There are a lot of ways to organize your tools—especially when you have multiple sets across various locations and motorcycles. Each bike has its own kit, there’s a set in the garage, another one in the basement, yet another one in the pantry and finally, if you have access, the ultimate tool set in the shop.
For a long time, I was perfectly happy to just lay my tools out next to each other, letting them take up as much space as possible. Over time, my tool collection grew to the point that my main (shop-based) tool chest started to resemble one of those houses you might see on an episode of Hoarders. Even at the height of the clutter, I steadfastly kept two drawers carefully ordered: the socket drawer and the wrench drawer. Recently, I found myself with more wrenches than would fit conveniently in the wrench drawer, so I had to do something. Additionally, I’m now sharing my tool chest with another person—you might remember George Mangicaro, formerly from Gridlock Motors—and I felt like in order to prevent him from reorganizing my tools, I had to step up and clean things up.
I started with a basic set of wrench organizers from Harbor Freight and quickly discovered their primary downfall. Despite having magnets on them, the magnets weren’t strong enough to cling to the metal through the mat on the bottom of the drawer, and because they didn’t hold the wrenches snugly, opening and closing the drawer caused the wrenches to slide, shift and even fall out of the rack. They also use space inefficiently.
After looking at a half-dozen videos on YouTube on tool box organizers, I chose the 42-wrench set from Alien Space Saver. This basic kit includes six rods and 45 dividers; the dividers are available in black, red, blue and “alien” green. The dividers snap satisfyingly onto the rods and the whole shebang is just under an inch and a half tall when assembled, ensuring it will fit in most shallow tool drawers. Installation was simple; I started by putting one divider at the end of one rod, then snapping it onto the other. Hold a wrench in place, then snap down another divider. I discovered you really need to snap the dividers into place right where you want them, as they are difficult to slide once snapped onto the rods—no doubt part of how the dividers keep your tools snugly in place. The rods are easily trimmed to length, though using diagonal cutting pliers will pinch the ends a bit. If you have the patience to whip out a Dremel or a jigsaw, you’ll get cleaner trimmed ends than I did.
Beyond the eye-popping green kit I chose, several things attracted me to the Alien Space Saver kit. First, the polypropylene construction pretty much ensures they’ll last forever; that kind of durability means I’ll be able to reorganize as much and as often as I need to. Second, they’re made in the USA—Florida, to be exact—using a combination of injection molding and CNC processes. Finally, the family-owned company claims they were started by a mechanic out of his home garage, and that kind of credibility is hard to beat.
Contrary to the Harbor Freight stuff I tried first, nothing moves around with the Alien Space Saver kit. Everything stays where it’s supposed to, but nothing is difficult to remove or replace. In my wrench drawer, using this kit allowed me to free up space I can now use for other tools I frequently need, adding them to the wrench drawer for convenience and efficiency. Because I didn’t use the entire kit on my wrenches, I was able to also organize my torque wrenches and long Torx and hex sockets, cleaning up a second drawer. I still have two rods and a handful of dividers left over should I need to clean up similar tools.
Purchase online at alienspacesaver.com for $37, or save a dollar and buy from Amazon. Either way you get the lifetime warranty and, as their website claims, “unmatched versatility and ease of use.” No argument there. My wrenches have never been easier to find or more well organized and efficient to store. I’ll be perusing Alien Space Saver’s other products, which include socket and screwdriver organizers. You can also buy organizer parts individually; the wrench dividers are 75 cents apiece and a set of six rods is $9.
It’s rare to say this about anything I buy, but for the Alien Space Saver 42-wrench kit, I’ll leave you with the highest praise I can muster: no notes!
