Needs opinions on Quality tools.

[MKoth]

Can't rember what it was we were trying to fix/break but it involved a 1/2" drive snap-on breaker bar and a 4 foot cheater pipe with a 4"x4" chunk of wood to hold it all in place. Of course we broke the socket.



The whole time, Snappy John was watching us laughing. I gave him what was left of the socket, he replaced it, and never said a thing.

 

[CFast]

Hand wrenches: Snap On Flank drive, hands down the best. I had Matco wrenches, the worst. Made of pot metal and spread easily, gave them back to the Matco guy.

Tool Box: Matco. Built like a tank.

Sockets: Matco, no problem yet

Rachets: matco. I had the matco guy make a breaker bar with a flex head into a racheting head. It's 30" long and I haven't broken the rachet once in 3 1/2 years. It easily torques Main bolts to 300 ftlbs.

Screwdrivers: matco has some nice screwdrives made in germany.

Side cutter: Knipex. A must. Best side cutter out there IMO. Sharp as hell, lots of leverage and doesn't dull.

MAC tools, never had good luck with the company, or the dealers. They're owned by Stanley now I belive, which moved their plant to freakin CHINA! F' MAC.

If you're in school matco give you 50% off most everything in their catalog. That's why I have so much Matco stuff. I was in school 4 years ago. Nice company to deal with. Just have completely USELESS wrenches. oh, and torx bits, junk.

 

[mgoncalves]

I am not a mechanic, but I can give you some advice about tools. A buddy of mine went to tech school and ended up buying tons of craftsman stuff. Now, 5 years later, he gives me set after set of the craftsman tools as he replaces it with snap on or cornwell stuff.



As for me, I love the new stanley tools. They are cheap (compared to the big names) and seem to be great tools. For now, I'll just keep stocking up with my buddies unwanted stuff.



Matt

 

[jwilliams3]

The basic craftsman ratchets are junk.

Snap-on ratchets are far superior, absolutely no comparison.



--Justin

 

[nickleinonen]

3/8" air guns

??? what is this tool for? :-laf i use 3/8" electric impact guns to run selftapping screws but that's about it. i'm much happier with a spline gun in hand with the 10" anvil on it [will hammer over 1000lbs/ft down on the crab studs on the emd engines i work on]

 

[E7mack96]

I'll say this :



IR air tools rock. I have sizes from 1/4 drive to 1" drive. The 1" will rip a limb off if you aren't careful.



As far as tools in general, I own 99% Craftsman. I would like to try Snap on or one of the others. I can't get one to stop by the shop. We are in same bldg as a auto repair shop, but we work on class 8 stuff. Maybe they are afraid their tools won't hold up.



The Craftsman stuff has been good to me so far. (Fingers crossed)

 

[rubberneck]

I cant say much of anything that hasn't already been said. I have about 90% snap-on, and i love each and every one of them. I have a Mac box cause i got a good deal on it, but i think the new snap on are nicer. Never took a real good look at the Matco boxes, but from what you guys are saying they sound nice. I have some matco wrenches, but never seem to use them. I'll tell you one thing, if you need the special 5 point (standard is 6 point) security style torx bits that we have on some of the vp44 covers, you have to get it from Matco, nobody else has them. One thing I have to agree with is the Nipex pliers. I have a pair of their side cutters, a pair of needle nose and my favorite, their channel locks. they rock. Always the first set of pliers i reach for. Just got a sweet set of radiator hose clamp removal pliers. they take off the spring style clamps like we have on our trucks stock. The pliers are hooked to a cable and the "jaws" are at the other end of the cable. You hook the removal head down in the tight spot around the clamp without having to get the whole set of pliers in there. Dont know how the heck i did that job before i had these babies. Oh yeah a whole lot of cussing and yelling and time.

 

[CFast]

3/8" air guns rock. Lighter than your 1/2" and smaller. Will tear down any gas engine and do the top half of most diesel engines. won't smash your fingers against something like the air rachet. Where are you going to school? and for auto or diesel?

 

[Jeff H]

I know of a machinsist who wants to sell all his tools. I have not looked at his stuff yet. Would I have much use for some machinist tools? I don't know what he all has. What would ya suggest looking for?

 

[JoshPeters]

I would immagine that he would have a decient set of hand tools. It depends on the machine work he did. He probably has a few sets of various measureing devices. Dial indicators, dial calipers, depth micrometers..... etc. Some of those are nice to have, but not used much.



Josh

 

[Dieselnut59]

No one has mentioned Armstrong yet. They have the best ratcheting wrenches available and are the company that makes the ones for Craftsman. They are the only company making Made in USA ratchet wrenches. I agree on a previous post about the socket/open end wrenches... . these things are plumb HANDY! I have some tools from all the companies mentioned and probably 95% of my tools are made in USA. I shop around based on quality and country of origin and all companies have their advantages and disadvantages.

Yall mentioned the 3/8" impact guns- If yall like that, try the 1/4" I/R impact. I just bought one (made in Japan) and love this thing! it works great for auto trans pan bolts, oil pan bolts, etc. It has a throttle control dial to "tune" the power to avoid over tightening the pan bolts and mashing the gasket out. I have had very good luck out of I/R and CP air tools, but like I mentioned before, shop by country of origin and get the USA or Japan versions of them as they both have a "premium" (made in USA or Japan) line and an "economy" (made in china or taiwan) line.

I have had great success with Kline screwdrivers and with SK/Facom also. I prefer Snap on ratchets and have had great success with Matco sockets. I like my Snap-on "roll cab" tool box. It is the three-bay with the hardwood workbench top and has the "lock and roll" drawers, which is a nice feature when you want to move it around the shop. When I bought this box, it was the biggest they made and that was in 1996, I believe. On my service truck, I have a "cheapie" Craftsman box that has been well used and abused. it has really been a great box and fits well in the side compartment on my enclosed service body.

Only things I can mention to avoid are the cheapie import tools and the cheap lines of some of the big-name companies. I do not like Craftsman screwdrivers, basic wrenches or ratchets, but their "professional line" tools are as good as the other big companies.

Like I mentioned before, one of the best investments I have made in a tool is the Armstrong ratchet wrenches and the SK socket head/open end wrenches.