Ernst wrench rails: one piece or two?

[misterdobalina]

Simple question, I guess. Can anyone vouch for the usefulness of one over the other? I can see why the two-piece unit would be more customizable but are there any drawbacks in terms of stability?

And do the magnetic ones work okay with a drawer liner? Have seen conflicting answers.

 

[OxJaw]

I have both, the two piece and the one piece gripper ones. I don't have any experience with the magnetic ones though.

For me it depended on what I was going to put in them. I bought the two piece ones for my large run of wrenches (one has 20 in it and the other has 17). I went with those because I wanted them all together in one rack.

I bought the smaller one piece ones for my small sets of wrenches, like my stubby and line wrenches and what not. I bought them for the exact number I had in each set.

I tried combining the sets into the larger two piece set but it didn't work well because of the way the two piece are made, they are made smaller to larger to accommodate for large wrenches.

One other thing I found is that the larger wrenches (over 3/4 or so) didn't fit very well in the one piece racks.

 

[Loudpipes66]

I have both. Two piece does NOT move at all when loaded with wrenches in my craftsman ball bearing drawer. by the single I am assuming u mean the gripper? They work great as well, are portable and keep the wrenches in place even in my truck box. As far as magnetic ones I don't have them but using them with a drawer liner I don't think would work all that well. The regular ones are very stable.

As for your question on usefulness of one versus the other. If you want portability the one piece"gripper" is the way to go. Only drawback is the amount of wrenches they hold. If you plan on leaving it in the box, the two piece works great.

Hope that helps.

 

[NC-Shaun]

I have a question pertaining to this as well.

What is the best Ernst wrench holders for my Flare Nut Line Wrenches? and the best holder for my Offset Box End Wrenches. I am leaning towards trying to stay with the one piece style if possible.

 

[OxJaw]

I have a question pertaining to this as well.

What is the best Ernst wrench holders for my Flare Nut Line Wrenches? and the best holder for my Offset Box End Wrenches. I am leaning towards trying to stay with the one piece style if possible.

I used the gripper ones for my Flare wrenches and offset wrenches. The Flare wrenches fit well but the offset wrenches don't fit as well.

The problem with the two piece ones is that they are set up for a run of wrenches (I have from 1/4 to 1 1/4) the farther you go the bigger the slots get and the farther apart as well.

This pic shows what I mean pretty well. The ones on the right are the gripper ones that I cut the handles off of.

The gripper ones are better if you small sets to store.

 

[misterdobalina]

Thanks, fellas.

 

[SteveCh]

They both work well. I have ended up using all two-piece rails, both Ernst and Snap On. I find they work best for me because I can adjust them to fit whichever set of wrenches, and I often have two or three wrenches of one size and the rails will adjust to hold any combination like that. Of course, one cannot grab the entire set of wrenches and carry them off to a job, but I normally use mine at home, near the toolbox anyway and it's no issue. The rails are also easy to cut to length if you don't want to use the entire length or you want to fit a pair into a smaller spot in the drawer.

 

[bimmerZ5]

i won't repeat what others have posted, but will say that magnetic ones work well, but not over liners. They need to be in full contact with the metal. I much prefer the magnetic ones since they are movable and more stable. What I do is cut my liners around them so the rails are still in full contact with liners in-between. however, in most cases, you're not going to have tools laying at the bottom under the wrenches, so you might as well just remove the liners all together.

 

[A/FD705]

I have had good experiences with Mac Tools #dwo2b. Every position is the same size unlike the Ernst rails. They come with doble sided tape on them already. You could remove the tape and glue some sheet magnet to them though.

 

[NC-Shaun]

I used the gripper ones for my Flare wrenches and offset wrenches. The Flare wrenches fit well but the offset wrenches don't fit as well.

The problem with the two piece ones is that they are set up for a run of wrenches (I have from 1/4 to 1 1/4) the farther you go the bigger the slots get and the farther apart as well.

This pic shows what I mean pretty well. The ones on the right are the gripper ones that I cut the handles off of.

The gripper ones are better if you small sets to store.

I dont see the problem you mentioned with the offset box wrenches you have there. I will take a pic of my wrench drawers and post em up.