If you read between the lines from what Malco has said, there are not enough sales to keep the place going full time. Which makes sense because the market for $45+ locking pliers is very limited with all the import brands that have flooded the market in the $10-15 range. I'd bet that Snap On sells the majority of what Malco makes because besides the people on this forum that bought the Malco version (not SO), I'm sure very, very.... few people knew this product even existed. And if they knew it existed, they'd buy the Irwin, Milwaukee, Bremen, Tekton.... version for 20% of the Malco price. The only way I can see the Malco locking pliers staying in production is if SO buys the factory and moves some of its existing plier production, or some other items there. So they run the Malco/SO locking pliers part time, the other SO items the other part of the time- with the same workforce. But the odds are probably against this because locking pliers are probably .01% of SO's sales and they can always go back to Grip On and not worry about managing another manufacturing facility.
Malco Eagle Grip pliers
- Thread starter Kscardsfan
- Start date
If you read between the lines from what Malco has said, there are not enough sales to keep the place going full time. Which makes sense because the market for $45+ locking pliers is very limited with all the import brands that have flooded the market in the $10-15 range. I'd bet that Snap On sells the majority of what Malco makes because besides the people on this forum that bought the Malco version (not SO), I'm sure very, very.... few people knew this product even existed. And if they knew it existed, they'd buy the Irwin, Milwaukee, Bremen, Tekton.... version for 20% of the Malco price. The only way I can see the Malco locking pliers staying in production is if SO buys the factory and moves some of its existing plier production, or some other items there. So they run the Malco/SO locking pliers part time, the other SO items the other part of the time- with the same workforce. But the odds are probably against this because locking pliers are probably .01% of SO's sales and they can always go back to Grip On and not worry about managing another manufacturing facility.
Farmall450
Well-known member
Guilty
toolman0217
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jun 11, 2011
- Messages
- 128
I just found out about the slim jaw version in another garage journal thread this past week. I went on and purchased the 7” and 10” before they sold out. They are very nice locking pliers and will be handy to have.
I am saving them as toys. This ***** a lot
anndel
Well-known member
I bought the 10" and 7" curved jaw versions when it first came out. I use them everyday along with the Petersen's I bought from Ebay and yard sales. I bought the Malco's to help support them, hoping they would stay in business and not buy chinese Milwaukees, Irvins and others.
Ohh, I just noticed the slim Jaw on Amazon. I have the 10” curved already. I think I’ll get the 7” slim.
Malco would have to sell its interest at a loss, but a return on some of the investment is better than $0.
I think there’s an opportunity there, but the price point is steep. Knipex pricing would attract more buyers for sure.
Malco would have to sell its interest at a loss, but a return on some of the investment is better than $0.
I think there’s an opportunity there, but the price point is steep. Knipex pricing would attract more buyers for sure.
If they did not meet the requirements for earning the subsidies, then they (Malco) will have to pay back to the local entities who were helping pay.
That's a big liability on top of operating at a loss and trying to fund PR/marketing.
As for Amazon, any US-based manufacturers are surrounded or overpowered by Amazon propping up the Asian manufacturers. Even when you search for US-made. Unless you bid top dollar, Amazon will put your product below cheap trash.
That's a big liability on top of operating at a loss and trying to fund PR/marketing.
As for Amazon, any US-based manufacturers are surrounded or overpowered by Amazon propping up the Asian manufacturers. Even when you search for US-made. Unless you bid top dollar, Amazon will put your product below cheap trash.
RichieP_MechE
Well-known member
Looks like the contents of the Eagle Grip factory are going to be auctioned off at the end of May:
www.hollandindustrialgroup.com
Malco — Holland Industrial Group
www.hollandindustrialgroup.com
Odd-job
Well-known member
in.... anyone have a garage big enough?
The ironworker at the end of the photos has a tag “SK asset 2446”… not sure that can get anything other than a wry grin…
What a shame....Looks like the contents of the Eagle Grip factory are going to be auctioned off at the end of May:
Malco — Holland Industrial Group
scooby074
Well-known member
Stuff looks pretty new. I thought they were using old junk from the VG plant. Makes it even more curious that they stopped production because youd think the new tooling would be more efficientLooks like the contents of the Eagle Grip factory are going to be auctioned off at the end of May:
Malco — Holland Industrial Group
General Geoff
Well-known member
Yeah it was advertised as a brand new, state of the art facility just housed in the old VG building(s). That's why the Eagle Grip pliers themselves are second to none in quality; all the tooling to make them was fresh.
vssjim
ALLIANCE MEMBER
the building was empty when they got it the old machines had been shipped to china
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dnschmidt
Well-known member
The problem clearly wasn't in the manufacturing execution. It was in the belief that you could sell a pair of Vice Grips for $50 to normal people.
