To avoid these ads, REGISTER NOW!

Recommend Ratcheting Wrench?

P

PepperCrab

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 19, 2011
Messages
120
I'm looking to buy some quality metric ratcheting wrenches. I'm thinking Snap-On, they have what they call "flank drive" wrenches. Does this mean their ratcheting wrenches turn the flats instead of the corners?

What do you recommend? Thanks.
 
To avoid these ads, REGISTER NOW!
P

PT Doc

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 12, 2010
Messages
3,197
Gear wrench turn the flats and not the corners. They are nice and 10 piece sets can be had for 30 fairly regularly. These see non reversible and have no offset. I also have cm with the cross force handle that are reversible and these have offset but were 3x the cost.
 
G

Griff93

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 25, 2009
Messages
1,121
Location
Huntsville, AL
Don't overlook Armstrong for these. Unless they have changed recently they are still US made and I haven't been able to hurt mine at all. I managed to lock up gear wrenches sometimes. Also I haven't had a chrome fall off problem out of the Armstrongs like I have from the gear wrenches. I have a 17mm that I have never even used the open end that the chrome just pealed right off. I need to get it warrantied before it ends up in my hand.
 
S

Skin

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 24, 2010
Messages
11,713
Location
Boston
PepperCrab said:
I'm looking to buy some quality metric ratcheting wrenches. I'm thinking Snap-On, they have what they call "flank drive" wrenches. Does this mean their ratcheting wrenches turn the flats instead of the corners?

What do you recommend? Thanks.
Click to expand...

The problem is there is no unified name for the cut grooves to move contact inward so everyone has their fancy term for it and that confuses the customer. SO calls it "flank drive", other brands names for it are "Opti-Torque", "Surface Drive", "Torque Dispersing System", "Wright Drive", "MAC Drive", "SureGrip" etc. etc.. Fact of the matter is everyone uses this design today, import and domestics alike.

As far as a quality ratcheting wrench, Gearwrench are in shops through-out america and are fantastic for the money. I wouldnt even bother with more substantially more expensive imports [Blue Point]. If you want USA made wrenches then that would limit you to Craftsman [reversible versions only], Armstrong, and some Matco.
 
Last edited:
R

Ritter4.0

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 8, 2011
Messages
362
Location
Maryland
Kobalt has rebranded Craftsmans, locking flex head ones. I think its an 8 piece set for $100. Made in USA. These are not the crappy coarse tooth ones, but with heads just like the Gearwrenches

Duralast is another good one for reversible non flexing wrenches, but I think they are just rebranded Gearwrench. Made in Taiwan instead of China. A 7 piece set for $50. I have a set of these in SAE, and will be getting a set in Metric soon.

I just saw some Master Mechanic ones at True Value. They are probably also rebranded Gearwrench. I didn't see a price on these. They're made in China.

Actual Gearwrench ones are coming way down in price now that they have moved to China. I have also read the quality is going down too. I don't have any to know for sure though.
 
Last edited:
S

Skin

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 24, 2010
Messages
11,713
Location
Boston
Ritter4.0 said:
Kobalt has rebranded Craftsmans, locking flex head ones. I think its an 8 piece set for $100. Made in USA. These are not the crappy coarse tooth ones, but with heads just like the Gearwrenches
Click to expand...

They were $60 a set during the last Cman club deal with stacked sales and coupons. The Metric sets do skip a couple common sizes though.

Actual Gearwrench ones are coming way down in price now that they have moved to China. I have also read the quality is going down too. I don't have any to know for sure though.
Click to expand...

I think everyone who is a fan of GW would agree their products from Taiwan were great. We'd all mark the change to chinese production as not favorable but i've yet to actually see any evidence that its actually resulted in an inferior product. Its all been hearsay so far as i can tell. 'Its gone to china, it must be worse'. If i needed a set today though, for $30 or $40 for a full set of ratcheting wrenches i'd test that theory. If you didnt like them they can be easily resold for about their purchase value during one of the many sales on them so its hard to lose. As an added bonus its one of the few ratcheting wrench brands that you can take into a store and get replaced.
 
Last edited:
J

JMartel

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 4, 2009
Messages
1,403
Location
Seattle, WA
I only have one small 10mm Gearwrench that I bought to work in a very tight space under a Jeep Liberty. Bought it middle of January so it's current and I really like it. Made the job so much easier/faster. I'll be buying a full set of metric soon.
 
S

Skin

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 24, 2010
Messages
11,713
Location
Boston
wornoutoldman said:
matco are rebranded gearwrench
Click to expand...

they at least use to be rebranded Armstrong stamped USA. I know the double box versions have gone overseas, wasnt sure about the ratcheting combos. All the same if someone really wanted a USA made wrench looking for older Matco USA stamped wrenches on ebay would still be an option.
 
