Mickey O
Well-known member
US made Armstrong (I have them, they're fine), Craftsman (On sale now at Sears) and S-K, if you got the money US made Snap On (bonus flank drive).
Recommend me some ratcheting wrenches
- Thread starter TheGrooveking
- Start date
The SK SureGrip wrench racks seem to be a pretty good deal, as is the Cyclone 1200KIT blow gun kit. The SK wrench racks appear to be very similar to the Ernst Grippers, and are low cost, making them good for padding out an order.
Yes, I just replied to my own post
Mickey O
Well-known member
The SK SureGrip wrench racks seem to be a pretty good deal, as is the Cyclone 1200KIT blow gun kit. The SK wrench racks appear to be very similar to the Ernst Grippers, and are low cost, making them good for padding out an order.
Yes, I just replied to my own post
Those SK wrench racks are really reasonably priced but I haven't found many places that have them in stock (maybe because recent events at S-K), they have like 1 or 2 of a couple of sizes, if anyone knows who has a lot of them please post a link, I wand to get a whole bunch of different sizes.
chadster1
Well-known member
I think I am going to buy some of those to resell on my truck. That is a deal!
I agree, it was by far the cheapest I have found them and have been looking for a long time. Now if I can just find a 13 piece sae set ( 9509 ) for around the same price......
Scooterfish
Well-known member
I just called on the SK racks, they are not available.
Maybe next month
Maybe next monthsjt78
Well-known member
http://www.sjdiscounttools.com/kdt9620pro.html looks like the same set as at toolrage...maybe the same company?
I just called on the SK racks, they are not available.
Where did you call? Toolrage claims that they had most of them in stock. They had all of the SureGrips, in fact, except for the 15 wrench, and a couple of the non-SureGrips.
Scooterfish
Well-known member
I called the 800 # from the link above and the girl told me to call their PA (state) office at 856-652-2548. These are drop shipped from the mfg. He told me someone just placed an online order and they were going to let them know they are not available
Scooterfish
Well-known member
Scottmlew, Let us know if you find out differently
rjohnson
Well-known member
I agree 100%. Plus if you break one, you'll send you a new one, free of charge, without you sending in the old one. I had a defective nutdriver shaft they did this for. Surprisingly nice tools.
Bart Simpson
Well-known member
They can afford to with that dirt cheap Chinese labor.
Detroit has 50 % unemployment right now.
I dont think even used USA made Ratcheting wrenches can come anywhere close to those China ones in price
bry@n
Well-known member
I have the Snap On ratcheting wrenches and they are great.
I also have the Matco dbl box ratcheting wrenches in the cart and I like them alot. They get used more than the snappy's.
I also have the Matco dbl box ratcheting wrenches in the cart and I like them alot. They get used more than the snappy's.
Scottmlew, Let us know if you find out differently
I now have all 6 of the SK wrench racks I order in hand! They came from 2 different warehouses, which leads me to believe that their stock may be low (or perhaps gone). Anyone interested in them should probably call ToolRage directly to find out what is physically available.
Scooterfish
Well-known member
Great, what colors did you get? I was told blue has carry handle, black no handle and green is for stubbie wrenches. What is the length and slots on the ones you got. Thanks
Jared
Well-known member
I bought the 11 peice set from williams because they are reversable.
arkangel06
Banned
Great, what colors did you get? I was told blue has carry handle, black no handle and green is for stubbie wrenches. What is the length and slots on the ones you got. Thanks
I have one black and the rest are green. The black has no handle and no "grippers"; the green do have grippers and are of varied capacity. None of my new SKs are for stubbies. The green models have virtually identical dimensions as their Ernst counterparts; I do not have an Ernst that is equivalent to the black one (nor do I believe one exists -- I believe the largest Ernst rack holds 15 wrenches).
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benjamming
Well-known member
So made in USA ratcheting wrenches include SO linked above, Armstrong, Craftsman linked above, Wright?, SK? Any others?
Mine finally showed up a couple days ago as well. Took a little longer than I was expecting, but still a heck of a deal.
tonydanzah
Well-known member
wave of the future
i've used "junk" older bulky flip-over ratchet wrenches and reversible blackhawk. i bought a set of Gearwrench reversible on sale...$39.95 - haven't used them yet, as funds haven't allowed for next project to get started, but they seem to be pretty nice - idk if i'm crazy about the cap-stop head, but i can also see where it could maybe come in handy
quattrojon
Well-known member
These are my favourite ratcheting wrenches by far. I sell three times as many Gearwrench brand ratcheting wrenches though.
Mickey O
Well-known member
Pic of an Armstrong:
CamarosRus
Well-known member
Any news on when GEARWRENCH is bringing the rachet box/std box, same size to market ????????????
Mickey O
Well-known member
superautobacs
Well-known member
Wright only has laminated versions.
SK's lineup consists of two Taiwanese OEMs.
Even though SO and Armstrong wrenches say USA, the internals are still imported. I have no reason to think differently about the Craftsmans as well.
The one thing I don't like about the GearWrench and many other ratcheting wrench OEMs is the backlash. Wrenches made by Kabo, another Taiwanese OEM, have the least amount of backlash. That could equate to a difference between having enough swing arc that'll engage that next tooth, or not.
