Couple more questions.
1. Regular or long pattern? Or do you need both? Leaning towards the long patterns but not sure.
For SAE I have both, and I reach for the long patters first every time. Almost always, if the long pattern doesn't fit, then neither will the standard length, and you have to go to a stubby.
Long Patterns are just THE ****!!!. More leverage is almost always a good thing. If I lost all my tools tomorrow, I would want Long Pattern and Reversable Ratcheting for Metric and SAE. Throw in some cheap stubbies, and I'm good to go.
2. Anyone only use ratcheting wrenches for everything? Or do you still use non ratcheting for breaking nuts loose and other things?
For my metrics, I have old US VV series Craftsman, and Reversable Ratcheting Proto ASD/Spline combination wrenches. I reach for the Proto Ratcheting first, pretty much all the time, and the standard Craftsman wrenches only get used when I need two wrenches. If I had long pattern non-ratcheting perhaps that would be different. But I'm VERY happy with the Ratcheting.
3. What are some common things you use your wrenches on?
Most of my wrenching is motorcycles, but there are some jobs I do on my cars. I also have a small machine shop in my garage, so I use my SAE stuff on that.
4. Anyone use gearwrench non ratcheting wrenches? I really like my gearwrench sockets but never tried their wrenches.
In metric, I have a partial set of Gearwrench reversable ratcheting wrenches, and a full set of the Proto JSCV Black Chrome Reversable Ratcheting Spline wrenches. The Gearwrench wrenches are VERY good wrenches. Open ends fit fasteners well, and I have never caught them in the act of spreading. The ratcheting end works well, fits well, and I probably would have been quite happy with them had I never tried the Proto's.
The Proto's are 100% better than the Gearwrench's...and I think the GW's are very good. The ASD is freaking awesome. I recently freed an 18mm bolt with a 19mm wrench (fastener was very rusted, caked in ****...I thought it was a 19mm - 'cause I'm an idiot). That ASD just dug in and broke that thing loose after much pulling for all I was worth, and beating it with a dead blow...And I have found that the very unique spline design that Proto has is a very clever design indeed. Not only do you get the increased versatility of the spline box end for various different fasteners (and honestly, I really don't encounter those different designs anyhow). But the splines are "faceted" with like 6 sides to each spline, and a very sharp edge where the angle changes. Those "facets" dig in like tiny ASD's on the splines, so you end up with 6 edges each digging into a different side of a fastener, and they are powerful grippers for removing heavily rusted into place fasteners.
I'm not good at describing it...It's a unique spline design. On this socket you can see that the splines have 6 sides to each spline, rather than just being a continuous curve, half moon. If you ever get a chance to see this design in person, you really want to look at it, because I personally think it's brilliant, and if I were Proto, I'd be talking the hell out of this, because it does work some miracles.
I found a gearwrench deal of long pattern 44 piece set of metric and saw along with a free 20 piece set of metric and saw stubby wrenches for 240 I think. The long set goes up to 32mm. Seems like a really complete set for a decent price.
That's basically the set I recommended in my first post, the long pattern Gearwrench. I think this is one of the best sets of imported wrenches out there. Quality is VERY good, overall design is good/comfortable. Chrome quality is first rate, broaching is very good...Good warranty, good company, and a very fair price.
In fact, I may get rid of my old US CM's and buy a set of these as my backup wrenches to my Proto ratcheting wrenches.
