Thomas Sowell, who is one of our favorite commentators, points out three things that make the collectivists uneasy. These are cars, guns and home schooling, all of which grant to the individual a degree of independence of action which terrifies the champions of the super state.
—Jeff Cooper, Jeff Cooper’s Commentaries,
September 1998
AUTOMOTIVE MAINTENANCE AND REPAIR TOOLS
A basic set of automotive maintenance and repair tools is a must for any serious prepper. While the under-the-hood complexity of most cars and trucks has risen dramatically since the mid-1970s, there are still many tasks that can be handled by home mechanics without the aid of high-tech diagnostics. At the very minimum, you will need a floor jack, jack stands, tire tools, a full set of socket wrenches, a full set of Torx drivers, a full set of Allen wrenches, an oil filter wrench, pry bars, a volt-ohm meter (VOM), an assortment of screwdrivers, and several sets of pliers. (See Chapter 3 for additional details.)
JACK STANDS
Steel jack stands are available at nearly any auto parts store. You can also purchase a pair by mail order for less than twenty-five dollars from JCWhitney.com. There are special Hi-Lift jack bases—designed to distribute a jack’s weight more broadly across soft ground—available from 4WD.com.
A Few Vehicle Hoisting Safety Tips
1. Never jack up a car on a slope!
2. Never work alone when hoisting a vehicle.
3. Resist the urge to use four jack stands at once. The maximum that you can safely use at once is one pair. You need to leave at least two of a vehicle’s wheels resting on the ground and lift only one end of the vehicle at a time. If the ground is slightly uneven, then lay at least eighteen-by-eighteen-inch scraps of three-quarter-inch (or thicker) plywood under each jack stand.
One extremely important part of using any jack safely is to always place jack stands under the vehicle before crawling underneath, or you will be placing your life in jeopardy. This rule goes for a Hi-Lift jack as well as for any other type of jack.
TIRE REPAIR TOOLS
Repairing modern tires is quite labor intensive to do at home or out in the boonies, but not impossible. DIY tire dismounting and repair is becoming a lost art—still practiced primarily by those of us who spend a lot of time in 4WD mode out in remote BLM-managed acreage or in the Australian outback.
My family likes to go rock hounding in a remote region. We are talking about true off-roading here, in which getting stranded is more than just an inconvenience. Our tires seem to magically attract very pointy chunks of slate and basalt. A breakdown could mean a twenty-five-mile walk to the nearest paved road. At the very minimum, we always carry one spare tire already on a rim (and sometimes two), a small 12-VDC compressor with pressure tank, and a DC-to-AC inverter. I recommend that you do the same.
Every 4WD and ranch utility truck should have a set of tire tools—including an Aussie Tyrepliers bead breaker, as well as patching materials and goop, a small compressor that can run off a two-hundred-watt inverter, and a good-quality hand pump with an accurate gauge. A tire-plugging kit is a must. By the way, special precautions (including a safety cage or chains) are required when working on tires that are mounted on “split”-style rims. Beware!
TOW CHAINS AND TOW STRAPS
Every well-equipped retreat will have a variety of tow chains and tow straps. I carry a strap in each light vehicle and a tow chain in each truck, tractor, and ATV. Keep your tow chains clean and well-oiled and your grandchildren will someday use them. But if you fail to do so, you will come upon a rusty, pitted mess in less than a year.
Cold-Weather Essentials
Warm clothing, pile caps, and gloves
Extra pairs of dry socks
Ice creepers (such as Yaktrax, which are widely available)
Snowshoes and spare binding parts (such as the Huron-made snowshoes available from Lehmans.com)
Sleeping bag(s). I prefer the Wiggy’s brand FTRSS. We have five of them here at the ranch, and they have served us very well for nearly twenty years.
