Sears tools--color coordinated, wow :)

Jim & Susan · 06-05-2007, 07:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by uwe

Jim,

The bummer is that you really need to read the fine print before buying Sears/Craftsman tools. Their Sears branded tools are junk made in India or Taiwan. No warranty........
ww.wurthusa.com/project/en/leftnavi/products/brands/Brands.html

Uwe, the last two sets I bought (listed above) were American made. The "gift" set I bought were warranteed for life (and were purchased in the last year or so). The torque wrench was only warranteed for 90 days. That is sort of understandable, drop a torque wrench and that can throw off the calibration; drop a ratchet, nothing much should happen.

As stated previously, you'll get no arguement from me that Sears is no longer a great American company, and what a shame that is. But, in my experience, they still do some stuff right.

And a DYI kind of guy simply can't afford professional tools. No offense anybody, just my 2 cents.

Jim

clancy_boy · 06-05-2007, 08:26 PM

About three years after Hurricane Andrew hit the southern Florida area, I pulled into Ft Lauderdale on a ship. Made a run to the local store one morning with my crew and while they shopped I went into a pawn shop. This place was packed from wall to wall with tools. The guy was a dead beat and really had a attitude. Well long story short he told me to load up and he would price the stuff (all Craftsman hand tools - sockets, ratchets, wrenches, etc) CHEAP. In the end, I could hardly walk out with the loot. 1/2 inch drive sockets 50 cents each, deep sockets 50 cents, wrenches $1, ratchets $2.50, and so on. He even let me have 12 cracked and chipped sockets free - "get em' outta here". He knew what they were he was just over loaded with the stuff. Seems that the fly-by-nights and other construction crews sell their tools for a song, and pawn them off for gas money. I replaced the cracked stuff at Sears which were valued for far more than I spent. Now waiting for that to happen here after Katrina - the swap meets are full of tools that people looted from destroyed homes - the law is there every weekend looking for id marks on stuff.

davidz71 · 06-05-2007, 09:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by uwe

Jim,

The bummer is that you really need to read the fine print before buying Sears/Craftsman tools. Their Sears branded tools are junk made in India or Taiwan. No warranty.
The Craftsman brand is better, but their warranty only covers the tools without any mechanisms. Ratchets or torque wrenches are definitely not covered. ( Even though, I did had a fresh employee there replace a defective ratchet once)
Craftsman wrenches ( at least teh nes I have) havea clumsy feel to them ,and are very thick, making them useless for many applications. I find them uncomfortable to work with.
I have been buying Snap On or lately Zebra tools to replace lost or broken Craftsman stuff.
WURTH USA Inc. - WURTH Brands

Funny, I had a 3/8" ratchet go bad a couple years ago and rather than replace the entire thing, they gave me the inner parts to fix it. It is still working fine. Screwdrivers I purchased years ago show no rust at all yet those purchased in kits over the last 3 years are rusting at the drop of a hat.

PWRSTRK · 06-05-2007, 09:17 PM

I need a torque wrench to fix my Hensley -- this week. What do you all recommend? I've looked at a bunch this week and none of them impresses me.

Tom

thecatsandi · 06-05-2007, 09:28 PM

Whatever you get. get a click style. Having to read a dial while tightening can be difficult.

thecatsandi · 06-05-2007, 09:38 PM

Here is what mine looks like...

clancy_boy · 06-06-2007, 05:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by thecatsandi

Here is what mine looks like...

That's not fair...............

Well, I can always dream.

**overlander63** · 06-06-2007, 06:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by clancy_boy

That's not fair...............

Well, I can always dream.

You can find deals on them, I nearly bought an identical one to Michelle's, except it was...neon green.

List on it was around $7000, the Snap-On guy was willing to sell it for $4900, because no one wanted that god-awful color. Still a pile of money, but image is everything. If you ask the average non-mechanic-type person what tool brands he recognizes, he will tell you 1-Craftsman, 2-Snap-On. When you start a new job, many shop owners will ask you what brand tool box you own, if you say Husky, or Waterloo, they think you are a fly-by-night, and you are starting with one strike against you.

