsaw and hedge trimmers I carry just in case:



The jacks:



I need the jacks because....

Proof I can get stuck in my own yard (second day I had the mower, so go easy, kay?)







The ditch is not deep there, honest, but...I got stuck, so...farm jack.

Bottom line...

I've never had a true work truck before..and..

I will get stuck.  I will break down.

a-The mower will die in somebody's yard, and I can't drive it back onto the trailer.

b-I'll have a flat on the mower, the trailer, or the truck.

I want to be as self-sufficient as possible, so my mower guy doesn't have to stop work to come get me, and I don't have to call for help if I can fix it.

I'm going to list what I think I need to carry, and I want you to add to the list, PLUS...I'll need help with some of these items (what kind, best fit for me, etc.)

1-A way to inflate Tires--Gotta push enough air to inflate a truck or loaded trailer, or a mower tire. AT this point I'm thinking a bigger air tank (the little ones I own don't hold much and don't push much air if there is any load on the tire.) I considered an onboard compressor, but those seem expensive and difficult. (I'm still open to that though)  I have ZERO interest in the little cigarette-lighter compressors.   They take forever and are mostly for passenger car tires from what I've seen.  Toy-like, as compared to what I'm after. If I'm wrong, please say so.

2-A battery impact wrench, with sockets for whatever I might need.--Changing a tire, changing mower blades so I can keep working instead of ending my day because I tore up a blade. This will likely be my next purchase.  I will have questions below.

3-A winch--Either attached to the truck, or the trailer, and that probably means some kind of box/covering for it...apparently winch installation is a thing.  
But if I need to get my mower onto the trailer when the mower won't run, I need a winch, right?  So I will have questions.

4-A decent on-the-road toolbox (meaning the tools, not the box itself)--I can make educated guesses, but in reality, I have zero idea what I should have in there.

5-What else?  Some of you have WAY more experience working on the road than I do. (I have a few weeks under my belt.)  Obviously I can't carry my whole garage, but I'd like to learn from your experience instead of my own hard-earned, if I can.   Please share what you think I need to have with me.

FIRST QUESTION IS THE IMPACT WRENCH.

I'm fixin' to buy one of these.  I'm in the DeWalt battery system already.  I will buy DeWalt.

Dewalt has many impact wrenches available.

I'm looking at the 1/2" drive ones.  Tell me if I should be looking at something different.

~~I don't understand detent pin anvil vs hog ring thingy, or why I should care.  I want to understand.

~~The "mid-range" wrench is light and small.  (300 lbs torque, 600 lbs breakaway torque) Obviously I like the light weight of it. (for anybody who doesn't know, I'm female and small)  BUT it has a lot less torque, and a lot less breakaway torque than the bigger one.  Mower wheel lug nuts torque to 95 ft lbs.   No idea what else might need more.

~~The heavier one is...HEAVY for me.  I can manage it. If I need it, that's what I'll buy (as an aside, my awesome mower dealer winched my mower up in his shop,  handed me his DeWalt wrench and shoved his mechanic's creeper at me, then he walked back to the mower he was working on and said, "take your blades off. Holler if you need me." Yep, I've got the best mower guy on the planet.  Anyway...The wrench was heavy, but I was okay with it.)

So...why would I need one rather than the other?

And what's up with the hog ring thingy?

I have the Flexvolt system. I can do 20v Max or 60v Max (but the wrenches are all 20v Max that I'm considering).

Thank you all, in advance, for your help.

Kitties

Not meaning to sound dumb, but......you used your truck to pull the ATV (etc) onto the trailer using these?  Or you did it manually with the come alongs?

And how long did it take to move the truck/atv onto the trailer?

I understand the come-along principle, but not seeing how you did this easily.  They take a lot of effort, in my experience.

ETA: Just quick mental calculations...I may be WAY off.

~~$40 for come-alongs, plus some for the tube strap thingies (and there is the experience needed to make them work--expensive when you are on paying jobs, but you gain quickly once you learn, right?)

vs..

~~$80-100 for a Harbor Freight winch, plus maybe another $80-100 for the box/battery/stuff--so $200?  Or would it be more?

Am I way off base?

Good thoughts, these.

I had a plan for the power, and a box to mount to the front of the trailer (not without cost of course) based on a friend's design.  But it does take work. Nothing like this sets up easily, in my observation.  I'm going to look into the come-alongs, and see how easily I could manage those.

Thank you!

