Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Maintenance & Servicing Socket Set

I bought my socket set over 40 years ago when I was a student and have added bits as I needed them since.
But basically the set is knackered and since I have a big birthday coming up I thought it might be a present idea.

Does anyone have any recommendations for a decent socket set that would cover >90% of the Mog?

Depends on the age of your Morgan if the majority of fasteners on the car (body, chassis, engine etc) are Metric or Imperial. I love Snap On and that's all I bought when I did this for a living, then when I was not using them every day I went on to companies like Blue Point and Facom. I have been asked more than once to put a kit together for someone (apprentices through to keen enthusiasts) and it's all about how often you will use? The more you use them the easier to specify higher quality. Once your through that minefield it's a case of drive size, hard to justify a full set at 1/2" drive these days as 3/8" drive are much stronger and easier to use and get into tight spaces. Finally there are schools of thought on socket types, Hex, Bi-Hex, Flank Drive????? And you thought this was easy ;-).

If it were me and it was for a keen hobbyist I would look to a decent mid range 3/8" drive socket set with a nice 1/4" drive small set for all the intricate work, have a look at the Halfords professional range and a good clue is to pick up the ratchet, click on a short extension....how fine is the ratchet teeth? (You want to move the ratchet through as small an angle as possible to go to next tooth so fine teeth are an advantage) second, holding the short extension how much play (waggle) is there in the ratchet mechanism, as little as possible is good.

Hope that helps and happy shopping

Most of the stuff I've got in recent years is Halfords Professional....
But looking at what the guys use at my local Mercedes dealer most is "SnapOn"

I started to build up a set of Snap-On 3/8" drive AF and Metric sockets and combination spanners. Six point for me. I also have a 1/2" drive Hilka set bought 45 years ago but they are heavy, cumbersome and not as nice to handle particularly in confined spaces and working underneath the car.

Thanks for the advice, I looked at Snap On but they seemed geared to garages, their website is difficult to navigate, probably easier to get the Snap On van to call!

The Halfords Advanced set (which I think is their new name for professional) looks good and has a lifetime warranty.

I've tended to steer clear of Snap On stuff as its basically too expensive for a hobbyist. True, you will find some Snap On stuff in my tool chest but it is good quality stuff I've picked up second hand at my local car boot sale! I.e. Ball joint splitter 50p, three leg puller 3 quid.

I prefer Teng (no quibble lifetime guarantee and I can get a good enough discount), Britool, Sykes Pickavant & Facom.

Just bought a set of Facom screwdrivers in French hypermarche for a fraction of what they would cost in the UK!

Kind regards

Arwyn

Most of mine are Snap On too from my workshop days.. Very hard to justify the cost now if they aren't to be used every day.

If you avoid the obvious very cheap and nasty stuff I think most of the mid range kit will serve you fine.

Agree that a versatile 3/8 drive will get most use and maybe a couple of 1/2 drive sockets and bar for the bigger jobs.

Elora, Williams, Kamasa, Blue Point, Britool.. I've got them all in addition to the Snap On stuff and they are all fine.

I've got the top of range Halfords set from about 3 years ago - it still looks like new and I rather stupidly left the case on the floor of my garage when I was flooded on Boxing Day

I opened the case up which was wet inside and dried everything off and there is and was absolutely no tarnish or rusty water, unlike my other tools which got caught

I think I'm pleased with it but as with every 'set', I find I've had to buy some extra adapters so I can use the longer handles for more leverage on some medium sized sockets which is a bit annoying and there have been quite a cases while working on the Morgan that the length of the socket is too long or too short ( just can't win sometimes)

So if I was buying again, I would probably go for a slightly smaller set and add some extra bits and pieces as I needed it with some specialist sizes and adapters

Very pleased with the quality though - it was called the Advanced range when I bought it and it did come with a lifetime guarantee

Agree on Teng - fantastic tools

All my installers swear by them, I've not tried their socket sets and don't know what's available but their tools we use at work are absolutely top notch

They are a bit hideously expensive, but some Metrinch sockets or spanners are very handy.

I've a Draper 1/2" socket set I've had since I was 22, and pretty well all of them have been abused, and the only replacement needed was for a lost, not broken, socket. I've got Halfords 1/4 and 3/8 sets, and an Elora 1/2" and a part set of Britool 1/2". The last two though came from my trading in imperial spanners more recently. Folk know me as the chap into old cars, and I get garage clearance stuff sometimes (not recently though).

Worth keeping your eyes open though, there is a lot of good stuff out there.