American Locomotive
Well-known member
Some of the stuff is pretty new. A lot of the secondary/finishing stuff (like heat treatment, etc...) seems new. Some of the presses seem very old, and some of those CNC machining centers are rather ancient.
I'm not saying a brand new stamping press would make a better product - but I'm not so sure I'd call that assembly line state-of-the-art.
Ton ton
Well-known member
Keystone air power has the malco eagle grips listed in their catalog. Hopefully they are able to keep them in stock for awhile. $46.99 for the 10". $49.99 for 7". Myerstown,PA.
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82355
Well-known member
They are still available on Amazon.
Martin
Martin
Y00PER
Well-known member
I think even worse was them not being available in stores. How many people that don't follow tool forums/groups knew they even existed? Tough to sell to people things they don't know exist. I personally was waiting for them to show up in one of my local hardware stores to buy some.
Exactly
dnschmidt
Well-known member
Malco, has no history of mass market retail sales so why would they suddenly know how to do this with vice grips. They make great aviation snips, in my opinion even better than Midwest Snips, which are absolutely pro grade. Have you ever seen Malco aviation snips in the wild? Unless you're in the world of HVAC, their core market, they are not a well known company. They make great tools for tin benders but that's a very limited market. They make a cool segmented shapeable block sander for automotive bodywork. I've got them and think they're great but I believe that I'm the only one on Earth that knows about them. Just the wrong company to try to make this work as they absolutely have no mass marketing experience.
Wyoming09
Well-known member
HJE still has a few in stock.
I dont understand why soo many people seem to have an issue with vice-grips.
All but the cheapest sets have worked fine for me over the years, with the ones from Milwaukee being the best purely for the large adjustor.
The Milwaukee's aren't in any worse shape than my grip-on's made in Spain.
I can have a pair of grip-ons delivered for less than £20, and a pair of Milwaukee's for less than £16.
Or a pair of made in Germany Knipex for less than £27.
$80 for a pair of basic locking pliers is nuts.
All but the cheapest sets have worked fine for me over the years, with the ones from Milwaukee being the best purely for the large adjustor.
The Milwaukee's aren't in any worse shape than my grip-on's made in Spain.
I can have a pair of grip-ons delivered for less than £20, and a pair of Milwaukee's for less than £16.
Or a pair of made in Germany Knipex for less than £27.
$80 for a pair of basic locking pliers is nuts.
American Locomotive
Well-known member
For normal use, any pair of locking pliers will work. If you just need to hold or clamp something, it's fine.
The difference shows itself when you're dealing with extremes. Like trying to remove a snapped off stud out of an exhaust manifold, or holding onto rusty 1" nut with a big impact gun on the other side.
The difference shows itself when you're dealing with extremes. Like trying to remove a snapped off stud out of an exhaust manifold, or holding onto rusty 1" nut with a big impact gun on the other side.
Wakefield
Well-known member
I suspect that the texture surface and teeth on the jaws of the high end such as the Eagle Grip are more durable and wear resistant than on the cheap ones
forged and/or heat treated on the jaw inserts as opposed to cast?
forged and/or heat treated on the jaw inserts as opposed to cast?
I was replacing the sway bar end links on my Subaru last weekend and used the 10" slim jaw Eagle Grips. Those end links are the type with an internal hex in the stud, so you're supposed to use a hex key to keep it from spinning as you back off the nut.
The trouble is the end of the stud gets all rusty, so you back the nut off a few turns and then it seizes on the rusty threads and the hex key strips out. Enter slim jaw Eagle Grips. The jaws were just narrow enough to slip behind the nut and lock onto the stud. They didn't slip at all while an impact backed the nut off the rest of the way (which came off piping hot, btw).
