Gearwrench tools

[shoggoth80]

" They are not the tool for a guy that makes a living turning wrenches, but you can't go wrong owning their products either. "
-Really? ****, don't tell my GW roto head how much money it's made me then. Or, that it's supposed to fall apart when I ream on it/cheater bar it. It's been going two years strong in daily fleet use/abuse. Shhhh... don't tell it that it can't do that sort of thing.

GearWrench as a whole is fine. Their ratchets are nice, and I like their sockets plenty enough. Their ratcheting wrenches are nice to have on hand. There is plenty of Gearwrench around where I work (funny, mostly wrenches...I've occasionally mentioned to the tool room that there is a Fastenal right across the street). I had to warranty my GW rotohead once. I stripped the guts on a severely rusted exhaust bolt. Probably should have jumped to 1/2" drive... but the replacement has been kicking *** since. I wish they made it longer though. My Snappy roto is almost a foot long. I like leverage, and I hate changing ratchets. Lol.

 

[Bennylava]

At the time there were two choices: Fuckemall or Sears.. & Sears didn't want to know as I hadn't bought it there.


GW told me to take it to Fuckemall... Haven't set foot in that store since then either.

I guess by fuckemall you mean fastenall?

 

[Jake C]

Thanks. Just wanted know if they were worth buying. My budget is...stretched out across time lol. Wanna get a good feel for decent quality inexpensive tools, so when I need a ratchet here, a socket there, then I have a brand I can trust. I'll be buying lots of random tools in the next year.

I run a decent amount of Gearwrench, love it so far and holds up very well in the professional world. If I understand it right, its pretty much all made by Danaher/Apex Tool Group which also makes Matco, Don't have a Snap On dealer in my area, but we do have a matco guy. I don't really see how anyone can justify spending that kind of money on Matco and Snap On when most people have a Napa near buy where you can buy Carlyle tools or say Gearwrench. Yes it's nice to buy USA made, but as a tech, we don't make millions, I can't buy tools like I am.

 

[ngk22r]

Gearwrench makes many fine tools, I have a decent amount of them and I honestly cannot complain about them.

 

[johndeereman]

I also run a decent amount of gearwrench in a pro commercial construction setting and can't complain nothing has broke yet.

 

[maxpower_hd]

I have two sets of the GW ratcheting wrenches, one at home and one at work. I like that they are thin and the ratchet works well but they don't take much abuse at all. In fact they fail if you put any real oomph into them at all. They do have their uses and fit in some places standard wrenches do not. I have noticed some inconsistency on the open ends as well. Some look perfectly machined while others have visible imperfections in them. They are a good second set of wrenches but are not my go to wrenches. I stick with my Armstrongs or Snap Ons for those.

 

[DBendr]

Dollar for dollar Gearwrench is fantastic stuff. Their ratchets are outstanding for the price.For any price. Especially the 2 and 3 piece sets.They're simply great.

I'll agree on the wrench comments. They're good but I'm a serious wrench guy."Good" isn't what I'm after when it's wrench, pliers or screwdriver time.
Gearwrench' Gear_Wrenches are OK and quite slick but I'm smart enough not to gorilla nut them. I have plenty of good wrenches to break things loose first.

 

[Kirbot]

The Taiwan Tekton non ratcheting combo wrenches are a great, budget substitute.
Way nicer than the Gearwrench ones.

 

[DBendr]

One thing about Tekton is whoever actually makes them has taken chrome to a new level.Still trips me out since I consider Wright the best chrome in the US and Tekton is R.F.T.

 

[Greg85mcss]

I've got a set of the basic ratcheting wrenches & 3/8 sockets that I use all day long. I've broken 2 sockets & the ratcheting mechanism on a wrench but the wrench was used to bleed brakes for about 3 years. I'm in the market for some top quality combo wrenches but couldn't be happier with the sockets.
Other people have mentioned the hf ratchets. I picked up a couple when My flf80 walked away. I like them a lot & still have them for backups but it really throws me off that the lever goes the opposite direction of most others. Slows me down but I might get the rest once my garage is built & I don't have to worry about taking my time


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[amolaver]

i've got a pretty large dollop of GW - probably 5 or 6 sets of wrenches (some ratchet, some not), a master set of 1/4 impact, and a probably a dozen ratchets. the ratchets are, IMO, excellent. the 60 tooth, the 120s, all have been used pretty hard and no failures (although i only have a couple of the 120's and probably for only a year or so). the 1/4 impact set has been great - 1/4 impact swivels are amazingly useful.

i have a small number of their chrome sockets. nothing to complain about IMO - they flat work. much better finish (at significantly higher price) are available with brands like wright/proto/williams but i doubt you'll find they'll do any job that the GW won't. don't exclude other imports like sunex and genius - they also make excellent, inexpensive sockets. that said...i don't buy (with rare exception - i'm looking at you koken, nepros, and true 'universal joint' style) chrome sockets anymore. i just buy the impacts. i find using impact tools, even on 1/4" stuff, much faster and easier. on 3/8 and 1/2 its a no-brainer. yes, chrome looks great and shiny in the box, but why buy the same socket twice. others will say the impacts are bigger and don't fit places. i took the time to measure and its basically BS. different brands of chrome/impact are slightly smaller/large (couple few thou in diameter) - not enough to make a difference.

the wrenches are a mixed bag. i only buy non-reversing ratcheting ones - the reversing mechanism SEEMS to be a common denominator for failure. i don't think i've had a single non-reversing wrench fail and i use the ratcheting end for everything i can. the open end on everything in the last few years has FD+ type teeth for much better bite, although i agree with previous posters that at least some (no rhyme or reason, not all of a set, just some) seem to have a looser fastener fit than i would like. i haven't had rounding issues, although i avoid open end use as much as possible. the FD+ style also can/will leave 'bite marks' on fasteners. its a side effect of the feature it seems - the SO do it, my wrightgrips do it, etc. something to be aware on if you're working on high finish work. for non-ratcheting wrenches, the wrights are w/o a doubt my favorite and i don't really like the GW. wright has way better feel to me than any brand and a finish to drool over. killer customer service too. probably my least favorite item on the GW menu. but ratcheting wrenches - yep, gearwrench all the way. extra long zero degree double box, yep. stubby flex head, damn straight. lockable flex head combos, on my wish list. i don't know of a better value for ratcheting wrenches.

GW has a huge breadth of tools these days - pliers, screwdrivers, etc - so its hard to paint the whole brand as good or bad. i'd say the vast majority are excellent value and good to very good tools. almost certainly not the best available in any particular type, but unlikely to be bad, and usually very reasonably priced.

ahm

 

[martin666]

Dont use ratcheting wrenches that much but I do have a few sets of the Gearwrench ones, no complaints. Also have some 1/4" drive socket sets, SAE impact swivels, SAE impact deep and SAE and metric chrome semi deep, the sockets I do use and they've held up great. Im a full time motorcycle mechanic so they get used, they've held up , and do what they're supposed too

 

[Kirbot]

One thing about Tekton is whoever actually makes them has taken chrome to a new level.Still trips me out since I consider Wright the best chrome in the US and Tekton is R.F.T.

I've never found any proof, but I would put money on them being re-branded Genius, for 1/2-2/3 the price.

They look absolutely identical.

 

[Hiball]

I have a ton of GW and I hope this discount code helps out with anyone who needs more of it....

store.apextoolgroup.com

Code: ACME4302

50% discount off all brands, not just Gearwrench. I've been loading up for years and just now feel like sharing the love. Hope it helps with some purchases!

Thanks for the Coupon code, Ill file it away for future price comparison shopping, but GW can normally be had for less than 50% of "Full retail".

 

[jerseykat1]

Looks like GearWrench came out with 120xp (120 teeth) flex head ratcheting wrenches. I have there 120xp ratchets and they are awesome. These look like a winner, the heads look smaller than the originals? Maybe? IDK. anybody own these?

 

[Bennylava]

Looks like GearWrench came out with 120xp (120 teeth) flex head ratcheting wrenches. I have there 120xp ratchets and they are awesome. These look like a winner, the heads look smaller than the originals? Maybe? IDK. anybody own these?

Maybe I'm wrong about the exact model, but aren't these the things that so many people around here seem to be in love with? Comparing them to snap on and saying that you really can't buy better?

 

[jerseykat1]

Maybe I'm wrong about the exact model, but aren't these the things that so many people around here seem to be in love with? Comparing them to snap on and saying that you really can't buy better?

They could be. But i dont remember seeing any threads about these wrenches.. Maybe people are comparing the 120xp ratchets to Snap on.. Lots of people here love the ratchets, myself included..

These wrenches must be somewhat new, I can't find any reviews on them. I will most certainly be reviewing them when I get a set.



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[stage20]

how did we go from gearwrench being made by mac to being made by snap on in just the first few posts. oh lord

 

[Greg85mcss]

Looks like the op realized the mistake & edited


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[Rossco]

Meh. I own a set of 'Signet' flexy gear wrenches I bought 12 year ago. Still Rockin & Rollin. The best wrench to extend in tight spaces.

Miles better than them ****-On / Blue point ratchet wrenches.

This is what 'Gear-Wrench' know for right?

 

[FigureItOut]

how did we go from gearwrench being made by mac to being made by snap on in just the first few posts. oh lord

I was the third or fourth reply, it originally said that SnapOn and Gearwrench were basically the same, both being made by Apex. I just sorta had to put that out there cuz my post looks odd there.

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[jerseykat1]

I have a set of these, absolutely inredible. the 120xp means I only have to turn 3% to engage the ratchet. The indexing head is even more incredible.

I ordered all of Gearwrench product from store.apextoolgroup.com using the 50% discount code, ACME4302. Enjoy! This thing is great. Lifetime warranty as well, that isn't advertised enough.

Awesome. I'll get me a set soon.

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