72montecarlo

To be honest craftsman I'm in same boat as u I have a mix of craftsman and snap on but for some reason the $35 dollar craftsman impact will take off just about any wheel u want I've seen it at my work

FMX05

iTrader: (3)

I invested in all Sunex sockets. They are extremely nice Chromoly impact sockets. They fit very well and feel like they are going to last a very long time. You can pick up a master 3/8 drive SAE and Metric set for ~$140 each if I remember correctly. That's shallow and deep well 5/16"-1" sockets and a U-joint in a plastic case. The metric sizes are 8-22mm and a U-joint. That is very cheap peace of mind knowing I can hang any of my sockets on an impact without worry.

96TransAmboosted

iTrader: (8)

For the common home mechanic Craftsman seems to be the choice of most since you can swap out broken tools at a local.store. NOW LOWES AND HOME DEPOT HAVe the same warrenty on there tools. Those are good tools for diy guys. Im a full time tech and I pay full snap on prices but I have never complained about a snap on tool. MAC sucks here in fl since there is not many trucks

TheSilverOne

iTrader: (22)

used snap on

vanveldhuizenc

I'm a Professional Diesel Technician at a Case New Holland Dealership, and my first set of tools I bought when i left college was Craftsman. In all honesty replacing their constantly breaking tools just takes me too much time and I end up losing money. Their sockets, ratchets and wrenches all fatigue waaaay too quickly. Now Ag diesel work is much more strenuous on tools than in the automotive world, but its still something to think about. I get tools based on which ever company has the best product for what I need. I LOVE Mac's Anti-Vibe Hammers! And I've had the best luck with their chisels and punches. I like Matco's 88 tooth ratchet the best. And I get Cornwell for all my specialty odd's and end stuff. I don't deal with Snap on at all Cuz our local Dealer is a total blow bag But if you're going to make this line of work your career than buy quality stuff. Tools to a professional technician are an investment. So invest wisely so you can make the most money for more F-Body Parts

72montecarlo

Craftsman sockets and snap on ratchets is all you need

72montecarlo

Do yourself. Favor buy quality air products not craftsman there pretty weak like ingersol rand stuff is awesome for the price

adrynalinjunkie

iTrader: (4)

I beat on my sunex stuff all day at work and have yet to have it fail.

BTW if you are not using Cordless impacts you are behind the times using air tools.

I don't miss the damn air lines at all. And with a lithium battery they are way lighter!

Damian

iTrader: (89)

That was probably me.

As mentioned above, Sunex is a great value for the money. They're made overseas, but their impact stuff is very strong and about half the price of the competition.

Crapsman has gone down the toilet, and I wouldn't recommend any of their sockets. They're all cheap thing CVT steel, and break very easy. If you're gonna buy Craftsman, go to your local pawn shops and find the old stuff that was still made in the USA.

Old Husky stuff is also good, but only the made in USA stuff. My primary socket sets I use every day are 25yr old Husky sockets, and they're beefier than my Snap ons. Never broke one either.

Pawn shops are a great place to start, as well as yard sales. You can get some name brand high quality stuff cheap if you look in the right places. A great forum for buying new/used tools is www.garagejournal.com also. I buy TONS of tools off that site in the classified forums and if you're a tool junky like me, THAT is the site for you. There is an entire forum dedicated to tool discussion with tons of traffic.

Rauch

Care to elaborate on that?

Of course, some people have better luck with their tools than others. Some people take better care of theirs.

Similar can be said about those hole punches that fit in your binder. Everyone said they were shitty back in middle school and that they always broke. I've had mine for 10 years and it's still working fine.

Anyway, I have a mixed set from Craftsman to Snap-On to MAC and Matco. Some of which are older than myself and were my grandfather's. Regardless, I haven't had an issue with any of them.

I recently bought a new set of Craftsman just because they were on sale and I had a little extra money lying around. They work just as well as the old ones in my opinion. Actually, for the past 6 months or so they've been in my dad's work truck and he's used them even more than your 60+hr/week flat rate mechanic. Not only that, but he's been using them on much heavier equipment. And guess what? Not one socket has broken nor cracked or even chipped, etc. And I know for a fact he has beaten the hell out of them over the summer.

Perhaps it depends on the user...

MrElectric03

iTrader: (71)

For anyone else looking, I bought a few sets of Grey Pneumatic sockets when I started working. I work on heavy mining equipment. Ive been using them for over 5 years now and I have broken two sockets, just replaced them with a Snap On and have no issues. The GP are warrantied its just finding a place that carries them. I believe they are the same as ATD which I recently heard Harbor Friehgt is going to start carrying instead of pittsburg.

Mighty Whitey

Quality of tools will vary within the same company. While everything snap on, Matco, etc sells may be nice stuff. It's got a nice price too.
I'm no longer a field service mechanic, so I no longer have a need for 3/4 and 1" drive tools, where quality parts means getting a job done, or not getting him till midnight while you fix your broken tools, just to fix a broken piece of equipment.

Ive bought quite a few tools from harbor freight, you can usually look at a tool and tell f it's going to fail or not. Sharp edges with no fillet on an extension, or thin walls on a socket all point toward early failure.

Here's what ive had luck with:
-"Earthquake" 1/2" impact (IR copy) been doing good for 7yrs @ 150psi
-Shallow 1/2" metric & standard impact socket sets (the nice ones that come with ALL metric sizes) they have worked great in the garage, and didn't break the bank
- 3/8 and 1/2" universal impact swivels, these things are worth their weight in gold. Work great, and when I broke the Dowel pin in the old design piece I had, it still held together enough so I could finish the transmission job I was doing.
-T5 through T9 1/4" tamper proof torx sockets, no breakage, and at $7, it's well worth it, especially since a T9 is the size for an optispark rotor button bolts,
-Small Deep well inverted torx sockets , $6. These are what is needed when pulling a starter solenoid off, or the distributor cap bolts on a opti (beats the hell out of using a TB top plate bolt with a pair of vise grips)
- 4pc pick set. $2, and they hold shape pretty well. Great for de-pinning a harness connector.
-dead blow, shot-filled, soft faced hammers are great for the price.

Now, they're pipe wrenches suck. The crescent wrenches are ok, but the jaws are not square from the tip to the bottom once you start wrenching on something (most cheap crescent wrenches are like this tho) I wouldn't advise that you use an impact with their long extensions either.

I'm just a hobbyist mechanic now, so if I break a tool, it just means I have to go replace it when I get the chance. Which is why I have atleast 2 of everything too.

But, as a machinist by trade. I definately don't skimp out on quality measuring tools. And $1000 for a set of 6 mics is what it takes for a tool that will last 40yrs if properly maintained and not abused.

MrElectric03

iTrader: (71)

I agree, never tried their impacts but I have had my IR titanium for 5 years now also at 150 psi and still going strong.

I have the 1" socket set from harbor frieght and they hold up pretty good. I use them on my IR 1" gun that hits in the 1500 ft lb range and the only one I had an issue with was the 38mm(I think), and that was after two track jobs in a row using the same socket. 4 bolts per pad x 49 pads per track x 2 tracks x 2 machines = an amazed salesperson at harbor frieght and a new socket