Gearwrench Foundry Markings HELP!!!

Toothless Technician · Feb 10, 2015

I Googled it but could not find any information regarding which Gearwrench foundry markings go with what country of origin.

I have encountered 3 markings:

L - which I believe is Taiwan

N - which is China as far as I can tell

K - unknown

Could you gentleman help me nail this down?

The reason I am asking is because I mistakenly thought all Gearwrenches were made in Taiwan and that is why they where regarded so well. So I have been buying Gearwrench without even checking where they are made! Just putting them right in the box.

My most recent purchase was a 12 Piece Metric Flex Cross-Beam wrench set and I noticed the #11 was bent and the #10 had a very course ratcheting mechanism. (Notice the "N" markings)

Look how bent it is

Look at the sticker over the Country of Origin!!!!

The set this sticker was on actually had 4 out of the twelve with the "L" foundry marking... The other 8 had the "N" marking. Since most of the wrenches had the "N" marking I believe that is why the sticker had to be placed on the box.

Thanks to gentleman like yourselves on Garage Journal I have been made aware of Craftsman's demise into Chinese manufactured wrenches. I have since been extremely selective with my Craftsman Wrench Purchases and am a proud owner of 3 sets of wrenches with the glorious "VA" foundry marking!

But I thought Gearwrench was a middleground sort of refuge seeing that I have heard good things about Taiwanese manufacuring. Indeed I do have 3 sets of Gearwrenches with the "L" foundry markings and they are flawless...

jim1987 · Feb 10, 2015

Answer- no one knows but gear wrench. But what you have is without a doubt Chinese.

I believe my combos are "k" and they're Taiwan. My flex ratchet wrenches are "j" iirc. And I have no idea what they are.

I believe gw commented once and said theyre year markings. But didn't divoldge a list

ZRH` · Feb 10, 2015

I bought a gearwrench breaker bar about a month ago, no foundry marks made in Taiwan on the packaging. Allen key on the retaining pin.

I was looking at their stuff at a local tool co the other day and it seems like the sockets and most of the specialty tools are marked Taiwan and the wrenches are marked China.

Toothless Technician · Feb 11, 2015

Wow check out what Amazon did to me for asking this question on their website!

"What is the Country of Manufacture and what foundry marking do you have on your wrenches (L, N, or K) This would really help me... Thank you..."

*EDIT I took the video down because it was long winded and I can do better...

Basically they banned me from asking anymore questions!

1970W-30 · Feb 11, 2015

Sounds like they don't want to reveal the location of the sweat shop.

jcfields · Feb 11, 2015

neophyte · Feb 11, 2015

Amazon probably flagged your questions because you posted the same thing under a number of different products. Posting the exact same thing under different products would be similar to the behavior of spammers trying to sell ****** , etc.

Swan · Feb 11, 2015

Did you call Apex/GW's 1-800 number and ask them ?

ihateminimumwage · Feb 11, 2015

There was a thread on here about this a while back (maybe a year or so). IIRC the letter codes were the foundry and the lines/ticks had to do with the series, or something along those lines.

Most of the China made stuff is what's sold on the shelves of Sears, AAP and other box stores, with it bleeding into the online market. Most of everything labeled China is the wrenches being sold at the box stores, as well as some of the oddball "gimmick" tools that aren't rebranded KD.

My boss just bought full sets of combo wrenches in rolls off of the indy tool truck, and both were labeled Taiwan, and have served him just fine so far.

EDIT: Most of my GW stuff is at work, but the flex flare nut wrenches I have at home have a mix of 'L' (one alone, one with 3 "ticks"), K (with 2 "ticks") and G (with 3 "ticks). All were bought as loose stock from Cripe. I don't remember if they had the tags with COO on them, or if they were just packed loose.

woody 73 · Feb 11, 2015

Interesting post...I took a few Gearwrench pictures with different codes not sure where they are made but maybe they will help you out in your search.

BryanB · Feb 11, 2015

I bought these a few weeks back. They have a L- and the package says made in Taiwan. I have compared them to known China coo and I can tell they are nicer....or maybe I'm hoping....

PBCampbell · Feb 11, 2015

Just to add... I'm unsure if mine are China or Taiwan. Ratcheting flex head non-reversing combination wrenches. SAE are all "G" except one that is "H" with dash marks at 9,12, & 3 o'clock. Metric are all "H" with dash at 3 o'clock. I bought these a few years ago, but I think that Gearwrench had started to move production to China.

DieselSaves · Feb 11, 2015

Tried to post pics but my new phone would not cooperate.

I checked a set of GearWrench 0 degree offset box/ratchet wrenches I picked up last year. They were Taiwanese and had an "M" with a tick at 3 and 12 o'clock.

I also dug out my first GearWrench wrenches from ~2002. One set of double ratcheting metric wrenches had an "A" with some of those having a tick at 3 o'clock. The open end combos had a "B" on them. I believe they were all Taiwanese. This was from about as early as I remember seeing the brand.

