Best sockets not on tool truck?

[rodm1]

What brand is the best with a no hassle warranty? I'm in need for a Metric set but I here bad things about SK short broaching on there sockets and bad finish. Cman seems to have bad service and bad steel. What about Allen or Kobalt?

 

[Uncle Buck]

What brand is the best with a no hassle warranty? I'm in need for a Metric set but I here bad things about SK short broaching on there sockets. Cman seems to have bad service and bad steel. What about Allen or Kobalt?

One vote for stick with Craftsman from me. Aside from that Armstrong, Williams, Proto or Wright in no particular order, all are very solid brands in my opinion, but all will also cost considerably more than Sears, but less than the truck. SK has never really been a consideration for me since they have no strong presence in this area and are rather inconvenient. SK is good enough quality they are not one of my top choices.

 

[Fedwrench]

You simply can't beat the ease of warranty service and price (especially on sale) of Craftsman.
The current Allen and Kobalt are same socket as Craftsman.
The problems with Sk broaching and finish are overstated.
The 2% of bad customer service issues with Sears are also over blown.

 

[garfunkle24]

for sockets I'd stick with craftsman

 

[cruiser808]

For ease and price, go Craftsman.

 

[sjotis]

I'd vote for Craftsman

 

[jay50]

Just get the C'mans at the store when on sale

 

[Brandon_Lutz]

Another vote for Craftsman. Can't beat the price and they are pretty good sockets.

 

[Merkava_4]

Williams or Proto

 

[Moose-LandTran]

Williams or Proto

So, Snap-on and Stanley in drag?

 

[CatfishXpress]

My vote goes to craftsman

 

[justinmc]

SK or Cman...

 

[speed bump]

Craftsman, Proto, Williams, Wright, S-K, Napa, or Armstrong/Allen depending on which dealers you have in your area.

 

[eschoendorff]

Craftsman. /thread.

 

[rsanter]

it will depend on where you live
where I am I have no access to some of these other brands

I would say Cman or Kobalt
I always get good service as lowes

bob

 

[eschoendorff]

Oh, I forgot Allen branded sockets, which are basically Kobalt/Craftsman/Matco sockets anyway...

 

[Merkava_4]

So, Snap-on and Stanley in drag?

I've got some Proto sockets that are like MAC in drag.

 

[Moose-LandTran]

What's the world coming to? The other day i saw a dude dressed as a chick walking down the road, and now tools are doing the same?

 

[c130herc]

Out of all the non truck brands what brand of sockets tends to have the thinnest walls? Ive only used snap on and craftsmen sockets.

 

[PowderKeg]

Well I'm personally biased against Crapsman sockets from my experiences with 80's vintage ones - maybe (hopefully) the quality has improved since then, but I'll never know - most have been replaced by Snappys, and a few Macs and Wrights. If I had to look at buying new sets now - and couldn't afford/justify the ultra high cost of Snappys off the truck - I'd look closer at either Wright or Williams. I have no idea of their ease-of-warranty though - would e-mail the respective companies to find out how difficult they may be to deal with, or if they'll do it via mail if no dealers are convenient. Proto would've been another consideration, but it's hard to get a feel for how bad Stanley has buggered up the brand lately. That and wrenchr's latest experience with the ratchet kit has me less-than-enthused about Proto - customer service should be first and foremost, and not require alot of hassle and frustration to get what is reasonable.

I'd rather spend more on quality sockets that I won't likely need to warranty, than cheaper but easier-to-warranty ones that result in frequent trips to the store...

 

[speed bump]

I don't think Stanley really has buggered up Proto as much as wrenchr thread makes it out to be. I know my boss just warrentied one of his Proto crescents no problems and a turn around time of less than a week. Also I haven't found very many sockets I have ever had to warrenty unless it was beat with an impact gun for awhile.

I'm curious how many people actually break sockets that often becuase I have only managed to break one and that was on a 13mm 1/4" craftsman deep socket hooked up to a 3/8" impact gun. My dad has only broken two in 40 years. How many do others break?

 

[Moose-LandTran]

I've broken a few. maybe 6 or 7.

I have a 27mm chrome (cheap **** one) that cracked when i tried to take the wheel off a Dually Iveco TurboDaily. It went PING and i almost fell over. I thought the the nut had come loose, the socket had cracked and shot across the street. I have it somewhere.

