I’ve misplaced my Leatherman in the garage somewhere and the only way to find it is to buy another, cuz you know it will show up right away…
So I’m looking for recommendations. Must have:
Pliers / needle nose / wire cutters
Knife
Saw
Phillips and flat screwdriver
Bit driver?
I guess the usual unless you’ve found something very special out there. Compact and lightweight also
I’m a huge fan of the Gerber Centerdrive. Specifically for the bit driver. Stout and can take bits along very easily for a range of bolts.
And…I found it. Hiding in a tank bag I don’t use.
If you don’t tell anyone, we won’t.
You just needed to open up and talk about it.
I have not found any one tool that does it all, but a Motion Pro Multi Tool, combo axle wrench/tire levers, and a Leatherman-type tool cover just about everything in a pinch. You can get additional bit tips for the MP tool, to have torx sizes specific to your application.
I’ve been extremely happy with my Leatherman surge with the hex drive adapter. Nothing special there as other Leatherman have the same bit drive but I can also use 1/4-drive bit for bolts/etc.
Between that tool, zip ties, paracord and a little duct tape, those things have got me out of a lot of jams.
The best I’ve found is the Gerber 600 bladeless. I’ve broken countless other multitool pliers being a meathead and strong handing it, thats impossible with this as the two ends bottom out. I like that it also can be deployed single handedly, important when you have a trailside cactus buzz pin your hand to your wrist and need pliers to remove.
Most importantly the remgrit saw is amazing, we used it to saw through a socket to create a shim for a trailside brake repair. The file is solid, the scissors supposedly Fiskers branded stay sharp.
I prefer my multi tool to be a multi tool only, I’m already carrying a screwdriver to use as a screwdriver. Also I find standalone knives to be better suited for knife tasks rather than part of a larger tool.
I picked this up a couple months ago and have found myself using it for nearly all my wrenching on the trail and in the garage.
And I just found this on Etsy to combine this bit set with sockets and knipex pliers.
https://www.etsy.com/listing/1801021117/harbor-freight-icon-mini-ratchet-set-edc