Toothless Technician · Feb 12, 2015

Man you guys are awesome! :bounce:

Toothless Technician · Feb 12, 2015

Swan said:
Did you call Apex/GW's 1-800 number and ask them ?

I am calling them right now! Good suggestion...

9:00 A.M. P.S.T. ***UPDATE***

Talked to a ******* the phone (800-621-8814) at customer service and she said that the markings don't have anything to do with what country they are manufactured in and she said that she had no idea if manufacturing was moving to China altogether. She gave me the number to the product development team and I will be contacting them when they get off of lunch... (Time zone differential)

Thought I would share a great comment I found elsewhere:

Toothless Technician · Feb 12, 2015

neophyte said:
Amazon probably flagged your questions because you posted the same thing under a number of different products. Posting the exact same thing under different products would be similar to the behavior of spammers trying to sell ****** , etc.

Yeah they sure did... Here's what they sent me after I emailed support:

_____________________________________________________________________________

Hello Adriaan,

I hope this email finds you well. This is Kath from the Communities team.

I've reviewed your account and your status in regard to our Customer Discussion Forums and asking question on the Question and Answer feature. Your posts were found to be duplicate posts, and all of your posts were removed. Per our Conditions of Use, we've removed your posting privileges from your account.

Please take a look at our guidelines for more information:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001GMT6R4/?tag=atomicindus08-20

Thanks for your understanding in this matter.

Best regards,
Kath A.

_____________________________________________________________________________

Which I have two problems with

1. Those conditions of use never use the term "duplicate posts"...

What they say is:

Repeated posts that make the same point excessively
Repeated unwelcome messages that harass or embarrass other customers or participants
Repeated posts that promote an item in the Amazon.com catalog

2. They were not repetitive because each question was asked on a DIFFERENT PRODUCT PAGE!

Asking the identical question regarding these disparate items for instance is against company policy?
A. GearWrench 81903 20 Piece Stubby Wrench Set SAE and Metric
B. GearWrench 85288 12 Piece Metric X-Beam Flex Head Combination Ratcheting Wrench Set

WTF

Toothless Technician · Feb 12, 2015

jim1987 said:
Answer- no one knows but gear wrench. But what you have is without a doubt Chinese.

I believe gw commented once and said theyre year markings. But didn't divoldge a list

Just got off the phone with another department at APEX tools (800-688-8949) and he said that if he had to guess the markings would be a date code...

I asked him if we could find out for sure. After a few minutes on hold he came back and confirmed that the markings are a production code for when the material was run...

I appears as if jim1987 hit the nail on the head. I would like to thank you guys for your help in this endeavor... You are a great group of people.

Also... he said that SATA is the asian manufacturer of their hand tools... APEX just slaps Gearwrench on the side...

www.satatools.com.sg/

religion-ministry-ministers-the_power_and_the_glory-power_tools-glory-mban893_low.jpg

dnschmidt · Feb 12, 2015

And now you know where the MATCO logo comes from.

Cope · Feb 12, 2015

dnschmidt said:
And now you know where the MATCO logo comes from.

That Matco logo preceded Apex by many years.

Toothless Technician · Feb 12, 2015

As a side note concerning Amazon. They sell this $120,000.00 dollar tv which has garnered many fantastical reviews by people just telling outrageous stories concerning the ridiculous tv.

Their review policy states:
"Your review should focus on specific features of the product and your experience with it"

There are about 1,300 reviews, non of which I have seen to be "verified purchasers"... I think Amazon can cut me a little bit of slack for asking the same question about multiple products...

My asking privileges are still suspended.

jim1987 · Feb 12, 2015

I was about to order 20.. But they're out of stock.. FML..

logical · Feb 12, 2015

Small world... I bought mine on Amazon and got an Email a day or so ago from Amazon...

-----------------------

Steven: Can you answer this question about GearWrench 85099 16 Piece...?

<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=640 align=center bgColor=#ffffff border=0> <TBODY> <TR> <TD> <TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 align=left bgColor=#ffffff border=0> <TBODY> <TR> <TD style="FONT-SIZE: 14px; FONT-FAMILY: Arial,sans-serif; VERTICAL-ALIGN: top; FONT-WEIGHT: normal; COLOR: rgb(51,51,51); PADDING-BOTTOM: 2px; TEXT-ALIGN: left; PADDING-TOP: 6px; PADDING-LEFT: 12px; LINE-HEIGHT: 22px; PADDING-RIGHT: 6px" vAlign=top align=right>As someone who owns GearWrench 85099 16 Piece...can you help this fellow customer?

