craftsman impact swivels

[devoncoolman]

Just was surfing through the online store and found cman's new impact swivel sockets look identical to my Matco (Danaher) Impact swivels. I belive I payed a lot more just for my metrics. This set come with metric and standard for $314.99. I would be hard pressed to say these are not rebranded Matco sockets. mine have the same exact warning lable stamped into them and all. Give me your opinion im sure somebody else owns the matco versions too.

http://www.craftsman.com/craftsman-...prdNo=11&blockNo=11&blockType=G11#reviewsWrap

 

[diesel research]

this has been out/known for years, and is one of the bright spots of the craftsman lineup, when compared all out performance vs other higher end brands. most of their stuff depends on arguing price/warranty/convenience in order to compete.

 

[devoncoolman]

yeah I didn't know its been that way. I don't buy many craftsman tools. mostly the rebranded ones are just about the only ones I buy anymore. I would buy these they look nice. I have great relationships with all my tool guys I don't see why I couldn't just wire wheel the craftsman logo off these if they break and just get matco to warrenty it. they look identical. Its the same thing I do with my otc stuff I get the cornwell guy to warrenty it all for me and he doesn't get any grief from the company.

 

[smothers33]

they are rebrands. craftsman matco and armstrong all are the same. those 3 share alot of the same products sometimes there is some "upgrades" such as matco 88 tooth ratchets vs the armstrong 60 tooth. but there are alot of things that are exactly the same for alot cheaper. only reason i spend any money with matco is for warranty and financing purposes.

 

[diesel research]

I don't see why I couldn't just wire wheel the craftsman logo off these if they break and just get matco to warrenty it.

dont buck the system. if you need it replaced on the spot, pay the premium for this value added service.

or some other jackass is going to do this so he can flip matco sets for a profit, and ruin one of the only things sears has going.

cornwell sells otc branded stuff, so thats no issue.

http://www.cornwelltools.com/webcat/search.php?search_query=otc+puller&x=0&y=0

 

[devoncoolman]

yeah well matco has plenty of my money so its no love lost. in my opinion. I already have these sockets in the matco version anyway so it doesn't really matter. Matco and mac both sell otc rebranded stuff too. pretty much everybody rebrands stuff except snapon for the most part. They do rebrand stuff the all there new air drills Sioux. but they own that company so no biggie.

 

[devoncoolman]

my cornwell dealer said they are currently switching some or most of there pullers to a new supplyer. the new part numbers will not have an OWC in the part # which stands for otc. the new part #'s with have HRC in the part#

 

[smothers33]

yeah well matco has plenty of my money so its no love lost. in my opinion. I already have these sockets in the matco version anyway so it doesn't really matter. Matco and mac both sell otc rebranded stuff too. pretty much everybody rebrands stuff except snapon for the most part. They do rebrand stuff the all there new air drills Sioux. but they own that company so no biggie.

snapon rebrands lots of stuff as well. alot of their specialty tools and such are rebrands but all their hardline stuff(ratchets, sockets, wrenches, screwdrivers, etc....) they make. matco on the other hand rebrands everything except their boxes. the problem i have with matco is the markup they put on the rebrands.
http://www.tooltopia.com/kd-tools-41690.aspx
http://www.matcotools.com/catalog/product/MST6295/FRONT-END-SERVICE-SET/
almost 3 times the money for the same exact set. Danaher owns both matco as well as KD so its obvious they took the KD tools and put matco on them and sell them for 3 times the price. if its something that you use all the time and that you can see yourself warrantying or if you need a tool now and dont have the money now then matco definetely has its place but i just hate knowing that im paying that much more

 

[sberry]

who would have thunk it?

 

[diesel research]

Danaher owns both matco as well as KD so its obvious they took the KD tools and put matco on them and sell them for 3 times the price.

its not quite that simple. Bain capital owns apex tools, which makes several popular lines (armstrong, kd, gearwrench, allen, crescent, jacobs, nicholson, wiss etc)

danaher owns matco and purchases from bain-apex.

they are separate entities

 

[Hiball]

who would have thunk it?

93.4578% of Tool buyers who understand that the price dictated by tool trucks includes a lot of factors outside of the actual "true tool cost". Now if we could just get that other 6.5422% on board with this concept.

