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Post by hippo008 on Apr 18, 2020 16:38:32 GMT -5
My father recently broke my beloved American made Sears Craftsman ratchet.
Im done using cheapy tools, seems like I always end up rounding something off with them. I see this as a opportunity for an upgrade.
What tool brands do you guys like and use? Im considering a Duralast ratchet set because I get a hefty discount at AutoZone and people seem happy with them. I am also considering something a little fancier, maybe some Wright tool sets or Gear Wrench tool sets.
What do you think?
EDIT: Purchased some TEKTON tools. Seems like a nice company out of Michigan. Half of the tools are USA made the other half are Taiwanese made. I will report back on quality.
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Post by Zino on Apr 18, 2020 18:19:16 GMT -5
Lowes gives me a military discount it has craftsman still, I prefer their kobalt brand.
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Post by 190mech on Apr 18, 2020 18:46:52 GMT -5
Over 40 years in aircraft mechanics and I prefer Snap-on or Kobalt..Ive tried all the others and have had failures..  |
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Post by FrankenMech on Apr 18, 2020 18:47:14 GMT -5
Sockets round fasteners off, ratchets only turn sockets. Which one are you talking about?
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Post by hippo008 on Apr 18, 2020 19:59:07 GMT -5
Sockets round fasteners off, ratchets only turn sockets. Which one are you talking about? Common' man you know which ones im talking about. Im looking to get a new ratchet for my vintage craftsman set of sockets. I see this as an oppertunity to maybe get a new set as well as wrenches. Im looking into SK and some other brands. |
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Post by FrankenMech on Apr 18, 2020 20:32:16 GMT -5
Sorry, but you are not clear at all. "Sockets round fasteners off, ratchets only turn sockets. Which one are you talking about?" is a valid question from your post. Craftsman ratchets AND sockets have not been decent since about 1970. If you want decent tools see your local tool truck or a real tool store. I get SK tools when I want a decent tool and can't track down a tool truck for Mac or Snap-On.
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Post by hippo008 on Apr 18, 2020 21:56:15 GMT -5
Sorry, but you are not clear at all. "Sockets round fasteners off, ratchets only turn sockets. Which one are you talking about?" is a valid question from your post. Craftsman ratchets AND sockets have not been decent since about 1970. If you want decent tools see your local tool truck or a real tool store. I get SK tools when I want a decent tool and can't track down a tool truck for Mac or Snap-On. Fair enough, ill reword it for you. I asked around my work to see what the machinists liked the most. SnapOn, Wright, ICON and TEKTON all came up. SnapOn is out of my price range unfortunately. As much as I like cheap tools I just couldn't trust a tool from HF. I ended up purchasing a set of box wrenches and a socket set from TEKTON for about $300. Seems like a good family company from Michigan, good warranty as well. At some point I would like to purchase some Wright box wrenches, they seem like a high quality tool. Ill report back on quality of the TEKTON tools, maybe they turn out great. |
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Post by lilpinny on Apr 18, 2020 22:18:09 GMT -5
I generally use what I can get at home Depot. Anything they got is ok. It's close. When I need a single use tool or a tool that gets lost too many times I go to harbor freight just a little further down the road. I have a lot of harbor freight allen wrenches.
Snap-on is crazy. Just crazy. And it's like a lease or something where you never pay it off.
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Post by hippo008 on Apr 19, 2020 6:00:11 GMT -5
I generally use what I can get at home Depot. Anything they got is ok. It's close. When I need a single use tool or a tool that gets lost too many times I go to harbor freight just a little further down the road. I have a lot of harbor freight allen wrenches. Snap-on is crazy. Just crazy. And it's like a lease or something where you never pay it off. I totally get that. HF seems like a huge hit or miss. Some people swear by the Pittsburg Pro line of wrenches & sockets. Seems like boxes are also somewhat popular from them as well. It gets murky when you want anything other than that though. Id rather not risk it. SnapOn I dont totally understand either. People love the brand. Theres no denying the quality of their hand tools and boxes. I cant justify the high pricing when other great American companies also produce high quality tools. Hopefully the Tekton tools end up being high quality. |
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bigallis1
Scoot Member
Posts: 66
Location: The Villages, Florida
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Post by bigallis1 on Apr 19, 2020 7:02:09 GMT -5
S&K and Craftsman in my tool box...........
