Broke my first Snap-on Wrench today

[Snapped-off]

Next time try a Cornwell CWP1818L.

I've never seen a Cornwell truck before. My dad does have a pair of Channellock rebrands from them, largest pair the make, don't remember the size though.

 

[CWP1616L]

You didn't do anything wrong with that wrench; there wasn't enough headroom for the box end. The steel was just a little bit too hard in that one spot.

 

[d_rock]

You should have used a left handed wrench.

 

[heyutokyo]

geeez that 2nd picture hurts. It looks as if the wrench lost a limb

 

[Snapped-off]

geeez that 2nd picture hurts. It looks as if the wrench lost a limb

The local anesthesiologist fixed it up with a large dose of warranty.

 

[Todd.Brock]

While I have sympathy for your now in the scrap heap to China wrench...(only kidding) Did you scrape the hell out of your hand? I could only imagine that had to hurt...

 

[edwardh1]

metric wrenches are better

 

[Snapped-off]

While I have sympathy for your now in the scrap heap to China wrench...(only kidding) Did you scrape the hell out of your hand? I could only imagine that had to hurt...

No injuries, the broken jaw piece just flew through the air under my toolbox.

 

[Rezeppa]

That is weird I mean I don't think I have ever seen a human brake any USA made 9/16 wrench by hand. Craftsman Snapon or any name brand for that fact.

 

[Snapped-off]

That is weird I mean I don't think I have ever seen a human brake any USA made 9/16 wrench by hand. Craftsman Snapon or any name brand for that fact.

I don't know if I've seen a Snap-on wrench braked before either. I'm sure it's possible to break them though.

 

[creativecars]

You can't post that. The Snap-on police will get you. Just like Fight Club... Never talk about it. You may even have to go into a tool protection program.

 

[Toolman12]

I think i would be just asking for a warranty wrench and consider myself very lucky i didn't break a knuckle but only a wrench

 

[jamesc]

I watched a coworker break a snap on 8 mm 6 point wrench, rusted front drive shaft bolts on a f250. I didn't think you could get enough leverage on a relatitively short wrench but I guess he did, he went flying when the wrench let go and ended up lying on the floor.

 

[Skin]

I wouldnt put all my weight on an 8mm wrench because i'd be more worried the little bolt would snap.

 

[Steinmetz]

Broke one of the jaws off the open end on a Long pattern Snap-on combo wrench. I don't normally tighten things down with the open end, but clearance issues wouldn't allow for the box end to be used.

I was tightening down a 3/8-16 flange nut with it and the jaw snapped off and flew under my toolbox. I used a Gearwrench to get the last 3/4 of a turn out of the nut.

Snap-on guy will have one for me next Thursday but I'm a little disappointed, as I just bought this set of wrenches 2 week ago.

See if the dealer has any interest in sending it back to the manufacturer for metallurgical analysis. If he simply discards it, you'll know that this manufacturer has no interest in finding out what their problem is.

 

[Ksullivan]

Your lucky you didnt get hit with that gnarly piece of wrench!

 

[mncountrydoc]

Wow I am glad it wasn't me that broke it I would have no knuckles left with my luck

 

[coal_man]

... but I figured what the hell. I just broke a $42 wrench.

I don't think I have the skill set to use a $42 9/16" wrench.

coal_man

 

[Kev442]

I watched a coworker break a snap on 8 mm 6 point wrench, rusted front drive shaft bolts on a f250. I didn't think you could get enough leverage on a relatitively short wrench but I guess he did, he went flying when the wrench let go and ended up lying on the floor.

I was pushing a 7/16" Williams to the uncomfortable point today on a driveshaft. 6" cheater added to it. I finally got my lazy azz out from under the truck and got the Kroil. 2 minutes and it was loosened without the cheater. Kroil saves tools, that's for sure.

 

[GSteg]

See if the dealer has any interest in sending it back to the manufacturer for metallurgical analysis. If he simply discards it, you'll know that this manufacturer has no interest in finding out what their problem is.

I wouldn't necessarily say that. Wrenches get broken all the time and unless there is a common occurrence for a particular wrench/size to break, it's not worth their time and money to analyze a single wrench.


This is simply a case of a defective wrench.

 

[2oolhound]

Relax, it's not that bad. My friend just broke his combo in the same place 2 weeks ago (not S-O) and lo+behold I just broke this one shortly afterward.

There's something going around right now. It's like some kind of wrench virus or something.

 

[helterskelter]

Being reasonably familiar with forgings and heat treatments. I would bet some sort of forging flaw that caused a stress riser. I doubt they x-ray/fpi each wrench. A fluke manufacturing flaw if you will.

 

[Snapped-off]

As stated before it happens. I just started not too long ago working "professionally" with tools, and this was the first tool I've broken.

