Perhaps we travel too much.
One of the things that writers tell you if you have writer's block is to write about what you know. Now, we know there are plenty of pretentious articles about airports and how to survive them. One item that we bring a lot is a hardened case for tools. Tools are one of those things that TSA prefers that you go through the bag-check. Which, upon checking your bag at the airport. It then goes down the conveyor, where we'd like to believe there's some angry 800-lb gorilla that picks up your case and whips it into the walls a few times before someone snipes that gorilla with a tranquilizer. Cleans up the mess and loads it into the belly of an airplane. Only for it to be removed and put into a pit of even more gorillas to use on each other as weapons before it slowly comes up the carousel to meet you once again.
Would you like to know more? Read onwards into my diatribes of destruction.
Tool case get:
This is the Jensen 377-427 case that we first got for the road. No Palettes, it added unnecessary weight. As well as the bottom ABS plastics were removed afterwards. Since I didn't need the palettes, it dropped the price of this case down to $400, which is normal for Jensen. After all, if we were to buy this case fully stocked, it would be thousands of dollars.
On top of this, you've got to keep your Carry-On for most Jets in America below 50 lbs, or else you will be hit with pretty much the cost of your flight ticket if it's just 5 lbs over.
Thus, if you remove the Palettes and the bottom ABS plastics. This got your whole case down to around 16- 18 lbs.
Despite seeing all of the scratches, debris, and rust (from traveling through snow), the case held up very good over the course of 3 years.
The wheels!
This happened twice with these wheels, and it's usually the corner where one wheel will flat-spot or suffer damage right to the core. The wheel plastics are so hard that once a chunk is removed from it, then from all of the cement and hard floors at the airports, it just chews it all away until you flat spot your wheels. Which, carrying a 50+lbs monster to your car rental is super-fun when that happens.
But Jensen sells kits.. Just buy wheels and be done with it cheap-ass!
If you look around Jensen's catalog today, they've gotten considerably better with replacement wheels. For starters they don't do the shit pop-rivet thing that office wheel chairs do but instead given you a nylon screw and bolt.
But we couldn't find this wheel anymore. We bought one set for $22/EACH!!! And after another year and a half, they were ground down again. Sure, there are some third-party wheels for $9 each, but at this point, it's like throwing money into the fire.
Bullshit.
Thanks to TGM skateboards out of Michigan we got a set of generic red wheels for something like $12, free shipping. We probably could've gotten 12 random assed wheels from your scratch and dent for $12 + S&H. But eh, when you add some generic ABEC7 bearings for another $7. We're still doing rather good.
Honestly, just keep your eye out for any set of 52mm or preferably lower diameter, such as 48mm. These had a durometer hardness rating of 90A, which is totally fine
Because of reasons beyond logic where case companies re-invent the wheel to make themselves unique and/or charge a fuck-ton of money. The 52mm diameter would fit into the Jensen if I removed the metal hub. But no way we could make the wheel fit in the well, as it was too thick.
Using a garbage bearing. I shaved both sides of the wheel until the walls were relatively flat with a Dremel sanding bit and then hand-sanded near the end.
This would've been a far more professional job if we used a belt sander. But the rotary tool was all I had, and honestly, no one will see the sides of the wheels as they will be covered up by the case.
Again, in 2025, it seems that Jensen is slowly learning their lesson about this and has been using rollerblade-like wheel assemblies instead. The added height will keep the bottom of your case from being eaten away.
After removing the handle assembly, complete and tap a hole on one side. We were able to use some 8mm threaded rods cut to size by our rotary tool. Then, happened with 8mm nylon socketed nuts until right. Later, We learned to also use lock-tight red in case the Airport gives zero fucks apart wheels/hardware falling off your case. We can plug the hole with some more hardware and a rubber washer later.
We will admit, it was not fun putting in the washers so that the wheel doesn't grind up against the sidewalls. However, as you can see from the dirt. After going to the airport 3 times, it hasn't even taken away the tread left behind from the lathe during wheel production.
Other airport thoughts.
For those who are wondering how we survive at the airport. Here are some quick things we learned. And in general, these would probably work in other methods of transportation, such as Bus or a train across a country too. By the way, this would usually be the time some blogger throws Amazon references all over the place to try and cash in on their recommendations. Fuck that too. You research/buy/make whatever you want.
