Replacement tools

[Way2slow]

I sure am glad I'm not a young/new mechanic just starting off and having to buy tools.  The price for good tools has gotten stupid.

Every year or two, I do a tool box clean out and inventory to replace any sockets/wrenches missing out of sets.  Since I keep serval sets of all common sizes, wrenches and sockets, it's no big deal if one comes up missing.  Doing that also helps keep me from spending more time looking for a tool than I spend working on something.  Trust me, I can sit in one spot, never move from it and loose a tool, sit it down, go to pick it back up a minute later and have to go get another out of the tool box where that one disappeared.

I just spent over $300 ordering a handful of sockets and a few wrenches I was missing, to make the sets complete again.  Three 1/2" drive sockets cost bunches more than the original set cost new. (granted that was probably several decades ago).  Other than some sets of GearWrenches, if they are not made in the USA, I don't buy them.  I don't pay the stupid tool truck prices for Mac, Matco, and Snap-On, other than for specialty tools that are only available though one of those, and Craftsman is the cheapest thing I will buy.  Most are Proto, Wright, Armstrong, and S-K.  I do have a lot of the old Craftsman from many years back when S-K and Echo made them and they were very good tools, simply because you could get replacements at your local Sears.  Since K-Mart bought Sears and closed most of them, that ain't so anymore. 

At 70 years old, and started buying my own tools when I was 15.  I've raced, go carts, cars and boat most of my life and worked as a industrial material handling equipment, mobile service tech for a major company for 15 years after retiring from the Air Force so I have a massive set of tools.  I spent $9,000 just upgrading my tool box,  when I became a service tech.  Mostly larger wrenches, 3/4 drive and 1"drive sockets and stuff. 

Today, it would probably cost $30K to $40 to assemble the same set off tools.  That's almost what I had to pay for my house when I bought it 25 years ago.

 

 

 

[lo n slo]

that’s a bummer about Sears/Craftsman. 

[slonezp]

36 minutes ago, lo n slo said:

that’s a bummer about Sears/Craftsman. 

I think Sears sold off the Craftsman brand last year. They can be purchased at multiple retailers. They are now made anywhere and everywhere.

[Gundog]

My first set of tools was a Craftsman. Great thing about them was the replacement policy. I put a lot of wear and tear on my tools and never had a problem getting new ones free if I broke them. 

[Way2slow]

That was always the best thing about them, but now most places give you an address to send them to in my neck of the woods.  Break a socket or small wrench and it cost more to ship it than it cost.  I had one retailer tell me a rounded out 12 point socket and a slipping ratchet of a friends was normal wear and that was not coverer by the warranty.

If you ever use  wright or S-K ratchets, you wouldn't touch a craftsman, and they don't cost what the tool truck brands cost.

[Crappiebasser]

Sears stopped honoring the lifetime warranty on their tools sometime back. They went to a one year warranty. Like slonezp said they were sold off and I noticed lowes sells them now but I'm not sure if the warranty has changed. They are made in China of course.

[Tennessee Boy]

Quote

If you ever use  wright or S-K ratchets, you wouldn't touch a craftsman

Way2slow,  you sound like you know what your talking about.  I'm needing a new ratchet so I just order a Wright on your recommendation.

[Way2slow]

I have a long 3/4" a reg and log 1/2" a 1/4" flex head and a 1/2" flex that I used and abused them for about 10 years and never hand a one to slip, and they are very smooth operating.  My favorite 3/8" is the S-K micro tooth.   that one I've used for 55 years and S-K still sent me a free gear unit to go in it last year when the retainer ball fell out

[tipptruck1]

Any place that sells sears still has a warranty, but I pretty munch stopped buying that stuff. When our local sears closed. Even before they closed. I was buying stuff from other brands. God I hated there ratchets. Last time I took some thing in was about 10 years ago. Totally my fault, and they exchanged it. I was using a 1/2in 6in long socket extension on a impact gun. Well After breaking a few bolts loose. I noticed it was crescent shaped. How that got taken back is beyond me.

 

As for tools. I have a few name brand things, but I don't see the point in paying 300 bucks for wrenches. I know not all tools are created equal, but there is not a whole lot different between a snap on, or a pre sold craftsmen wrench. There is a Reason why I have a few name brand things after all. 

 

Last spring I was looking at a bigger tool box. Since I don't need a 10k snap on box. I started looking at craftsmen boxes. I was not impressed with the quilty. Compared to my older boxes. So I got this unit for around 700 bucks. Has thicker metal, can hold more weight per drawer, and was about 500 bucks cheaper then the craftsmen.

[slonezp]

46 minutes ago, tipptruck1 said:

Any place that sells sears still has a warranty, but I pretty munch stopped buying that stuff. When our local sears closed. Even before they closed. I was buying stuff from other brands. God I hated there ratchets. Last time I took some thing in was about 10 years ago. Totally my fault, and they exchanged it. I was using a 1/2in 6in long socket extension on a impact gun. Well After breaking a few bolts loose. I noticed it was crescent shaped. How that got taken back is beyond me.

 

As for tools. I have a few name brand things, but I don't see the point in paying 300 bucks for wrenches. I know not all tools are created equal, but there is not a whole lot different between a snap on, or a pre sold craftsmen wrench. There is a Reason why I have a few name brand things after all. 

 

Last spring I was looking at a bigger tool box. Since I don't need a 10k snap on box. I started looking at craftsmen boxes. I was not impressed with the quilty. Compared to my older boxes. So I got this unit for around 700 bucks. Has thicker metal, can hold more weight per drawer, and was about 500 bucks cheaper then the craftsmen.

I haven't bought a hand tool since I crippled myself, and Craftsman was my tool of choice. Still have my welder, torches, vacuum pumps and all the other tools of my trade in my garage but haven't really touched anything since I got hurt in 2012. I can't bear to part with them. I'm emotionally attached. I did pull out my torches recently to braze some copper and I will say, I haven't lost my touch. Once a pipefitter, always a pipefitter

 

We sell Klein at the supply house I work at. As far as warranty is concerned, the customer must purchase a replacement tool and wait for Klein to approve warranty before receiving credit.  

[tipptruck1]

Never get rid off tools. I have a few machinist tools that I paid a lot for. Unless I run my own business down the road. They wont be used. They are sitting in a climate controlled room.