 

[SocketDeviler]

Thus far I have had no problems at all with the Craftsman warranty and I have only had to return tools for chipped/peeling chrome. I am however still waiting for Williams to replace my defective bit holder. It's going on three weeks now and that's after a few email exchanges in order to get the very cheap item replaced. Oh, and I had to send them the bad holder.

 

[Charles (in GA)]

Also I haven't found very many sockets I have ever had to warrenty unless it was beat with an impact gun for awhile.

I'm curious how many people actually break sockets that often becuase I have only managed to break one and that was on a 13mm 1/4" craftsman deep socket hooked up to a 3/8" impact gun. My dad has only broken two in 40 years. How many do others break?

I was thinking the same thing. I think I've only destroyed one or possibly two sockets in 30+ years and that is quite a bit of wrenching on cars, airplanes, and tractors. I've warrantied one combination wrench, a Craftsman, WWII production, that the box end shattered at a fairly low torque. Beyond that, I was knowingly abusing the tools and never tried to warranty them.

Charles

 

[Moose-LandTran]

I help friends with work on big diesels, commercial, industrial and agricultural stuff.

Most of the time when we break something it's sheer force. using 3' Snap-on breaker bars and ratchets, using IR 1" drive impact guns etc.. We don't abuse tools, but we work them hard. I don't use cheater pipes, sometimes stuff just breaks when you put too much force though it. I've never broken a ratchet as far as i remember. it've cracked breaker bars, twisted extensions and cracked sockets though.

It's not like i'm a big guy either. I'm 5'10" and 142lb.

 

[bigjon]

What brand is the best with a no hassle warranty?

No brainer. Craftsman if you live in the States.
I have read some horror stories on this forum re. warranty, but when I return rusted, broken & abused tools they always replace with no hassle.

Here in Aus it would be Kincrome due to there presence. Warranties over here aren't the same as the States. Ratchet guts for example are not warrantied as they are 'wearable' items. You have to buy the kit.

I buy alot of SK cause all I have to do is email them (in the US) and they send me a replacement or part. They sometimes charge me postage.

 

[nissan_crawler]

You simply can't beat the ease of warranty service and price (especially on sale) of Craftsman.
The current Allen and Kobalt are same socket as Craftsman.
The problems with Sk broaching and finish are overstated.
The 2% of bad customer service issues with Sears are also over blown.

I'll argue the SK statement. That damn necked down socket makes a deepwell no better than any standard length socket, especially with a thin nut. I couldn't do 80% of the engine work on planes with those retarded sk sockets, my craftsman work fine.

I say stick with craftsman. I've NEVER broken a Craftsman socket, then again, I use them properly. If it takes a 9/16" socket, and it's tighter than hell, don't be a ***** and start yanking on your 1/4" ratchet, go up to 3/8".

 

[AutoTech]

I don't think Stanley really has buggered up Proto as much as wrenchr thread makes it out to be. I know my boss just warrentied one of his Proto crescents no problems and a turn around time of less than a week. Also I haven't found very many sockets I have ever had to warrenty unless it was beat with an impact gun for awhile.

I'm curious how many people actually break sockets that often becuase I have only managed to break one and that was on a 13mm 1/4" craftsman deep socket hooked up to a 3/8" impact gun. My dad has only broken two in 40 years. How many do others break?

Hi Speed Bump
I wrench on cars for a living and most of my chrome sockets are Craftsman and I've never had a issue with them. I've only had to replace one in the last few years. You can't beat Craftsman sockets for quality and price IMHO

 

[Crasen]

I have only broken a few Craftsman sockets or ratchets. they were all used improperly, ie cheater bars. Impacts ect

 

[caper]

Well when it comes to breaking sockets i've broken just about every brand that i've come across at one time or another,mastercraft,craftsman,gray,proto,mac and snapon included.Mostly due to working outside as a heavy equipment mechanic in the winter.The cheap ones don't last anytime in the cold but the expensive ones break tone brand that seems to hold up better than most is ultrapro bought thru the napa parts stores around here.Their sockets seem to take a good amount of abuse and are priced very reasonably.

 

[Moose-LandTran]

If i know i'll be putting a lot of torque through a socket, i use an impact wherever possible. Even those break by hand sometimes!

 

[rodm1]

Thanks everyone, I think I will stick with Cman for my Metric set to. Anyone have the part numbers to cover most sizes (Deep 6pt 1/4 and 3/8 drive)?

 

[eschoendorff]

Thanks everyone, I think I will stick with Cman for my Metric set to. Anyone have the part numbers to cover most sizes (Deep 6pt 1/4 and 3/8 drive)?

probably the easiest thing to do would be to stop into Sears and pick up one of the Craftsman catalogs (they're usually at the check out or by the screwdrivers for some reason). That way you can cross-shop sets and see pictures without having to wait for webpages to load....