 

[Ironhorse]

Broke one of the jaws off the open end on a Long pattern Snap-on combo wrench. I don't normally tighten things down with the open end, but clearance issues wouldn't allow for the box end to be used.

I was tightening down a 3/8-16 flange nut with it and the jaw snapped off and flew under my toolbox. I used a Gearwrench to get the last 3/4 of a turn out of the nut.

Snap-on guy will have one for me next Thursday but I'm a little disappointed, as I just bought this set of wrenches 2 week ago.

I hate to say this but it looks like a bad cast on snappy's behalf. The problem now adays is where the metal is comming from. That could be a piece of steel that has been recycled 5 times...snappy will take care of it..but I have blown thru 6 sockets this year that were brand new, normal use and they cracked. I have not had any wrench problems...taps, torx,hexs and the 6 sockets, ohh two old ratchets..but they are my 1/4 size with 3/8's inserts that I beat the hell out of. It is a little nerve racking buying new sets off the truck this year ( got most of the tools I need now ) and wondering if buying a set a few years ago might have been better..I hate this ****, I know I will have my tools for the next 20-30 years..and I do not want them breaking...I just blame it on all the tree huggers that started it all...lol

 

[Wakefield]

I hope the USA metallurgical coal business survives-I understand that coal is essential to being able to make steel and I think the regulators are very hard on those businesses.
I wonder if it is hard for the tool companies to get good steel?

 

[Steinmetz]

I wouldn't necessarily say that. Wrenches get broken all the time and unless there is a common occurrence for a particular wrench/size to break, it's not worth their time and money to analyze a single wrench.


This is simply a case of a defective wrench.

How do you know that it is limited to a single wrench ?

 

[Exceller8]

Sometimes it's a heat treat issue. I've seen $1000 knives break because of a flawed heat treat. I'm willing to bet it won't happen again.

 

[GSteg]

How do you know that it is limited to a single wrench ?

Let me rephase that. Theyre not going to spend a couple hundreds of dollars to analyze his broken wrench. Unless there is a huge batch of wrenches that broke in the same area from the same heat treat, theyre just going to replace it and call it a day.

 

[fivespdcat]

Let me rephase that. Theyre not going to spend a couple hundreds of dollars to analyze his broken wrench. Unless there is a huge batch of wrenches that broke in the same area from the same heat treat, theyre just going to replace it and call it a day.

This is generally not true in industries or companies that care about quality. As engineers it is important that we take field failures or even items at the end of their useful life and analyze them to determine if any design or manufacturing flaws exist. This is at the heart of engineering, continuous improvement. We crave field samples to do this analysis and always appreciate real/honest feedback to improve the product. As for this snap on wrench. I have no idea if it going to be analyzed, but I think it would be a shame to just toss it.

 

[RCStocker]

Yup, this is why good tools have warranty. You have a true brand new defective wrench. Had you been using it hard for years and broke it then I'd say abuse but broke right out of the gate.....time for warranty.

With your thinking of good tools having a warranty then you have put Craftsman, Stanley, Husky, Kobalt in the good catagory by your statment.

All tool companies have bad casstings. There might have been bad metal that ended up right there. It could have been in the heat treating.

I love to see Snap-on tools break. EVeryone is right that lesser brands would have been jumped on.

Years ago I had to take a strength in materials testing class at the University of Michigan. I took in sockets and wrenches along with breaker bars and ran them through strength test.
Snap-on did not come out on top. All the brands came in very close. The sockets broke about the same. I did not test ratchets. They are to expensive to test and we all know they ware out. I would post the results but they are in my file on the farm and I am in California for the winter.

Sorry it broke but you just proved it happens. I have never spread or broken a wrench. It makes you wonder about their quality control issues. I would like to know how many wrenches break or spread compaired to other brands.

You made my day.

 

[RCStocker]

I hate to say this but it looks like a bad cast on snappy's behalf. The problem now adays is where the metal is comming from. That could be a piece of steel that has been recycled 5 times...snappy will take care of it..but I have blown thru 6 sockets this year that were brand new, normal use and they cracked. I have not had any wrench problems...taps, torx,hexs and the 6 sockets, ohh two old ratchets..but they are my 1/4 size with 3/8's inserts that I beat the hell out of. It is a little nerve racking buying new sets off the truck this year ( got most of the tools I need now ) and wondering if buying a set a few years ago might have been better..I hate this ****, I know I will have my tools for the next 20-30 years..and I do not want them breaking...I just blame it on all the tree huggers that started it all...lol

One would think the tools would last a life time. My cheap old Craftsman tools have served me well. I have had some of them for 50 years now. I have all my Snap-on tools in my machine shop. I use all the other brands to do my repiars. I don't want to turn in any old tool for a new one at Sears.