Neck Pillow
If you are known to fall asleep with fans running or are a heavy sleeper, then the worst feeling in the world is passing out on a plane, only to require a chiropractor when you land. Neck Pillow, Airplane Pillow. Whatever it's called. DO NOT BUY THESE THINGS AT THE AIRPORT UNLESS YOU WANT YOUR WALLET DESTROYED!!! Go elsewhere. Or better yet, if you have a sewing machine, you could easily make one in under an hour. The pattern is identical to a pillow, and if you don't want to eyelet for a button, use a press-on snap button. Fill with memory foam and you're done!
Some of the memory foam pillows can condense down into a small pouch, but this is one of those things you can keep around your neck until you're in the terminal. No biggie there.
Water Bottle.
Airports are notoriously dry places. Unless you're doing a direct flight, there's a good chance you'll sit in one for at least an hour. TSA won't let you carry in liquids and the restaurants/bars/quick shops know they have a captive audience and will fuck you over hard to serve you a 16oz bottled water for USD 8. However, it's okay to bring in an empty one of these. After you get past TSA most American Airports do have water stations that you can fill your water bottle up at (in part for medical reasons, so that people don't end up dead. But sometimes they spin it saying the airport is doing it for the environment. Which, sure, why not.). Sure, a water bottle costs $8-40, depending on whether you want to get an expensive Yeti because you can. Or a Britta because you like the carbon filter. Or just a simple plastic bottle. Most can be clipped to the side of your backpack. and will easily pay for itself after just one trip.
Full-Sized Headphones.
This is a little more optional. Again, do not buy this AT the airport unless you simply want to hate yourself. No need to spend 100+ as there are some good options at around the 20-40 dollar range. But it reduces the misery of flight in a few ways.
- Noise - Even if they aren't noise-cancelling headphones, having a full headphone set over your ears can reduce some of the cabin noise.
- Entertainment - As the airline industry slowly regresses itself into the second dark age, where passengers will be piled on top of each other like caged animals. The concept of in-flight entertainment will be a laughable subject and disappear unless you're going continental or if there's a large enough non-stop flight to a major city.
- Anti-social behavior - Wearing these pretty much lets your neighbor know you don't want to talk about the weather or why you're flying. Or turn on the music to drown out the 10-year-old two seats away from you that thought it would be a great idea to bring the spiciest Chipotle burrito on board and eat it while on the runway before taking off without realizing he won't get water until we reach 30k feet. AND didn't follow my water bottle advice!
Sunglasses
This may seem like a "No DUH!" thing to some people. But often you'll be catching a flight so fucking early the sun isn't even up and may forget these in your car. You will regret that. Even though the plane takes off before the sun rises. You can bet your ass the sun will be up when you land. Or worse, you're in an aisle seat and no one wants to close the windows. Or! You have to pick up your rental and drive another 1-2 hours to get to your destination.
Again, don't get from a gas station or the airport terminal unless you hate yourself or your wallet. Go online, go to a small business, and buy a nice set there.
Battery packs.
This may be a little more of a pricier item, however, if there is one thing you will be doing a lot at the airport is checking your phone and playing with various devices to keep you entertained and connected throughout the journey. And you cannot rely on ANYTHING the airport gives you because the majority of them are heavily abused when it comes to their wall outlets in that everyone and their mom is trying to charge their laptop before every flight, which means a wall outlet gets plugged into 10-20 times a day.
In one case, I did trust the airport to give my laptop power, only to have the charging brick smoke out on me due to bad AC.
As far as the cell phone charging stations.. Well, that's a great way to get hacked if you aren't looking at what data cable you're plugging in.
FAA does have a calculator to determine how big of a lithium battery you can bring as a carry-on. Understandibly, they don't want you hauling around something the size of a car battery that could burst into flames at any moment.
Final thoughts.
Everything we mentioned in terms of case wheel hacking and general airport sanity has been our experience only. We're sure there are tons we're missing out on, which inspires you to start your own airport rant; go right ahead and start that blog, yo! These experiences are due to the TSA and government interference slowing down every person at the airport, where you have to get there minimum two hours before your flight, and when you land, you need at least an hour to get out of the airport. Factoring in flight-time, taxiing on the runways, and delays, you may be better off just jumping into a car and/or bus and throwing the middle finger at the airport together due to the overall inefficiencies.
Either way. Take care..
That's what server said.
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