 

[speed bump]

Well I'm personally biased against Crapsman sockets from my experiences with 80's vintage ones - maybe (hopefully) the quality has improved since then, but I'll never know - most have been replaced by Snappys, and a few Macs and Wrights. If I had to look at buying new sets now - and couldn't afford/justify the ultra high cost of Snappys off the truck - I'd look closer at either Wright or Williams. I have no idea of their ease-of-warranty though - would e-mail the respective companies to find out how difficult they may be to deal with, or if they'll do it via mail if no dealers are convenient. Proto would've been another consideration, but it's hard to get a feel for how bad Stanley has buggered up the brand lately. That and wrenchr's latest experience with the ratchet kit has me less-than-enthused about Proto - customer service should be first and foremost, and not require alot of hassle and frustration to get what is reasonable.

I'd rather spend more on quality sockets that I won't likely need to warranty, than cheaper but easier-to-warranty ones that result in frequent trips to the store...

I was cleaning up the garage last night and I know why you kept breaking the old ones. They used to make them with incredibly thin walls. They aren't like that anymore, however whenever I can find the old thin walled ones I buy them becuase they tend to come in handy in tight spots.

 

[Uncle Buck]

I was cleaning up the garage last night and I know why you kept breaking the old ones. They used to make them with incredibly thin walls. They aren't like that anymore, however whenever I can find the old thin walled ones I buy them becuase they tend to come in handy in tight spots.

No offense, but I think you have it a bit wrong, the Craftsman sockets of the 1950'5 & 60's were all thinner walled sockets, and most were very durable. Generally higher quality tools made of better material can be thinner, or have thinner walls in the case of sockets. Notice cheap tools are always bigger, thicker and clunkier in general because they need the additional bulk to try and make up for the lower quality materials they are made of.

 

[PowderKeg]

Well, I don't know what the real difference was, I just know I snapped several over a period of time with nothing more than a breaker bar or a long flex ratchet, mostly 1/2" drive 12 pts - no cheater pipes, no using a 1/4" drive when a 1/2" drive was needed, no chrome sockets on an impact wrench, etc. And I'm no "I'll be baaaack" Ahnold either.... Also warrantied a bunch with peeling/chipped chrome - some that hadn't done much more than rattle around in a tool tray. My father had 60's vintage Craftsmans that had seen far more use and were holding up just fine. These ones I bought new in the 80's may have been a bad batch, I don't know, but they were genuinely "Crapsmans" IMHO. Don't remember them looking that much different than my father's, except that the chrome was very bright compared to the much duller nickel-like chrome of his, if that makes sense.

 

[Uncle Buck]

Well, I don't know what the real difference was, I just know I snapped several over a period of time with nothing more than a breaker bar or a long flex ratchet, mostly 1/2" drive 12 pts - no cheater pipes, no using a 1/4" drive when a 1/2" drive was needed, no chrome sockets on an impact wrench, etc. And I'm no "I'll be baaaack" Ahnold either.... Also warrantied a bunch with peeling/chipped chrome - some that hadn't done much more than rattle around in a tool tray. My father had 60's vintage Craftsmans that had seen far more use and were holding up just fine. These ones I bought new in the 80's may have been a bad batch, I don't know, but they were genuinely "Crapsmans" IMHO. Don't remember them looking that much different than my father's, except that the chrome was very bright compared to the much duller nickel-like chrome of his, if that makes sense.

Yes the color comparison makes perfect sense. My pops Cman 1/2" sockets were from the late 40's to some time in the 50's. I got my first 1/2" Cman set around 1978 and while they shined much more the quite noticeable difference was in the wall thickness of the sockets with his being considerably thinner walled than my new ones, and that was in 78!

 

[kartracer55]

YOu really cant beat craftsman for the money. They are a bit limited in sizes but more than adequate for most jobs and worst case scenario you buy an individual proto or SK or something.

 

[Elroy]

I was knowingly abusing the tools and never tried to warranty them.

Charles

Same here. If Elroy was abusing a tool and it failed there will be no effort at a warranty claim. HOWEVER. Elroy fully appreciates a tool that does NOT fail during the abuse process.

Sorry for being off subject.

 

[fourfeathers]

I wonder how the Gearwrench sockets, or the Duralast stuff is? Seem pretty similar, now that I think about it. Anybody have both?