Gearwrench long pattern vs so long pattern wrenches

[NinnyCTSV]

I’m trying to decide what makes more sense. I’ve been eyeballing the sk long panel wrenches for a week or so as I’ve been wanting a quality USA set. I used to own the raised panel craftsman professional wrenches that were made by sk and if it wasn’t for the skipped sizes and not being able to complete the set, I’d still have them as they were hands down my favorite wrenches. I currently have the SAE and metric bluepoint sets and they’re nice wrenches, but not a huge fan of the feel. I prefer a thicker beam so not interested in the snap-on, mac/proto, or cornwell if I do go the USA route. However I just stumbled on the gearwrench 44 piece master wrench set and I’m kind of torn. I’ve never had my hands on the sk so I don’t know if I’ll even like them, and all the gearwrench stuff I’ve used in the past has always been great. The sizes are huge bonus as it goes up to 32mm and 1 1/2”, however made in China so kind of defeats the purpose of getting rid of the Chinese bluepoints for surely the same Chinese wrenches branded gearwrench instead

Please give me some direction haha

 

[plinker]

Well, the wrenches made For Craftsman by S-K were full polish, not raised panel. That said I like the long pattern S-K metrics I have, never had an issue that I remember.

The Gearwrench set is fairly inexpensive for a very complete set for the money.

Williams supercombos have a fairly thick beam compared to pretty much any other brand and are very nice wrenches. They do gain weight because of this when they go up in size. Williams does make a polished wrench as well, last I knew. Neither is to be confused with their import lines which are likely the same as Blue point.

 

[NinnyCTSV]

These are the sk made craftman pros I’m referring to. I can’t say enough about them. That’s why I’m stuck on sk if I do go USA made. I’ve used Williams in the past and they tend to spread on the open end.

 

[plinker]

Yep those are S-K for sure. I'd say go for it if they're what you like.

 

[Fedwrench]

The Craftsman pro wrenches pictured above are actually the second generation of those wrenches. They had a short lifespan at Sears.

The first generation were smooth panels just like SK aside from the Craftsman name.

I much prefer the third generation made by Armstrong.

There were several threads here a year or so ago about the inconsistent quality of the Gearwrench large wrench sets. I think it might have been in the hot deals section. Someone at the time was offering a buy one get one special wherein when you bought the metric set you got the sae set free. There were reports of wavy wrenches, bent wrenches, poor chrome finish, and fitment issues. I don't know if it was a bad lot or just poor quality control.

I haven't seen a williams supercombo open end spread. They're pretty good wrenches so, i'm surprised.

You've pretty much eliminated most of the US brands from your list aside from SK. I think you should look at Williams supercombos at toolsdelivered.com

 

[M6erfan]

Williams USA Supercombos are some of the most comfortable wrenches I've handled. Just get them...

 

[NinnyCTSV]

The Craftsman pro wrenches pictured above are actually the second generation of those wrenches. They had a short lifespan at Sears.

The first generation were smooth panels just like SK aside from the Craftsman name.

I had the metric and SAE set I picked up from a swapmeet. The original receipt was dated 99 shoved in 1 of the boxes. I’m sure the thread is somewhere on here, just too lazy to dig it up haha. New, unopened, just full of surface rust that evap o rust cleaned up real nicely

There were several threads here a year or so ago about the inconsistent quality of the Gearwrench large wrench sets. I think it might have been in the hot deals section. Someone at the time was offering a buy one get one special wherein when you bought the metric set you got the sae set free. There were reports of wavy wrenches, bent wrenches, poor chrome finish, and fitment issues. I don't know if it was a bad lot or just poor quality control.

I haven't seen a williams supercombo open end spread. They're pretty good wrenches so, i'm surprised.

You've pretty much eliminated most of the US brands from your list aside from SK. I think you should look at Williams supercombos at toolsdelivered.com

I was actually concerned with the quality control. My only experience with gearwrench wrenches are their ratcheting stuff, however I recently had to warranty a Matco USA, pre Armstrong 11mm and received the new Chinese 1 just full of waves that were consistently spaced, almost like indented from possibly stretching the beam in manufacturing?

