GearWrench Gone To Hell?

[Tavy]

Is it just me, or in the last six months or so has the quality gone to ****? My sets from 2-3 years ago work like a top, but anything that's been replaced or bought recently ceases to ratchet within a week. Or slips to being non-usable.

Any other quality ratchet wrenches around? I'm really in love with the double-box end, extra long set I have.

 

[mmack66]

Didn't the older stuff used to be made in Taiwan, but is now made in China?

 

[ZRX61]

I stopped buying GW after I had a warranty issue.

 

[William Payne]

Heard great things about gearwrench but when I when I actually had the opportunatly to use them I had the experiance the orginal poster did.

The best ratcheting wrench I have ever used was a combination open end/ratchet box that was sold by the Wurth brand. I do not know who the original manufacturer was but it was very similar to snap-on styled ones.

 

[Skin]

Didn't the older stuff used to be made in Taiwan, but is now made in China?

The cheap sets that go on special at Sears and such are made in China. They still make most of it in Taiwan.

 

[#1SomeGuy]

Had an issue with one ratchet out of the package but they quickly replaced it...otherwise everything has been great.

 

[CWP1616L]

Excellent thread title!! This oughtta be a good thread.

 

[toolstools]

Ibtl.

I got both sets of flex head ratchet wenches from Napa when they was on sale for 29.99. Used the metric for torque past what they should have probably been used for. No issue at all.

 

[Fedwrench]

What specifically was your failure? Type of wrench? Circumstances? Purchased where?

Yes, there are other choices when it comes to ratcheting wrenches. There are the truck brands. There's kobalt. There's Blackhawk, Titan, Armstrong, Proto, Sunex, EZ Red, and others.

Now some of these may be made by a manufacturer such as Kabo with their brand name applied. Kabo makes Great ratcheting wrenches

I haven't purchased regular ratcheting Gearwrenchs in quite awhile. I have picked up their 84 and 120xp ratchets. No quality issues there, great performing tools for the money.

 

[TwoInch]

why is everyone so quick to "IBTL" nowadays??

i see nothing that would cause such reaction... there has been a lot of it lately. most arent locked either...

 

[slob]

I keep a set of GW at the shop for toilet work. A coworker was so impressed with them he went out and bought a set. Turns out mine are Taiwan and his are China. He doesn't care at all about COO, but he's already had two fail on him and I think now he's starting to.

 

[atwageman]

Two weeks ago at Lowes I saw Kobalt various sizes where the ratcheting guts had completely fell out. I showed a manager and he promptly had them pulled from the shelf.

Yesterday at Sears I saw a few gearwrench branded ones the same way.

The ones I've had for a couple years now are still doing fine.

 

[toolstools]

why is everyone so quick to "IBTL" nowadays??

i see nothing that would cause such reaction... there has been a lot of it lately. most arent locked either...

Gone to hell, sure isn't a way to ask for opinions. Then there's brand bashing, people who will aware by it, and people who hate it.

 

[Chadwilliam1]

I only have a few gearwrench tools. I only buy gearwrench tools when I cant find what I want made in USA like the flex head ratchet wrenches and pass thru set but the things I do own work great.

 

[Hiball]

The cheap sets that go on special at Sears and such are made in China. They still make most of it in Taiwan.

Nate are you trying to say that there is 2 levels of New Production gearwrench tools? Based of what I've found, anything that carries the danaher tag on the back will wear the Taiwan Coo (old stock) and anything produced by apex comes out of china. I haven't seen any new production gearwrench from Taiwan, my 84 tooth ratchets said china, not sure about the xp. When sears was blowing out the flex ratchet wrenches <6 mos ago I ended up with both china and Taiwan sets in both Sae and metric, the Taiwan (danaher tag) where much nicer (smaller open ends) My recent gear box acquisitions wore the Taiwan coo on the wrapper, I wish I would have paid more attention to whether they where danaher or apex tagged (old versus New production).

 

[cburnscrx]

Hmm, this has been an educational thread because I didn't realize that they had moved Gearwrench production to China vs. Taiwan. I need the SAE completer set, so I will be trying to find the NOS to have the entire flex head set.

I have older Gearwrench, and have been very happy, but with switching produciton, that might have changed. Good to know...

 

[egnorant]

Typical corporate progression!

Now that they have the good name, market distribution, product line expansion and production access, they are either seeking to maximize profit, maintain market share from the copycat makers or a combination of both.