 

[devoncoolman]

yeah I know where the extra cost comes from. but some of that is just raw mark up. belive me 90 % of my tools are from the big 3. the other 10% is other manufacturers. my thing is atleast snapon makes all there own pullers and most of the specialty tools are their's but there is plenty of rebrands in there line too. but the others being matco, mac, and cornwell rebrand almost everything except there hard line i.e. sockets ratchets and wrenches. I have that same front end service set just the otc version and I think I payed $110 for it which is about over $100 less than they charge for it. its just frustrating when I get my end of the year statement for taxes every year and I think. that could be a brand new pick-up truck and then some on top of that.

 

[Hiball]

yeah I know where the extra cost comes from. but some of that is just raw mark up. belive me 90 % of my tools are from the big 3. the other 10% is other manufacturers. my thing is atleast snapon makes all there own pullers and most of the specialty tools are their's but there is plenty of rebrands in there line too. but the others being matco, mac, and cornwell rebrand almost everything except there hard line i.e. sockets ratchets and wrenches. I have that same front end service set just the otc version and I think I payed $110 for it which is about over $100 less than they charge for it. its just frustrating when I get my end of the year statement for taxes every year and I think. that could be a brand new pick-up truck and then some on top of that.

It definitely pays to shop around.. This is No bash on Matco, but just about everything they offer can be found through other Avenues (in similar form) from Bain/apex/danaher or whomever they sold out to this week. I don't own any pinless impacts, but have heard nothing but good things.. And with that said.... They all rebrand in one form or another, not picking Soley on Matco.. Only using them for reference in regards to the pinless impacts.

 

[Fedwrench]

One must remember that the only thing MATCO actually manufactures is their tool boxes. All Matco hand/power/specialty tools are made by someone else. Now in the case of the pinless impact swivel sockets, those are actually made in Armstrong factories. Of course, Matco offers a much wider range of sizes, srive sizes, and lengths compared to Craftsman or even Armstrong.

 

[devoncoolman]

The pinless impacts are nice work good. But ive blown the clip out of them multiple times then they fall apart and u loss all the springs and small parts that only problem ive ever had no problems with repairs matco always just gave me a new one. Not pull a snapon and try to rebuild it. Lol

 

[Fedwrench]

That's odd, I've never broken a pinless impact socket from Matco but, I can't seem to make a 15mm snap on impact swivel socket last.

 

[Gotmayhem]

One must remember that the only thing MATCO actually manufactures is their tool boxes. All Matco hand/power/specialty tools are made by someone else. Now in the case of the pinless impact swivel sockets, those are actually made in Armstrong factories. Of course, Matco offers a much wider range of sizes, srive sizes, and lengths compared to Craftsman or even Armstrong.

If that topic is being brought up, do you or someone else know if you can buy their zero-offset double box end wrenches under a different name? I know the ratcheting ones are Gearwrenches but I can't find the non-ratcheting ones anywhere else. Or at least I haven't been able to on the Armstrong site.

 

[devoncoolman]

That's odd, I've never broken a pinless impact socket from Matco but, I can't seem to make a 15mm snap on impact swivel socket last.

Idk man i can honestly say ive had about 4-5 of them explode on me. That clip pops out then when u pull the impact away from the bolt/nut it falls apart. Yeah i have a couple sets of the snappys i love them but if destroyed them multiple times just wearing the pins and slots out.

I dont know who makes the matco double box wrench's I'm assuming u meen the ratchet/non ratchet wrenches. I know they are Taiwan i believe. So they made be made exclusively for matco.

 

[Skin]

If that topic is being brought up, do you or someone else know if you can buy their zero-offset double box end wrenches under a different name? I know the ratcheting ones are Gearwrenches but I can't find the non-ratcheting ones anywhere else. Or at least I haven't been able to on the Armstrong site.

The Matco High Perf. extra long double box wrenches (non-ratcheting) are from Taiwan and as a result wouldn't be found in the Armstrong (primarily all USA) line-up.


As far as the pinless impact swivels go, in my opinion, their greatest benefit isn't so much the design (I think they claim some torque advantage) but they're uniform in height across the size range while the competition has to scale up the drive end as the fastener size increases. Means many of the Matco sockets will be shorter, sometimes substantially so, compared to Snap-On, Cornwell, MAC etc.. Shorter swivel sockets = more locations they can be used in.

