Tool set for small diesels

I’m getting ready to take the plunge and purchase either a sailboat or trawler. I have no previous experience with marine diesel engines. I want to be able to properly maintain and troubleshoot any problems that may come up as I wish to go to those remote beautiful spots with out the fear of being stranded. Can anyone suggest a list of tools or a tool kit set that provides what would be required to take care of most situations?
Thanks for your help !

I have a recommended list for Lehman engines. Don’t know if it will work with the engine you might buy.

My toolbox weighs over a hundred pounds. I also have a small pouch containing about 10 commonly used tools which I often take into the bilge.

You need something in between. Your toolkit should be dictated by your own abilities.

What do you have at home?, and what home jobs will you tackle at home? If your home toolbox is a mismatched conglomeration of rusty junk you won't be able to tackle many boat problems.

Your first decision should be "metric or standard"? Then decide if you will be a mechanic or a carpenter.

For a first step, hire someone to change the fuel filters on your engine and then go buy the very tools he used.

pete

Until you have a particular diesel I can only give general advice.

Most of the stuff you will work/maintain is the stuff around the engine: water pumps, coolers, hoses, belts, alternators, batteries, wiring, connectors, fuel filters.

Deeper is valve adjustment, starter swap.

Next is hard motor stuff: injection system, head gasket, exhaust manifolds.

Spares kit of gaskets, clamps, pump rebuild, belts, alternator.

The biggest tools I got on board allow head gasket change. 180 ft-lb torque.

Don't forget commonly used tools more common now that when that list was fresh...

IR thermometer for keeping an eye on temps and verifying gauges

Phototach for verifying rpms when in engine room and verifying gauges

Battery and coolant refractometers (or one with a wide range) to check batteries and coolant.

Also...

Ratcheting crimper and small torch for heat shrink connectors

Wire cutter

Large crimper for battery cables

Also, things I have and use once...but many friends have borrowed...

Exhaust gas test kit
Coolant system pressure test kit

Start with the likely JOB to do, and then that drives the tools.
for instance; our last time out, had to do a starter swap. Those can have some rqmts for longer extensions on your socket set. You will get lists here that will overwhelm small boats! I have twin engines, that means there is twice the likelyhood for failures!
Dont' forget the dink motor. I've been into that carb twice while out.

And of course are the fasteners on the engine Imperial or metric? If they're metric you'll likely need Imperial anyway for other stuff on the boat.
Six -point sockets do a much better job on tough bolts than the more common twelve-point. The 12's only bear on the corners and can knock them off, 6's won't do that.

I had a trawler into which I stuffed LOTS of tools to handle just about anything which might happen while far from home. Now I have a much smaller boat (but bigger diesel engine) which could but will unlikely venture very far from home with a much smaller tool set. It just depends on your abilities and how far from home you want to go. Just because you may not have the ability to perform some job on the engine does not mean you cannot carry suggested spare parts and the tools for somebody else to use.

Greetings,
Mr. W. You can drive yourself bonkers with tools and spares. As mentioned, a LOT depends on your skills AND the space to store all that stuff.


On a smaller trawler and particularly on a stick boat, space will be at a premium. You will not only have to store mechanical "stuff" (tools/spares) but electrical, plumbing and wood/fiberglass "stuff" (tools/spares), as well. PLUS...All the other small bits and pieces and do-dads that need a place to live.


At some point you're gonna want/need a bigger boat...Now where to put the milling machine? Beside the drill press or between the band saw and the lathe?

You said for a small diesel, so we are talking about mechanic stuff. I'd start with the basics. Socket set with extensions, ratchet, and breaker bar. Unless it's a really small engine, like a small sail boat engine, I would get both 3/8" and 1/2" sets. I think all engines now are metric, and have been for quite a while, even the US brands. I don't know exactly when they switched over, but Cat, Cummins, Deere are all metric now. And certainly Yanmar, Volvo, MTU, MAN, Scania, etc.


The screw drivers, side cutters, pliers, big channel lock pliers, a hammer,.


Then a set of combination wrenches.


And a good Volt-Ohm meter, and a laser thermometer. A clamp on DC meter is very handy too, but be certain it does both AC and DC.


That will get you pretty far, and from there I'd just buy what I need, as I need it. I've been wrenching on stuff for over 50 years now, still have some of the first tools I bought as a kid, and am still buying stuff as I need it. Torx heads (both male and female) are increasingly popular, for example, as are hex socket heads. If you encounter them, it's time to get a set.