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Post by Kenho21 on Apr 19, 2020 13:15:16 GMT -5
I worked at a Chevrolet dealership for years and saw guys using everything from the cheap Harbor Freight tools in their dad’s old Craftsman boxes to boards of Snap-On in $20,000 boxes with flatscreens and multiple hutches and the guys using the cheaper stuff never seemed any worse off or less productive. The opposite may have been true to some degree. In my opinion, for the at-home mechanic, the “tool truck” brands are a bit overkill. A large portion of what you’re paying for with those brands is the service. With all of those companies, the Driver’s salary, tool truck payment, insurance, incidentals, the endless promotions (why mechanics in a shop all seem to have the same Carhartt jacket suddenly)and tool are being paid for when you purchase something. That being said, if you break a wrench, just wait a couple days and Bob the Snap-On guy will be by in a few days to replace it for free. That’s worth something and trust me, you pay for it. From what I’ve seen, you really are getting a top quality tool and the peace of mind that comes with it. No one can argue that. As far as quality of the actual tools themselves, they all seem top notch, but basically all we have is very subjective and anecdotal experiences of people who have used them and are usually loyal to a certain brand, which makes experiences limited as well. I’ve never seen any data that suggests one brand is all-around more precise or less likely to round off boots than the other tool truck brand. Some specialty tools and such may be better from specific brands, but as long as you’re not buying the cheapest powdered metal stamped tools you can find, you probably won’t round off many nuts because of the tool itself. I personally use the top and mid tier HF and Kobalt and have never had a problem or failure I can relate to the tool other than a ¼ inch Kobalt torque bar breaking when I torqued the living crap out of it lol. I have a little ¼ Kobalt set that I’ve used and abuse the hell out of and it’s treated me very well. I try to buy the most cost effective hand tools I can get away with and put more money toward specialty tools that get my out of pinches and make jobs go significantly quicker. For the cost of one Snap-On wrench I bought a twelve ton HF press and HF Pro ratchet (my new fav ratchet). Also, I’m pretty sure the HF Pro and Kobalt tools are made by the same manufacturer (just basing this off of appearance and use). Other than the ten year older version number not being stamped can’t tell the difference...  |
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Post by birdman on Apr 19, 2020 13:38:10 GMT -5
Been an autotech since 2006 and my favorites are.
Wrenches, screwdrivers, torx, and Allen's, snap-on is the best imo
Sockets Mac (precision torque line)
Ratchets matco.
I take other stuff on a case by case basis. The air tools and electric tools are usually outsourced so I shop around for those since they only carry a two year warranty anyway. Example, my nitro cat 1/2 inch impact is the same as Mac just Mac rebranded it and marked it up. My otc slide hammer set is also the exact same as Mac, just 1/3 the price... All the stuff I use at home for the most part is crapsman or harbor freight, it holds up OK for home use, however, I wouldn't trust my paycheck on craftsman or harbor freight.
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Post by 90GTVert on Apr 19, 2020 14:04:57 GMT -5
I've got quite a few Snap-On tools and a Snap-On box. I basically inherited those from my father. He's still around, but retired from mechanic work long ago and rarely touches a tool since I work on everything for him and now his hands shake. Anyway; they are very nice. The box is from the 80s and still works great. He quit doing mechanic work in about 2000, so everything of his is at least 20 years old and mostly in good shape. That mostly part is the kicker.
So, Snap-On has a lifetime warranty on a lot of stuff. I have some things that need warranty replacement. The Snap-On guy used to come into the hardware store that my father worked at after quitting as an auto mechanic. He asked numerous times for him to stop by on his way past because he goes by daily in the tool truck. He said he would many times. Even tried telling him we were interested in some new tools to lure him in. Never stopped. Calling didn't get us anywhere either. Basically once no one was paying on tools weekly, he didn't care. Now that's just one tool truck, so maybe you will have a better representative. I did contact Snap-On directly though. They didn't seem to care at all. No, sorry to hear that or we'll see if we can get him to stop or anything. Their solution was for me to send them tools and pay shipping both ways and they would decide if they would do anything about the tools once they could inspect them. By the time I pay shipping 2 ways, and risk them saying they won't take any action potentially, I'll just buy something else.
