Snap On vs. Craftsman!!!

[Egon]

Different locations, different terminology Bird.

We cal a cheater a snipe. It's well know not to use them on ratchets or aluminum pipe wrenches.

They are handy on the ratchets if you are using a long cheater. Means you don't have to go to all the fuss of getting the socket back on the bolt in tight spots.

We also used one combination wrench on another one for extra leverage.

 

[Bird]

We also used one combination wrench on another one for extra leverage.

I've done that; just never used a cheater or snipe on a ratchet. And of course, I've never broken or repaired a ratchet of my own.

 

[RobJ]

All this talk about ratchets, wonder if people still know you can get a find tooth ratchet and a regular tooth. The fine(more gear teeth) is nice for tight places where you only have a little wiggle room.

 

[escavader]

I have broke snap on,i have broke craftsman,i see no difference other than the craftsman are easier to return.I hate chasing down the snap on truck ,just to get a wrench replaced.
I LOVE MY OLDER SK TOOLS
,however ive bought several set of harbor freight wrench rolls,for camp,the cars,addition sets for work,at home.I gotta tell ya the chinese have come a long way in quality.Ive never broke one ,and i use them wrench on wrench alot at work,even used a cheater pipe on them.Darn good buy when they go on sale3/8 to 11/4 9.99 in a roll.Sounds to good to be true dont it?Might seem unamerican to buy them,but i cant see spending mega bucks on additional sets.
ALAN

 

[ridgerunnerinwv]

I have never taken anything Craftsman back in for switch out. Last week I had a 3/8" drive Craftsman ratchet fall apart on me. Do I simply take the broken ratchet back to the store for a swap out? No questions asked?

Yep,thats al you should need to do.

 

[barticus73]

Yep,thats al you should need to do.

Great, thanx!

 

[Jagmandave]

I've had good luck getting replacements on Craftsman tools, I just walk into the Sears store, pick out what I want from the shelf and take it to the checkout counter. The people they have working the checkouts don't know what they're doing, so they just ring it up. If you get one of the old pro's you might get some hassle about how you broke it, but if you just go pick it out, they don't even look twice.

If I've broken a Craftsman tool, it's usually because I've done something inappropriate with it, like use a 5 ft pipe on a 1/2 breaker bar (did that the other day, had to get a new 15/16 socket on that one..........)

When I made my living with my tools, as others have said, everything I used was pretty much Snap-On, no contest.

If I hit the big Lotto tomorrow, I'd make some Snap-On dealers day!

 

[scott_vt]

Most of my tools are Craftsman, but like Alan I have some older SK tools and they are IMO very good tools.

As one of the other posters mentioned, it all depends if your using the tools to make a living or just a hobbyist ! I think that statement says alot

 

[rogdan]

I have never taken anything Craftsman back in for switch out. Last week I had a 3/8" drive Craftsman ratchet fall apart on me. Do I simply take the broken ratchet back to the store for a swap out? No questions asked?

I returned a Craftman 3/8" ratchet about 10 years ago with a broken switch being and was given a rebuild kit that woked just fine.

 

[Marlowe]

I was a Snap On dealer for a few absolutely miserable years of my life. The tools are great, generally speaking. Snap On does not manufacture tools though. They market tools with the Snap On name on them. The tools are built to Snap On specs and, of course, Snap On stands behind the tools with various warranties, all of which are not necessarily life time. I also used tools for a long time as a professional mechanic. In that application there was no comparison between the Snap On and Craftsman hand tools.

As a dealer I had a customer challenge me to a contest between a Craftsman wrench and a old used one one of his mechanics had. He didn't want the advantage of a brand new one off my truck against a used Craftsman. We found a steel nut big enough for two wrenches to go back to back on and then had Big John pull untill something gave. Neither wrench rounded off the nut. It was some pretty hard stuff the nut was made of. What finally gave though was the Craftsman wrench. John actually bent it into a pretzel with his bare hands. A half inch wrench. Try that at home!

The lesson I learned; DON'T mess with Big John. And Snap On markets a pretty good hand tool. You can buy stuff of pretty near equal value for way less though.

Tom, happily and EX Snap On man.