You can also improvise a LOT with basic tools. For example, I don't use oil filter wrenches, and instead just use channel lock pliers.

Line wrenches for injector lines

I will add a 1/4" drive set of sockets. Whichever way you purchase , inch or metric, then get the others , inch or metric as I will bet unless the boat is quite new you will have some of both.
Even then there may well be domestically produced equipment that needs the other system.
The 1/4 drives will also cover the need for nut drivers and small nut/bolts.

But save the purchases untill you have the boat and looked around at what you have.

Often times medium age boats will have a mix of inchric and meteric.

twistedtree said:

...... I think all engines now are metric, and have been for quite a while, even the US brands. I don't know exactly when they switched over, but Cat, Cummins, Deere are all metric now. And certainly Yanmar, Volvo, MTU, MAN, Scania, etc.

Click to expand...

I was stunned when I bought a pop-top camper van based on a 2000 E150 platform that the engine was metric. I thought we squashed the metrics system back in the Reagan administration.

The tool list from Bob Smith posted by Comodave is an excellent start. I would add a 5/16" nut driver with flexible shaft for hose clamps (I think 5/16" is the common size).

Seems all boats have a couple oddball fasteners. So keep an open mind. On the bracket that held my old hydraulic pump for stabilizers, I needed a very thin 10mm wrench so I ground down one and zip-tied it nearby. My old stuffing box had large gland nuts so the appropriate wrenches hung nearby.

Point being is you have to spend some quality time to find orphan fasteners that will require special tools.

As a follow-on, I wonder what the collective wisdom is on 6-point vs 12-point sockets.

Peter

mvweebles said:

I was stunned when I bought a pop-top camper van based on a 2000 E150 platform that the engine was metric. I thought we squashed the metrics system back in the Reagan administration.

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That's right, the US pussied out on the world-wide switch over in the 70's because the car companies all claimed it would ruin them. Now they are all fully metric, but are the very people who caused the rest of the country to remain stuck in the stone age. Thanks guys! Job well done.

twistedtree said:

That's right, the US pussied out on the world-wide switch over in the 70's because the car companies all claimed it would ruin them. Now they are all fully metric, but are the very people who caused the rest of the country to remain stuck in the stone age. Thanks guys! Job well done.

Click to expand...

At least we didn't go Whitworth. I have a 1963 Triumph motorcycle and a set of wrenches that are useless except for that bike.

As a follow-on, I wonder what the collective wisdom is on 6-point vs 12-point sockets.

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6 point are generally the best because as noted above, they rarely strip the corners off the hex.
My mechanic son won't use a 12 point unless he has to, which is rare.

jleonard said:

6 point are generally the best because as noted above, they rarely strip the corners off the hex.
My mechanic son won't use a 12 point unless he has to, which is rare.

Click to expand...

Totally agree. 12-point are pretty useless.

Pete Meisinger said:

My toolbox weighs over a hundred pounds. I also have a small pouch containing about 10 commonly used tools which I often take into the bilge.

You need something in between. Your toolkit should be dictated by your own abilities.

What do you have at home?, and what home jobs will you tackle at home? If your home toolbox is a mismatched conglomeration of rusty junk you won't be able to tackle many boat problems.

Your first decision should be "metric or standard"? Then decide if you will be a mechanic or a carpenter.

For a first step, hire someone to change the fuel filters on your engine and then go buy the very tools he used.

pete

Click to expand...

Like Pete, just one of numerous of my boxes is 100lbs+. I have come to buy a bunch of these cheap plastic toolboxes with the usual metric/English up to about 3/4" and stash them everywhere, boats, dinghies, trailers, RVs, cars, everywhere. Generally, they will take care of most common jobs. The MTUs in my 70fter started out at 19mm and then went up. Try finding 25mm, 32mm and up for sockets 25.4mm= 1'. We had to calculate English to mm to use some instead. So, the special tools you will need will depend on
1. what engine and equipment you have,
2. where you are going to travel
3. Your ability/desire to get down and dirty with your engine

I removed a 600 crank out of one of those MTUs while engine was in the boat. That required purchasing some special tools and improvising. Oh, MTU states all four bolts on all 5 main bearing journals must be tightened simultaneously! Maybe in the factory in Deutschland but not in a berth in Florida

Comodave said:

I have a recommended list for Lehman engines. Don’t know if it will work with the engine you might buy.