Fire-starting kit with plenty of tinder
FLASHLIGHTS
I consider flashlights to be key enabling tools for survival. Not only are they crucial for shedding light on mechanical work, for map reading, and for field medicine procedures, but they can also be useful for self-defense as striking weapons. In this role, they are used like palm sticks or kubotans. (Do a Web search on the phrase “palm stick defense” for more information on this.) This is particularly important if you live in a jurisdiction that restricts carrying guns or knives. Carrying a flashlight is generally unrestricted, but consult your state and local laws. By the way, large ink pens can be used similarly. They run the gamut from the very inexpensive Cold Steel Pocket Shark to the very expensive Mont Blanc Meisterstück. If you opt for the Pocket Shark (which is what I carry when I take commercial airplane flights), then I recommend scraping off all of the pen’s exterior markings.
For nearly all applications I strongly prefer LED flashlights to those with traditional filament bulbs. Not only do they draw far less current (giving your batteries tremendous life), but they are also highly resistant to impacts that would quickly destroy the filaments of traditional bulbs. I’ve retrofitted a number of my Maglite flashlights with LEDs, which are available from a number of sellers on eBay.
For small flashlights I generally prefer those that use CR123 batteries. These batteries were originally developed for cameras, but they have become ubiquitous with flashlights and weapons-mounted lasers. They have a superior energy density compared with AA batteries. Rechargeable lithium-ion CR123 batteries and chargers hit the market around 2010, making CR123 battery flashlights even more desirable.
I recommend buying only high-quality flashlights. Lights with machined metal body tubes tend to be the sturdiest. Two excellent brands are SureFire and Maglite. One brand that uses a plastic body also deserves particular mention: Gerber’s Omnivore series. These lights have a clever battery compartment design that allows them to use size AA or AAA or CR123 batteries—all with the same flashlight.
For map reading in the field, I recommend red or blue filters to preserve your natural night vision. Note that even when using these filters, reading maps in tactical situations should be done only inside an opaque tent or under a poncho.
Flashlights with one-inch-diameter tubes fit in standard rifle scope rings. Thus, they can be firmly attached to Picatinny rails, coaxially with the bore of a rifle, pistol, or shotgun. There are momentary on-off switches and tape switches made for many lights. Typically these replace a standard tail cap. In life-or-death situations it is crucial to activate a flashlight only momentarily, just before you shoot. Otherwise you will be carrying around a big bright “shoot me” beacon.
Momentary on-off switches can also be useful for signaling with your flashlight, whether you’re using Morse code or another code system.
Small flashlights can be carried in headbands, effectively converting them into headlamps. It takes a while to get accustomed to using these, but they can be very useful, since they leave both hands free to work. These headbands are sold under a variety of brand names, such as Nite Ize.
One of my longtime friends mentioned that he has recently been experimentally hiking with an LED Mini Maglite carried in a Nite Ize headband, equipped with a relatively waterproof TacStar pressure tape switch that he can clench between his teeth. For regular trail hiking, the light’s head can be cranked down for “continuous on” operation when the standard tail cap is installed. But when operating tactically with the tape-switch tail cap installed, he can activate the light “on demand” by clamping his teeth down on the tape switch. He has even experimented with wire stiffeners, positioning the tape switch and the mouthpiece of his Camelbak hydration pack on either side of his chin. That way he can selectively bite down on one or the other, by just slightly tilting his head. He jokingly calls this the “combat pacifier effect.” It’s a clever way around the dilemma of how to activate a flashlight on demand and hands-free.
MOBILITY TOOLS
Mobility tools are often ignored outside of fire department and emergency medical services publications. These are tools that help you get from Point A to Point B. Whether the obstacles are natural or man-made, having the right mobility tools with you may make a huge difference in making a successful journey.
When operating a vehicle off-road or on country roads, you should always expect to have to fend for yourself. Service facilities are few and far between. Something as simple as a blown-down tree can impede your progress, and you might be the first traveler to encounter it. So it is wise to carry a set of pioneer tools. These tool sets date back to the days of horse-drawn wagons.
Basic pioneer tools include: ax, round-point shovel, tow chain, Swedish limb saw, digging/pry bar, Hi-Lift jack, and a snow shovel in winter months.