 

[Gotmayhem]

I dont know who makes the matco double box wrench's I'm assuming u meen the ratchet/non ratchet wrenches. I know they are Taiwan i believe. So they made be made exclusively for matco.

Yea I've heard they're Taiwan as well. I'm talking these specifically

http://www.matcotools.com/catalog/p...INT-EXTRA-LONG-ZERO-DEGREE-OFFSET-WRENCH-SET/

Matco sells ones that are ratcheting on one end too which are the Gearwrench re-labels. But I haven't found another source for these particular ones. They're really nice, a coworker of mine has them, but I'm not inclined to pay $260 for six small size Taiwan wrenches.

 

[Skin]

Yea I've heard they're Taiwan as well. I'm talking these specifically

http://www.matcotools.com/catalog/p...INT-EXTRA-LONG-ZERO-DEGREE-OFFSET-WRENCH-SET/

Matco sells ones that are ratcheting on one end too which are the Gearwrench re-labels. But I haven't found another source for these particular ones. They're really nice, a coworker of mine has them, but I'm not inclined to pay $260 for six small size Taiwan wrenches.

Just buy the Gearwrench Gearbox wrenches or the Matco extra longs with a ratcheting flex and a regular box and those regular high performance wrenches you linked would never be used if you had either of the other two. Ratcheting ends is where its at these days, especially if you have the regular box end on the opposite side anyway. Best of both worlds.

 

[devoncoolman]

Yeah u might as well buy the snapon's atleast they are american. Idk who makes them. U might be able to find them in sk or another manufacturer.

 

[devoncoolman]

Just buy the Gearwrench Gearbox wrenches or the Matco extra longs with a ratcheting flex and a regular box and those regular high performance wrenches you linked would never be used if you had either of the other two. Ratcheting ends is where its at these days, especially if you have the regular box end on the opposite side anyway. Best of both worlds.

This is true i have the gear wrench ones with the standard non ratchet at one end and ratchet on the other. There really is no need for those if u buy the gear wrench ones.

 

[Gotmayhem]

Yeah u might as well buy the snapon's atleast they are american. Idk who makes them. U might be able to find them in sk or another manufacturer.

Probably what I'll end up doing. The SO set is only $30 more but I could get it for much less from my dealer. It'll hold its value much better as well. These style wrenches are sort of hard to find now. I think Nepros has a set but they're a bit hard to find in the States.

Thanks Skin, if I do make the ratcheting choice it'll probably be the Gearwrenches. Actually the Matco labeled ones are on sale this month but it's still not cheap enough for me to take the bait.

 

[Skin]

Thanks Skin, if I do make the ratcheting choice it'll probably be the Gearwrenches. Actually the Matco labeled ones are on sale this month but it's still not cheap enough for me to take the bait.

The Matco set I was referring to isn't the Gearbox clones, its these

http://www.matcotools.com/catalog/p...DEGREE-FLEX-RATCHETING-EXTRA-LONG-WRENCH-SET/

and unfortunately they're exclusive to Matco, made for them by Kabo in Taiwan. Damn nifty though. You find new places to use them every day. And they make great belt tensioner tools as well.

 

[Gotmayhem]

The Matco set I was referring to isn't the Gearbox clones, its these

http://www.matcotools.com/catalog/p...DEGREE-FLEX-RATCHETING-EXTRA-LONG-WRENCH-SET/

and unfortunately they're exclusive to Matco, made for them by Kabo in Taiwan. Damn nifty though. You find new places to use them every day. And they make great belt tensioner tools as well.

Oh I actually do remember seeing those on the truck before, never asked about them though. I can definitely see how those would be useful though.

Too many wrenches, not enough money

 

[devoncoolman]

Oh I actually do remember seeing those on the truck before, never asked about them though. I can definitely see how those would be useful though.

Too many wrenches, not enough money

Yeah thats true too many cool and usefull wrenches but its tough to have them all when there $300-$500 a set. I have the double box flex on both end ratchets those a nice as well. But can be frustrating if u need the wrench to stay put.

 

[HaroRider]

I actually read on amazon where some guy purchased that double box end set of ratchet wrenches and there was actually a Matco wrench mixed in with the gearwrench set he purchased. Go figure..