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broke a craftsman combo wrench. now what?

a52-830

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north of boston, massachusetts
the local store is closing, and has limited individual tools left. the employee i dealt with a few days ago said "the vultures" had taken over the store already.

will ACE Hardware take it back and exchange? will lowes?
 
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Tonyuk

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Jun 9, 2017
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You could just buy a new one from a different brand, depending on the size it will probably work out cheaper than going around the stores and trying to warranty it for a basic spanner.

Phone them and ask maybe
 
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turnthewrench 2.0

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FL
You could just buy a new one from a different brand, depending on the size it will probably work out cheaper going around the stores and trying to warranty it for a basic spanner.

That's the best time to upgrade... without remorse. Effing wrench broke! :lol_hitti
 

dnschmidt

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Phoenix, AZ
Spend $5 and buy another wrench of whatever brand suits you. You make this sound like some sort of tragedy.
 
OP
A

a52-830

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north of boston, massachusetts
I am curious how it broke.

the box end broke. i was not there, i found it left on one of the counters, where broken tools seem to manifest.

it is part of the set that the employees use. the new one matching isn't important. it is likely 30 years old. getting a free replacement would be nice, especially if my investment of time is controlled.

the reason i am asking here is that i dont want to waste time wandering around asking. but my travels do occasionally take me past both lowes and ace, and knowing ace should warranty it makes putting it in the truck, and stopping by is a reasonable thing.

thanx.
 

ssdave

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Eastern Oregon
throw it away.
buy another.
if it isnt snap on, it wont break the bank

Exactly. It broke. It's cheap. Order another one from Sears. Buy a different brand. Buy the exact match on ebay if it's precious to you in some way. Go on with life. Not worth spending time looking for a warranty on a CM wrench, from a dying distribution system.

I'm perfectly willing to take a grinder or torch to a wrench such as this to use once and throw away. It's not some rare valuable, or even a common valuable. Just an expendable item, that was once sold by Sears.

I have a lot of CM wrenches in my get rid of stuff. for $3 and postage, I'll send a replacement to you if I have it. You can probably beat that deal easily elsewhere, I'm told I OVERVALUE the CM I've tried to sell on the classifieds here, and I've offered them predominately for $1 to $1.50 each in lots, and they haven't sold.
 

JazzBlueRT

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Jun 11, 2017
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the box end broke. i was not there, i found it left on one of the counters, where broken tools seem to manifest.

it is part of the set that the employees use. the new one matching isn't important. it is likely 30 years old. getting a free replacement would be nice, especially if my investment of time is controlled.

the reason i am asking here is that i dont want to waste time wandering around asking. but my travels do occasionally take me past both lowes and ace, and knowing ace should warranty it makes putting it in the truck, and stopping by is a reasonable thing.

thanx.

After 30 years, you can rest assured it did not break from a manufacturers defect.
 

Ole Slewfoot

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Feb 22, 2016
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Freedom, CA
Dunno, I have a n RP rat somewhere I never used because they always broke, and it wold be from '93.

Drive by your local Sears, and throw it through the window.
 

JazzBlueRT

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Dunno, I have a n RP rat somewhere I never used because they always broke, and it wold be from '93.

Drive by your local Sears, and throw it through the window.

Wow, always, you mean every one! Amazing, you should call channel 7 news.
 
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rijndael

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i didnt realize that was a thing. is there a page somewhere that discusses it?

It's been around for years, but here's one thread on it. The OP makes it sound like it's fairly limited, but that wasn't my understanding.

https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=378307

There may be signs up in your local HD promoting the deal.
IMG_20180609_183307-570735.JPG
 
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Al Borland

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Jan 20, 2016
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1,600
Home Despot is no longer doing that, it died with the last of the US-made Husky tools.
On the other hand, individual Combination wrenches are cheap there, and are fairly durable.
 

Jason280

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Mar 4, 2012
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ACE will warranty it if they have it in stock.

Not every store will, one of the local ones will only swap out Craftsman tools if you bought it there (and have a receipt).

A52, post a pic of the broken wrench...I'm curious in seeing how it failed. Also, what size was the wrench?
 

6PTsocket

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Mar 12, 2014
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I wouldn't exactly call a Chinese Husky wrench a "trade-up" from a 30 year old USA Craftsman. [emoji38]_hitti
Anything is a trade up from a BROKEN Craftsman, even something off the $.99 table at TSC.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk
 

equitiesguy

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May 21, 2018
Messages
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Location
Florida
the local store is closing, and has limited individual tools left. the employee i dealt with a few days ago said "the vultures" had taken over the store already.

will ACE Hardware take it back and exchange? will lowes?

Craftsman was bought by Stanley a year ago. Just like with MAC, call them up on the phone and RMA it. No big deal.
 

Bob-B

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Jul 21, 2011
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Long Island, NY
The Ace Hardware store by me will NOT warrantee it if it wasn't purchased at Ace. I got that 1st hand from the store manager when I tried to warrantee a screwdriver.

I'd just toss it and replace it with another brand or buy another craftsman (or 2)at 1 of the local swap meets for pennies on the dollar.

You can't give the stuff away around here, especially SAE wrenches.
 

Tallpilot

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Jan 13, 2017
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Orlando
I think his original question was just to keep from wasting time driving around trying to warranty it. That's the thing with warranties; they always require a little effort on your part but some far more than others.

I am just curious what would break the box end of a wrench. I'm no fan of Craftsman RP wrenches but they aren't known for breaking.
 

kb1982

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Mar 8, 2017
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Kentucky
I think his original question was just to keep from wasting time driving around trying to warranty it. That's the thing with warranties; they always require a little effort on your part but some far more than others.

I am just curious what would break the box end of a wrench. I'm no fan of Craftsman RP wrenches but they aren't known for breaking.
Not the OP, but I've broken the box end out of one double wrenching. The ring didn't take well to the side loading. The only other one I have ever broke was using a cheater pipe on it. Both wrenches succumbed to rusted on leaf spring bolts. Great wrenches with the exception of the open ends. Never had much faith in that end of em.

Sent from my Z962BL using Tapatalk
 
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finn

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The UP, God's country
I’m still continually amazed by the number of people obsess and stress out over warranty over a five or even fifty dollar item, especially one that’s probably thirty years old.
 
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