Cal-Van tools quality? Just purchased some flare nut wrenches

[erty67]

https://goo.io/KKQVMl

I just picked up this set of Cal-van flare nut wrenches for $11. It seemed like a deal and I needed a metric set to go with my CM SAE set so I went for it. Can anyone give me any information on the quality of these things? Looks very comparable to my KD/CM/Kobalt USA wrenches. The satin finish fits right in. ☺

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[jd_1138]

Wow, $11 is a great deal. I've heard good stuff about that brand, though I've never owned/used any.

 

[3baygarage]

From here those look like K-D and all that good stuff.

 

[vssjim]

I have all different brands of Flare nut wrenches an they all do the job and even some older Proto 12 points

 

[Fedwrench]

Those are NOS, made back in the day by Danaher. As others have mentioned, same as Napa/KD/Allen and craftsman without the raised panel. No frills but, they work fine.

 

[turnthewrench 2.0]

Those are NOS, made back in the day by Danaher. As others have mentioned, same as Napa/KD/Allen and craftsman without the raised panel. No frills but, they work fine.

I own the NAPA branded set. They work.

 

[four.cycle]

I cannot speak specifically to the flare nut wrenches, but the Cal-Van items we carried (which were only a very few specialty items) were of top-notch quality. That, of course, would have been during the 1970s and 1980s. It looks like what you got there is some NOS stuff. They'll probably work just fine if the fittings aren't rusted shut.
For the price, it would be pretty hard to complain. A good quality 3-piece SAE flare nut wrench set at $20 bucks is a steal.

Speaking of which....

This 7-piece SAE set made by Granco needs a home:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-7-PC-G...-SET-IN-POUCH-1-4-13-16-GIT-4288/222851554862

Granco was a military/aerospace contract supplier, which is why you never heard of them before. They were absorbed by another corporation some time back.

 

[erty67]

Those are NOS, made back in the day by Danaher. As others have mentioned, same as Napa/KD/Allen and craftsman without the raised panel. No frills but, they work fine.

Perfect. My whole home set is a combo of various Danaher brands. Lol

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[The Fall]

I have a 3/8" X 7/16" Cal-Van flare nut wrench I use often at work. We work on almost nothing but pre-'76 cars. Even though we're in Texas, not known for rust, the cars from Corpus are pretty bad -- especially being 40+ years old. Although I have to tear out/build new lines often, I can say that the Cal-Van flare nut wrench I have is solid. So much so that I haven't replaced it, and I have SK and Snap-On line wrenches as well. It was two bucks from a pawn shop and looked like new old stock out of the package. I'd use the flare nut wrenches you picked up without hesitation.

 

[visionguru]

Look the same as Menards MasterCraft. $20 for a set of 3. The quality is similar to Craftsman as far as I can tell.

 

[erty67]

Perfect match to my KDs, similar to CM Industrial, and much nicer than the Duralast they'll replace.

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[mfewtrail]

I have the same set of Cal-Van flare nut wrenches I bought for spares and/or to go in my jy bag. I posted them in the ebay deals thread some time ago when I discovered them that cheap on ebay. They fit fasteners well, but I haven't used them much so far. The next time I visit a junkyard, I plan to crack loose a bunch of various line fittings with them and see how things go. My last round of that at the jy with a taiwanese set went pretty well except on a particular car where they destroyed every line fitting at the master cylinder. That car was 25 years old and the fittings appeared untouched before I tried to loosen them.

Here's the ebay link: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Cal-Van-Me...206797?hash=item360ac96d0d:g:zjMAAOSw-CpX-vQ6

 

[Showkey]

The crescent brand at Menards are $9.99 ....SAE or metric. wait for 11% sales you could “save” another $1.00 .......

It happens that two sets are needed when working on lines and junctions......... one to hold the fitting one to turn the other fitting.

https://www.menards.com/main/tools-...79-c-9157.htm?tid=-1674172779717909382&ipos=2