Armstrong are great as I love the Matco branded ones but the cost for a now defunct brand isn’t really worth it to me. About a year or so back prior to buying my bluepoint set I was shopping around for the super combo or Wright grips. Was able to get my hands on the Williams and was having a lot of issues with the open end either spreading or rounding out bolts. Still haven’t had my hands on the wrights and people seem to praise them. However I have seen side by sides with the snap-on and the beam seems to have that same dull knife edge that would surely drive me nuts digging into my hand day in-day out

 

[royesses]

The current SK long pattern wrenches look very similar to the craftsman pro you are talking about. I really like them. They are made for clearance in order to get into tight places that other wrenches may not be able to. They are comfortable in my hands and strong. A good choice to me. If you are going to purchase from the SK web site the following promo ends Friday 06/08/18. 40% off site wide.

Use promo code TOOLSOVERTIES at checkout no later than Friday June 8th to get your 40% off discount and to ensure delivery by Father’s Day.

Roy

 

[WWheeler]

I’m trying to decide what makes more sense. I’ve been eyeballing the sk long panel wrenches for a week or so as I’ve been wanting a quality USA set. I used to own the raised panel craftsman professional wrenches that were made by sk and if it wasn’t for the skipped sizes and not being able to complete the set, I’d still have them as they were hands down my favorite wrenches. I currently have the SAE and metric bluepoint sets and they’re nice wrenches, but not a huge fan of the feel. I prefer a thicker beam so not interested in the snap-on, mac/proto, or cornwell if I do go the USA route. However I just stumbled on the gearwrench 44 piece master wrench set and I’m kind of torn. I’ve never had my hands on the sk so I don’t know if I’ll even like them, and all the gearwrench stuff I’ve used in the past has always been great. The sizes are huge bonus as it goes up to 32mm and 1 1/2”, however made in China so kind of defeats the purpose of getting rid of the Chinese bluepoints for surely the same Chinese wrenches branded gearwrench instead

Please give me some direction haha

I've been using the 'made in China' 44pc GearWrench set for a year or so now, and my son uses a 24 pc 'made in Taiwan' set I tried to wear out from a couple years before that. I haven't had any problems with either, I've seen a plenty good and bad reviews on them so QC may well be hit & miss. Based on my experience with them I'd recommend them highly for DIY use and they're hard to beat for the ~$180 price, but if you can afford better by all means that's what you should do.

I will say this though, the Gearwrench are very similar sized all around to the Snap-on. They don't really have a 'thicker beam' so they may not be what you are after. Here's some pictures from a while back when I was picking on Craftsman's china-made full polish lobster claw wrenches that show them compared to Snap-on's...

5/8" wrench comparison
Craftsman China 45979 A-AE
GearWrench China 81658
Snap-On USA SOEX20

 

[rossomania]

If you do decide to buy SK, do it soon. You get 40% off your SK purchase from now to June 8th! Ryan has the product code and link to SK's Father's Day sale on his blog.

 

[NinnyCTSV]

Wow! I appreciate the pictures. I think I’m gonna go for the sk

 

[SRSemenza]

Williams USA Supercombos are some of the most comfortable wrenches I've handled. Just get them...

Yeah , totally agree with this. Real nice wrenches.

Just make sure you are looking at / getting the USA made SuperCombo. Williams has some others that are not USA and not the same wrenches as the SuperCombo.

Seth

 

[SRSemenza]

Also .................... I bought the Gearwrench 44pc set. Ended up returning it. Great range of sizes for the money but the set I got was terrible. Clunky in general, but more importantly - lots of bent wrenches, badly machined open ends, crooked ends, and one had an out of round box end (as in unusable out of round). Way to many wrenches with something wrong to deal with having GW replace them. Maybe they are not all that way. I have a good amount of other GW stuff that I like a lot. But not that 44pc set.

Seth

 

[pelletman]

These are the sk made craftman pros I’m referring to. I can’t say enough about them. That’s why I’m stuck on sk if I do go USA made. I’ve used Williams in the past and they tend to spread on the open end.

I like my Craftsman "professional" wrenches too.

 

[Mr_B]

SK or carlyle/channellock (same taiwan wrenches) are about 2 better options yet sensible prices for quality you get.
wrenches something need be choosy on and something gearwrench dispite their name are not that good at and even worse with current china sourced stock .
If you like SK, want usa and as got good pricing discount till tomorrow makes best choice from all angles really and you done your bit supporting what left of real usa tools ...

 

[powertrip]

Wright tools is another USA made brand.

http://www.wrighttool.com/pdfs/W'GripBrochure.pdf

 

[HondaCBMan]

SK or carlyle/channellock (same taiwan wrenches) are about 2 better options yet sensible prices for quality you get.
wrenches something need be choosy on and something gearwrench dispite their name are not that good at and even worse with current china sourced stock .
If you like SK, want usa and as got good pricing discount till tomorrow makes best choice from all angles really and you done your bit supporting what left of real usa tools ...

