Roadside Tool Kit for your Replica

I found myself adding an ODB tool, a Multi-meter, a Lithium battery Juice Pack to boost the car as well as a tow straps last year.

In the seventies, an acquaintance who drove a VW bus always kept a spotlessly clean 36hp engine strapped to one leg of the third row seat. Used it most often to help friends rather than himself. Probably took fewer tools to swap it than to fix much.

Just call AAA roadside assistance.  keep it simple.

@Blasco posted:

Just call AAA roadside assistance.  keep it simple.

Inasmuch as I pay $119/yr. for my AAA Premier card, I certainly agree with you and the "KISS"* principle. That said, though, just in case it's gonna be a long wait before AAA can show up, I'll make sure my Roadside Emergency Kit includes not just a "hip flask"....but at least a "1-pint" hip flask. After all, if my SHPEEDY is towed, I'll be riding Shotgun in the AAA truck.

* Keep It Simple, Stupid

@Gordon Nichols wrote- "Kyle's hip flask particularly caught my eye - That'll be added, for sure, but I won't be putting 2-stroke oil in it.     You never know when it's gonna be a long wait.

Now that would be a disappointment...

@wrkinprogress posted:

In the seventies, an acquaintance who drove a VW bus always kept a spotlessly clean 36hp engine strapped to one leg of the third row seat. Used it most often to help friends rather than himself. Probably took fewer tools to swap it than to fix much.

The ultimate set of tools.

@Napa Paul posted:

After all, if my SHPEEDY is towed, I'll be riding Shotgun in the AAA truck.

Not during Covid, you won't. I found that out the hard way last spring.

@Eric (McGruff) posted:

Not during Covid, you won't. I found that out the hard way last spring.

Maybe so, but there still is Uber or Lyft running around EVERYWHERE I've been driving...and they've all got back seats.

"like a large HD trash bag that can have many uses (Thanks, Jack Crosby)!"

I just went and did this, and I should mention that I also added a small 4x6 tarp/plastic from the dollar store.  You never know when you might need it

Lastly, never leave home without AAA/CAA

For overlapping functions with the tarp: a moving blanket. Also I looked in my old copy of How to Keep Your VW Alive. Muir has several "Phases" of tool kits and even Phase I is pretty extensive, including a ball peen hammer.

@wrkinprogress posted:

For overlapping functions with the tarp: a moving blanket. Also I looked in my old copy of How to Keep Your VW Alive. Muir has several "Phases" of tool kits and even Phase I is pretty extensive, including a ball peen hammer.

For some guys, that is the only tool they know how to use...

In looking at what others recommend, it's really easy to go overboard and haul along all sorts of stuff.  I used to be that way.  Maybe that's why Pearl weighed exactly 2,000 pounds on Danny P's 4-wheel scales.    

Since those fatter days, I have cut back a lot but have a couple of small tool bags and a tool roll-up that, between them, hold a number of "multi-tools" and a select assortment that'll be handy off on the side of the road.  Honestly, I've used my road tools on other people's cars a LOT more than on mine, but that's why I bring them.

On @Jack Crosby's trash bag idea, he carries it to put the road tire in when using his spare tire/wheel.  The road wheel won't fit under the hood and putting it in the trash bag keeps Alice from getting all grubby when it's riding on her lap to a garage.  

And, of course, I have my Hagerty roadside assistance number on speed-dial.

Well most of my trip supplies came from the wonderful lists that Gordon published back in the day.  They were classic and maybe are still in the resources section.  About everything I ever took from the trip supplies went to others.  All ever used for myself in 13 trips to Carlisle was that big thumbscrew that was for adjusting the clutch travel--my shitty Chinese one just self destructed at the county club as we left after dinner---(in a driving rain).  Russ scooted under the car like a monkey and replaced it with a stainless steel one.  I saw an idea here where someone keeps two of them on the threads of the clutch cable---good idea I thought.  That same trip he also installed a starter we bought at an auto parts store there. I sorta like traveling with Russ and Sean----a lot. I did get an oil pressure sender from Cory---I never knew that there was a difference between a Type I and a Type 4 one. I have seen some fantastic repairs done at the various Carliles by out uber talented members.  That would make an interesting thread, I think.

Are you sure that thread isn't there? I have the sense that in the 2000-aughts, when giants walked the earth at Carlisle, the twin centerpieces at dinner the first evening would be a donor dunebuggy with half a rod out the case and a fresh-laid Brazilian speedster mold, and a new owner would be chosen in a drinking game the last afternoon and drive the finished speedster home.

Mine is a cell phone and a AAA membership. My luck I'd get hit.

The cell phone and AAA membership isn't a bad first option, but out here in the Pacific Northwest some amazing roads with not-to-be-missed curves and scenery are in areas with no cell service.  You could easily find yourself a half day walk from a landline, too.  So pack your choice of tools, spares, and water.  Plan your gas stops and let someone know roughly where you're going (I know, we like to just go with no plan...guilty).  Also remember this, the real first line of defense against breakdowns is maintenance.