I have bought Snap-On tools on my own, even since all of this... but it's generally if I can get a decent deal on something used at this point. I don't have much desire to buy new from them because their prices aren't competitive with anything but the other tool truck brands and there's not much benefit if I can't get them to help me out when there's an issue.
At this point, I handle each tool purchase as a separate endeavor. There are brands that I trust more, Craftsman was my goto, but they have changed over the years. Even more since they are now a Lowe's brand. I research specifically what I'm looking at. So if I need a screwdriver, I'll check out screwdrivers from different brands and read reviews and compare prices. If I need a wrench, I'll look up wrench reviews and compare. I've got some tools from brands that I had never heard of till I bought them and they're great. Example; I bought Hozan JIS screwdrivers. Pretty cheap and turned out to be nice. Had them for years now with 0 complaints. I've got big impact sockets for clutch nuts and such that I have no clue who makes them and don't care. They're so big and beefy and I'm not doing tractor trailer work, so they easily handle 30-40ft-lbs and haven't had slipping issues or anything.
I've got some Harbor Freight tools too. I have an extra set of HF metric wrenches since it's often nice to have 2 of a size. I paid $6 on sale for a set with the common sizes from 8-19mm. They've worked great as extras. I will say that I don't trust them like better brands if something is tough to get loose. They don't seem to be made to as tight as a tolerance. Still great for most tasks, but not what I'd want if I only owned 1 10mm wrench for example. They are hit or miss. It also looks like HF's new brands are becoming competitive with higher tier brands, but then you really don't save money with some of them from what I've seen. I was just looking for 80 grit zirconia flap wheels the other day online and HF wants the same $8 for their top tier brand as I'm paying for DeWalt that I've used for a long time. At that point I'm just getting DeWalt.(Actually I looked a few minutes online and bought the DeWalts for $4 each from Zoro Tools instead.) I've got big allen sockets from there because I only use something like a 19mm allen when I'm taking the wheel off of the TMAX and that's not often.
To sum that up, I wouldn't buy much Snap-On as a home mechanic and probably wouldn't stock my toolbox totally at HF either. I would look at each purchase individually to see what makes the most sense.
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Post by FrankenMech on Apr 19, 2020 15:10:47 GMT -5
If you are buying sockets and wrenches it is a good thing to bring a good set of calipers with you to check tolerances. You can find a list of tolerances in a 'Machinery's Hand Book'. The tools that are out of spec will often round off fasteners. Checking tolerances will also get you thrown out of the store. Unfortunately you can not check the quality of the metal which contributes greatly to damaging fasteners. Of course some fasteners are better than others and closer to standard specifications also. Tools with tighter quality control specifications will cost more. Even tools that look identical from the same supplier just marked as a different brand can have differing quality control specifications.
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Post by hippo008 on Apr 19, 2020 19:03:34 GMT -5
Seems like the general sentiment is that unless you rely on your tools daily as a part of your income its probably not worth shelling out the big bucks. I have not met any of the local tool truck reps but have heard positive things from the diesel guys who come into my work. As a personal choice I would like to support a private American business rather than an overseas company. If the quality on the Tekton tools I purchased is better than Duralast ill be very happy with that. Im in the market for a traditional torque wrench and a cordless impact as well. If the Tekton stuff works out ill order from them and report back on that also. At my work diesel mechanics come in all the time for parts and jobs. I asked a few of them which cordless impact they like most and almost all of them said Milwaukee or DeWalt. I have never owned an impact wrench before so I will have to do some digging and see what seems like a good choice for me. Used Milwaukee, Ingersoll Rand air tools and MAC pop up for sale pretty often around me. Maybe I will end up purchasing some used air tools to keep in the shop with the compressor and a nice cordless unit for everything else. Theres some great info in here, thanks for the help fella's  |
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