pauls_workshop said:
4C am I right in reading the above that you don't really like these much?
Let me be clear on this.
To reiterate what I said above:
ALL of those laminated-type ratcheting box-end wrenches have been stamped out by Kastar (now Lang) in Racine, Wisconsin, since John W. Lang developed the product in 1947.
see (patent no. 4748875):
http://www.datamp.org/patents/displayPatent.php?id=34276
see (GarageGazette discussion):
http://www.thegaragegazette.com/index.php?topic=19053.0
see (Alloy-Artifacts page):
http://alloy-artifacts.org/a_e_manufacturing.html
I'm talking about this type of wrench here:
While there are those (like Paul) who find them useful for certain tasks, in a modern-day engine compartment they are difficult to use due to clearance issues.
Moreover, my observations over 20 years buying them direct from Kastar and selling them at the retail level through nine stores, personally handling
all of the warranty claims that came back through our warehouse from those stores, and representing the line as an independent manufacturers' agent in the late 1980s, cause me to conclude that they are not all they are touted to be.
I have seen comments here on this site from other members that support my statement above about clearance issues. There are, admittedly, others who find them of use.
My memory of them processing all the warranties when I was buying them for our stores, and writing up warranty claims for accounts who were buying them when I represented the line, is that there seemed to be an inordinately disproportionate rate of "warranty" returns on them; most of them because the mechanism had stripped out. That could well have been because they were pushed past their limits.
Personally, I prefer a breaker (or ratchet) and a socket. I don't run into very many situations where a wrench of that design would be of much use. If I have a clearance issue, I have all kinds of wrenches to get into little holes and around corners.
If they work for you, that's great.
But don't be fooled by a brand name stamped on the item: Kastar/Lang has been making them for Snap-on, Mac, Matco, Craftsman, and any and all other tool "manufacturers" who have been selling them for all kinds of different prices.
If they're something you want,
buy the cheapest model you can find, because they all came off the same production line in Racine, Wisconsin.
In a phone conversation a couple months back with one of the muckity-mucks in the sales department of the aforementioned manufacturer, I was told "Snap-on is our biggest customer."
(Quoted verbatim.)
==
On the Indestro-manufactured type ratcheting box wrench, which was only available in a flat version, like this model:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-IND...091799?hash=item25bb797f57:g:3LgAAOSw5IJWeeTr
They were expensive, bulky, and had the same disproportionate rate of "warranty" returns as did the Kastar/Lang models. Moreover, they didn't sell worth a damn. Unfortunately the display boards had spaces for them, and franchise store owners and company-owned store managers wanted their tool boards full, so I had to keep buying the damn things, even though we only sold maybe a dozen a year through no fewer than nine retail outlets.
If they were such a great item, why weren't customers beating a path to our doors and lining up to buy them? These were stamped out by Indestro for a number of other tool "manufacturers", among them Craftsman.
In the fairly recent past, the newer-type ratcheting box-end wrenches have evolved, and based on comments I see here are held in much higher regard than the earlier laminated type.
As I have never used any of the newer type, I can't comment as to which is better than another, so you've not seen any posted in this thread by me.
Just my lousy opinion, of course.
YMMV
