Sears Tools That Suck On The Price

[JDgreen227]

yer 'quality tools' that you happily pax 3-4-5-6-7x for from NAMEBRANDCO likely come out a different packaging door of the same plant that makes them for our favorite chinese importer outfit.

PS.. My 1" airgun beats on my 1" and 3/4" sockets pretty darn hard.. in addition to the 6' pipe i can jump on when taking bit 2-3" bolts and nuts off heavy equipment.. except my chinese 'big' set only cost about 85$ for a hard case, ratchet, breaker bar, 2 extensions, and sockets from 7/8 to 3"

would hate to see what that cost in matco, snapon or craftsman type money....

Agree 100%..every one of my 1 1/2 dozen 1/4. 3/8, and 1/2 inch drive ratchets and the hundreds of sockets I have are Craftsman, but my 3/4 inch drive set is Northern Tool, because that cost about $45 and the Craftsman 3/4 drive set was about $225 at the time.

 

[Soundguy]

yep.. and if i WAS to break my chinese 3/4 or 1" set.. i'd rather break a 40$ part.. not a 200$ part..

I DO have some high quality older smaller sets. I'm a yardsale field. i buy tons of 1$ incomplete socket sets.. and dump em into coffee cans and then on rainy days make up sets out of them. in addition tot he real craftsman 1/4 and 3/8 set I have back when I was a kid, I've assembled another good 3/8 kit and wrench kit out of craftsman and snapon.. old ones.. like from 70's and 80's era.. back when they likely WERE us made.. maybee

the cheapies.. I put in a ziplock bag with a ratchet and nut driver.. full set of sae and metric plus a 3 and 6" extension.. then roll it up and slip it into an old tube sock and knot the top loosely. then that tool bag goes in my tractor tool boxes.. or in my truck or atv.. that way I always got a socket set with me.. water tight and in the sock it don't rattle or waer a hole int he bag.. and keeps em together.. got tons of sets like that. I sometimes give my friends sets for their cars at christmas.. because they never have tools..

 

[JRTJH]

Soundguy, building socket sets like that sounds thrifty to say the least... I wasn't at all suggesting that I only use "quality tools or that I don't use HF tools. Rather I was saying that about 30 years ago, I thought "quality only" after getting hurt while using a cheap set. I do use HF tools now, in fact I just bought a set for the camper since I seem to always need to do something on the boat or the generator or on the trailer every time we go camping. As for using "quality tools" or HF tools, I was saying I "cringe" every time I get into a push harder situation now no matter what tool I'm using. I guess I'd have to say I'm a little gunshy about cutting a tendon now. That ain't fun !!!!!

As for "big tools" most of my big ones are HF tools. So far, I haven't broken any of them. My impact wrenchs, cheater bars, and BFH's haven't busted any of them. As for smaller tools, I still have my Craftsman sets, so I'm going to use them until I can't get replacements (although the only things I've had to exchange is screwdrivers from rounded tips and ratchets. Everything else seems to be holding up (for the past 30 years) LOL

 

[crazyal]

I had to buy a 2 1/4" socket for the nut on the loop for a pintle hook on my equipment trailer. I didn't want to wait so I got it at Sears. Since it was 3/4" drive I used the 3/4" Pittsburg (HF) breaker bar. When I couldn't break the nut free I put a pipe on it and snapped the end of the breaker bar off. I hesitated for a moment and then got my (10 year old ish) 1/2" craftsman with a 1/2 to 3/4 adapter. I expected it to snap but it didn't. Once I removed the nut I cleaned up the threads and can now remove it without any tools.

When in doubt I reach for Craftsman (or snap-on if I have one). I've broke too many cheap tools and lost too much skin. Maybe today's HF are better, I buy plenty of HF tools, just not wrenches or sockets.

I never understood Sears. Advanced Auto sells Craftsman tools. Sears has 4 stores within a few miles of each other, a main store, a warehouse/ parts location, an appliance store, and a sat store. Yet other than a few items most appliances have to be ordered. All of these stores cost money. People only go to brick and mortar stores to buy now, either on impulse or because they want it right now and make a specific trip.