Those Channellock wrenches are very underappreciated. Price has increased, at one point they were cheaper than Tekton wrenches.

I also agree with not going to Gearwrench for wrenches.

 

[Mr_B]

^
Yeh the channellock was a complete steal .
I not that keen on the tekton wrenches, they better than most low cost but still far from worthwhile for anyone doing serious wrench work or wanting decades of use .

 

[jsmeece]

Some Gearwrench wrenches have problems but not ALL of them. If you can see and handle the wrenches before you buy then you can pick out a good set.

I have several Gearwrench sets, long pattern combo, ratcheting, flex head ratcheting, reversible ratcheting, stubby, stubby ratcheting, and xl ratcheting and have not seen any of the issues people keep commenting on, so I guess I got lucky.

 

[Davefr]

You might want to include CM Industrial full polish in your search unless you care about warranty. They're made in the USA and had a pretty short run before Sear's threw in the towel on the Industrial brand.

They're "tool truck" quality. Look for some NOS on Ebay.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/NOS-Crafts...616996&hash=item2aaa138871:g:064AAOSw4WRbB4l-

 

[NinnyCTSV]

So I ended up going with the sk 86017 long pattern SAE set to try out before picking up the metric set.

I’d actually love to try out the wrightgrips as everything I’ve seen on them has been praise. However no one near me stocks them. That and side by side with snap on, the beam profile is virtually the same, and for me I hate the feel

 

[SRSemenza]

Some Gearwrench wrenches have problems but not ALL of them. If you can see and handle the wrenches before you buy then you can pick out a good set.

I have several Gearwrench sets, long pattern combo, ratcheting, flex head ratcheting, reversible ratcheting, stubby, stubby ratcheting, and xl ratcheting and have not seen any of the issues people keep commenting on, so I guess I got lucky.

Or I may have been unlucky. Hard to know.

In the end I am glad I ended up returning them because I bought the Williams and am really happy with them. I did wait for a good sale price on them though.

Seth

 

[jsmeece]

Seth
I think it may be new batches that are having issues, maybe China made also. I bought a few separate large comb wrenches (Taiwan made) and the fit and finish on them were outstanding better than the finished on the wrenches that come in sets, which were also Taiwan manufactured. Had one issues with a 7mm flex head ratcheting wrench (bad chrome flaking) and was able to exchange it for another one.

I to wait for sales, Advanced Auto, Amazon, Ebay, etc. I think I paid around $45 for a 18 piece metric comb wrench set in roll off ebay several years ago, could not be happier with that price for the quality. I am not a pro so I just cannot see spending a lot of money on wrenches that may only get used once a month.

 

[Zewnten]

I have a set of the gearwrench long pattern, the work well. Chrome and the steel in my set is tough but the jaw and box end fit is a bit sloppy so if I'm on a cheap bolt sometimes I have to swap use a metric on sae or vis-versa.

But I have proto wrenches now and they all have thicker beams than my gearwrenchs.

 

[SRSemenza]

Seth
I think it may be new batches that are having issues, maybe China made also. I bought a few separate large comb wrenches (Taiwan made) and the fit and finish on them were outstanding better than the finished on the wrenches that come in sets, which were also Taiwan manufactured. Had one issues with a 7mm flex head ratcheting wrench (bad chrome flaking) and was able to exchange it for another one.

I to wait for sales, Advanced Auto, Amazon, Ebay, etc. I think I paid around $45 for a 18 piece metric comb wrench set in roll off ebay several years ago, could not be happier with that price for the quality. I am not a pro so I just cannot see spending a lot of money on wrenches that may only get used once a month.

Could be. And I will note the set that I had was China not Taiwan.

Seth

 

[WWheeler]

Both my yr-old China made 44pc gearwrench set and the older Taiwan 24pc set have been flawless for us in fit and finish. Certainly nothing bent or didn't fit a fastener right. They don't just get used by me but also my son, nephew and a few other guys who work for us and they have held up great. I personally couldn't be happier with them.

In fact, when the $50 I've accumulated so far in ebay bucks code comes up at the end of this month I'm going to pull the trigger on the 28pc Gearwrench 81923 6-point set that runs about $80.