Thanks. I had sort of decided on the Equipment Defender racks.  Not for this season, but for next.  (Business has to pay as I go, except for the mower itself.)   $225 for a three-tool rack, which seems well worth it, and I love their surecan racks for gas cans, but they're always out of stock.   At this point I'll just keep fighting with the back end of the truck (which is a pita but doesn't cost me a lot of time overall) to keep the trimmers, blower and gas can.

I'll look at the trimmer traps too, though, before I purchase.   Going to GIE this fall (since it's close to me) and was gonna wait til I look at this stuff up close and personal, but the ED racks impressed me, and they say no problem to mount to my square tubing.  Definitely interested in looking at any other brands.

Are you saying your buddy mounted the winch plate to YOUR trailer? Or his?

I was just wondering whether the winch stayed on there most of the time, and how he/you covered it.

I've got a friend with a boat trailer who built a stainless diamond plate box for his winch and battery, and even used a solar panel to keep it charged.  He would build me one, but don't know what he'd charge.

Thanks.

I actually own many, many tools.  Too many to carry on a truck.  Which is why I need help knowing WHAT to put on the truck and what would be useless waste of space.

The thing I don't own is the impact wrench and the sockets specific to said wrench.   I do have several sets of sockets of course (all older, some Craftsman from when the name "Sears" meant something), but not sure they'd take the beating of an impact wrench.   I just have no experience with that.  Hoping to only have to buy whatever I need for the impact, and scavenge my garage for anything else I need.

I'm a tool ho, odd for a female, I know, but there you go.

Oh, cool on the little adapters!

I do want enough torque for lug nuts, because that's the thing that keeps me from changing the bigger tires on a truck/SUV.  I have tricks to lift the wheel onto the lugs, but no tricks will let my 118 lbs loosen an overtorqued nut.

Very good point about not carrying my good tools.  I hate the thought of doubling up, but I also know that in the field, repairs are always gonna be under stress, and that's prime conditions for losing pieces, leaving them on bumpers or the trailer and driving off, etc. I happen to have a very nice Snap On ratchet that I saw in the middle of the highway.  Came to a screeching halt, jumped out amid blowing horns, and picked it up.

Only piece of Snap On I will likely ever own.

I had planned on going the HF route for my first impact sockets, so that's good to hear.  It's not like I'll be using these EVERY day, or anywhere near what y'all would call hard use.  But they do need to work.

Yes, very big difference.  The farmers around here run service trucks for the big combines, tractors and sprayers.  Best welder I've ever seen in action works for a farmer.

That buying extra wheel units is something I hadn't thought of.  One front and one back, with the tools to change them out--that's a good idea.

Won't take care of my truck or trailer of course.

I'm  always going to make actually changing the truck or trailer tire a last resort, but I need the ability to do it myself if necessary.

I'm definitely adding PB Blaster and Brake Cleaner to the list.

OH WOW, great tip on the ATF/acetone.

Is it safe to carry in the truck, getting hot/cold/etc?

I'm so far from a chemist you can't even imagine. Except for soil science, which I know sort of.

Re the engine..I *think* I have the 4.6.  (that right there should tell you that I haven't looked at it closely since I researched the trouble spots when I bought the truck.  It's high mileage and still pretty new to me.)  Now you have me thinking I'm gonna walk down the driveway and pop the hood and look.

But because of time availability, anything that happens to the truck engine that is not simple maintenance, will go to Awesome Mechanic Shop Guy.

While I am capable of wrenching on an engine (simple stuff, anyway) I am very, very slow, get frustrated and cuss a lot.  I've learned to pick my fights carefully, and this fight is not worth it for me, when this is my only wheels that will tow my mower. It has to stay up, and Awesome Mechanic Shop Guy somehow squeezes time for my truck into a very packed schedule.

As an aside, he owned this very model truck at one point, and has a freaky scary knowledge of the innards.  He's solved a couple of diagnostic mysteries on the engine already.  I'm grateful to have him.

Okay brag over.  

Oh WOW!

THIS IS AWESOME!

Thank you so much for verifying what my gut choice was going to be.

I'd pretty much decided on the mid-range for my first impact wrench,  and yes, thought I'd choose deep sockets.  They can do pretty much anything (except fit in a very tight space, I guess) which makes shallow sockets redundant for most things, for me.

I don't think anybody has the hog ring anvil on the shelf, so I'll have to order that.

Dang.