G

gluckmysock

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 26, 2011
Messages
114
Location
SW Pennsylvania
woo hoo - I just found a "fastenal" thats located in the same town i work and they are a distributor for "armstrong" woot woot go me!!
 
To avoid these ads, REGISTER NOW!
W

wheats71

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 14, 2010
Messages
127
Location
ontario can
personally i like the blue point flex head racheting wrenches the flex head make tons of jobs way faster [upper strut mount nuts on venture or uplander vans for example]
i recently bought a super long set of flex head slpine drive ratcheing wrenches made by E-Z RED from my snap on dealer, they work really well for serpentine belt tensioners, as well as installing the front bolt on the rh running board of 2011 2500 duramax trucks
 
R

rapyoke

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 22, 2011
Messages
50
Location
Northern Virginia
I have used Pittsburgh/Harbor Freight, Gearwrench, Duralast, and Armstrong. The armstrong is my favorite, but they all work fine.
 
M

mrbreezeet1

Banned
Joined
Dec 6, 2010
Messages
3,694
Location
Moundsville, WV, 15 miles South Of Wheeling WV
briggsguy17 said:
AND these: http://buy1.snapon.com/catalog/item...group_ID=17479&store=snapon-store&dir=catalog

or these: http://buy1.snapon.com/catalog/item...group_ID=19834&store=snapon-store&dir=catalog

available in metric as well. :)
Click to expand...

I use my buddies gear wrench all the time @ work, and they seem nice.
As far as the reversible, I don't really see the point, but I never used them either.
But to me turning the wrench over on the non-reversible type is not a big deal.
Thanks,
Tony
 
S

Skin

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 24, 2010
Messages
11,713
Location
Boston
mrbreezeet1 said:
I use my buddies gear wrench all the time @ work, and they seem nice.
As far as the reversible, I don't really see the point, but I never used them either.
But to me turning the wrench over on the non-reversible type is not a big deal.
Thanks,
Tony
Click to expand...

The fear is that if you're wrenching in a tight spot and careless you'll back a fastener out to the point where it wont have finished unthreading but it will have come out far enough that you have no room left so the wrench gets stuck. In this imaginary scenerio you just flip the reversible lever, on a basic wrench you'd be facing a bit of a problem.

Someone here did that and posted about it with pics, i think it was on a motorcycle, and the paranoia began. Personally i've not done it yet. If anything the advantage to the reversibles is the fact that most are offset and may have a capstop feature which also comes in handly.
 
Last edited:
L

Lt CHEG

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 20, 2011
Messages
511
Location
Upstate NY
Skin said:
no usa on the wrench.
Click to expand...

The website says that the country of origin is USA. Could they claim to be made in the USA on their website if they weren't really made in the USA, regardless of what they were stamped without violating some federal regulation?
 
S

Skin

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 24, 2010
Messages
11,713
Location
Boston
Lt CHEG said:
Could they claim to be made in the USA on their website if they weren't really made in the USA, regardless of what they were stamped without violating some federal regulation?
Click to expand...

Sure. Only becomes a problem on the packaging or item for sale. The site has been wrong before. The wrench body most likely is made in the states, the question is more the ratcheting mechanism + ring. All the same they're stupidly expensive and have no USA on the wrench so for me i avoid those items. Older Matco, Armstrong and Cman are stamped with their COO.
 
Last edited:
OP
P

PepperCrab

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 19, 2011
Messages
120
Skin said:
The fear is that if you're wrenching in a tight spot and careless you'll back a fastener out to the point where it wont have finished unthreading but it will have come out far enough that you have no room left so the wrench gets stuck. In this imaginary scenerio you just flip the reversible lever, on a basic wrench you'd be facing a bit of a problem.
Click to expand...

I've had the same thought, although personally I like the ones without the switches better..

Someone here did that and posted about it with pics, i think it was on a motorcycle, and the paranoia began.
Click to expand...

Can you remember the thread title? I tried searching for ratcheting wrench but didn't come up with anything. I'd really like to see that thread..
 
A

AZ_Catskinner

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 29, 2011
Messages
1,354
Location
Morenci, AZ
I just bought a set of Husky "Pro" 6 point reversibles for the house box and they seem to be really good quality. $55 for the set.
 
OP
P

PepperCrab

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 19, 2011
Messages
120
Skin thanks for the link, that was a great read. Catskinner, do you have a link to get these?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
To avoid these ads, REGISTER NOW!
Top Bottom