I'm not so sure I buy this statement. How have they gotten away with stamping USA on these wrenches for the past ten years if they are not "100% Made in USA, from forge to finish" like their marketing materials claim? You don't think another tool company would have called them out on this by now if it was BS?
Vinko
Well-known member
What's your source for your claim that Armstrong's have imported internal parts? And what year did this start?
benjamming
Well-known member
Can someone explain this to me please?
quattrojon
Well-known member
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superautobacs
Well-known member
Looks like I sparked you guy's to respond to my statement, and I was expecting someone would.
I guess I could've typed "I think" to start that sentence, but that may not have gotten the same type of response.
I have no source that explicitly states that; purely based on speculation--speculation that's based on what I've read over the year. SO, it's unfounded.
I did some more searching around and I've sided with your opinion, BB26; how could those companies, including Matco, with their earlier (USA) ratcheting wrenches, be able to market them as they have.
We know that Danaher Tool Group is accountable for producing some/all hand tools for Craftsman, Armstrong, Matco, KD, and GearWrench's lineup. Of these brands, GearWrench is marketed to be the go-to brand for ratcheting wrenches and it was logical for me to think that those same 72-tooth ratcheting mechanisms that are produced at either their Lea Way factory (Taiwan) or their branch factory, SATA (China), would also be the same ones used for the rest of Danaher's brands.
That was just an assumption. I never bothered to look into what some of the patents that Craftsman wrenches had were about--again, I assumed it was something to do with the shape of the wrench (cross beam type), for example. Here are some facts though: Easco Hand Tools, which is still alive and well today (I thought they were defunct except for their name), has quite a few patents on ratcheting mechanisms. One of their more recent patents, pertaining to ratcheting wrenches, was issued in Jan. 15th, 2008--not very long ago. Looking further, there's this patent which goes to show that Easco holds a patent on a version of their own modern ratcheting wrench. This Craftsman low profile ratchet, also with the Easco name, is basically a ratcheting wrench with a square drive (except it's not a 72-tooth. Same one is offered at Matco:
I had always thought all patents pertaining to modern ratcheting wrenches were covered by the so-called "father" of ratcheting wrenches: Bobby Hu--a Taiwanese. I was wrong; Easco has their own innovations, and they showcase it on the Sears tool aisles. You'd think that Armstrong would have more ratcheting wrench varieties, but I guess innovative tools are introduced under the Craftsman name first?
In any case, I'm more satisfied now to think that they are indeed manufactured in the USA.
Snap-on? I don't think so.
I guess I could've typed "I think" to start that sentence, but that may not have gotten the same type of response.
I have no source that explicitly states that; purely based on speculation--speculation that's based on what I've read over the year. SO, it's unfounded.
I did some more searching around and I've sided with your opinion, BB26; how could those companies, including Matco, with their earlier (USA) ratcheting wrenches, be able to market them as they have.
We know that Danaher Tool Group is accountable for producing some/all hand tools for Craftsman, Armstrong, Matco, KD, and GearWrench's lineup. Of these brands, GearWrench is marketed to be the go-to brand for ratcheting wrenches and it was logical for me to think that those same 72-tooth ratcheting mechanisms that are produced at either their Lea Way factory (Taiwan) or their branch factory, SATA (China), would also be the same ones used for the rest of Danaher's brands.
That was just an assumption. I never bothered to look into what some of the patents that Craftsman wrenches had were about--again, I assumed it was something to do with the shape of the wrench (cross beam type), for example. Here are some facts though: Easco Hand Tools, which is still alive and well today (I thought they were defunct except for their name), has quite a few patents on ratcheting mechanisms. One of their more recent patents, pertaining to ratcheting wrenches, was issued in Jan. 15th, 2008--not very long ago. Looking further, there's this patent which goes to show that Easco holds a patent on a version of their own modern ratcheting wrench. This Craftsman low profile ratchet, also with the Easco name, is basically a ratcheting wrench with a square drive (except it's not a 72-tooth. Same one is offered at Matco:
I had always thought all patents pertaining to modern ratcheting wrenches were covered by the so-called "father" of ratcheting wrenches: Bobby Hu--a Taiwanese. I was wrong; Easco has their own innovations, and they showcase it on the Sears tool aisles. You'd think that Armstrong would have more ratcheting wrench varieties, but I guess innovative tools are introduced under the Craftsman name first?
In any case, I'm more satisfied now to think that they are indeed manufactured in the USA.
Snap-on? I don't think so.
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Isn't backlash just a function of the number of teeth? As long as the mechanism uses a toothed gear, is there any way to reduce backlash other than increasing the number of teeth?
superautobacs
Well-known member
I'm no engineer so I may not have used that term correctly, but I've seen it used within the context of ratcheting mechanisms.
From my understanding, a mechanism with little backlash will engage the gears seamlessly, with little to no play in the forward and reversing motion of every successive ratcheting action. Conversely, a mechanism with lots of backlash results in a larger swing arc before engaging the next gear tooth.
You can easily simulate this with your own wrenches at home. Look to see how much "free-swing" there is before you engage that next gear. I find that every brand out there that I've touched (Lea Way/SATA (GearWrench), Easco Craftsman, Hi-Five (Stanley family), Infar (HF), Chang Loon (Princess Auto), RareStar (Gray/Princess Auto) has more backlash than a product that was manufactured by Kabo (escpecially the non-reversible models).
I may be wrong, so please correct me if I am.
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