Caryle tools at NAPA

[concealer404]

looks fine to me, as long as its high quality steel, and tolerances are good it will be strong.

1/4 drive ratchets arent the beefiest ratchets on the block. i have never had a problem with any 1/4 drive ratchet, but thats probably because i would have used a 3/8 drive in the situation mentioned above. really anything that takes any considerable torque i will ise a wrench or 3/8s. i leave 1/4 for interior stuff, and when dealing with plastics and things like that.

that said, i would hope they atleast tested these product a little before passing them off as pro competitive tools..... im sure they handle torque as well as any mid level ratchet, equal to GW or craftsman premium at least i would think

They did test. They were built/tested to a 30% higher standard than the truck brands. (That's not to say that they're stronger necessarily, just that the minimum is 30% higher.)

I'd definitely be asking about a free rebuild kit.

And then in the future don't use a 1/4" drive small ratchet as a breaker bar.

 

[DEMAYO]

I'm being petty and I don't know why this bothers me but would it kill them to stamp napa or carlyle on the head of the ratchet? It just looks weird to me.

 

[stratman977]

I'm going to use the ratchet some more to see if it completely gives up or if it was a fluke. I have never broken a 1/4 inch drive ratchet yet using it to break loose small bolts. Broke a 3/8 inch roto ratchet and a chinese stanley though.

A 1/4 inch drive ratchet should be able to break a 1/4-28 bolt with a 7/16 inch socket on it.

There's no way, no how that this ratchet is 30% stronger than the snap on or cornwell I have in the pictures. I would guess the number they are basing the 30% on is some kind of industry standard and they made their standards 30% higher. Snap on might be using 200% higher than the industry standard. Those numbers don't mean anything. The cornwell and the snap on are not fine tooth though.

 

[concealer404]

I'm going to use the ratchet some more to see if it completely gives up or if it was a fluke. I have never broken a 1/4 inch drive ratchet yet using it to break loose small bolts. Broke a 3/8 inch roto ratchet and a chinese stanley though.

A 1/4 inch drive ratchet should be able to break a 1/4-28 bolt with a 7/16 inch socket on it.

There's no way, no how that this ratchet is 30% stronger than the snap on or cornwell I have in the pictures. I would guess the number they are basing the 30% on is some kind of industry standard and they made their standards 30% higher. Snap on might be using 200% higher than the industry standard. Those numbers don't mean anything. The cornwell and the snap on are not fine tooth though.

Right. That's what i said.

 

[concealer404]

I don't think I saw this info in their documents. Where did you hear this? From the ratchet posted in this thread, it doesn't seem like they're stronger than the "truck brands."

It doesn't seem like the ratchet in this thread withstood all that much torque.

I didn't say they were stronger.

I'm saying that for their standard, they took the standard that was already out there that the truck brands were using, and started 30% higher than that.

I'm sure the truck brands do the same thing.

I'm just saying that it's not like they didn't test these things.

 

[Hiball]

I don't think I saw this info in their documents. Where did you hear this? From the ratchet posted in this thread, it doesn't seem like they're stronger than the "truck brands."

It doesn't seem like the ratchet in this thread withstood all that much torque.

That's some BS someone dreamed up in there marketing department, there is no "truck tool" standard in hopes the less educated would buy there tools. There obviously are standards that some tool companies claim they meet (ANSI) but they don't test one brand against another, it's simple a individual pass/fail rating.

On a side Note... I don't put alot of faith in ANSI compliance.

 

[concealer404]

That's some BS someone dreamed up in there marketing department, there is no "truck tool" standard in hopes the less educated would buy there tools. There obviously are standards that some tool companies claim they meet (ANSI) but they don't test one brand against another, it's simple a individual pass/fail rating.

On a side Note... I don't put alot of faith in ANSI compliance.

Nobody said it was a "truck tool" standard...

It might have been ANSI, i'm double checking. All that was simply stated was that the standard that Carlyle used for their pass/fail was 130% of ANSI/ASME.

 

[Hiball]

They did test. They were built/tested to a 30% higher standard than the truck brands. (That's not to say that they're stronger necessarily, just that the minimum is 30% higher.)

I'd definitely be asking about a free rebuild kit.

And then in the future don't use a 1/4" drive small ratchet as a breaker bar.

Nobody said it was a "truck tool" standard...

It might have been ANSI, i'm double checking. All that was simply stated was that the standard that Carlyle used for their pass/fail was 130% of whatever standard it was.

I'm sorry but you did, everyone always claims to exceed ANSI standard but like I said they are not individual standards, just a base line. As stated before... "Marketing ploy"

 

[concealer404]

I'm sorry but you did, everyone always claims to exceed ANSI standard but like I said they are not individual standards, just a base line. As stated before... "Marketing ploy"

It was worded badly. My apologies that you took it that way. I said it that way because the terms "ANSI" and "ASME" were slipping my mind at the moment.

 

[concealer404]

But where did you get this information?

Internal source.

I'm trying to get my hands on some of the internal promotional/training material, but no promises. I did get the paper catalog weeks early, but i'm not sure how much further i can push my luck.


The closest right now is that the main site went live the other day.

http://www.carlyletools.com/index

It says on there that their tools "exceed" standards, but so does pretty much everyone else. The 30% minimum they're saying internally they tested to is probably not a big deal, as that's not that high of an "overshoot," but i'll still try to find the documentation.