ETA:  Do you use a wrench to check torque after you use the impact?  I mean do you tighten down mostly, then finish off with a torque wrench?  Or do you just squeeze, go and pray?  (not meant as an insult.  I tend to be a rule follower and check torque on everything, but I also know that sometimes it's overkill.)

@eagle34 that's a great video.

Great explanation of how both systems work.

Thank you!

I will look at these.

Didn't know about a compressor I could hook to my battery.

Thank you!

This is good to know.

I watched the video that @Eagle34 posted, and the guy in the video had to struggle a little with both the hog ring and the detent style anvils, when taking off a socket when the wrench is new.  Looks like you can replace the hog ring when it gets too loose to hold the socket. Not sure about the detent.

Incidentally, I went looking for a 1.5" socket from Harbor Freight last winter (for another application) and could not find anything bigger than 1.25"  All the sets seem to stop at that size.

People tell me they are available from HF in big sizes (thinking of the nut that holds on my trailer hitch ball) but I think maybe I'm looking in the wrong places.

Good advice.  My breaker bar walked away from a job site a year ago, and I have not replaced it.

My cheater bar walked along with it.  All the people on the job site with me were bigger than I am.  I needed it more than they did.

Adding these two things to the list to carry on the truck.

I do carry a five-gallon can of non-ethanol gas, and a smaller can of gas with 50:1 mix.

I carry all kinds of oil--mix, mower, truck....

So yeah.  I'm a rolling explosion possibility.

One reason the gas can racks will be first to buy, to get them out of the back end of my truck.  I think they're a little safer attached to the trailer. That may be wishful thinking.

STuff in Red in the quote. You will see that I'm asking for any help as to WHY you recommend what you do  (general situations for a mower out in the field), because you have obviously more knowledge than I do, and you are foreseeing things happening that I do not.  Keep in mind that I will not work on my mower engine, nor my truck engine, in the field.  I just won't.  At that I will call my backup buddy and say, "you gotta mow my yards I'm stuck."  Which is what he will do to me in a similar situation. We have an agreement.

That doesn't mean I won't or can't put all this on my truck.  Just that it will help me to know how I might be using any/all of it with what I'm doing.   Helps me to think through it.

I am making note of the things I need to dig through my piles of tools and find, or buy.

Thank you for this excellent comment.

Stuff in red in the quote.

I appreciate this list very much!

Yep, I bought them as linesman's pliers or dikes.  When we wired our house, we got the full set of essential tools.  Use the hell out of them, and fairly often.

If my grandpa called them sidecutters, I'd call them that too.  

That is VERY interesting.

So you put that little extension between your wrench and your socket, and it stops you from overtorquing stuff?

Genius.

Holy crap, that's a lot cheaper than the $80 one I looked at yesterday.

Your winch setup interests me.

Do you have it in a box to keep the weather off of it?   Do  you have the receiver tube you mentioned on your truck/trailer?  I"m very interested in any photos so I can see what you do, or maybe even take the photos to the welder and say, "I want this."

(Kitties feels shame that she has not made progress on her own welding. That's still in the hopper.)

So that means you don't have to have a battery alongside the winch.  You just use uber-long cables (which are probably not cheap but still) and your truck battery to run it.  Am I understanding you correctly?

I was hoping you would weigh in!

I did remember your strap-winch method from the trailer thread. I did not get a chance to try it. (actually grateful to not have the need).

You are the second person to mention the Viar compressor. I'm gonna have to look at that.   I hate the little cigarette lighter versions.

My buddy who built his own box for the winch did exactly what you suggest--rigged a solar panel to keep the battery going.    I was considering that, if I go the winch route.

I need to talk to him about the overall cost of his setup.

Thanks for the help with this!

I did look online for advice about an onboard air compressor and the bottom line seemed to be it was really expensive for what it could do. (a lot of the threads seemed to be about running a big train horn on a pickup truck just to be uber cool).  I did not find anything that seemed reasonable in cost or easily installed, for the type of work I want to do with it.

Going back to read the other stuff y'all have posted, but got this wrench, (had the battery, thank goodness) and one 15/16 impact socket to see how I would like the HF sockets.  I read some reviews that said they aren't actually deep enough to do what a deep socket should do, although you who have them did not mention that.

Plus, the Chrome-moly sockets were only metric.  They were out of the SAE sets in everything but Chrome-V.  Big sale, and the sockets are a good price, though those sets don't go as big as the Chrome-v.

The chrome-moly looks better to me, but y'all can tell me if I'm wrong.

Mid-range wrench..

STill heavy with the 6 AH battery, but I don't have to use that one all the time.