Wrench comparisions

I expected to see a "who's failed first" test.. Not necessarily a fan of skinny wrenches, and they don't need to be pretty for me.. I use them, and sometimes abuse them, not look to see how pretty they are. Just me... hehe
 
whats nice about the skinny wrenches you can get them into tighter spot where a craftsman type wrench won't work because of there bulkieness. and the professional ones like snap on, mac ect fit the fastener better and less chance of it slipping off.
 
The company supplied Snap-on's for us on the assembly line, my personal are mostly Craftsman that I bought 40 years ago. Craftsman warranty was much easier and didn't have to wait on the truck to come around, no questions asked. (at least when we had a Sears store, that is)
 
Most of my wrenches are Craftsman, purchased in the days when they offered the best quality available at prices that were affordable for me. Cheap wrenches in those days were from Japan and were not worth carrying out of the store. Snap-On was far out of my budget.
As far as I know, the Craftsman wrenches of today are fine quality.
I have a few Craftsman sockets that were never plated and have a knurled ring to improve grip from removal from the drive tool. One unique Craftsman item is a 1/2 drive ratchet assembly that snaps on to any 1/2 drive to temporarily convert it to a ratchet. I never use it to break loose fasteners nor to give them the final torque--- no replacements available. And I never considered flaking plating to be cause to request a replacement.
Craftsman flare nut wrenches are far better than any import I have tried.
 
I know Harbor freight is not the best place for tools but we all probably have some.

My question is on broken hand tools, do they swap or do you have to mail them off somewhere.
 
I once borrowed a Craftsman hub puller that my neighbor had and never used in 25 years or so that he had it. A fine looking chrome plated tool. Hand tool guaranteed forever. First hub I tried to remove stripped the threads on the shaft. When I took it back to Sears I was sent to the parts department. Nobody could identify it and after several weeks did not help me. I took the tool to Carquest, Napa, and other parts stores with no answers. Finally stopped at a parts store in a nearby town and the manager who was into Jeeps identified as an OTC made tool. He ordered me a new one and I had it in a couple days. My neighbor would not take the new tool, the store was able to order the stripped part. I have broken other OTC tools due to my abuse and asked the to sell me replacement parts on line. They just replaced the whole tool free of charge. Ted
 
Old Craftsman tools are hard to beat. The new Craftsman tools are not worth my money. Harbor Freight has better wrenches than the new Craftsman wrenches, with the same warranty. The new Craftsman wrenches flex the first time you use them and the cheap chrome plating fractures and flakes off leaving sharp edges just waiting to slice my fingers. Their socket are no different.

When you take your broken Craftsman tool back to Sears to get a replacement, they will try to replace it with a cheap no name replacement. :evil: If you argue with them and push back though, you can get them to order you an actual replacement (but not as good of quality as the old one) but they probably won't give you one off of the shelf. How do I know? Been there, done that. If they won't do that, come back another day when a different salesperson is there and try again.

Harbor Freight will exchange it right there, no questions asked. I drive past Sears about a mile to the Harbor Freight store. A lot of tools sold at Harbor Freight are junk but you just need to use your judgement. The best place I've found to buy tools is garage sales and flea markets. The high end tools like Snap-on and Mac are great but I've spent my life making my living with tools and always believed that my tools should make me money not have me working to pay a tool mortgage.
 
I bought a set of "SK Lectrolite" at a yard sale back when the world was flat. The set goes from 3/4" to 1+1/4", and I've used them thousands of times over the years. I paid $20.00 for them. Recently, I needed a 1+1/2" wrench, and found an SK on EBay for $50.00. I just couldn't pull the trigger on that, so I went to HF and bought a set of big wrenches for $39.00. As much as I would have liked to have that SK, It just didn't seem worth the price.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top