Alumatube · 06-06-2007, 09:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by uwe

Jim,

The Craftsman brand is better, but their warranty only covers the tools without any mechanisms. Ratchets or torque wrenches are definitely not covered. ( Even though, I did had a fresh employee there replace a defective ratchet once)

I am not sure this is the case. Several years ago they switched from replacing the whole ratchet to giving you a drive mechanism rebuild kit, as said above. We actually exchanged a small ratchet (got another ratchet, not a kit) Sunday and the employee had a specific procedure he used and scanned a specific bar code out of a book (this was not a fresh employee who didn't know any better).

We alwys look for Snap-On tools at the flea markets, pawn shops and swap meets. They are usually pennies on the dollar and in good condition. And to echo a previous poster--we will still continue to buy Craftsman tools as long as they honor their replacement guarantee and have weekend hours!

Susan

crispyboy · 06-06-2007, 09:44 AM

Most of my tools are Craftsman with a Mac and Snap-on mixed in. The standard craftsman are definitly clumsy but they do the job. If I relied on them for a living I would only buy the fully polished wrenches as they are much easier on the hands. I do have a set of the polished wrenches with the ratchet head - I'm not sure how I got buy in the past without them - just love them and they are warrented by Craftsman.
The last time I had to trade in my Craftman ratchet they had a box with other old beat up ratchets where I had to pick out one that worke. It was tough finding one that wasn't all beat up with a hammer.
Also I have a set of SK brand scredrivers - seem to be pretty good except for the phillips head screwdrivers. They do not hold the screw head very well. I have a couple of Cresent brand phillips head screwdrivers that are incredible on how well they work.

**overlander63** · 06-06-2007, 09:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alumatube

I am not sure this is the case. Several years ago they switched from replacing the whole ratchet to giving you a drive mechanism rebuild kit, as said above. We actually exchanged a small ratchet (got another ratchet, not a kit) Sunday and the employee had a specific procedure he used and scanned a specific bar code out of a book (this was not a fresh employee who didn't know any better).

I had an issue with the mechanism replacement policy, I told them when I bought the ratchet, I bought a whole ratchet, not a gear kit, and it was warranteed as a ratchet, not a gear kit. They replaced the ratchet.
I also had a problem with Western Auto after they were acquired by Sears, they started selling Craftsman tools. They tried not honoring the Craftswman warranty for me, then after spending some quality time with the manager, they allowed me to exchange 5 tools a day.

I never returned to Western Auto, and they seem to have exited the market, except for some franchises in Missouri.

thecatsandi · 06-06-2007, 09:55 AM

I use my tools for a living. I like to do it right the first time. When i was in A&P school the Snap-on guy came by regularly. They were giving us special pricing. I aproached him with a list. His responce was " this pricing was meant to be introductory only." Ie get you hooked nad make you buy full proce later. My responce. I am only going to do this once. See what you can owkr out. If you can't give me the introductory pricing on all I asked for then I will take my order to Matco or MAC.
I got the pricing. The result. I got a full set of tools for a little more than I would have payed if I went to Sears and got the pro line. I have purchased little else since.

**Stefrobrts** · 06-06-2007, 10:16 AM

I hate to admit this, but 10 years ago when I got my first classic mustang, I loaded up on Popular Mechanics tools at WalMart. This may have been back when they sold stuff that was still made in America. All i know is I still have all of those tools (hand wrenches, ratchets, sockets), and they've served me well on all sorts of projects. Likewise all of my cheap Cambell-Hausfield airs tools and compressor are still going strong. At the time I remember being very tempted by the Craftsman warrenty, but I'm glad I didn't blow the money on that. These tools have worked very well for what I have needed them for.

**overlander63** · 06-06-2007, 10:23 AM

For about 90% of normal tool use, almost any not-made-in-a-third-world-country brand of tool will suffice. It is just the other 10% of the time, with siezed, rusted-on, or rounded-off bolt heads, or really hard to get at spots that take a custom length or thickness wrench or socket, is when the high-dollar tools come in very handy. The pros get full sets of them, because, as I said before, image is everything, and a wrench rack full of matching Snap-On double flank drive combination wrenches looks very impressive when you access them in front of a customer.