I once used a 5 foot fence post on a 1/2" drive Craftsman ratchet. It was used to break free the head bolts on a junkyard engine. There was a loud bang everytime a bolt broke loose. No problems with that ratchet. I still use it today. My friend has 3 Snap on ratchets in his tool box. All are broken. Dealer won't warranty them.

ok, so it's decided on what kinda work you use them for.

how about this one : what is your prefference for a claw hammer?

i choose Vaughn


J

I agree with FrankR... ...if you use them everyday & that what puts food on your table,clothes on your back & braces on your kids teeth,then Craftsmen,Snap-On, Husky,Matco are the way to go...as most of these have warrenties if broken due to regular use, not abuse...ie; using your torque wrench as a hammer... ...
Personally, i do the cheap,Checker tools... ...it gets the job done & it's no big deal if you "Brain Fart" & forget um in the junkyard,or leave your tailgate down & lose your tool box on the interstate AT 75 MPH...Kimo...

I began turning wrenches for a living in 1968, bought only Snap-On.Left the bussiness in 2000, still have original 3/8 ratchet (long& short handle),1/2 ratchet and many sockets and wrenches, also still a few Par-X wrenches which were a cheaper subsidiary of Snap-On. Over the years have bought Mac tools, mostly wrenches. Craftsman has improved a lot and I have Craftsman tools mixed in.Recently I have bought Husky sockets and Kobalt wrenches and sockets ( which I understand is a subsidiary of Snap-On) just because I wanted to.

I still use my craftsman tools everyday and yes I have worn out one 3/8 ratchet and a few screwdrivers but for the money and the warranty they still rank up near the top. The USAF issued Snap-on to us and if I had their kind of money that would be the brand for me. The ratchets worked smooth and easy like their suppose to and in four years of hard use none of them broke or wore out. The aerospace company I worked for issued Snap-on tools to all the machinists, technicians and mechanics working in the plant. Talk about one happy Snap-on dealer. I think he retired shortly after that deal.

Oljoedog

Live long race hard

Craftman is good for wrenchs and sockets , but stay away from thier ele tools,sanders .saws .drill ect.My wife got me a couple Xmas ago some thing BOB VILDA was pushing and every one dieded in a little over a year.Just got some GEARATCHIT sockets and one of the rachets locked up on me,called them and they sent me a new one and didnt even want the old one back.And i got it at OLLIES and called the 800 number that came with the set,Thats good service. later Don

Ive been using them since i started wrnching..ill use them to the day i die
GOTHROD

had to buy a 50 dollar 3/4" breaker bar and a 48 dollar axle nut socket. Guy behind the counter says, "well, at least they have a lifetime warranty!" I asked, even if i bring it back with cheater bar marks on it? He said, "you break this anyway you can, I'll warranty it." sounded like a challenge to me. damn thing still looks brand new. BlackHawk. also have one of their 3/8" ratchets.... good stuff. have some of everything. My original set of craftsman ratchets, you could disassemble them, clean and reassemble them. got where you couldn't get the guts to replace them when needed.... warranted them off for newer cheaper craftsman ratchets... process continues, just getting cheaper ratchets as i get older.

Well, my set now would be aptly named "Mongrel"......Some Snap-on, S-K, Craftsman, Blue Point, etc. If I was doing this for a living,Snap-On would be the preferred. After having a pretty darn good set of Craftsman/SK stolen over 25 yrs ago, I've also had 2 indispensable additions...Mossberg 12 Ga and a Louisville Slugger.

Just a suggestion.....Ever wonder what to do with all that " "Chineeindowanese" crap that Mom in Law bought ya for Christmas?

1) Build "decoy" tool set.

2) When "Fred the Freeloader" shows up...." Ummmmmm.....ya' tink i kin' borrah yer haff inch sokitt set?" Smile widely, reach for "decoy", "ANYTHING for you ,Buddy!!!.........Here ya go!"

3) Feel the Halo circle your head as you help your fellow man.

