fractional crowfoot wrenches

[lardy1]

I'm researching crowfoot sets before I make my purchase. I'm seeing they run the gamut pricewise and by reading online reviews, apparently quality wise.

As a homeowner, they likely won't see much use so I really don't want to spend the money for top tier. Used domestic sets on eBay seem to be either Snap-On or Proto and are out of my price range or they're Craftsman. I would be fine with Craftsman USA but no new Craftsman. No trust there anymore.

Gearwrench has a set for around fifty bucks which is reasonable. However, my personal feelings towards Apex make giving them my money a very hard pill to swallow.

I'm curious about the Icon set. I don't see a COO listed and, YES, it matters to me. No China. Period. Has anyone used them yet and can they attest to the fitment?

Tekton's website says they are introducing new domestic crowfoot wrenches this summer. My gut tells me to wait for them but my cabin fever and impatience have me wanting to buy something.

All input is welcome. Reading about poor sizing in reviews has me gunshy of the cheaper stuff. Bad fitment and an open end don't make for a good partnership.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Professional Tool User]

The old Craftsman USA crowfeet work fine if you are looking for the open end ones. I'm sure the imported GW, Icon, and Tekton ones are also perfectly serviceable. If you care about COO, then you often have to pay to play. I highly doubt the Tekton USA made ones are going to be cheap.

 

[Ohmthis]

Do you NEED them now or just WANT them now? Don’t jump on one just because you want them. I have a few SK that are fantastic! I only bought the sizes I needed and saved a good amount over a set. Really think them over and make sure you can’t get by with something you may use on other things too.

 

[bw77]

I have the metric version of this flare nut crowfoot set from NAPA Evercraft.
I found the quality to be excellent.

https://www.napaonline.com/en/p/BK_7740125

 

[Rattle]

I picked up a set in both crowfoot and flare nut style from titan. They are made in Taiwan. One of those things that I don't need them but could definitely see an occasion where they would be very handy. Decent quality but not going to spend the money for a high quality set that maybe gets used once or twice a year. Different story if I was using them regularly.

 

[RTM]

I have a harlequin set I gathered at a surplus store in a Denver. All but one were old US brands, the 1/2” was a Kai, three SO, forget the rest. Don’t know if they will mail you a set if you call, but only set me back a few bucks.

 

[Kev442]

You sure you want crowfoot? I had no need for this style wrench until I was 52 years old, so I bought flarenut in this style to be covered (and prevent rounding). Yes, taking them off to reposition is more time consuming, but not rounding off a power steering line is worth it to me.
I bought Cresent brand, made in Taiwan, fit well, but no ball detent retainer in them.

 

[Fedwrench]

Icon currently is made in Taiwan.

As others asked, are you talking about open end or flare type crowfeet?

I wouldn't recommend Gearwrench because, the open end set I have doesn't have cutouts on the female square drive to aid in drive tool/extension retention. All four sides are smooth. I strongly recommend whatever brand you choose, ensure it has at least a hole on one side of the square drive portion to keep the crowfoot attached to an extension/drive tool.

also recommend checking Cripe distributing on Ebay. they used to carry NOS KD, Craftsman, Allen, and NAPA versions that were US made.

I've always thought of the open end crowfeet as a super stubby open end wrench. I don't use them often. Flare crowfeet are another story. I use the 18 mm often on power steering fittings.

 

[sberry]

I have cman but have made them as needed got a tubing version somewhere too.

 

[bob15]

For open crowfoot set, look on HJE at the Bonney set. It's a quality set. It is missing the 7/16" which can be found on e-bay for under 10 buck or BO with free shipping.

 

[mcj115]

Last fall I picked up some NOS Bonney fractional sets...just because I rarely see any new Bonney tools and I wanted to buy them for the novilty. I have a few spare sets 3/8 to 11/16. I may part with them if you are interested, PM me if you are. They do have some general shelf wear but are good made in the USA.

 

[Al Borland]

I have both crowsfoot and flare/line SAE and metric Taiwan wrenches (Horrid Freight and K-tool), as well as some US made SAE. i use them a couple times a year.
Mostly, they rest peacefully in my toolbox.
I don't bother them, and they don't bother me.

 

[NUTTSGT]

I have both SAE & metric sets from Cman. I needed one and bought a whole set of SAE. Then figured if I was buying one set, I might as well buy the metric assortment as well.

If you don't need them right away, I'd wait, keep watching and looking. You'll find a set of somebody here will run across a good deal and pass it on, like a few of the options already provided.

 

[mfewtrail]

Here's an older NOS made in Japan option that is real cheap if you want the regular style ones: https://www.ebay.com/itm/9PC-CROWFO...336236?hash=item4da841572c:g:WMcAAOSwcrVeODN1


Someone else here can probably tell you about the quality of those. I did a quick search, but didn't specifically find any truecraft posts about the crowfoot wrenches.


A NOS USA made option(Easco) priced around the retail of the Icon HF set you mentioned: https://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-8-pc-S...719099?hash=item2cea7e7cfb:g:Ms4AAOSw7Ppc1dm5

 

[rsanter]

Do you need them or want them?
If you have a need, what size do you need? Perhaps just buy the size or sizes you need.

How about a used set?
How about a mismatched set?

I should have some spares floating around such that I could put a set of good quality USA made ones together, just won’t all be the same brand

 

[lardy1]

My gut tells me to wait for a good deal on a used set. I missed the boat on an online auction by being tight ***. Now I see my mistake. They are way more of a want than a need so I can keep waiting for another nice vintage set and get off my wallet. I am armed with more knowledge now. A tip of the hat to Fedwrench for mentioning the detent and many thanks for the generous offers. If a need does arise I see some imports I could be happy with.

 

[jgromada]

I had a cheap set of crowfoots open end . Used them only a few times but they were not good.

I replaced them with some flare crowsfoot from Sunex and those are really nice. I do almost exclusively metric so that is what i got, but they have fractional as well.

I don't care what brand you select but get flare opening.

 

[pi_guy]

I am going to upset the apple cart.
Been using the SO ones for 40 years, don't think other manufactures produce large 2 inch plus ones. Gland nuts out of position stuff they have been life savers never broke one. There is so much more swing room needed with a 2 1/4 inch combo wrench where a crowfoot would not have the same issue.
Had a few issues in machine shops where to get access you would have to disassemble half the machine to get access, but a crowfoot was able to access and reduce repair time.

 

[kapster]

I hear you on cabin fever, I just placed a big Zoro order

I would suggest getting crow foot flare nut personally. I bought usa Masterforce sets from Menards before they changed to China or Taiwan (think they were Apex made). First and only time I've needed them was on a brake line and they would just slip off. So I had to borrowed a friends flare nut crow foot to do the job. I've since purchased SK crow foot flare nut sets that are beautiful. Looked at snap on but you get more sizes and a little cheaper from SK.

I've since used them several times, will probably never use the regular crows feet again. I suppose there's situations you'd have to have them over flare nut but I cant think of many.

Sent from my SM-T720 using Tapatalk

 

[yrly]

I dunno where my craftsman ones are made since I bought them around the transition, I’ll check I get a chance. They were pretty decent, just don’t know if they’re imports or old USA ones.

 

[ChevyEFI]

Blackhawk. USA made, no detents. I have few more for a 3/8 to 11/16? partial set. The jaws are strong whenever used. Detents haven't been an issue, but they have none.

My flare nut crowfeet, I have just bought sizes off the SO truck for hyd. lines in vehicles.