 

[jsmeece]

Nice, Gearwrench 81923 6-point set, I have those on my buy list too, currently have the 6 point Craftsmans set, was think of upgrading...if one would call that upgrading.

 

[jsmeece]

WWhleer check out this thread
https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=392764

Never mind ended yesterday, sorry.

 

[WWheeler]

WWhleer check out this thread
https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=392764

Never mind ended yesterday, sorry.

Haha, I just tried it. I was definitely going to pull the trigger for 20% off.

 

[kythri]

Another upvote for the GearWrench 81919 44-piece set.

I honestly don't know if my set is Taiwanese or Chinese, I just know that it's every bit as good or better than my Armstrong/Craftsman Pros (which have never let me down, either).

 

[SRSemenza]

Sounds like a I had received a lemon set, or second, or one that had been already gone through for swap outs or something.


Seth

 

[WWheeler]

Sounds like a I had received a lemon set, or second, or one that had been already gone through for swap outs or something.


Seth

I've definitely seen other reviews on Amazon, including some with images showing similar issues to yours, so it's a pretty safe bet GW has some quality control issues with these wrenches. I've been lucky so far I guess, though I did get a bad GW ratcheting wrench once, was locked up and wouldn't spin at all, that I took into Carquest (same as Advance) and they exchanged it for me. I've also seen some reviews where people thought the 'Surface Drive Plus' open end was poorly machined when, in fact, they are that way by design (similar to WrightGrips, or Snap-on's 'Flank Drive Plus' I think they call it) and it works very well.

Still, barring something wrong with them right out of the box, these are a nice set that's really hard to compete with for the price.

 

[Yarpo]

I have this set and certainly had had no issues either. Chrome is outstanding and no bent wrenches. I'm not for or against the design/feature they added to the open end however as it seems like it gets lost on the smaller sizes anyway. Used the wrenches quite a bit at this point, no rounded fasteners or messed up knuckles

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000NICG9M/?tag=atomicindus08-20

 

[Wamsutta]

My advice at great risk:

Start buying Snap-on wrenches one at a time. I had forgotten how perfect they are until I went to Sears today and stopped by the wrench aisle. Those Chinese made full polished wrenches have so many errors that they are just simply pathetic. And it gets increasingly apparent when looking at the smaller size wrenches like 16mm and below.

 

[xin]

My advice at great risk:

Start buying Snap-on wrenches one at a time. I had forgotten how perfect they are until I went to Sears today and stopped by the wrench aisle. Those Chinese made full polished wrenches have so many errors that they are just simply pathetic. And it gets increasingly apparent when looking at the smaller size wrenches like 16mm and below.

I got the Snapon flank drive quite some years ago, still work great today. Wondering if the Craftsman will be brought back to the USA?

 

[Wamsutta]

I got the Snapon flank drive quite some years ago, still work great today. Wondering if the Craftsman will be brought back to the USA?

At the prices Sears is selling them for, it won't matter. It takes money to make quality. I'd rather see a poorly made wrench made in China than a poorly made wrench stamped USA.

 

[Tonyuk]

I dont have any SK or Gearwrench spanners to compare them to, however my extra long set of Toptul spanners are excellent, some of the best i've used and were only about £60 for the set delivered;

https://www.airsupplies.co.uk/redas...=ddb05e1f7ddd7571f5700170760ee60d&fo_s=gplauk

Gedore make a very good XL series of spanners, however there more like snap-on standard length. Great fit and finish, very thin box end. Mine still look like new after a wipe with oil. I have a Hazet long 13, and again its good but i'm not sure if they do a set or what sizes they sell long spanners in. Stahwille also make a long pattern which has a deep-ish offset box end, they're meant to be excellent and a person at work uses them, i'll need to borrow a few for a try today.

Found them;

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B014R5RSOE/?tag=atomicindustr-21

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/STAHLWIL...e=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649

 

[earlthegoat2]

Williams USA Supercombos are some of the most comfortable wrenches I've handled. Just get them...

If it is a thick beam you want then this is the best advice.

I really like the Armstrong CM Pro/Industrials. The SuperCombos are shorter but are more comfortable.

 

[Tennessee Cattleman]

Proto has a heavy beam on their combos and their standard pattern length falls in between SK's standard and long pattern.

 

[kythri]

If it is a thick beam you want then this is the best advice.

I really like the Armstrong CM Pro/Industrials. The SuperCombos are shorter but are more comfortable.

How much shorter? Anyone got a comparison photo?