Click to expand...

Good starting point. I have FL 120s and keep far more tools than what appear on this list. Breaker bar, torque wrench, tap and dies, two drills, Sawzall, many screwdrivers, many types and sizes of pliers, hammers, die grinder, impact wrench, large diameter impact sockets, and the list goes on. There is almost no job I cannot do on board and, at one time or another, I have had need of them all including the Sawzall and the tap and dies.

twistedtree said:

Totally agree. 12-point are pretty useless.

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Not completely worthless. In some tight recesses you can’t get enough angle to get a 6 point wrench on. In this case the 12 point will save you.

On rare occasions there are 12 point bolts. Here a 12 point socket will save the day.

Point of note. My boat sockets are all 6 point but my wrenches are all 12 point.

twistedtree said:

Totally agree. 12-point are pretty useless.

Click to expand...

Until you need to replace a CAT 3208 starter or a CAT 3126 after cooler... For some reason CAT decided to use 12 point fasteners in seemingly random places. Mercruiser used 12 point fasteners on some stern drives too. Very strange.

I used 12 point socket on a small diesel cylinder head last summer. 65 ft-lb then torque to angle. 12 point head bolts. Thought for sure that socket would split, worked fine. Could not have done that with 6 point due to space constraints to swing long bar.

mvweebles said:

…

The tool list from Bob Smith posted by Comodave is an excellent start. I would add a 5/16" nut driver with flexible shaft for hose clamps (I think 5/16" is the common size).
….
Peter

Click to expand...

Yes. And 7mm for the euro clamps. So much better than futzen with a screwdriver.

diver dave said:

Yes. And 7mm for the euro clamps. So much better than futzen with a screwdriver.

Click to expand...

You got that! Sometimes you can only get one hand in there and can't hold the clamp while you tighten the screw. A socket or nut driver does it so much easier. I like the 4 in 1 screwdrivers for US hose clamps, take the bits out and it's a 1/4" and 5/16" nut driver. The two common sizes of US clamps. Not strong enough for a real nut or bolt, but just right for a clamp.

Greetings,
As an aside to hose clamps...Ive used a nut driver and my cordless drill to make fast work of changing clamps. In preparation to selling our last boat I replaced all hose clamps. Must have been close to 100. Drill clutch set to 4 seemed to tighten just right. Used all European clamps so that 7 mm was used. Removal of old clamps was a breeze. Of course 3 or 4 different nut drivers needed.

diver dave said:

Start with the likely JOB to do, and then that drives the tools.
for instance; our last time out, had to do a starter swap. Those can have some rqmts for longer extensions on your socket set. You will get lists here that will overwhelm small boats! I have twin engines, that means there is twice the likelyhood for failures!
Dont' forget the dink motor. I've been into that carb twice while out.

Click to expand...

Dave is correct you never know what you need until you get into things. We have two large Snap-On tool chest, but it is a collection of over fifty years working on these tubs.

Mischief Managed said:

Until you need to replace a CAT 3208 starter or a CAT 3126 after cooler... For some reason CAT decided to use 12 point fasteners in seemingly random places. Mercruiser used 12 point fasteners on some stern drives too. Very strange.

Click to expand...

And they aren't Torx heads? A 12-point will fit a Torx, but not well.

diver dave said:

Yes. And 7mm for the euro clamps. So much better than futzen with a screwdriver.

Click to expand...

Took me a while to figure this one out, but you are sooo right.

Space is always at a premium, not to mention that a 100 pound toolbox isn't very portable. That being said...

NEVER buy cheap tools! Nothing from the bargain bin at the hardware store. Get quality tools with a lifetime warranty, (there really isn't such a thing), Stay away from Harbor Freight when tool shopping.

And most important.. NEVER buy a tool which is advertised to take the place of 10 tools in your toolbox! The multihead sockets, the socket with pins to make them universal, The hammer with a wrench and bottle opener built in, the hatchet with a secret compartment for fishing line, lighter, map, space age blanket and a compass.

pete

I bought a fairly elaborate set of nut drivers (like RT shows) that also came with metric and "regular" torx, allen, phillips, spade, etc. and a little racheting socket handle. I use the mini socket driver all the time as there are so many places when dealing with small fasteners that a regular driver or battery drill won't fit.

I got rid of the Yanmar generator and with the Lehman main, the only metric aboard are tiny fastners.