Perhaps the best way to envision the tools and techniques needed for mobility is to anticipate how someone might employ countermobility techniques. If you know how someone or something might impede your progress, then you can identify the tools that you will need to keep you rolling.
Every well-prepared family should have one or more 4WD vehicles with snow tires or chains. For those of you who have an eleventh-hour Get Out of Dodge (GOOD) plan, I trust that you have pre-positioned the vast majority of your food and gear at your intended retreat. Towing a trailer on icy winter roads is a dicey proposition even in the best of times. Piloting an overloaded vehicle with an overloaded trailer when TSHTF is tantamount to suicide. But if you’ve planned things properly and pre-positioned your gear, there is no need for a trailer. Just one quick trip with fuel cans, bugout bags, backpacks, web gear, and weapons cases should suffice.
So what do you need to carry in your vehicle? At all times, you should carry a tool kit, flashlights, road flares, engine starting fluid, first aid/trauma kit, chemical light sticks, a CB radio, and your usual bugout bag basics, including food and water. So let’s take it a step further and talk specifically about mobility essentials that you should keep stowed in your bugout vehicle:
Traction sand. You probably already have a couple of bales of USGI sandbags. Just fill a bag (or two) with coarse sand and tie each of them shut with a pair of plastic cable ties to prevent leakage.
Single-bit ax, at least three-pound (such as Northern Tool + Equipment item #119922)
Shovel. A proper USGI folding entrenching tool (not a cheap knockoff) might suffice, but I prefer a more substantial forty-inch D-handle round-nose shovel, such as the Kodiak, available from a number of Internet vendors, including HectorsHardware.com.
Hi-Lift jack, a.k.a. sheepherder’s jack (such as Northern Tool + Equipment item #14421). See details and important safety warnings on these jacks in Chapter 3.
Choker/tow chain (such as 4WD.com item #26083). These should also be available from JCWhitney.com and most local auto parts stores.
Ratchet hoist, a.k.a. come-along. Make sure you have one of these. Or better yet, carry two. I like the Dayton and Tuf-Tug brands (such as Northern Tool + Equipment item #152911).
Several short lengths of chain, steel sleeve-locking carabiners, and large grade 8 bolts with large flat washers and nuts that can be used to connect/secure chains. (Sometimes you need to improvise.)
Tire chains. Yes, even if your vehicle seasonally wears studded snow tires, you may need chains. And if you must depend on a trailer for winter GOOD, then get chains for the trailer too.
Bolt cutters. In addition to lock picks, every well-prepared individual should own a “universal key”—a pair of 36-inch bolt cutters. They can get you through locked gates in a pinch. You never know when someone might misplace a key. They are also useful for cutting rebar and performing other metalworking tasks. The ones that are priced below 50 are nearly all made in China and not very sturdy. Expect to pay between $80 and $140 for an American-made pair of 36-inch bolt cutters. Buy at least a 24-inch length, but I prefer 36-inchers. Sadly, very few of these are now made in the States, like my trusty old Woodings-Verona brand bolt cutters.
Bolt cutters: the universal key
PSP. Optionally, when traveling in areas with very sandy soil, a couple of six-foot lengths of pierced steel planking (PSP) should be carried. This metal runway mat material provides great traction.
A couple of key points:
COUNTERMOBILITY
In times of lawlessness, defending your property from looters will become a paramount consideration. Help probably won’t be just a phone call way, and the response time for police and sheriff’s deputies will stretch to hours. Since help might be slow in coming—if it comes at all—the best thing that you can do to deter looters is to impede their mobility. If you erect barriers to their advance, they will hopefully move on to easier pickings. Or, failing that, the barriers will give you time to organize a defense with your neighbors.