This is the part where they lower production costs with lower quality components.

Once the darling of Apex tools it has been bought by Bain Capital and could soon become another 3rd tier tool.

Bruce

 

[Fedwrench]

I'm confused on where Gearwrench is making what these days.

I'm not sure about wrenches. The 84 tooth and 120 xp ratchets I recently acquired are Tawain made. The 120xp is a new product as are the mid length sockets I've picked up that were also Taiwan made.

Has anyone bought Gearwrench ratcheting wrenches that have the lobster claw open end? That would be the kiss of death to see that to me.

 

[metaldad]

I stopped buying GW after I had a warranty issue.

Like wise. Had a ratcheting wrench fail after minimal LIGHT usage.
Took Apex nearly 2 months to warranty it.

 

[John316]

I'm confused on where Gearwrench is making what these days.

I'm not sure about wrenches. The 84 tooth and 120 xp ratchets I recently acquired are Tawain made. The 120xp is a new product as are the mid length sockets I've picked up that were also Taiwan made.

Has anyone bought Gearwrench ratcheting wrenches that have the lobster claw open end? That would be the kiss of death to see that to me.

My experience also. When I was completing my socket sets through single stock purchases via AdvanceAuto I noticed that the more obscure sizes naturally were older stock and the COO was China, but the popular sizes (presumably newer stock) were Taiwan. This with the new offerings being made in Taiwan tell me that they either moved from China to Taiwan or more likely use both depending on the product line.

 

[Mickey O]

Not to worry, once all the USA manufacturers are out of business, the quality of GearWrench will go up, the price will come down and there will be lots of high paying jobs for dock workers, truck drivers and store clerks.

 

[Ign]

Is it just me, or in the last six months or so has the quality gone to ****? My sets from 2-3 years ago work like a top, but anything that's been replaced or bought recently ceases to ratchet within a week. Or slips to being non-usable.

Any other quality ratchet wrenches around? I'm really in love with the double-box end, extra long set I have.

This was my experience with the reversibles like 8 years ago. They now sit in my emergency truck tool bag and I replaced with SK's never to look back.

At that time allegedly the non-reversibles (ie flip over to reverse) were fine, and most people are attracted that simplistic design solely because of price.

 

[The Ratchet Man]

I'm confused on where Gearwrench is making what these days.

I'm not sure about wrenches. The 84 tooth and 120 xp ratchets I recently acquired are Tawain made. The 120xp is a new product as are the mid length sockets I've picked up that were also Taiwan made.

Has anyone bought Gearwrench ratcheting wrenches that have the lobster claw open end? That would be the kiss of death to see that to me.

I bought those sets that Advance had on sale for $14 a piece a while back. The SAE set was Taiwan and the Metric was China. There is a slight difference in the open ends but not near as pronounced as the Craftsmans.

The ratcheting end on the other hand had a noticeably different click to them between the 2 COOs. The Taiwan has a very clean, consistent rhythem to them where the China did not. There was also more play in the China mechanism.

Haven't had a chance to use those wrenches yet but there are differences out of the box and not for the better I imagine.

 

[SpiderGearsMan]

cheap stuff .why get hung up about the warranty ?

 

[toolstools]

cheap stuff .why get hung up about the warranty ?

Not everyone has thinks they're cheap. Depends on your income and priorities. Also, imo, if a company can't stand behind their product with a warranty, or back out of that warranty, that company already knows there product is ****.

So for me, no warranty, no purchase.

 

[plinker]

Has anyone bought Gearwrench ratcheting wrenches that have the lobster claw open end? That would be the kiss of death to see that to me.

Last fall, probably october IIRC, I had to buy a 1/2 Gearwrench at Fleet farm as I needed one on a service call. It was lobsterclawed made in the PRC. I bought a 15/16 and 1-1/8 for tightening rack tie downs and they appear to be lobster clawed as well, to one degree or another. They were from Menards, also PRC made.

I would say the three of them are not as good as my ROC made one's. The mechnasim is "looser" and they are bulky on the open end.

 

[e30bradley]

why is everyone so quick to "IBTL" nowadays??

i see nothing that would cause such reaction... there has been a lot of it lately. most arent locked either...

it makes them feel really cool.

 

[SlowPoke-Canada]

I've always wondered why GW got a free pass on this forum; I never found them to be all that great. I have an old set of long rat combos, rat stubbies and a newer set of flex rat combos. They work okay but not up to the raves received from many online.
I only bought them because they were deeply discounted and might come in handy occasionally. No regrets but not worthy of rave reviews.