Actually, they don't get them for free. The reason why warranty is getting harder to get is because Snap-On corporate is getting to be penny pinchers, and like all big business don't want to spend the profit. So the stuff that used to fly for warranty is now inspected at the warehouse by corporate inspectors. The dealer takes the tool, gives you a replacement off his truck, and sends the warranty item away. If the corp inspector says "this was abuse, and therefore not covered by warranty", who do you think eats the cost of that tool that the dealer just gave you as a replacement? The dealer does. If it's not a tool he carries on the truck, he has to order it, it is charged to his credit account, and if warranty is approved, the amount is credited back. If not approved, he must pay for that item that he probably gave you for free. Doesn't take too many of those to really hurt the cash flow. So now, most of the dealers are paranoid that warranty won't be approved, and hedge their bets when it comes time to give out warranty items. Especially if it's a repeat item in a short time period, from the same guy.


Look at it this way. As a technician, you repair a vehicle. Customer takes car, and is back in a week with the same issue. You warranty it, and away he goes. Back a week later, same issue. Now you look a bit closer, but warranty it again. Back a week later, same issue. Are you going to warranty it again, eat the labour again, as well as the parts, because by this time the supplier is going to be a little suspicious about this P/N? Nope, you'd look a bit deeper, searching for another issue that would cause your repair to fail, deny warranty and hand the customer a bill. Then the next time a warranty issue arose, you'd be a bit gun-shy of handing out free parts & labour, so you'd start looking for other problems right away, before you gave it up as warranty. Same basic idea, just a different trade.

Oh i've used them,but like i said in my previous post,i don't use tools everyday for a living so i don't see the need to buy expensive tools...
the cheapie checker specials work fine...plus not a big hit in the wallet
if you loose them...

This thread must have come out of the archives !!

AND WITH A SPAM MESSAGE

That post was not so much about which tools are the best but instead it is about how to make old tools work better.

since ive had a shop for so long i have alot of tools. and they are from the big 4 mostly. most of my wrenches are snap on, some mac. most of my sockets are snap on and craftsman. i had so many ratchets that i recently sold about 20 of them on ebay. not one sold for under 25 bucks. some topped 40 bucks. so good tools are an investment for sure. i just recently took a 3/8th drive crafstman ratchet back to sears because the ratchetting mechanism had worn out, finally. ive had this ratchet for 30 or more years. they didnt replace the entire ratchet, just the mechanism inside. my snap on man replaced my 1/2 inch breaker bar even though it had OBVIOUS persuader marks on it from a 4 foot lenth of pipe. about 10 years ago my shop burned to the ground due to a careless employee so alot of my hand tools are "heat treated" it doesnt seem to have damaged thier usefulness. although they look singed. when i need a tool right now, i go 10 miles to my sears store and buy crafstman. if it can wait, i put it on my tool man list. all of the quality tools do the job. but they are different. snap on tools look the nicest i think. they are like a boyd hot rod. mac tools dont look quite as nice, sharper edges, but of equal quality. matco tools i sometimes find their look to be a bit odd, but still a quality tool. crafstman tools are the rat rods of tools. they cost less. arent as pretty. but they function just fine. one added point. i tried to change the wheel on a push lawnmower once with a snap on combination wrench. the nut holding it on was very thin. the snap on box end, since its "teeth" are slightly depressed, would NOT take the wheel off. but a crafstman would. i showed this to my snap on guy and we got a chuckle. so snap on tools arent perfect for every job. i have both the snap on 18volt 1/2 inch impact gun and air compressor. in fact i have 2 of the impact guns. i have no complaint about the impact guns, love em. but the compressor is frankly a POS. it takes forever to blow up a large tire like a 36 inch on a 4x4. it takes 2 fully charged batteries to do so. and about a month ago the chuck that attatches to the valve stem broke off while my daughter was installing it on a valve stem. come to find out its PLASTIC! sheeeesh i thought snap on was quality, lol. so in conclusion, since i use the tools from all 4 companies, they all do the job, i have to vote crafstman for 2 reasons. cheaper, and convienience. i dont have to wait until next tuesday to get a tool.