 

[GSteg]

This is generally not true in industries or companies that care about quality. As engineers it is important that we take field failures or even items at the end of their useful life and analyze them to determine if any design or manufacturing flaws exist. This is at the heart of engineering, continuous improvement. We crave field samples to do this analysis and always appreciate real/honest feedback to improve the product. As for this snap on wrench. I have no idea if it going to be analyzed, but I think it would be a shame to just toss it.

depends on what youre working with. Go to a car dealership and look at all the broken things they have to fix. Not everything will be looked at twice. Broken camshaft? Theyll probably investigate. Broken cupholder? Theyre not going to fly someone over from corporate for that, unless its a widespread issue.

 

[fivespdcat]

depends on what youre working with. Go to a car dealership and look at all the broken things they have to fix. Not everything will be looked at twice. Broken camshaft? Theyll probably investigate. Broken cupholder? Theyre not going to fly someone over from corporate for that, unless its a widespread issue.

A lot of dealers participate in a warranty return program. They send them to a central warehouse and the parts end up on engineers' desks. Depending on the part engineers can request more or less of them for analysis. So not all parts are analyzed, but quite a few are to track different failures.

We don't generally fly out to individual dealers to inspect parts, but we have in serious situations.

 

[2oolhound]

Just for the record my superslim wrench above broke when using a 10" cheater on it too try to break a 35 year old corroded master brake cylinder free. When I finally did get it apart using heat and I don't remember what else I discovered it was so badly corroded inside it was a useless piece of junk anyway. I certainly don't fault the wrench in my case.

 

[GSteg]

A lot of dealers participate in a warranty return program. They send them to a central warehouse and the parts end up on engineers' desks. Depending on the part engineers can request more or less of them for analysis. So not all parts are analyzed, but quite a few are to track different failures.

We don't generally fly out to individual dealers to inspect parts, but we have in serious situations.

My point exactly. His broken wrench may just end up being discarded, but I wouldn't necessarily say Snap On doesn't care about quality. Now if we continue to see this happen to the same kind of wrench, then Snap On will probably look deeper into the situation.

 

[Steinmetz]

This is generally not true in industries or companies that care about quality. As engineers it is important that we take field failures or even items at the end of their useful life and analyze them to determine if any design or manufacturing flaws exist. This is at the heart of engineering, continuous improvement. We crave field samples to do this analysis and always appreciate real/honest feedback to improve the product. As for this snap on wrench. I have no idea if it going to be analyzed, but I think it would be a shame to just toss it.

Agree.

 

[fivespdcat]

My point exactly. His broken wrench may just end up being discarded, but I wouldn't necessarily say Snap On doesn't care about quality. Now if we continue to see this happen to the same kind of wrench, then Snap On will probably look deeper into the situation.

G,

I think we are pretty much agreeing on all points. All I'm trying to say is that Snap-On may have a warranty return program in place. If they do, it is likely that this wrench will find it's way back to an engineer's desk regardless if there is a serious issue or not. Most companies take consistent samples of ongoing production to check for quality issues. It may be 5%, 10% or more, but they are in place. If a quality spill happens that number may jump to 100%. It just depends on if the program is in place and how it is set-up. Most companies require their warranty returns be shipped to the warehouse regardless of the number of warranty returns investigated. This doesn't always happen, but it does more than people realize. I would hope that Snap-On has this program, but I don't know their policy.

 

[lauver]

Broke one of the jaws off the open end on a Long pattern Snap-on combo wrench. I don't normally tighten things down with the open end, but clearance issues wouldn't allow for the box end to be used.

I was tightening down a 3/8-16 flange nut with it and the jaw snapped off and flew under my toolbox. I used a Gearwrench to get the last 3/4 of a turn out of the nut.

Snap-on guy will have one for me next Thursday but I'm a little disappointed, as I just bought this set of wrenches 2 week ago.

That's rich... used a made in Taiwan made GearWrench to finish the job. What does that tell you about the two brands? I know what it tells me. Of course, this is one isolated incident. Perhaps a defective SO wrench, but who knows?

For what it's worth, I use GearWrenches as my daily drivers. Never had a problem. I personally like em.

 

[oldtools]

......I used a Gearwrench to get the last 3/4 of a turn out of the nut....

If the nut can still turn 3/4 of a turn, that mean the SO wrench broke when there is not alot of torque on it. Also seem like the chrome doesn't bonded very well as a large piece peeled off.

 

[Wakefield]

If someone had dropped that wrench onto concrete or something before it was sold or used could that have caused an internal crack that was waiting to let go?
Is extreme high strength steel used to make the very thin box ends more likely to crack when struck on concrete?