Owner: Cody Gaddie
Shop: Borst Automotive
Location: Tucson, Arizona
Cody Gaddie, master certified technician and shop foreman at Borst Automotive in Tucson, Arizona, has always enjoyed the challenge of diagnostic work. He is able to put his skills to the test every day as one of the main services Borst Automotive provides is diagnostics.
“We do everything here, but it seems like what comes through the door the most is check engine lights and ABS lights and you know, the diagnostics part of it,” Gaddie says.
Gaddie has been a technician for 19 years, but it wasn’t until about a year ago that he bought a Harbor Freight tool cart and modified it to create the perfect setup for all his diagnostic tools and equipment.
Knowing he would be drilling holes through the cart, Gaddie chose a Harbor Freight tool cart for its cost-effectiveness.
“I added a 27” monitor to it on the lid, [and] I have a mini PC and my scan tool kit hooked up to that monitor with an HDMI splitter; that way I can be monitoring scan tool captures,” Gaddie says.
With the HDMI splitter attached to the monitor, Gaddie appreciates that he is able to monitor the scan data using either his scan tool or the monitor, but his favorite part of the diagnostic cart is the convenience of its scope boom.
“I also added the scope boom,” Gaddie says, “which pretty much just keeps my scope, amp clamps, and all my test leads nicely organized, [as well as] makes for a quick grab … it's easy access.”
In order to easily find other tools and equipment in the cart, Gaddie keeps similar tools and equipment in the same drawer. He has a drawer for his scope attachments, a drawer for miscellaneous pickup sensors, a drawer for his multimeter, relay jumpers, relay testers, and pressure transducers, and a final drawer for test leads in the ABS wave u-terminal kit.
“Pretty much everything has its place … instead of being scattered throughout my bigger toolbox,” Gaddie says.
In the future, Gaddie would like to switch to a bigger cart with a bigger monitor, so he is able to hold even more tools and have access to everything in one location.
