Hush 74 1985
Active member
What’s not to love about German Chrome Alloy Steel .[emoji106]
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Best non tool truck sockets.
- Thread starter Krille
- Start date
What’s not to love about German Chrome Alloy Steel .[emoji106]
Sent from my iPhone using The Garage Journal mobile app
Yes I'm a sucker for German tools too. Mind you I have Stahlwille deep & shallow metric/sae 1/4'' sockets and they are very light weight and the finish is not polished chrome. I have Belzer 3/8 shallow vanadium extra in 6pts and I reckon they are the nicest sockets I'll ever own. Mr.B mentioned the half satin half chrome style sockets which I have a Kincrome set 1/2" 8-32mm 1/4"-1/1/2" 12pt and they are great. Tough clever design with knurling, I have used the **** out of them & they still function as the day I bought them. I just think your mad paying tool truck prices for German/Japan made sockets with what is on the market today. As for Snap On prices forget it here, unless its a certain specific tool their retail price is close to insanity and IMO there are just as good/better socket choices. I want a dual80 1/2" flex head though but I ain't handing over $300 for one. I have over 500 sockets, over 30 ratchets and not one single Snap On tool which kinda suits me fine.
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Hush 74 1985
Active member
Having brought some sockets from the store Handtools from Germany. It makes sense for me to buy overseas and have the item shipped to Australia.
Stahlwille 14mm 1/2 was $12 AUD
Rebranded Facom 14mm 1/2 $11.50 AUD
Snap on 14mm 1/2 $25 plus AUD
I am not paying $12 for Taiwan made socket when I get a Stahlwille socket for cheaper and have it shipped to my front door. The only way can I buy Snap On is through EBay. Even then the prices are still pretty steep.
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dnschmidt
Well-known member
TOPTUL without a doubt. But, I'm out of that business now so I've got no horse in this race. Their satin chrome finish and broaching are fantastic. Their tolerances are tighter than most others as well. Eric O. only complaint about TOPTUL'S sockets is that for the rust buckets he works on sometimes the bolts and nuts swell and they will not fit because the tolerances are so tight. To me this is s First World type of problem.
nelstomlinson
Well-known member
Snap On adds value to justify their price by delivering tools to the shop you work in, and offering credit. If you don't work in a shop and aren't looking for credit, the added value doesn't exist for you. Same story for all the truck brands. They are generally excellent tools, and the price isn't crazy if their business model adds value for you.
SK, Proto, USA-made Williams, Wright are all excellent, and available in the US. Here, you won't go wrong with any. I have no idea what's available in Norway.
Hush 74 1985
Active member
Bacho Sockets (Made in Taiwan) and they comply with DIN and ISO standards
Hazet, Gedore and Stahlwille would be easier to warranty if something were to break.
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Hazet, Gedore and Stahlwille would be easier to warranty if something were to break.
Sent from my iPhone using The Garage Journal mobile app
X1 Mike
Well-known member
Never heard of Toolsdelivered, thanks for the hot tip!!!!
Comparison of the same set below.
http://www.toolsdelivered.com/Willi...Drive-Tools-3-8-Inch-Drive-Metric-Socket-Sets
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001DNXO6U/?tag=atomicindus08-20
Professional Tool User
Well-known member
If you are from Europe, I would go for the German stuff. Some of the prices for German tools like the Stahlwille wrenches I saw on Amazon.de are actually pretty reasonable. Snap on is overpriced and their stuff isn't neccesarily the best. If you don't have the service that comes with owning Snap on tools like being able to warranty drill bits on the truck, it's not worth it.
rossomania
Well-known member
Never heard of Toolsdelivered, thanks for the hot tip!!!!
Comparison of the same set below.
http://www.toolsdelivered.com/Willi...Drive-Tools-3-8-Inch-Drive-Metric-Socket-Sets
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001DNXO6U/?tag=atomicindus08-20
I can also highly recommend buying Williams tools from toolsdelivered. Good prices and the tools I've purchased have shipped directly from Snap-On Industrial Tools. Customer service issues like warranty claims and lost items are handled directly by Snap-On Industrial Tools and my one claim was processed quickly and professionally and, best of all, hassle free. Just make sure you keep your purchase and shipping invoices for future reference.
tonync
Well-known member
Never heard of Toolsdelivered, thanks for the hot tip!!!!
