When I went to Murrays, I saw GoodWrench flarenut wrenches set, are they good? or go with Craftsman?

 

don't know about those, but no problem with the quality if the C-man, just the heads are large and hard to fit in a tight location

 

My Craftsman flare wrenches are absolute junk.

 

my craftsman line wrenches are not junk and do what they are suppose to do.

 

I will go with Craftsman,
but which is better:
Craftsman 10 pc. Flare Nut Wrench Set with BONUS 16 X 18 mm Wrench
Sears item #00944010000 Mfr. model #44010 http://www.sears.com/sr/javasr/produ...seBVCookie=Yes
or
Craftsman 11 pc. Full-Polish Flare Nut Wrench Set
Sears item #00942104000 Mfr. model #42104
http://www.sears.com/sr/javasr/produ...seBVCookie=Yes

 

I have the full polish and they have been very good in the limited use they have gotten.

 

Oh man, I signed on to moan and groan about the

GREAT NECK pieces of junk from Auto Zombie.

I posted a while back about how the 18mm snapped when doing A/C. All I needed was a 1/2" flare nut wrench to remove a transmission cooler line, so I decided to use the remaining wrenches in the set. I had better wrenches for smaller sizes (3/8 and 7/16), none for the larger sizes.

So, I decided to use the Autozone 1/2" (great neck), I watched as the WRENCH flared, opened up, and started rounding off the nut. I stopped and ended up loosening it with a Vise Grip (thankfully a good one).

I guess I have to pony up the bucks and get yet more Snap-On tools for my tool box. I try to avoid it, since I no longer work in a garage, but, the more I work on trucks and cars at home, the more I buy Snap-On anyway.

A rounded nut on a fluid line (brake or transmission) just isn't worth it the cost of a cheaper tool when you look at replacing the line.

I would go with either Snap-On or Mac (I have had good luck with them) and forget the cheaper tools for an item that has to be strong and not round off the fastener.

 

I have a set of metric and SAE Craftsman Professional Flare Nut Wrenches and they are OK. They rarely get used though. The few times that I have used them they got the job done and I did not round off anything or slip etc. The regular Craftsman on the other hand IS total junk. I used them in school while working on brake systems and I would never consider owning them. They flexed and twisted alot and I rounded off 2 brake line nuts.

 

That is exactly what my Craftsman line wrenches do!!!

I spent an hour once measuring Craftsman wrenches in the vain hope of finding one that was within tolerance on the opening.

Craftsman == Junk as far as wrenches are concerned.

IMO if you want good hand tools try Snap-on, Lisle, or SK. Nothing worse than "radiator burn" or a busted knuckle when a wrench slips off.

 

I've had good service out of SK's 5 piece flair nut set.
Fits tight on the nut, no spreading or rounding.
Not cheap tools but then when your stuck
without one or rounded a nut those tools become
affordable real quick. JMO's.

 

I saw the old style Craftsman Flare nut wrenchs, as my old boss/friend had those. They (censored thought) sucked.
When they came out with the polished line, he swapped them in and they gave him one set of the regular, and one of the polished line, as it's what they had in stock.
From his experiences with them, for a home shop, or areas where things haven't rusted together (froze up/gunked up etc), he thinks they are fine, but would recommend the pro line (polished) as there seemed to be a bit more material where the head met the handle.
I PO'd them one day when I went home to get a size we didn't have (shops been broken into), and I came back with what they thought was a Snap~On. If you can find them, Kobalt tools USED to be made by J.H. Williams company (a division of Snap~On). They closed out them when Dahaner was going to take over the tool manufacturing of Kobalt.
I have since, purchased, almost a complete set of Snap~On, open end/flare nut end wrenchs.

From what I have seen (told my dad this, and he tried it and said ), if your going cheap (rarely used), I would rather a cheap set of flare nut crowsfoot, then a cheap set of line wrenchs. They have more mass.

 

This thread sent me to my tool box to see what I ended up using. I know I have had some bad experiences with flare nut wrenches in the past, so all I have now are MAC and Snap-On. I noticed that one of the Snappys is loosing it's fancy chrome.

 

I may have to go trade in my Craftsman set for the polished ones. They can't be any worse than what I have. If that fails I will just go pick up some SK from my local tool store.

Does anyone realize there are specifications for wrench sizes and they are listed in the Machinery's Handbook? From what I have seen of Snap-On they must hold their wrenches to even tighter specs. None of the Craftsman wrenches I have measured have met the specs. Of course tight specs don't help if the metal has a low yield strength. When out of spec wrenches are made from low strength material you get Craftsman tools...

Don't buy the Craftsman Torx sockets either. I got tired of taking those back and bought some Lisle Torx sockets from the tool store that not only removed the screws that broke the Craftsman tools but have held up for years since then.

I have had Craftsman arc joint pliers shatter in my hands. Anyone care to guess how much that hurts?

Basically don't buy any Craftsman hand tool made after about 1970.

 

I gotta agree with you. Craftsman is junk or close to it. There are very few things that I will purchase from them.

Their warranty policy does make CERTAIN things worthy of consideration though. That, and the polished wrenches arn't THAT bad.

 

About 5 years ago Craftsman sold Delta 10" compound miter saws
with their name on it and $70 less than Delta.
You have to know your tools and price shop as
every now and then you get lucky.
It was sad when I remodeled a Sears store that
I turned in 27 screwdrivers that were hammered on,
bent, shank almost out the top, no questions asked
got 'em replaced free. True their quality has gone down.
Stanley tools at Home Depot or your local hardware store
as well parts in general, look where manufactured, China.
Wall Mart I can't say as I never will shop there.