Given his combat experience, I defer to the expertise of SurvivalBlog reader “John Mosby,” a multiple tour combat veteran who blogs at mountainguerrilla.wordpress.com. In a SurvivalBlog article, he pointed out some key issues in countermobility:
A substantial stockpile of barbed wire is a must for countermobility. Barriers of any kind are intended only to delay and channel aggressors. Only rarely will they stop them outright. Given preparation, planning, time, and determination, any barrier can be breached. In a survival situation, however, this adds up to “How badly do you want in here?” Delay and channel designs can force aggressors to choose between paying dearly for entrance and moving on to pick a softer target. And that’s what we’re looking for.
There are two categories of countermobility: antivehicular and antipersonnel. In the antivehicular category there are two subcategories: above- and belowground. The belowground category consists of obstacles such as ditches, pitfalls, and craters. These are deliberately created, or in some cases simply terrain features that are improved with pick-and-shovel work to prevent vehicles from easily moving across them. For example, a deep ditch with steep walls prevents easy transverse because the vehicle falls in nose first and gets stuck, unable to clear the opposite side. These sorts of obstacles have to be bridged or backfilled in order to be crossed. If you have access to a front-end loader or a large tractor with a bucket, ditches are not too difficult to dig (given the right ground), and when the grass grows over them they don’t appear as militant as a chain-link fence. Existing ditches can be modified to achieve a sheer wall on the side facing your main line of resistance (MLR). You can also install obstacles on roads at choke points; for example, at a single point on a road or your driveway where the trees are close to the road. In the West in particular, cattle guards are outstanding. In normal times, the grate stays down, but when it’s time to close the road, the grate is removed, leaving a substantial ditch. Unless they’ve brought a monster truck along, getting across a ditch dug out to four feet deep is going to be an axle-breaking proposition.
There are several drawbacks to belowground obstacles, however. First, if they are permanent and outsiders can’t get across, neither can you, unless you have your own bridging apparatus planned and on hand or permanent crossing points, such as your driveway culvert. (The classic drawbridge–cattle guard is such an example.) Second, without accompanying antipersonnel obstacles, they make good cover for anyone dismounted, since they are essentially infantry trenches. But if they are far enough away from your MLR, with a good bit of open ground between the ditch and you, belowground obstacles can at least prevent a mounted attack coming in at full speed right to your doorstep.
Then there are the aboveground types of antivehicular obstacle. The concrete barrier is by far the most common type in use here in the U.S. They are permanent and provide cover. There is also the bollard type. These are simply solid posts of various materials ranging from wood to cast iron (or old cannon barrels in some places) that are dug into the ground or set down into receptacles in the ground and locked. Even a strategically planted line of fast-maturing trees will have the desired effect. We see these in use to deny sidewalk parking or restrict access to service roads. Sometimes they are reinforced with heavy rope or chain running between them, especially if they run for any distance. Unlike a solid concrete barrier, they can easily be passed off as a decorative feature. If they happen to be made from something like railroad ties with one-inch cable running between them, they become more formidable, but of course more obvious. Even railroad rails or I-beams, cut to length and placed so that a vehicle cannot squeeze through them, will generally stop anything except a tracked armored vehicle. The real beauty of bollards is that they can be emplaced as needed, usually across choke points, and pulled up and stored out of sight when not needed.
A more permanent type was seen in Britain, where invasion preparations featured concrete cubes or cylinders set like the classic WWII dragon’s teeth. There were also the classic I-beam “hedgehogs,” in which beams were welded together in a crossing pattern and then secured in some manner to the ground.
Finally, there are good old-fashioned gates. As illustrated in the novel Patriots, a gate is only as strong as whatever is locking it closed. They are also generally dependent on hinges. And if the post goes, then so does the gate. Only the most robust structures of this type will stop vehicles.
There is another kind of gate, however, that was employed all over southern Britain in preparation for the expected German landings. Instead of having the opening and closing feature, they were simply two very heavy colonnades of stone and concrete on each side of the road with slots left in them for inserting railroad rails or I-beams when the time came. In the modern “decorative” context, these are usually unobtrusive, which may also be a boon for retreats wishing to avoid the “nutcase survivalist” label. (The slots for the rails simply look like they have been left for the eventual addition of a rail fence.)