Comparison of the same set below.
http://www.toolsdelivered.com/Willi...Drive-Tools-3-8-Inch-Drive-Metric-Socket-Sets
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001DNXO6U/?tag=atomicindus08-20
Thanks from me too. just ordered some impacts sockets
kctyphoon
Banned
For price vs quality - gearwrench should be on that list.
xin
Well-known member
I just went out to my shop and snapped some pictures of my main grievance with cheap Chinese sockets. I dug the Harbor Freight socket set out of my scrap barrel just to snap these pics. They aren't broken or defective, just crappy enough that I threw them away.
I was working under a truck sometime back using an 18 inch extension and Harbor Freight deep socket to try and start a nut onto a stud. The stud was way up in there and not reachable with anything less than a socket and extension.
I couldn't start the nut onto the stud because of the stupid Chinese socket. Notice how deep the nut slides down into the socket compared to the properly made socket next to it ?
The nut falls nearly 3/4 of an inch into the socket.
So I had to switch to a shallow socket to start the nut, then switch back to the deep socket to tighten it down.
Harbor freight on left, Williams USA on the right. Notice both of these sockets are 3/8" drive 9/16" deep sockets. The Williams is less bulky in all dimensions and it's smartly broached so the fastener is held where it belongs without sliding up into the socket body.
Same
Now, I'm not talking about tool truck stuff here. The entire set of Williams made in USA sockets is 30 dollars. If anyone chooses the 12 dollar Harbor Freight socket set to save money and endure the aggravation because of it, just to save the measly 18 additional dollars, they're quite a tightwad.
Made in USA. SnapOn Industrial Williams socket set. 30 bucks.
http://www.toolsdelivered.com/Willi...e-Tools-3-8-Inch-Drive-Impact-SAE-Socket-Sets
This is just an example, they are available in chrome and impact, deep and shallow, 1/4 3/8 and 1/2 drive. Just make sure to choose the Made in USA option as several earlier posters here pointed out.
The entire reason for the broaching is so when you are in a tight place you can put the nut in the socket and start it on there. The sockets without broaching are worthless to me, I see no need in having a deep well socket with NO broaching.
That one of the reasons I bought first SK then Snapon the broaching. Espicially working on motorcycles - Yamaha/Kawi/Suzuki ect... Williams the Made in USA ones would be an excellent choice, mine are Snapon but bought them some years back and still going strong 23 years later..
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Especially when they were 50% off last month.
Wamsutta
Well-known member
Only if they're on sale at Advance Auto/Carquest. GearWrench puts their scooped out detents in the wrong location. It can be aggravating at times.
It’s hard to argue with the Williams USA suggestions. Myself, I have Craftsman USA sockets that I purchased a few years before the China switch. There are still many new old stock USA sets available on eBay and can be had cheap.
Never had to warranty a Craftsman socket. They’ve served me well.
Never had to warranty a Craftsman socket. They’ve served me well.
Qualitytools
Well-known member
Sorry I don't recall the name as it has been a couple of years
kythri
Well-known member
They are a drop-shipping dealer for Snap-on Industrial Brands, but they are not Snap-on themselves.
I forget their username, but the gentleman that runs that website is a member here.
Wamsutta
Well-known member
Does that mean there's no inventory and no warehouse?
driftpin
Well-known member
It's great fun to read all the posts, I just read the entire thing. Some people are really-attached to their favorites.
I am not a mechanic. I do have a collection of mostly Craftsman, purchased in the 1970's and '80's. My first set of quality sockets and ratchet were from Wright, it was the famous 'tootsie-roll' soft grip ratchet. I asked my parents for them for my 16th birthday to work on the VW cabriolet beetle they bought new and was then 5 years old. They gave me that and a set of matching open-end wrenches.
The Wright 3/8" socket set has been my everyday set for working on metric things for >50 years. I broke one socket during that time, and I had to disassemble the ratchet wrench and clean it awhile ago because it was not switching from F to R easily, that fixed it.
I have a mongrel mix of tools from all the USA manufacturers, probably. Proto, SK, Williams, Thorsen, Herbrand, whatever-else and yes, Snap-On, though I've never bought a complete SO set of sockets.
