someotherguy
Truly Awesome
Talk about a well thought-out response, and drinking from the firehose.I hardly know where to start.
In the 1980s or earlier, a person in your position would watch the weekly Sears advertising supplements, until a medium-large Craftsman tool set was on sale, and then buy it. Then wait until the Craftsman Metric add-on set was promoted, and buy that. And somewhere along the line, they'd have a decent-sized Craftsman tool box for sale at a discount. Craftsman was Professonal- (apprentice-) grade tools, FABULOUS value, wonderful warranty. Tools themselves varied between "Really OK" and "Great", with the "Great" stuff generally not being part of the heavily-discounted sets.
Craftsman has become "Crapsman". Offshored, reduced-quality, specializing in useless junk "gimmick" tools that go on sale for Christmas and Father's day, when people are tired of giving Dad cologne.
I decided years ago to buy a large wheeled tool cabinet, rather than a small wheeled cabinet, and stack intermediate- and top-chests onto the small wheeled cabinet. That way I have enough storage, but also a usable-height work surface. I don't need a step-ladder to see into the top of my tool chest.
Hit the pawn shops, rummage and estate sales, eBay and Craigslist. Buy USED, MADE IN AMERICA (or Canada) tools instead of brand-new Communist Crap. If you're built like me (on the smaller side) pay extra for long-pattern wrenches, and long-handled ratchets. The extra leverage is most useful. But then, you may ALSO need to buy extra-short wrenches and ratchets due to tight working clearance, later.
GOOD screwdrivers (and tools in general) are an investment. Cheap screwdrivers are disposable. Choose wisely. A good compromise--for most uses--is a good-quality ratchting screwdriver handle and shaft, and interchangeable/inexpensive straight, Phillips, hex, Torx and other specialty bits. One of the (small) ratchets you buy should be specifically for those 1/4" shank bits, for when you need more leverage than a screwdriver can provide.
If you're in a Hazzard Fraught store, you're probably buying "disposable" "Tool-Shaped Objects", although I've heard they've made some improvements.
You'll need 1/4" drive, 3/8" drive, and 1/2" drive ratchets, various extensions, U-joints, and sockets. I'm heaviest on 3/8" drive, but with a good selection of 1/4" and 1/2" as well. I have little in 3/4" drive, and I have to be really angry to use it.
IN GENERAL, and with exceptions, any wrench or socket for hex nuts and bolts should be 6-point for any size smaller than 1/2" or 12mm. 12-point makes sense for sizes larger than 5/8 or 16mm, and you need both for the sizes in-between (1/2--5/8, and 12--16mm)
You WILL need a mutimeter, and it will need to have a dwell meter or duty-cycle position. Miliamps to ~10 amperes, higher is better. Milivolts to as many volts as you can get. Ohmmeter capable of measuring and displaying down to one-half ohm, lower is better; and into the megohm range. Capacitance testing is a bonus. Battery testing (AAA--D cell, maybe some "button" batteries) is a bonus, but not for automotive use.
Timing light. Dial-back ("advance") is nice, not absolutely essential. Pretty much any timing light you pick up at a pawn shop should be fine, IF it works properly.
75 ft/lb or 100 ft/lb 3/8" torque wrench, plus a 50--250 1/2" drive torque wrench. Don't buy junk. And don't buy "electronic" torque wrenches, as they cost extra to re-calibrate.
Vacuum gauge/low-pressure fuel pressure gauge (the fuel pressure part will be useless to you, but they're often sold as a vacuum/pressure gauge)
Get a spark-tester that's suitable for HEI. You want one with an actual spark gap, DO NOT buy one that flashes a stupid light-bulb.
You'll need some kind of "12 volt" test light. Mine has a regular incandescent light bulb which works well for some stuff, and not at all for other things, especially related to electronic (as opposed to "electric") devices. A "computer safe" test light with LED bulbs (red and green, typically) is what I should get. A self-coiling cord with a proper alligator clip on the end is very recommended.
You need to research the "Tool Truck" tool brands. They rarely sell junk, but they're hatefully expensive. The same tools can be purchased under different brand names--and sometimes made with different-color plastic boxes or different-shaped handles on the ratchets--from the same companies that supply the "Tool Truck" brand names. Lang, Mayhew, Mastercool, Wilde, and others make some of the things that get branded with the Tool Truck logos, but are available under their own name for less money from Amazon or perhaps from www.harryepstein.com. Another good tool source selling closeout/distressed merchandise is https://www.cripedistributing.com/
Snap-On is the King of the Tool Trucks. They actually make a large proportion of their stuff, the bought-in tools are often branded "Blue Point" rather than Snap-On. The Snap-On company owns a lot of other tool companies that supply "custom" stuff to Snap-On, but sell very similar stuff directly and at lower prices. Snap-On owns Williams, which has a Taiwan line and a USA line, and the USA stuff is very good at less than Snap-On pricing.
Mac Tools is often supplied by Proto--both companies are owned by Stanley Black 'n' Decker.
Matco Tools buys-in almost their entire line. They "make" tool boxes, and source everything else from a variety of suppliers.
Cornwell Tools also buys-in almost their entire line. They do make some stuff, on the expensive end of the range. They own a tool-box manufacturer. The bulk of their sales is from outside suppliers.
Wright is an "industrial" tool company, family-owned and mostly USA-made. They don't sell from "the Truck", and they're not bargain-basement priced, but not as high as Snappy or Mac or the other Truck brands. Their wrenches are exceptional, (if not as long as I'd prefer) and everything else is "only" really good. Their focus is NOT on auto repair, so they have little or nothing for specialty tools for automobile work. But wrenches, screwdrivers, sockets, ratchets...all the "universal" stuff is top-notch.
SK used to be a fantastic, USA tool company. They got sold to the Communist Chinese a couple of years ago, and went straight to hell. USED SK is great. New SK is a total crapshoot--some OK, some direct from China.
You will need a scan tool. There's a multitude of devices, including laptop-computer-plus-software-and-adapter cord, to "dongles" and smart-phones, to cheap-junk "consumer grade" tools, to genuine pro-level standalone scan tools. Too much to cover here, and I have zero experience with anything but a couple of Snap-On Pro-level tools.
Don't overlook the "loaner tool" program at various automotive parts stores. All sorts of specialty equipment can be "bought" and then returned for a full refund.
You've probably figured out at this point you can quickly spend more than you paid for the truck, on just tools (and tool storage) alone. This would be where I would say, buy 'em as you need 'em. Trying to get everything up front will break you, especially when "everything" is huge and the need is subjective.
Something that hasn't been mentioned yet - quality floor jack and stands. On any vehicle you don't want to skimp here, but ESPECIALLY on a heavy truck. You can spend a fortune on this stuff so shop carefully. There's a lot of junk out there and some of it still costs a lot so you can't judge strictly by price.
Richard