Torque Wrench

[cp1969]

Be aware that Craftsman doesn't warranty their torque wrenches for life any more. I broke my '80's vintage click-type, and the replacement only had a 90 day warranty.

The torque wrench I use on mower blades is my Ingersoll Rand air-driven one.

 

[centex]

I bought 3/8" and 1/2" Craftsman click type torque wrenches with a plastic adjustment mechanism on the handles. In a relatively short time the plastic part slipped on the handle and ruined the calibration. I bought almost every tool that Craftman sold at one time or the other and eventually thew them all out and bought quality tools. Many years ago Craftman meant quality but that changed a long time ago in my opinion. Snap-on makes quality tools. They cost a lot but I can tell you from experience it is cheaper to buy them from the start than to buy cheap and then buy the Snap-on to replace the cheap ones. The only Craftman tools that I have kept were bought in the 50's. Everything else I threw out when it broke. I don't care if they would replace it free because I don't like skinned knuckles from when a wrench breaks or worse when a crummy torque wrench causes me to over or under tighten a critical fastner.

 

[DavidInNH]

Can you buy Snap-on in a store or do you still have to get one of the trucks to visit you?

 

[MikePA]

I heard they were opening brick and mortar stores. In any case, you can also buy tools via their web site.

 

[TresCrows]

David, not sure where you live offhand but you should be able to look up a Snapon owner/driver in your yellow pages. They will generally go out of there way to meet you or give you a locatiuon they visit and when they are there so you can meet them. It really is easy. I do wish they would open some stores though. There stuff is a bit pricey and is very high quality. For your mower blades a Craftman is adequate but if you really want a fine tool that will be accurate and reliable Snapon really is better. Proto and Mac are OK too but I just think having used many types of tools that Snapon is top of the heap. I realy like the Craftman Professional series hand wrenches and they have some excellent tools but I just think their torque wrenches--for pro use--are lacking--especially the heads, they are wobbly and kinda chintsy and a bit too large and they don't have any smaller 1/4 drive stuff either. J

 

[Bird]

<font color=blue>Proto and Mac are OK too but I just think having used many types of tools that Snapon is top of the heap.</font color=blue>

That's kind of like telling someone that New Holland is a better tractor than Kubota, or John Deere is better than New Holland, etc./w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif Yes, Snap-on makes some fine tools, and they were probably the first to have the trucks visiting garages and selling to mechanics. Prices are very high because that distributor has to run that big truck all day, and he sells tools to mechanics who do not pay for them up front, but instead make weekly payments with no interest. The same can be said for MAC, Matco, and some others now (including Craftsman). And having repaired/rebuilt many Snap-on air tools (my brother was a Matco distributor, but was friends with the Snap-on distributor in the same area and the Snap-on distributor also sent his tools to me for repair), I can tell you that they are no better and no worse than MAC or Matco. The biggest difference is that most (not all) MAC and Matco air tools are made for them by Ingersoll-Rand or Chicago Pneumatic (parts are interchangeable), while Snap-on will be slightly different and parts cost more. And each of those companies occasionally makes a mistake. For instance, Snap-on sells several different models of half inch air impact wrenches (3 models that I saw a lot of); two of them are good and one is so bad that I just refused to work on that because even new they were underpowered, most owners were unhappy with them, and there's no way to make them better. And as I said, MAC and Matco have also occasionally gotten something that just wasn't good enough; just as Craftsman has. I repaired several Craftsman air tools but eventually quit doing that, too. They're not bad, but a lot of their parts can only be obtained from Sears, I had to pay retail price for the parts, plus shipping and handling, and it often took a long time to get them.

Oops, my tendency to get too long winded again./w3tcompact/icons/frown.gif But the bottom line is that those tools are like the tractors; lots of good ones out there and personal preference plays a big part.

 

[DavidInNH]

TresCrows and Bird:

Thanks for that. It feels like I grew up in garages, with the accompanying weekly visit from the Snapon truck. My dad started out on prop planes in the navy, ran the auto-mechanics program at a junior college for years and then opened his own shop. I've got a boy that wants to learn how to work on his car, but we live 2,000 miles away from the brother-in-law's garage (Texas), further from my brother's garage (Colorado Springs) and even further from my dad (Idaho). So, after almost 20 years of avoiding personal bloodshed, I'm back in the tool acquisition business. I wonder if my son would feel the same about a year of learning how to wash parts as I did when I was working with my dad?

David

 

[TresCrows]

I will stick with what I said, over the entire range of tools Snapon has available plus all their specialty stuff--and did you know they will custom build special purpose tools?--their stuff is top of the line. I have some various tools I have picked from all the major manufacturers because they had something special--a thin head, a particular offset or something like that. Nothing agaisnt Matco or Proto or Craftsman but Snapon has more selection and again over the entire range their hand tools in particular are to me the best.
Airtools, got bunches, rivet guns, high speeds, pneumatic rivet squeezers, palm drills, angle drills, Cherry pullers, air ratchets, rivet shavers etc, I make my living with my tools-air tools mostly Sioux, I have several 90 degree and 45 degree drill kits by Pan American and Jiffy. I have rivet shavers by Soiux and Ingersoll and rivet guns by Sioux and Chicago Pneumatic in sizes 2XX to 4XXXX. I could not hazard a guess at the value of my tool collection but one could purchase several Kubotas. Not at all unusual for professional mechanics to have 20,000 to 30,000 dollars in tools and storage. Because we do not have metric in Aviation I have to maintain two complete sets of hand tools and specialty tools and since some are at work then I got some at home too and some more at the hanger.
Oh, I got plenty of Craftsman, including a huge Craftsman box in my garage (Snapon at work). I love hanging out a Sears and have not a bit of shame about my Sears tools but I got bunches from Snapon and the other guys too. I really like those Gear Wrenches, now avaialble from Craftsman and also originnaly from Ace Hardware. They are thin and have a fine boxend ratchet. They will not stand up to a lot of torque but they are way cool and just right for lot's of things.
If that is like saying I prefer Kubota, so be it, cannot please everyone so I just please myself. J

 

[Bird]

<font color=blue>If that is like saying I prefer Kubota, so be it, cannot please everyone so I just please myself</font color=blue>

And that's what counts; no argument from me on that./w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif

<font color=blue>Snapon has more selection</font color=blue>

As with many stores, none of those trucks can stock everything in their line. I really don't know whether one brand can actually provide, or order, a bigger selection than the others, but I do know that what the truck has available in stock depends on the individual distributor; how big a truck and how much inventory he can afford. And then he has to develop a knowledge of what moves fast so he doesn't overstock slow items and understock fast moving ones.

<font color=blue>air tools mostly Sioux</font color=blue>

Now that's a brand that I don't think many automotive mechanics have much of. But my best customer had lots of their drills and grinders (rebuilding 18-wheeler trailers). They have some really unique designs and they're expensive, but in my opinion, as fine a tool as you can get. I worked on lots of their T-handle drills and angle grinders, but that wasn't because of the quality of the tools; it was simply because this company had so many of them, some very very old, and they were sending them to me not only from their local shop, but from the shops in other cities as well. And they didn't care what it cost as long as it was fixed right and quick. If anyone makes more powerful air drills and grinders, I'm not familiar with them, although Chicago Pneumatic makes some mighty good drills.

 

[art]

There are many good makes tools out there for different jobs. I run two tool boxes at home one for every day stuff and one for more intricate work. Basically one loaded with any make and one with the good makes as offered above. For tightening blades a cheap torque wrench is all you need. Probably after you use it a couple of times you will resort to your click stop elbow. If you wish to get into engine rebuilding and the likes buy a good one.