Glad to hear that, but at least it is there if you or any of the others need it.

 

Yep, and I appreciate it.

 

A question (or two) for my American mates,

I notice that GearWrench tools are making a big push into the Australian market, I don't have any experience with them at all, so ;

- What are they like ? ; and
- Where are they made ?

 

I have the US and Metric set. I like them.

1: the box ends are slightly bigger so they're not as good for tight spaces. But, they come in very handy for most things.

2: they're made in China, but have a lifetime warranty. I've found them to be very nice quality. Nice and thick handle part too.

 

I have several sets of GearWrench tools and love them. But, I have one that needs returned, so will try to take it back to Lowes. We will see.

And, I found this on-line here:Don't know if it is true, but I don't have any of the packages left and their website doesn't say where they are made - that I can find.

 

I haven't used mine, I just got my ratcheting combination wrenches for Christmas. But mine are the craftsman professional series with the full polish.


they were actually the same price on Sear's website as the gearwrench brand and I already got the SAE and Metric professional full polish combination wrench set so I wanted my ratcheting set to match.


Now I just need to get some more of those Ernest combination wrench organizers so I can organize them so they don't bounce all around when I push my cart around the shop.

 

I agree, they are not meant to free frozen fasteners. But, for clean stuff that's not killer tight, or nuts on a really long stud. They're great.

 

I have some angled ones I used here at the house but I never used them for breaking bolts loose. I use a regular wrench for that. I just use the ratcheting wrench to quickly get the nut or bolt out without having to spend all day wrenching it out with a conventional combination.


It would have worked great for me to get my flex fan off my '82 when I wanted to see if that water pump bolt was loose and causing my leak. Took for ever to get those four bolts out. I also found out the timing cover was stripped out so that bolt wouldn't tighten up so bandaid time till I can fix it later one, I just covered the bolt with red rtv and threaded it back in. Wont get tight but I wanted to keep the water from leaking out. Been fine ever since.


But back to the tools though, I don't know if I will use the craftsmans one to break bolts loose or not I will have to see at work.

 

I do the same. break them loose with a regular wrench, or the open end then use the ratchet side for speedy removal.

 

Yep that's one thing don't get. When I replaced the water pump I wire brushed the bolts but when I took them out last week I had to wrench them out. I guess its good that way don't have to worry about them coming undone but hell they got lock washers on them.

 

I use anti-seize on those bolts unless they go into water, and then use RTV.

 

I thought of using anti-seize but didn't feel comfortable on the bolts that holds the water pump pulley on as well as the cooling fan.


I did use RTV but I screwed up and got Red RTV in a caulk tube and that was a big mistake. We use clear silicone and it works great like that. But I used the RTV as a way to stop a water leak I don't know how long it will last till cooling system pressure forces its way past it. But I made sure RTV got around the washer head of the bolt to help seal everything.


Need to hit up ebay and try to find a NOS ford 302 timing cover assembly though so this summer I can replace it.






About tools though, if anyone gets the craftsman line wrench sets be warned if the nut is extremely tight these do tend to flex and I have rounded off a few brake lines using theses already. If the wrench is trying to flex I recommend using a regular combination wrench to get it busted loose then switch to the line wrench. Or go with a more expensive brand such as Snap On. Don't use Matco, our Matco guy said that Matco owns Craftsman now.

 

These Gear Wrench-type things are the absolute wrong wrenches to be using on brake lines and similar hydraulic fittings... use flare nut wrenches on those...



Craftsman 10-Piece Flare Nut Wrench Set: Tool Versatility from Sears

 

I have a SAE set of those in the full polish professional series. But if the flarenut is too tight those wrenches do flex and will round off the nuts. I recommend if you have the craftsman versions and they start to flex some to just use a regular open end combination wrench to break it free cause it will round them off but the open end tends to not flex as much I found so they don't round off as easily as the craftsman line wrenchs do.

 

That's why most of mine are Snap-On or Mac.