 

[concealer404]

That would probably be it.

 

[boostedgt]

carlyle tools are trusted friends.

 

[stratman977]

I think the industry standard they are referring to is ANSI/ASME B107.4.

I found an old copy of ASME B107.3 at work which is for the sockets themselves and not the ratchet but the 1/4 inch drive sockets are tested to 500 in-lb. So if its the same for the ratchet x 130% would be about 54 ft-lb. I guess I could test it with my torque wrench and see if it makes it that high. Although I don't want to start destroying my tools to see whos ratchet is stronger.

 

[kissmeimgerman]

Just my .02, everything looks pretty nice in that catalog except the screwdrivers..

 

[concealer404]

Just my .02, everything looks pretty nice in that catalog except the screwdrivers..

My order for the screwdrivers is being placed on Monday. I agree that they seem to be the weak point of the catalog, but i'm going to give them a shot in the interest of science. (And because i'm a little OCD and hate having my hodgepodge of cheap **** and Craftsmans)

 

[steelespeed]

Just my .02, everything looks pretty nice in that catalog except the screwdrivers..

I agree. They even look as nice, if not nicer than, some of the items I have seen from Kobalt and Williams. There are two NAPAs within a few miles of where I am located so I'll have to check them out. The only problem is that they both insist on keeping all tools behind the counter. It kinda makes fondling them somewhat difficult.

I have been putting off a few purchases for quite awhile due to my frustration with Craftsman. Yes, I have plenty of their products but it takes a lot of inspecting to make sure you're not getting something shoddy. I was at the local Sears last night and was kind of shocked to see that the tool department had shrunk drastically and that there were very few US made tools. Apart from a few leftovers, most hardline stuff was now the Chinese/Taiwan mix. Funny thing is, the Taiwan stuff looked great. I would just stick with that IF they were all Taiwanese and not Chinese.

Too bad TopTul isn't readily available here.

 

[KEH]

The screwdrivers look pretty good in person, bearing in mind the ones I saw were still in the plastic packaging. Soft handles, which looked comfortable, and the tips looked ok.

KEH

 

[BJ42LX]

Where the fcuk did they get the name Carlye from?

How is it pronounced?

 

[boostedgt]

Where the fcuk did they get the name Carlye from?

How is it pronounced?

carlyle. its a pretty dumb name for a line of tools

 

[north]

One of the founders of NAPA I think.

Edit: As sselander pointed out, one of the founders of NAPA's parent company.

 

[sselander]

see my post 11 here:
http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=156506
--------------------
nteresting use of the name Carlyle.
Carlyle Fraser was one of the brothers who founded Genuine Parts Company in 1928. Malcolm Fraser was the other brother.

Genuine Parts Company is the parent company of NAPA.

 

[plinker]

I dont really know why they re-named them (except for marketing them as new) as I think "Napa Pro" is fine. I do have a fair bit of their stuff.

I find it interesting they are getting away from Danaher/apex (?).

 

[NC-Fordguy]

I picked up a 1/2 drive quick release ratchet today.

I'll put it through some paces this weekend and see what happens

 

[John316]

Where the fcuk did they get the name Carlye from?

How is it pronounced?

They should have asked me. I could have suggested "Napalast" or "SNapa-on" "TaiwaNapa Pro"

 

[BJ42LX]

Where the fcuk did they get the name Carlye from?

carlyle. its a pretty dumb name for a line of tools

Gaak. KEH misspelled the name in his title. How dumb am I for believing him?

 

[Fedwrench]

carlyle. its a pretty dumb name for a line of tools

Yeap, Matco, Mac, Snap on, Cornwell, SK, Craftsman, Proto, Knipex, Armstrong, Williams, are all much better names.

 

[steelespeed]

yep, the name is f'in terrible. It's a bit of a stretch to link to the original founder. I would assume there are very few people who know or care who the founder of NAPA was. But I guess the Snap-on fanatics have photos of the Snap-on founders taped up in their toolboxes, so maybe I am wrong.

NAPA Pro or NAPA Elite would have been just fine.

 

[OEXL16B]

They named the tools after Belinda Carlisle but decided to spell the name as "Carlyle"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belinda_Carlisle

 

[KEH]

Apologies for misspelling the name. I'm going to claim typographical error and failure to check spelling.

KEH

 

[FOCUS.FREAK]

I have recently acquired the 1/2 and 3/8 flex head ratchets for work.

Sent from my SPH-L720 using Tapatalk

 

[AMC31B]

My Carlyle tool collection has slowly grown over a few months. So far I really like everything, especially the QR pearhead ratchets and sockets. The P90 ratchets are nice but the high tooth count also makes them more susceptible to tooth/pawl damage when you really crank on them. For the guys that are doubting the screwdrivers, I like them very much. They fit my hand and grip the fasteners better than my standard and PRO craftsman screwdrivers. I like the fact that they have hard end caps, through holes and hex bolsters for torque. The soft grip does hold onto dirt and especially wood chips but it brushes off easily. Overall, they are great drivers

I did have to warranty 1 half inch drive 3/4 socket that the drive end was not broached deep enough for some reason. Napa replaced it on the spot, no paperwork and no fuss. I would say Carlyle is on par with gearwrench durability and features but with the super easy warranty exchanges of craftsman tools. The non-sale price is kinda high but the when on sale, Carlyle becomes a very competitive value. I really hope Napa keeps this tool line up, I think they have a winner here.