Craftsman Line Wrenches

[sometoyotaguy]

I have a set of the Craftsman Brake Line wrenches. They are the "Professional" ones made in the USA.

I'm not sure why, but they seem very loose on the line nuts. I seem to have better luck with the open end wrenches. They at least fit better.

Anyone else see this?

 

[afazz]

Yes, I have them and mine are garbage. Some people have had good luck with them, but I have not.

 

[Roots]

I have a set of the Craftsman Brake Line wrenches. They are the "Professional" ones made in the USA.

I'm not sure why, but they seem very loose on the line nuts. I seem to have better luck with the open end wrenches. They at least fit better.

Anyone else see this?

That's one of the tools where quality or lack thereof really comes through.

 

[dsmnickk90]

The USA made ones were made by SK im pretty sure. I dont see why you would have a problem with them since the SK set is pretty nice.
I had a Chinese made set and they sucked. I got a RP set to replace them and they are 10000xs better I actually got them to take off a line the Chinese ones rounded the corners off because the RP using a flank drive design that grips the flats instead of the corners.

 

[pipsters]

I have the craftsman RP flare nut wrenches and SK made flare nut crows feet. The RPs are better imo.

 

[Pro-Painter]

You sure your not using the wrong size? (ie 14mm on 9/16" etc). I have the USA full polished flares and mine fit too tight if anything. If the fitting has already been round off by someone else, I have to tap them with a hammer to get them to fit.

 

[powertrip]

Are yours metric or sae

 

[sometoyotaguy]

Are yours metric or sae

They are metric.

My 17mm cheapie wrench fit great, but the craftsman wrench was terribly loose.

 

[EvilWelder]

I had the Craftsman Pro set worked good, now I have a Snap-On set and they work better. On real bad lines out come the cutters and a socket so it really dosent matter much.

 

[dsmnickk90]

You sure the line wasn't 5/8"-16mm or 11/16"? Your cheap wrench could have been on the large size and thats why it fit if it was supossed to be 11/16"

 

[emeraldcoupe]

i have the pros made by sk, they fit tight on the line nuts.

 

[NC-Fordguy]

I have crafty pro usa, crafty rp, snappy and gearwrench flex head line wrenches.

Can't say I've ever noticed any difference in performance between them all.

I do like the gearwrench flex heads for those times when you need a little extra room.

 

[franzdom]

You sure the line wasn't 5/8"-16mm or 11/16"? Your cheap wrench could have been on the large size and thats why it fit if it was supossed to be 11/16"

That still wouldn't explain the cheapie fitting tighter than the CM...

 

[Buckgnarly]

I have crafty pro usa, crafty rp, snappy and gearwrench flex head line wrenches.

Can't say I've ever noticed any difference in performance between them all.

I do like the gearwrench flex heads for those times when you need a little extra room.

I agree on all points!

 

[dsmnickk90]

That still wouldn't explain the cheapie fitting tighter than the CM...

If the cheap open end wrench was slighty bigger than 17mm it would fit tight on a 11/16"

Or if the cheap 177mm was actually tight it could have fit a 5/8"-16mm

 

[franzdom]

If the cheap open end wrench was slighty bigger than 17mm it would fit tight on a 11/16"

Or if the cheap 177mm was actually tight it could have fit a 5/8"-16mm

Fair enough but your contention was the cheapie being too large. If the CM was even larger and the same measurement that wouldn't make any sense now would it?

 

[MarkH]

Or it could be there is variability in the line nuts. Can use the same set of wrenches tight on one job and move to the next machine loose. Not sure why but it seems the manufacture of the nuts and bolts I have to loosen is worse than my wrenches.

 

[otis66]

I have the Craftsman-Pro/SK Flare nut wrench set also. The work great. Never had a problem.

 

[mrstrictlygm]

Have the SK sets and they work great.

 

[powertrip]

Want to sell them, send me a PM. Ive been looking for the metric set.

 

[OEXL16B]

The OP probably has pre-Ideal Corp SK made line wrenches. When SK was off by themselves and getting ready for bankruptcy, their quality was seriously lacking.

 

[sometoyotaguy]

I'll have to take the calipers to it. All of the other 17mm tools had a nice tight fit.

I wonder if, it's actually a standard size instead of how it's marked as metric.

It's really too bad, since the quality is good. It just doesn't seem to grip well on some lines. I think the brake line size was also loose, but not quite as bad.

 

[wantedabiggergarage]

Could it be stamped the wrong size?

I haven't had good luck with theirs.

 

[bcradio]

I have had pretty bad luck with my Cman Pro line wrenches. I bought some used snap-ons and they have worked flawlessly for me.

 

[bobbyrae]

I will say that I have normally been pretty happy with my Craftsman tools, but I HAVE had the occasional tool in a set that was clearly the wrong size. A 7/16" open end wrench was just too tight and I had to grind on it a bit. Then there was a small allen wrench that off (if I recall correctly, it was too big, so grinding worked there also).

You have to be ready for this with Craftsman, I guess. Probably about 5% of the time. If you can get a micrometer on it and establish the inaccuracy, you should be able to take it back and exchange it. The down side may be that they insist you swap the whole set, not just the bad wrench, and then the new set has another bad one!

And it could be that when SK makes tools that will say Craftsman on them, they lower the quality control a bit and pass the lower cost onto Sears!