[updated:LAST EDITED ON 31-Aug-02 AT 03:34 AM (EST)]>Brad,
>
>This issue was discussed pretty thoroughly in a recent
>thread. My bottom line is this - when I had a wrench or
>screwdriver in my hand 8 or 9 hours a day as a mechanic the
>shape of the handles, balance, and wear resistance that MAC,
>Snap Off, and other professional tool provided was worth the
>extra cost. For the hour or two I spend on it each day now,
>it isn't worth it for me. Craftsman and similar tools work
>well for weekend warriors and don't break the budget. They
>will occasionally round off a bolt head or nut when a better
>grade wouldn't.
>
>It's really up to you - you certainly can pay a little extra
>and you'll usually get a higher quality tool that feels
>better in your hand. The convenience of a nearby Sears and
>being able to return anything no matter how stupid I was
>when I broke it makes Craftsman best for me.
>
>George
I could not have said it better myself, as I am a week end warrior as well.And ben one for the past 35 or 40 yrs.

 

Hi all, I bought my first tool in 1977. I was 13 yrs old and I saw an ad for a Sears Craftsman tool set, I think it was like 240 pieces for under a $1 a tool. I thought that was a heck of a deal and apparrently my pops did too cause he let me buy them with money I had saved. I knew I would buy a tool chest full of Craftsman some day because thats all he had in his tool chest. He was a mechanic some 50 yrs ago and thats all he used, I think I was the first person to break one of his tools working on something, well actually a friend of mine, he was mad, but we took it upto Sears and they happily replaced it. In all the years I have worked on stuff, i'm now 37, I have only broken 4 Crafsman tools, splitting 6 pt sockets mainly, you know when you put a 2-3 or even 4 foot breaker on it something is gonna give somewhere, buy I tell ya, that rachet never gave up, still using it today. I also have some S-K tools I found in a dumpster? Go figure. I used some Snap-On and Mac tools in my years of auto class, the biggest reason they used only them........their trucks came around once a week to raplace them instead of the teacher having to go to a store to replace them. I think of Sears had a truck rolling around out there you would see alot more mechanics using them, just my 02 worth, thanks for letting me ramble on.


2k1 F-250 SD EC SB 4X4 3 1/2" LIFT 285's 5.4 AT TRUE BLUE
p.s. and now a '77 mustangII cobra to fiddle with

 

Just retired from the wold's largest package delivery service. Made my living as a mechanic for thiry four years with Craftsman tools.

 

i run a machine/welding shop, that does mostly industrial repair, and work with nuts up to 6". we mostly use mastercraft tools now, due to thier price, quality and life time warrenty... the are almost identical to snap-off tools, but seem to take a beating alot better.
some of our tools are over 30 years old, and have had cheater bars, torches, and sometimes, even a 40ton press thrown at them.. i've been badly cut by a shattered snap-on socket b4, and since then, i've refused to buy thier garbage. The snap-on truck won't even stop at our shop to replace the 4 or 5 broken tools that we have..

 

I believe that unless you are earning your keep with your tools, Craftsman is a very good value. As others have said, you can exchange broken tools 7 days a week and I don't think Sears will ever go out of business (who knows though). I'm a weekend warrior, but between all our trucks, dirt bikes, derby cars and boats, I've amassed quite a collection of tools (about 99% Craftsman). I had a Craftman 1/2" torque wrench for about 15 years. I snapped the plastic lock ring years ago. It did not affect the way the wrench worked at all. I finally exchanged it for a brand new one about a month ago. That sucker was $70 by itself!! When I got home and unboxed the wrench, I discovered the warranty was only for 90 days! I guess the guy working the counter didn't know it, but the system allowed it to be rung up. I signed a receipt and walked right out with a new torque wrench, FOR FREE! One complaint I do have is that if you strip out a ratchet and return it, they'll look in their pile of "redone" ratchets for a match. Craftsman has a rebuild kit for their ratchets. If the main body is OK, their employees "rebuild" them with the kits. I had one ratchet that was rebuilt as I waited, but one time I tried to get another replaced and the employee just sifted through their box under the counter and found a rebuilt one. It worked just fine, to this day in fact, but it was beat up a little. The one I traded in was immaculate looking.

 

I turned in a 1/2 inch rachet that had been eatin up along with the trunk floor of my 76 Camero by some cans of R-12 that I had fogotten about. The rachet head was pretty much gone, you could barely still read the Craftsman writing on the handle. Got a new one off the shelf, no questions asked.

 

Been carrying craftsman tools in my vehicles for 35 years. Only pieces I've ever broken were new stuff. I look for the old stuff at flea markets. I'd rather use stones and sticks than that chinese crap out there.

 

craftsmans warranty exchange is the best thing going, however the new ratchets with the thumb lever to switch directions is plastic, one flase move and its broke off, now you have more parts to chase for

also the better quality ratchets that have the finer teeth also use a round plastic reversing ****, other than that i have no complaints

I have 5 snap on ratchets, 2 work and the other 3 are toast, am i supposr to flag a snap on truck down or what, they been broke for about 2-3 years

 

I have used Craftsman tools since 1970, when my Husky set was stolen from my van.
The only complaints I have with them are the ratchets which fail to rachet, and the phillips screwdrivers which won't grab the screws.

I have an old phillips and a new one with the same part number. The shape of the points are different, the older one being more rounded. It will grip a screw every time, but the new one won't.

When I replaced the clutch on my 4x4 explorer, I had to use a 12 point 8 mm wrench to disconnect/reconnect the front driveshaft. Only the Craftsman set had a combo with 12 points. The others were all 6 points for the smaller sizes.

Winford

 

I have a equal assortment of all of those also adding in MasterCraft tools, a brand up here in Canada. All my air tools are Snap On and the rest is split up between SnapOn, Craftsman, and Mastercraft.

I have found lots of the newest Craftsman ratchets and specialty wrenches are exactly the same as SnapOn ones. So no biggie there.
But I personally love the fact that the last time I visited my buddy in Houston, we went brought him the biggest Craftsman tool set, something like 1000 pieces and I sure wish I could do the same up here. The biggest one we have is like only 250 pieces. Warranty are top notch here, I was recently given two CDN. ratchets for the one U.S. purchased one that we dont have north of the border.

So all in all, SnapOn for Air tools and ##### no one else has, but the Craftsman and Mastercraft I have NO qualms about.

 

I don't buy Mastercraft tools anymore.
I was refused a replacement on a broken pair of snap ring pliers a few years back, so now my CTC money goes to buy fishing tackle.