Not allowing a nut to descend into a deep socket, what's the value of the deep socket? I use them when the bolt is long-enough to keep the nut from being run-tight, as I'm sure all do. If the nut cannot travel down the deep socket, of what use is it in this circumstance? If I am missing some nugget of knowledge, please tell me.
Sometimes to hold a nut in a a deep socket, I grab a bit of kraft paper from a bag and use that to hold the nut in-place, the scrap of paper on one side of the socket and nut in it. Outside, I'll just grab a blade of grass to do the same thing. Shade-tree engineering at its best!
I am not a mechanic. I do have a collection of mostly Craftsman, purchased in the 1970's and '80's. My first set of quality sockets and ratchet were from Wright, it was the famous 'tootsie-roll' soft grip ratchet. I asked my parents for them for my 16th birthday to work on the VW cabriolet beetle they bought new and was then 5 years old. They gave me that and a set of matching open-end wrenches.
The Wright 3/8" socket set has been my everyday set for working on metric things for >50 years. I broke one socket during that time, and I had to disassemble the ratchet wrench and clean it awhile ago because it was not switching from F to R easily, that fixed it.
I have a mongrel mix of tools from all the USA manufacturers, probably. Proto, SK, Williams, Thorsen, Herbrand, whatever-else and yes, Snap-On, though I've never bought a complete SO set of sockets.
Not allowing a nut to descend into a deep socket, what's the value of the deep socket? I use them when the bolt is long-enough to keep the nut from being run-tight, as I'm sure all do. If the nut cannot travel down the deep socket, of what use is it in this circumstance? If I am missing some nugget of knowledge, please tell me.
Sometimes to hold a nut in a a deep socket, I grab a bit of kraft paper from a bag and use that to hold the nut in-place, the scrap of paper on one side of the socket and nut in it. Outside, I'll just grab a blade of grass to do the same thing. Shade-tree engineering at its best!
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rossomania
Well-known member
It would certainly explain how toolsdelivered keeps their dealer costs way down and product availability up.
Maintaining inventory and a warehouse would just increase costs. Ground shipping to Texas is free and takes about a week.
In reality deep and shallow broached deep sockets have specific scenario benefits, deep broached most versitile and what out on my trolley and used most, shallow handy though and time and hassle saver when truly needed .
Deep broach is useful in close quarters, say you have a stud with a nut on it and not much clearance above it.
With a shallow broach as the nut backs off your socket and ratchet will run into the obstruction as you spin it off. With the deep broach it stays in the same spot, only the nut moves.
With a shallow broach as the nut backs off your socket and ratchet will run into the obstruction as you spin it off. With the deep broach it stays in the same spot, only the nut moves.
WWheeler
Well-known member
This is exactly right. I've run into instances where a shallow broached deep socket wouldn't work but a deep broached would, for instance taking the top nut off a shock absorber where there is very little room between the top of the stud and the fender well. A shallow broach will only jam the ratchet into the fender with the nut still a long way to go, and because the damn stud is always rusty/corroded you have to fight it off with a ratchet the whole way. Unless you're removing a shock you just put on you won't be able to just break it free then spin it off by hand.
Depending on how gnarly the threads are you might get by with a ratcheting wrench, or you might tear one up trying, or just have to go at it with a non-ratcheting wrench which with a lot of threads can be exhausting / time consuming. Deep broached deep well makes it easy.
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^ +2
in my 30yrs of wrenching on cars in light farm machinery deep broached sockets been a major help and not something I would want be without, could be without shallow broached and mid length but not my deep broached deeps .
in my 30yrs of wrenching on cars in light farm machinery deep broached sockets been a major help and not something I would want be without, could be without shallow broached and mid length but not my deep broached deeps .
Wamsutta
Well-known member
I only hear the shallow broach complaints when talking about SK; are there any other brands with that problem?
davethorik
Well-known member
I have two 7/8 deep well sockets at work for milling setups. Both 1/2 drive, a Mac 6 point shallow broach and a Wright 12 point deep broach. The Mac is my go-to, I hate starting a nut with the Wright, but it has come in handy more than I've thought. I like the reduced diameter near the drive end on the Mac, makes it easier to pull the socket off ratchet, where the Wright is a single diameter cylinder.
xin
Well-known member
SAME here, the only use for one would be using it for a hammering device and/or bearing installer.