 

[bonneyman]

Not to worry, once all the USA manufacturers are out of business, the quality of GearWrench will go up, the price will come down and there will be lots of high paying jobs for dock workers, truck drivers and store clerks.

Needed some good humor today!

I've had a set of GW for 15 years at least. Still have them (5/16 thru 3/4), work them almost daily, have never had a problem.
But, I figured all good things come to an end, so, I've rebuilt an old set of DBE ratcheting DUNLAP wrenches to replace them. For the work I do they should do just fine. And they are easily repairable if a pawl wears out or spring breaks.

 

[byoungblood]

Needed some good humor today!

I've had a set of GW for 15 years at least. Still have them (5/16 thru 3/4), work them almost daily, have never had a problem.
But, I figured all good things come to an end, so, I've rebuilt an old set of DBE ratcheting DUNLAP wrenches to replace them. For the work I do they should do just fine. And they are easily repairable if a pawl wears out or spring breaks.

Those are probably old K-D made Gearwrench that was still US made though.

Does anyone know when they made the shift to China? I have a set of metric reversibles that I've had since 2007-08, and like most imports these days, have no COO markings, just some cryptic date or manufacturer code stamped on the tool.

 

[mmack66]

Those are probably old K-D made Gearwrench that was still US made though.

Does anyone know when they made the shift to China? I have a set of metric reversibles that I've had since 2007-08, and like most imports these days, have no COO markings, just some cryptic date or manufacturer code stamped on the tool.

Back about a year ago when Sears was blowing out a bunch of GW tools, I bought some of the ratchets, which were made in Taiwan, and even then people were commenting about some of them being made in China.

It shows me that a company is trying to wring every last cent of profit out of a tool, without no regard for quality, if they move production from Taiwan to China.

 

[bahcoswed]

william payne
the best ratcheting wrench I have ever used was a combination open end/ratchet box that was sold by the Wurth brand. I do not know who the original manufacturer was but it was very similar to snap-on styled ones.


I have 2 full sets with wurth zebra ratcheting wrenches 1 set with flex and the second is the regular reversible ratcheting combination wrench! So you say that wurth ratchet wrenches is like snapons ratchet wrenches or is it the same? If that is true on some way,but i have hard to believe that :JACKPOT

 

[Hiball]

Also, imo, if a company can't stand behind their product with a warranty, or back out of that warranty, that company already knows there product is ****.

So for me, no warranty, no purchase.

Obviously your entitled to your opinions on what characteristics are important for you in regards to why you choose brand x or y. I can tell 1st hand, a tools warranty statement has absolutely no bearing on the tools quality, I get it.. I've read hundreds of warranty threads here at Gj, I know people are severely hung up on warranties but I have a boxes full of brands that are no longer warranted and they aren't simply falling apart.

I will take a quality tool over some jumbled up words written by a law firm any day of the week.

 

[NC-Fordguy]

I've always wondered why GW got a free pass on this forum; I never found them to be all that great. I have an old set of long rat combos, rat stubbies and a newer set of flex rat combos. They work okay but not up to the raves received from many online.
I only bought them because they were deeply discounted and might come in handy occasionally. No regrets but not worthy of rave reviews.

Nothing gets a free pass here. It's all relevant to someones personal/political agenda at the time. If I actually believed what gets posted here I'd likely have to throw away all of my tools and tool boxes and wouldn't be able to purchase anything worth while to replace them with as it all would be either made in the wrong country, it's a POS, an overpriced POS, or the warranty *****, etc etc.


My last few gearwrench purchases........

19mm non reversible ratchet wrench off the cornwell truck--China

XL Gearbox sets from Napa--Taiwan

Metric cross beam wrench set from Napa--Taiwan

Large non reversible ratchet wrench sets, sae and metric from Sears. SAE-Taiwan Metric-China

Several weeks ago Napa had a sale on ratchet wrench sets, 25 dollars or something. Seemed to be a mix of China and Taiwan. I didn't buy any as I didn't need them.

I haven't experienced issues with either the Taiwan or China stuff. So long as the tools work for me and I can make a few bucks with them I'm ok with it.