Very impressed, so I got a few more:
The trouble is the end of the stud gets all rusty, so you back the nut off a few turns and then it seizes on the rusty threads and the hex key strips out. Enter slim jaw Eagle Grips. The jaws were just narrow enough to slip behind the nut and lock onto the stud. They didn't slip at all while an impact backed the nut off the rest of the way (which came off piping hot, btw).
Very impressed, so I got a few more:
finn
Well-known member
Doesn’t really matter, does it? The asking price didn’t match the perceived quality, and the market for the product for what they had to charge ended up being too tiny to support the venture.
The consumer has spoken once again.
The consumer has spoken once again.
neophyte
Well-known member
Not completely.
It usually takes a certain amount of time for a consumer to become aware of a product.
Then a certain amount of extra time for the consumer to actually handle the product, or see it, or get enough feedback thru reviews or from people who have used the product, before the consumer might consider purchasing the product.
Then enough consumers might need to purchase the product for the product to be considered an actually viable commercial product with sales to back up the opinion.
Then, you need purchasers to continue recommending the product, with consistent sales over time, to determine that the product is not a passing fad with pumped up marketing, that will fail as soon as the marketing push or initial enthusiasm has faded.
I presume actually judging market desirability of a product, brand, and quality could easily take a decade to determine a successful product line.
The Malco Eagle Grip pliers barely wound up widely in the hands of users before Malco threw in the towel.
The original Petersen Vise-Grips gained a reputation for quality over decades, that even managed to survive Newell’s actions to debase the quality.
The introduction of the Eagle Grip and it’s discontinuation was a quicker blip than the Microsoft Windows Phone, and the tech world usually moves way quicker than the hand tool world.
The Knipex Plier Wrench meanwhile was introduced in the mid 1990s and probably took a decade or more before anyone not looking thru every page of a large industrial tool catalog like MSC even noticed the Plier Wrench.
AmericanMechanic
Well-known member
- Joined
- Dec 30, 2014
- Messages
- 404
I was replacing the sway bar end links on my Subaru last weekend and used the 10" slim jaw Eagle Grips. Those end links are the type with an internal hex in the stud, so you're supposed to use a hex key to keep it from spinning as you back off the nut.
The trouble is the end of the stud gets all rusty, so you back the nut off a few turns and then it seizes on the rusty threads and the hex key strips out. Enter slim jaw Eagle Grips. The jaws were just narrow enough to slip behind the nut and lock onto the stud. They didn't slip at all while an impact backed the nut off the rest of the way (which came off piping hot, btw).
Very impressed, so I got a few more:
What is a slim jaw eagle grip?
Why not clean the threads of the stud to avoid such severe binding?
bubinga
Well-known member
They should use a castle nut on those instead of those darn nylock nuts or the other type of lock nut
That's just like when tyrod ends have those lock nuts on them I can't stand those things a lot of times they start spinning.
It's okay if you got an impact, you can usually wrap it back on and then zip it off with the impact, but if a guy don't have impacts then you're in trouble. 20 minutes job turns into an all day affair just because they had to use them stupid lock nuts. JMO.
finn
Well-known member
The point is, very few people really GAF about locking plier quality one way or another. If it works, and is inexpensive, that’s ok.
Only people on this forum get excited at something as generic and common as a set of locking pliers.
Slim jaw model is on the bottom:
Yes, cleaning the stud helps. I think that getting the nut started with a wrench and then running it off the rest of the way with an impact backed up by a good pair of vise grips is faster and easier. Keep in mind this is a car that's been through ~10 New England winters.
bubinga
Well-known member
LP10WS man, those look like they could come in handy!Slim jaw model is on the bottom:
Yes, cleaning the stud helps. I think that getting the nut started with a wrench and then running it off the rest of the way with an impact backed up by a good pair of vise grips is faster and easier. Keep in mind this is a car that's been through ~10 New England winters.
bubinga
Well-known member
IDK lots of people buy Snap On instead of a $10.00 socket set at TSC.
No-body thinks that is crazy.
No-body thinks that is crazy.
finn
Well-known member
I know several hundred people with locking pliers.
One of those likely has a Snap On.
The rest don’t GAF. Most probably don’t even know what brand they have, or where to by SnapOn.
What most here don’t understand is that tools and brands aren’t important to most people.
Look outside of your immediate circle. It’s a big world