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Backup wrench sets

J

JKennedy

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Sep 9, 2014
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Fort Worth, Texas
So since Christmas is just around the corner and all the Black Friday deals are going on, I wanted to see if anyone has backup wrench or socket, etc. sets from HF, lowes, Home Depot or sears.

Yes I know the COO of most of these tools is china/Taiwan but they are backup or home sets for my purpose.

Anybody?
 
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97tbird

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Mar 4, 2013
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Plainfield, IL
Ive got 3-4 full sets of craftsman rp wrenches... metric and sae... 1/4-6mm all the way to 1 5/16-32mm And ive got a lot of duplicate sockets as well.
Basically enough to do what I need at home and at work with out having to always bring something from either or
 
R

rednotch

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N

nicksnothereman

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JKennedy said:
So since Christmas is just around the corner and all the Black Friday deals are going on, I wanted to see if anyone has backup wrench or socket, etc. sets from HF, lowes, Home Depot or sears.

Yes I know the COO of most of these tools is china/Taiwan but they are backup or home sets for my purpose.

Anybody?
Click to expand...

My "backup" wrenches are all low end Indian rebrands. They're fine for me; I mainly use them for "house" stuff. Otherwise I'm not much of a wrench guy, I have craftsman primary sets (including ratcheting and some industrial stuff) though; craftsman ratcheting are pretty good in my opinion.

If you buy chinese ratcheting wrenches might not want to break bolts with the ratcheting side though; higher the torque more dicey it will be.

Best "cheap" set is going to be the harbor freight taiwan or any old stock craftsman us stuff. I don't think the kobalt wrenches are still taiwan, also a lot of them are that "extreme access" headache inducing stuff.:evil:
 
B

back2class

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Jan 7, 2009
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2,723
Oh hell. You would think here that anything less than a pro line will turn to liquid when it hits a fastener. Yeah, I have top shelf stuff too, but never really had a failure by a craftsman socket or wrench and even the Evolve, Harbor freight and other no-name stuff works well for all but the most extreme use. You will do fine with any of the tools sold at the places you mentioned. Some great bang for the buck out there. I have random cheap wrenches around. Worst I have in my toolbox is Craftsman, but the homeowner random wrenches I have lying around when I am too lazy to go to the box always work fine.
 
T

T45

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Nov 20, 2014
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My view is only get stuff you actually would want to use. I'd also be careful of buying cheap sets that are incomplete.

Personally if you can get good deals on used tools, that may be the way to go. I bought a couple 12/13 wenches off ebay for my emergency kit and they are great. The chrome was worn down, and one had a speck of rust on it. But the business ends were perfect and for a wrench that only gets used by the side of the road, is nicer to work with. A couple scratches is better than a tool that doesn't fit nicely (if at all) or is missing the size I need or whatever.

So yes, I definitely keep a set of tools "i wouldn't mind losing". The two components are (a) that its cheap; but also (b) easy enough to replace that you don't have to worry about searching either. Lastly it still has to be good enough to use / stand up to abuse and low maintenance etc.

I've had some luck with NOS hardware store for USA larger sizes. Also C'man USA professional in black oxide looks good and cripes NOS sets are super cheap (and offer open stock in large sizes).
 
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zmotorsports

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Oct 20, 2009
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Northern Utah
Don't have exact same sets for backups here. I have full set of Snap-On combination wrenches and then a ratcheting sets, stubby sets and box end/offset sets of all SAE and Metrics, those are my backups.

In my coach and vehicles I carry Blackhawk, Proto and NAPA branded wrenches, so technically those could be my "backups".

Mike.
 
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BDT/NWMN

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Erskine, Mn
T45 said:
cripes NOS sets are super cheap (and offer open stock in large sizes).
Click to expand...

Last year, I pieced together 5 sets of combination wrenches from Cripes.. a blend of USA Armstrong, Allen, KD, and Kobalt. The polished Armstrong metrics bumped a ProTo set out of my shop box... The ProTo set bumped a mixed set of Craftsman-SK from my field service box. the Etc Etc final result was five tool sets were improved and expanded,, and the junk drawers gained weight with what was flushed out in the process..

I did similar purchases of sockets and drive tools...

Point is,,, It may be more of a benefit to upgrade your main tool set, and bump those to secondary or backup use.. You get a double win out of the deal..
 
I

iroc409

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Aug 7, 2011
Messages
498
Home Depot has a set of regular and stubby metric/SAE for $20. I bought a set for my junkyard tool box. I have an older set of Companion wrenches in there, but there aren't very many and these look better. The Companion set I bought at Sears years ago for $30 to keep in my Jeep for travel never broke anything, and I've gotten my money out of it.
 
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bonneyman

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Apr 22, 2010
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Desert SW
rockinacummins said:
All my backups (and primary's for that matter) come from pawn shops lol
Click to expand...

:thumbup:
Have several partial sets (that overlap on each other) of Duro, Indestro, Dunlap, etc. in SAE.

Currently have a Middle Period Thorsen combo set going in metric. I lack 3 sizes to fill it out.
 
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