 

[Skin]

Nate are you trying to say that there is 2 levels of New Production gearwrench tools? Based of what I've found, anything that carries the danaher tag on the back will wear the Taiwan Coo (old stock) and anything produced by apex comes out of china. I haven't seen any new production gearwrench from Taiwan, my 84 tooth ratchets said china, not sure about the xp. When sears was blowing out the flex ratchet wrenches <6 mos ago I ended up with both china and Taiwan sets in both Sae and metric, the Taiwan (danaher tag) where much nicer (smaller open ends) My recent gear box acquisitions wore the Taiwan coo on the wrapper, I wish I would have paid more attention to whether they where danaher or apex tagged (old versus New production).

Well, for example the 25pc sets at Sears, GW doesn't even list them on their site. They seem to be made specifically for sears (and yes Fedwrench they have lobster claw open ends) so I guess you could call that a second tier. They were definetly made to that $2 per wrench price point vs Gearwrench of, say, 5 years ago when a 10pc set alone would run $50-$60 during one of their better sales.

The new dual pawl ratchets are made in Taiwan and I haven't heard of socket sets coming out of China either. I'd be a little surprised to see something like the X-Beams or Gearbox wrenches with a Chinese COO as well.

 

[Hiball]

Well, for example the 25pc sets at Sears, GW doesn't even list them on their site. They seem to be made specifically for sears (and yes Fedwrench they have lobster claw open ends) so I guess you could call that a second tier. They were definetly made to that $2 per wrench price point vs Gearwrench of, say, 5 years ago when a 10pc set alone would run $50-$60 during one of their better sales.

The new dual pawl ratchets are made in Taiwan and I haven't heard of socket sets coming out of China either. I'd be a little surprised to see something like the X-Beams or Gearbox wrenches with a Chinese COO as well.

I dunno.. I'm not gonna speculate, but I can see this going down the same road as US Craftsman (where we had multiple back and forth discussions about what everyone's individual store had in stock). I suspect there are millions upon millions of old stock GW in storage containers/warehouses it will take quite awhile to diminish that stock. It's feasible that the higher priced GW will continue to come from Taiwan, sets such as the XL, XL locking flex, XL reversible etc.. I do know that my 84 tooth ratchet set (comfort grip) that I sold here had made in china on the package, earlier someone said there's was Taiwan, Dunno.. When I bought my flex (non locking) at sears I ended up keeping the Taiwan sets because they appeared to be nicer and functioned better, the open end heads where substantially larger but didn't seem to be as huge as the craftsman lobster claws.

I suspect time will tell..

I have gearwrench ratcheting wrenches in non reversible, reversible, flex (non locking) and gear box all in sae and metric plus the add on sets. I can't say that Ive had any issues in quality but everything is Taiwan with exception of maybe the non reversible (25 piece sears you previously mentioned) and I simply don't recall what the Coo was. I guess when I get home I can compare the open ends against the Taiwan flex, that might shed some light.

 

[wrh3]

I have mostly old Taiwab COO GW and it has been great, the China COO GW is sub-par for some of their tools like ratcheting wrenches. When I bought my first set of GW ratcheting wrenches from the local mom and pop auto store (replaced long ago by McParts stores) the owner told me if I could break one he would give me my money back, no questions asked. They originally seemed like an answer to a question I had not asked but I found myself wondering how I had gotten along without them. I went on to buy some of their regular wrenches and ratchets/sockets and found those to be pretty nice as well. Those original GW wrenches have been hammered on, leaned on, and over the last ~15 years have never given me any problems.

But I don't have a lot of the newer Chinese stuff, the few pieces I have don't seem to measure up to what I am used to with them.

 

[Coach James]

When I read the title of the thread, I thought the OP was asking if Gear Wrench was expanding into a new market.

Coach

 

[FiendFX]

I got the Gearwrench ratcheting wrenches, flex head wrenches, and all their 3/8 ratchets. NP

 

[toolstools]

Obviously your entitled to your opinions on what characteristics are important for you in regards to why you choose brand x or y. I can tell 1st hand, a tools warranty statement has absolutely no bearing on the tools quality, I get it.. I've read hundreds of warranty threads here at Gj, I know people are severely hung up on warranties but I have a boxes full of brands that are no longer warranted and they aren't simply falling apart.

I will take a quality tool over some jumbled up words written by a law firm any day of the week.

I get that. I don't expect a tool to last my lifetime. But to me a company without a warranty say they expect it to break, and one with it says them don't expect it to break, but if it does, we got your back.

I would buy a used quality tool even if the company doesn't exist anymore.