Internet searches will give all sorts of good countermobility ideas, as will a copy of the U.S. Army’s Engineer Field Data manual, FM 5-34.
LOCK PICKS AND LOCKOUT TOOLS
A set of lock picks can be important for gaining access to buildings and vehicles when keys are forgotten, lost, or separated from their owners in the chaos of a disaster situation. Depending on where you live, these tools might be misconstrued by law enforcement officers. To keep yourself from running afoul of overzealous law enforcement officers, I recommend that you prominently label your lock pick set as an “Emergency Vehicle Lockout Rescue Kit.”
Lock picks have many uses, whether around the house or in a GOOD bag. They also weigh next to nothing and take up very little space. I would recommend buying just a small set of five picks and a tension wrench. The big sets are useful for specific applications, but they are overkill for 90 percent of the tasks they will be used for. A set of shortened lock picks and a tension wrench can be carried on a key ring next to your keys, or in your wallet. I carry a set in the liner of my billfold.
Lock picking is a skill anyone can learn, and when you get good at it, a standard five-pin tumbler lock should take less than a minute. These tools allow you to reuse your locks. Instead of drilling a lock out or cutting it off and leaving your property wide open, a lock pick lets you get in, relock the door or gate, and replace the lock at your convenience. A more advanced approach would be taking a locksmithing class and becoming certified.
I’m not advocating breaking and entering, and I would only suggest you use lock picks or bump keys in a legal and, more important, ethical manner. But when used legitimately, a set of lock picks is a quite valuable addition to your set of tools.
BUMP KEYS
For cars, the most common tool is a set of bump keys (also called jiggler keys). These resemble ground-down or smoothed car keys. A bump key is one that has all of its shear positions cut to maximum depth. When turned in a lock cylinder with concurrent tapping (“bumping”) of a hammer, it will open many locks quickly. Bump key sets are available from BumpkeyAz.com. To use a bump key, you move it rapidly up and down in the lock while simultaneously putting rotational pressure on the lock cylinder. These are effective only on older cars; newer cars have sophisticated systems to prevent theft (so-called chipped keys). While bugging out, losing the keys to your car could cost you your supplies, or even your life. My advice is to keep an extra key hidden somewhere in or on the vehicle. A set of jiggler keys might allow you to get in without breaking a window. If you don’t have a key, many old cars can be started with a piece of wire and a screwdriver. For a more permanent solution, the ignition can be bypassed and a starter switch installed.
LOCKOUT KITS
Commercially made vehicle lockout kits are made by a number of companies. I recommend buying a fairly complete set to supplement your set of lock picks. These lockout kits typically include several rods and flat steel lock manipulators. The latter are often referred to as slim jims, after one of the popular brand names. The kits also have a variety of hard plastic wedges that are designed to separate the weather stripping from window glass, allowing you to insert a lock-manipulation tool and give it a useful range of motion. I recommend the Grip brand lockout tool kit. It’s priced at less than twenty-five dollars, and it will get you into the majority of cars should you find yourself locked out.
VIBRATION LOCK PICKS
Vibratory lock picks (often called “buzzers” or “power lock guns”) use a replaceable pick probe that is vibrated by an eccentric cam on an electric motor shaft.
While quite effective, bump keys and electric vibratory lock picks are both considered illegal to possess in many jurisdictions. Unless you are a bona fide commercial locksmith, you might be able to explain possession of a vehicular lockout set, but not a vibratory lock pick or a set of bump keys for residential door locks. Do a lot of research on your state and local laws before buying either of these adjunct tools!
PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE
Unlocking car doors requires some practice. If you ever get permission to run around at an automobile wrecking yard, then you can learn how to manipulate the locks on many makes and models. As I often say, “Tools without training are useless.” Lock picking requires plenty of practice and is a particularly perishable skill, so it is best to brush up every couple of years. Not surprisingly, YouTube now offers a number of instructional videos on how to use slim jims, lock picks, bump keys, and more.