</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR> <TR> <TD> <TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 align=left bgColor=#ffffff border=0> <TBODY> <TR> <TD style="FONT-SIZE: 14px; FONT-FAMILY: Arial,sans-serif; VERTICAL-ALIGN: top; FONT-WEIGHT: normal; COLOR: rgb(51,51,51); PADDING-BOTTOM: 15px; TEXT-ALIGN: left; PADDING-TOP: 15px; PADDING-LEFT: 15px; LINE-HEIGHT: 22px; PADDING-RIGHT: 15px">Adriaan D. Knox asked
"What is the Country of Manufacture and what foundry marking do you have on your wrenches (L, N, or K) This would really help me... Thank you..."

</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR> <TR> <TD> <CENTER>

</CENTER></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

Toothless Technician · Feb 13, 2015

logical said:
Small world... I bought mine on Amazon and got an Email a day or so ago from Amazon...

-----------------------

Steven: Can you answer this question about GearWrench 85099 16 Piece...?

<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=640 align=center bgColor=#ffffff border=0> <TBODY> <TR> <TD> <TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 align=left bgColor=#ffffff border=0> <TBODY> <TR> <TD style="FONT-SIZE: 14px; FONT-FAMILY: Arial,sans-serif; VERTICAL-ALIGN: top; FONT-WEIGHT: normal; COLOR: rgb(51,51,51); PADDING-BOTTOM: 2px; TEXT-ALIGN: left; PADDING-TOP: 6px; PADDING-LEFT: 12px; LINE-HEIGHT: 22px; PADDING-RIGHT: 6px" vAlign=top align=right>As someone who owns GearWrench 85099 16 Piece...can you help this fellow customer?

</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR> <TR> <TD> <TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 align=left bgColor=#ffffff border=0> <TBODY> <TR> <TD style="FONT-SIZE: 14px; FONT-FAMILY: Arial,sans-serif; VERTICAL-ALIGN: top; FONT-WEIGHT: normal; COLOR: rgb(51,51,51); PADDING-BOTTOM: 15px; TEXT-ALIGN: left; PADDING-TOP: 15px; PADDING-LEFT: 15px; LINE-HEIGHT: 22px; PADDING-RIGHT: 15px">Adriaan D. Knox asked
"What is the Country of Manufacture and what foundry marking do you have on your wrenches (L, N, or K) This would really help me... Thank you..."

</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR> <TR> <TD> <CENTER>

</CENTER></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

It is a small world! :thumbup:

chaddles623 · Oct 3, 2017

I believe it's a date code, I just purchased some and they have a P and - still and the dashes are all different some at 12 o clock only some with 3 dashes and some with 2 dashes, and concidering that date of your post I believe P=2017 or 2016 O = 16/15 N=15/14 M=15/14 L=14/13 K=13/12 J=12/11

Sent from my Z981 using Tapatalk

chaddles623 · Oct 3, 2017

I don't understand the - (dash) thing yet but I did figure out the letters are the year

Sent from my Z981 using Tapatalk

Toothless Technician · Apr 30, 2018

I think that Chaddles is correct considering what DieselSaves said about his A & B marked wrenches being from around 2002. So I guess the question now is when did they start making 'em in China instead of Taiwan... Are those "N" wrenches the first China run?

P.S. On a side note 3+ years later I am still banned from reviewing or asking questions on Amazon.com. If I remember correctly they even reviewed my activity and upheld their ban. What the flying ...

Farmall450 · Apr 30, 2018

Toothless Technician said:
Just got off the phone with another department at APEX tools (800-688-8949) and he said that if he had to guess the markings would be a date code...

I asked him if we could find out for sure. After a few minutes on hold he came back and confirmed that the markings are a production code for when the material was run...

I appears as if jim1987 hit the nail on the head. I would like to thank you guys for your help in this endeavor... You are a great group of people.

Also... he said that SATA is the asian manufacturer of their hand tools... APEX just slaps Gearwrench on the side...

http://www.satatools.com.sg/site/?m=100&f=100

It would appear they own SATA?

http://www.satatools.com.sg/

Finky198 · May 1, 2018

Toothless Technician said:
As a side note concerning Amazon. They sell this $120,000.00 dollar tv which has garnered many fantastical reviews by people just telling outrageous stories concerning the ridiculous tv.

Their review policy states:
"Your review should focus on specific features of the product and your experience with it"

There are about 1,300 reviews, non of which I have seen to be "verified purchasers"... I think Amazon can cut me a little bit of slack for asking the same question about multiple products...

My asking privileges are still suspended.

I have not actually had experience with that model but I used to install commercial and business displays and 120”+ flat screens were not uncommon.

. Around 100 grand as well.

The biggest back then were usually Panasonic plasma displays I think they made a 150” at one point ... I remember One was so big it had to be uncrated just to fit in the service elevator...

It’s amazing what you can do with insane amounts of money...

Gearwrench Foundry Markings *HELP*!!!

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Gearwrench Foundry Markings HELP!!!