How often do you auto techs use angle wrenches?

[GoBlue]

Reason i ask is that a co worker of mine offered to sell me a set of like 30 wrenches 15 sae and 15 metric made by atd which i have never heard of. They look decent but i dont know how often i will use them. He wants $100 for all of them. What do you think?

 

[wornoutoldman]

I think you can buy them new for that price.

If you work on imports, euro or japanese they will get a workout.

 

[cowboy73]

ATD are imported and the $100 is about full retail. Angle wrenches are useful in certain tight spaces but everyday use would be minimal for most applications.

 

[curtrnev]

When you say angle wrenches do you mean something like this? http://buy1.snapon.com/catalog/item_Lg.asp?picFile=/48900/48883.JPG if so I used to use mine all the time doing a/c work

 

[GoBlue]

Yea...thats the style. Thanks for the update on price...ill see if he will go any lower. Are the ATD decent quality or are they ****?

 

[wreckercologist]

The ATD's are ok tools. That said, I don't own any but a former coworker had a set and they seemed ok.

I'm not sure what your average autotech would do with them most of the time, but I use them just about everyday on hydraulic fittings. They can also be useful on hard to reach fasteners, but are they useful enough to eat up space in your toolbox?

 

[SpiderGearsMan]

china dolls ..they sell them out of the newspapers at the parts store

 

[vssjim]

ATD is just a name for imported tool 100.00 for the set of those is way too high and to be strainght up on modern cars I use mine a few times a year. If you work on hydraulic powered stuff you use them every day.

 

[GoBlue]

Good point. My KRL is bursting from the seems already and i have never needed them yet! Besides, even if he goes down to $50...its no steel.

 

[ol'Red]

I use the 1 1/16 , 1 1/8, and 1 1/4 not becouse i need the angle but mine aren't as long and as heavy as my long combo wrenches, unless I need extra leverage. Most guys at work have them but some dont and I could get by without.

 

[diesel research]

I've never used them before, but definitely am thinking about a set for my hydraulic and pneumatic needs. Yes I have worked on both for years w/o them simply because I didn't know of them. Yes it would make line work quicker I think? Maybe I got away w/o using them because I used to use ratcheting line wrenches, I don't know.

 

[redwrench60]

I like angle, or four way wrenches as I've heard them called for tight or small swing areas. Can't get a wrench on that P/S line crammed in there due to positioning of the nut? An angle wrench will get at it, just keep flippin' it over till you get a bite. I've got them 10mm-22mm from Snap On, used the 18mm today on ball joint castle nuts.

 

[daveblank]

I have sold several of the ATD sets & no complaints yet.

 

[bob15]

I use mine all the time while working on diesel injection pumps. used to use them up to 1 1/4 when I worked on farm equipment.

The only ones worth a darn are Snappys. The Snap-On wrenches are the only ones to buy because their angles are 30° and 60°. Every other 4 angle wrench uses angles of 15° and 60°, so only half the wrench is being used. Most, if not all combo wrenches use 15° on their open end, so if you have a 4 way wrench with a 15° angle, its no different than a regular combo wrench.

I believe you should skip buying them and put the money towards a Snappy set, and e-bay is a good place to buy them.....

bob

 

[woody 73]

ATD like the others have told you already are made in china, the quality is not the best ; but it is also not the worst out there. At $100 dollars you would be paying retail not much of a deal coming from your friend.

 

[94yj]

not worth more than 50.00 in my opinion i would hold hot for some better wrenches

 

[ol'Red]

I guess the real question is have you ever needed them? I am an auto tech, and I like mine but they would be towards the end of my have to have wrench list. You can use a crows foot and a ratchet to achieve any angle and if the ratchet head is to bulky a pull handle and crows foot make a 90. That may not be ideal but I cant remember to many applications were I had to have one.

 

[The Dutchman]

cutrnev is right about the Snap On angle wrenches being great for AC fittings.

bob15 is right on the money regarding the redundancy of most brands of angle wrenches with their 15 by 60 degree configuration.

I can't afford Snappy in the really big sizes, but I have their angle wrenches in the common metric & inch based sizes. One of these tools that you wonder, Gee, is it really worth having, until the one time it saves the day on a miserable job, maybe like the power steering lines redwrench60 mentions. Then you're like, "SWEEEEEEEEEEEEET!!!!!!".

 

[xj31]

I have been a tech for 25 years. I don't own them and never even thought I might need them. In fact there are 15 techs where I work and I don't think anyone has them.But that doesn't mean you don't need them

 

[tyndall]

The Snap-On wrenches are the only ones to buy because their angles are 30° and 60°. Every other 4 angle wrench uses angles of 15° and 60°, so only half the wrench is being used.

Not true.

V8's angle wrenches are 30º and 60º as well, and for occasional use beats overpriced SO.

 

[crewchief888]

i think the only automotive uses i've ever run across were on PS hoses.

most of the time mine get used on hyd hoses & tubelines.
95% of my work is on const eq.

 

[Provincial]

I'm another one that can only remember using the offsets on hydraulics. I agree that the 30 and 60 degree heads are the useful angles. 15 degrees is already covered by the regular combination wrenches.

 

[Moose-LandTran]

If you work on imports, euro or japanese they will get a workout.

That's 90% of what i work on and i rarely use them.

 

[Fedwrench]

ATD= Advanced Tool Design. However, I always thought it meant Asian Tool Design. I picked up some used Mac large SAE versions in 1 1/16, 1 1/8, and 1 1/4. They're my go to wrenches for Air conditioning lines. I also have a smaller metric Snapon set that has flank drive plus open ends. A very nice set if you need to reach a strangly positioned fastener.

 

[KenC]

Not true.

V8's angle wrenches are 30º and 60º as well, and for occasional use beats overpriced SO.

I just picked up a set of V8s. Never seen them before but got a very good deal. But, I'm missing one size. Who sells that brand????

 

[retDAC]

Here's one source:

http://www.uniquetruck.com/p-7111-14-piece-angle-head-wrench-set-38in-1-14in.aspx

 

[MattPersman]

there are times when they save time. can you get by without them? sure, I have handed them to other techs before when I knew it would help and they ended up buying that size that saved them time. mine are snap on

 

[mayhemman]

for me although i only work on just my own cars, and not a pro tech for cars.

i will say once in awhile with various strange spots coulda come in handy. i work on small engine powered equipment day in and day out, and there has been times that they i wish i had a set at work for those tricky spots.

on one machine we had a powersteering hose that was loose and would have probally saved me from having to take the line all the way off and resealing it and then fighting to get it tight enough.

 

[Lugnut64052]

I worked on hydraulics for a while and used them frequently. After I got away from tow trucks, etc, I never used them again. Finally sold them back to the Snappy dealer.

 

[Adam McLaughlin]

I have the Snapster SAE and the Metric set. While I do agree that these things COULD come in handy in a tight spot......... they are really just in my tool box because " I didn't have these " at the time I saw them posted for sale.

Adam