Over the past few weeks we’ve looked at a new take on adjustable wrenches, hand impact drivers and ratcheting serpentine belt tools that save time removing belts. This week’s tool, the flexible claw pickup tool, makes retrieving lost hardware and tools easier.
This recommendation comes our way from reader JDE. Honestly, I’m amazed I didn’t think of this sooner.
Picture this. You’re working on your ride and you drop a tool, or worse yet, a small fastener. Because you have a nifty endoscope or an inspection mirror, you can readily find what dropped. However, if you’re like me and you’re working on vehicles with impossibly tight engine bays, finding the lost item is only half of the battle. Retrieving it is even harder if the vehicle has a belly pan that stops the item’s fall to the ground.
That’s the perfect situation for a flexible claw tool. Locate the part you lost, then use the claw to fish it out. I suppose you could also try the time-tested method of rocking the car back and forth, hoping it’ll fall through to the ground.
The German Tool Reviews YouTube channel reviewed a couple of these.
Expensive ones appear to be sturdy and hold shape after being bent. However, cheap ones can still get the job done if you don’t have to go around curves.
These tools are useful for more than the car or workshop. You can use them around home, too. Forget reaching your hand into a garbage disposal unit. Save your fingers and deploy one of these instead!
The model recommended by JDE — and starred by many readers — is a generic model that’s less than $10 on a site like Amazon or at Home Depot.
Do you know of a weird or unique but must-have tool you think every wrencher should have? Do you want to see us put a type of tool to the test and see how it performs? Shoot me an email or drop it down in the comments!
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