Craftsman Industrial doesn't fit?

[chaser]

I bought a set of 11, SAE Crafstman Industrial wrenches on close-out from a Sears clearance center near me. I went to use the 1/2 wrench to tighten down a nut and it didn't fit - either the open or closed end

My S/K 1/2 socket fit over the nut easily, so i know I wasn't trying to force the wrong size.

Anyone else run into this with brand new tools? Does it take some time to get the chrome worn a bit for a better fit?

Puzzled to be sure!

 

[FiveFinger]

I had a 10mm craftsman raised panel wrench that the box end was a little too tight to fit MOST fasteners. The open end fitted fine. I swapped it out and the new one worked fine. That was before they started having chinese **** and I got a good quality wrench in return. That is the only wrench that I have ever had that was like that.

 

[Farmall450]

I had a 10mm craftsman raised panel wrench that the box end was a little too tight to fit MOST fasteners. The open end fitted fine. I swapped it out and the new one worked fine. That was before they started having chinese **** and I got a good quality wrench in return. That is the only wrench that I have ever had that was like that.

My brother had that problem with a metric wrench in that size range.

 

[chaser]

Hmmmm....mine are stamped 'USA' so I assumed high quality. The chrome sure looks good! Well, maybe I'll run over to Sears and see if I can swap this one out for another Industrial series wrench and see if it fits better.

Kinda pissed actually! Spend a bunch of money on supposedly quality and a wrench doesn't fit?

 

[SMKS]

Since you got them on super closeout, you actually didn't probably spend "a bunch of money," you got a really good deal.

Still ***** that you got a bad one, though.

 

[mailpup]

If you can, take a sample nut or bolt to test with.

 

[stratman977]

Compare it to another 1/2 or a maybe a 12mm. The wrong wrench blank could have gotten mixed in before they were stamped with the size.

I had a SK wrench with the swivel socket on the end that was a 13mm wrench but had a 12mm socket on it. Took me a while to figure out what was wrong with it until I measured the socket end. They warrantied it no question.

 

[SMKS]

Compare it to another 1/2 or a maybe a 12mm. The wrong wrench blank could have gotten mixed in before they were stamped with the size.

This is my guess.

Perhaps a metric blank or otherwise the wrong size was put in the wrong bin and then stamped "1/2"

 

[NC-Fordguy]

Compare it to another 1/2 or a maybe a 12mm. The wrong wrench blank could have gotten mixed in before they were stamped with the size.

I had a SK wrench with the swivel socket on the end that was a 13mm wrench but had a 12mm socket on it. Took me a while to figure out what was wrong with it until I measured the socket end. They warrantied it no question.

^This

I experienced this with an armstrong set a while back. I bought this set from my local Napa and they handled getting it right.

 

[carterbeauford]

Well, maybe I'll run over to Sears and see if I can swap this one out for another Industrial series wrench and see if it fits better.

Outlet might or might not open a box and swap one out, regular Sears won't have that wrench.

measure the open end with a caliper. call Apex 800 688 8949 with the number on the wrench and they'll send you a new one.

 

[justanengineer]

Was the bolt in question really 1/2" or did it happen to be 13mm? Ive got many standard closed end wrenches that wont fit the supposed "equivalent" metric size bc theyre not equivalent. Personally, I consider a tighter wrench fit a higher quality after having many 12 pt wrenches that successfully rounded off 6 pt bolt heads.

 

[chaser]

Great thoughts here, thank you!

Yeah for sure it was stamped 1/2 in since the S/K socket fit over it no problem. The wrong blank stamped wrong makes sense. I'll give that number a call.

Well I did buy the wrenches on close-out and didn't pay a ton, but still, expected better for the money. If I had paid full retail, I'd be really, really pissed!

Thanks again!

 

[chaser]

Well there you go. 1/2 and 13mm are the exact same!

 

[chaser]

Wait a minute, here's the real kicker: on the 1/2 wrench, the nut fits the closed end but not the open end. Its so close!!! I'll just give the number a call and ask them about it. Thanks again guys for all the help!

 

[dragonballz]

Well there you go. 1/2 and 13mm are the exact same!

According to Google's conversion thing:

1/2" = 12.7mm
13mm = 0.511"

Close enough for me, though!

 

[indyokie]

Dang, thanks - I'm going to go check my set I also grabbed up when they were 60% off.

 

[Milton Shaw]

Check the other sizes to be sure it's just the one wrench that's the wrong size. I would hate to go through all that trouble on swapping one wrench to find another the next time I used the set.

 

[Hootbro]

If you still have the parts listing with the service number, call APEX and tell them your problem. I bet they send you a new one.

 

[b1ghwx]

Hmmmm....mine are stamped 'USA' so I assumed high quality. The chrome sure looks good! Well, maybe I'll run over to Sears and see if I can swap this one out for another Industrial series wrench and see if it fits better.

Kinda pissed actually! Spend a bunch of money on supposedly quality and a wrench doesn't fit?

That's really frustrating. You could have bought just as nice a set of China **** but instead you paid double for the US made ****. Its no wonder Sears is almost out of business.

 

[Hootbro]

That's really frustrating. You could have bought just as nice a set of China **** but instead you paid double for the US made ****. Its no wonder Sears is almost out of business.

I have had truck brand tools that were out of spec also. I just did not let it make my world fall apart and dealt with it until it could be rectified.

Quite a bit a extra drama here and considering how many other posts there is on these tools, the vast majority are not having problems.

**** happens, deal with it.

 

[carterbeauford]

That's really frustrating. You could have bought just as nice a set of China **** but instead you paid double for the US made ****. Its no wonder Sears is almost out of business.

I wouldn't call these wrenches ****, this appears to be a fluke happening. They aren't sold at Sears, rather Sears Outlet and Grainger.

 

[pipsters]

My 14mm measures 13.99, which is kinda good because most 14mm fasteners are around 13.8 to 13.9. So it's really tight. Takes some effort to go straight onto a nut.

This stuff happens but the Industrial stuff will probably be gone shortly. I'm measuring all mine when I get back to make sure I don't have any duds.

 

[franzdom]

It doesn't make sense that the 1/2" won't fit because you think it's actually a 13mm, if so it would fit even easier over a 1/2" hex. So I surmise it's a 13mm hex and the SK is sloppier than the craftsman which is probably the correct size to begin with.

 

[dumper]

I would try the wrench on several so-called 1/2" fasteners before I went marching off to Sears. Were they HF nuts? Hahahaha..

 

[tyheuser]

I bet its a 13mm and your sk socket has seen some use and fits over the nut find a known 1/2 bolt or bring it to sears and try it on pro wrench. Its possible but that would be easy mistake to make!

 

[Danglerb]

Get a high quality 99 cent HF caliper and measure both nut and wrench. Most likely cause is the nut is 13 mm not 1/2 inch.