It just seams like management has no clear focus on what they want to be. I can remember when you would walk to the back of a Sears and there would be about 10 catalog books on displays so you could order what you want. Now that business is dead and Sears seams lost. Their internet sight has stuff for sale by all sorts of vendors (kind of like Amazon), some of them are questionable to say the least. The stores they have overlap each other. A number of the stores seam to be locked into leases or own stores that are no longer in the correct location. Every Kmart I've been in is a dump. It just seams like management is trying to throw everything against the wall and hope something sticks.

 

[sixdogs]

I had to buy a 2 1/4" socket for the nut on the loop for a pintle hook on my equipment trailer. I didn't want to wait so I got it at Sears. Since it was 3/4" drive I used the 3/4" Pittsburg (HF) breaker bar. When I couldn't break the nut free I put a pipe on it and snapped the end of the breaker bar off. I hesitated for a moment and then got my (10 year old ish) 1/2" craftsman with a 1/2 to 3/4 adapter. I expected it to snap but it didn't. Once I removed the nut I cleaned up the threads and can now remove it without any tools.

When in doubt I reach for Craftsman (or snap-on if I have one). I've broke too many cheap tools and lost too much skin. Maybe today's HF are better, I buy plenty of HF tools, just not wrenches or sockets.

I never understood Sears. Advanced Auto sells Craftsman tools. Sears has 4 stores within a few miles of each other, a main store, a warehouse/ parts location, an appliance store, and a sat store. Yet other than a few items most appliances have to be ordered. All of these stores cost money. People only go to brick and mortar stores to buy now, either on impulse or because they want it right now and make a specific trip.

It just seams like management has no clear focus on what they want to be. I can remember when you would walk to the back of a Sears and there would be about 10 catalog books on displays so you could order what you want. Now that business is dead and Sears seams lost. Their internet sight has stuff for sale by all sorts of vendors (kind of like Amazon), some of them are questionable to say the least. The stores they have overlap each other. A number of the stores seam to be locked into leases or own stores that are no longer in the correct location. Every Kmart I've been in is a dump. It just seams like management is trying to throw everything against the wall and hope something sticks.

That identifies the problem exactly. No focus and adrift. Seems to me management is merely trying to manage the decline, make as much money as possible on the way and if things fail maybe sell the parts for more than the whole. People look at CEO's that make the big bucks and here's why. It takes a genius to make a big company succeed and in doing so employes tens of thousands of people. Just my two cents.

 

[Gale Hawkins]

That identifies the problem exactly. No focus and adrift. Seems to me management is merely trying to manage the decline, make as much money as possible on the way and if things fail maybe sell the parts for more than the whole. People look at CEO's that make the big bucks and here's why. It takes a genius to make a big company succeed and in doing so employes tens of thousands of people. Just my two cents.

I agree.

 

[mjncad]

Before Sears and K-Mart merged, I always considered Sears an overpriced K-Mart with their dreary stores and overpriced merchandise.

Now that they are one and the same, you have K-Mart and overpriced K-Mart.

 

[crazyal]

Before Sears and K-Mart merged, I always considered Sears an overpriced K-Mart with their dreary stores and overpriced merchandise.

Now that they are one and the same, you have K-Mart and overpriced K-Mart.

If you walk into the Kmart near here you'll want to get a tetanus shot. I think they have one mop and it's locked in a room and nobody has the key. The store is in need of a major upgrade and I don't see Sears spending the money. To be honest I haven't been inside in years and have no interest since the parking lot hasn't changed. The last time I looked they were the only store left on the plaza. Even the Walmart is starting to get as bad as Kmart. If the manager of the store has no pride in their store then I'm not shopping there.

At least the Sears stores are clean (at least around here). That may not be much but it's something.

 

[LastSTRAW]

I just heard on the radio today that 3 Sears stores are closing in Vancouver, Calgary and Ottawa. The chickens are coming home to roost.

 

[Gale Hawkins]

At one point in time their catalogs did double duty in outhouses across the country. Telling my age now. :laughing: