hangfirew8
Well-known member
Deep broached 3/8" CR-Mo SAE Deep Impact Sockets?
I've been working on my vehicles a lot more lately, and noticed two things. First, my ratchets (air or manual), electric or air impact wrench are usually in a tight spot with the back against something, thanks to tighter and tighter auto packaging. Second, I keep finding the shallow broached "deep" sockets in my tool sets to be totally useless on automobiles.
I noticed this first with my chrome 3/8" SK chome shallow broach "deep" sockets and two water pumps. I have to work around an obstruction in front of the ratchet handle and something (fan, shock tower) right behind the head. The only alternative to a true deep-well is using none, extra-short, and very short extensions on a shallow socket, not a lot of fun when you can just slip a true deep-well on there and then go at it. I had to go dig up my backup Craftsman sockets to get those jobs done. Now the Craftsman's are up front and the SK's are in the junk drawer and will probably go on eBay soon.
Then it was shock absorbers, you know the drill where the top shaft spins as you try to wrench tighten a nut on it. My old IR air ratchet has enough impact to it that it can spin a nut on, but on my 4x4 there's just enough room above the shaft to get a ratchet in there, and that's about it. I couldn't fit a 1/2" deep impact socket+1/2-3/8 adapter+ratchet in there, so I ended up using a short impact socket to start, followed by abusing a deep-broached chrome socket. I don't like doing that, using chrome sockets on an air tool, but I got the job done.
So I was shopping for onsie-twosies chrome sockets to replace some shallow broached "deep" sockets, and came across a US made 3/8 impact Kobalt by Wright sockets, not too tall, at my favorite candy store, Cripes. What's not to like? Should be a perfect match for my air ratchet. Well I got them and what do you know, shallow broached. I supposed they are just the thing for assembly lines putting nuts on studs, over and over again, on an assembly line with tons and tons of clearance above and below... useless to me.
So, question, US made 6-point 3/8" impact sockets with deep broaching, do they exist? If not I'll go Taiwan, maybe about Gray or Tekton, just not Cr-V, gotta be deep broached.
I've been working on my vehicles a lot more lately, and noticed two things. First, my ratchets (air or manual), electric or air impact wrench are usually in a tight spot with the back against something, thanks to tighter and tighter auto packaging. Second, I keep finding the shallow broached "deep" sockets in my tool sets to be totally useless on automobiles.
I noticed this first with my chrome 3/8" SK chome shallow broach "deep" sockets and two water pumps. I have to work around an obstruction in front of the ratchet handle and something (fan, shock tower) right behind the head. The only alternative to a true deep-well is using none, extra-short, and very short extensions on a shallow socket, not a lot of fun when you can just slip a true deep-well on there and then go at it. I had to go dig up my backup Craftsman sockets to get those jobs done. Now the Craftsman's are up front and the SK's are in the junk drawer and will probably go on eBay soon.
Then it was shock absorbers, you know the drill where the top shaft spins as you try to wrench tighten a nut on it. My old IR air ratchet has enough impact to it that it can spin a nut on, but on my 4x4 there's just enough room above the shaft to get a ratchet in there, and that's about it. I couldn't fit a 1/2" deep impact socket+1/2-3/8 adapter+ratchet in there, so I ended up using a short impact socket to start, followed by abusing a deep-broached chrome socket. I don't like doing that, using chrome sockets on an air tool, but I got the job done.
So I was shopping for onsie-twosies chrome sockets to replace some shallow broached "deep" sockets, and came across a US made 3/8 impact Kobalt by Wright sockets, not too tall, at my favorite candy store, Cripes. What's not to like? Should be a perfect match for my air ratchet. Well I got them and what do you know, shallow broached. I supposed they are just the thing for assembly lines putting nuts on studs, over and over again, on an assembly line with tons and tons of clearance above and below... useless to me.
So, question, US made 6-point 3/8" impact sockets with deep broaching, do they exist? If not I'll go Taiwan, maybe about Gray or Tekton, just not Cr-V, gotta be deep broached.
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