Remember these late 1980s Craftsman sockets?

[Djosbun]

Surprisingly I still have a few left. The most used sizes eventually had the plastic ("will not roll away from you when dropped") eventually crack enough where it fell off. Actually broke one of these once (these are 1/2" drive) removing a transmission crossmember. Sears replaced it!

Wasn't one of Craftsman's better ideas. The plastic collar is nicer than plastic encountered today.

-- Dave

 

[Slinger646]

Part of their stainless lime and quite rare, today.

 

[Djosbun]

Really? They are stainless steel? I was not aware.

-- Dave

 

[m151]

the sockets were not, but the ratchets were.

 

[ransil]

I have a set. Bout the only ones I can read the size on easily.

Sent from my SM-G960U1 using Tapatalk

 

[1Garageman]

wow, I have never seen those before. Thanks for sharing!

 

[Djosbun]

That is the best thing about these sockets: they are super easy to read. The one in the picture has the most wear on the size 'window' which is pretty astounding as they have been laying in the socket draw since 1988 or 1989. I never had them on an organizer. Seems to be a type of rubber that covers the size. The other four are in better shape.

-- Dave

 

[BlackLS2]

I still have a short and long set of those. My rubber held up well. The problem I had is the little insert that displays the size pops out, and gets lost. I liked the sockets as some were fairly thin walled compared to others I had. I took to cutting the rubber off...

 

[bonneyman]

Ha, I just found a single shallow socket with the collar on it like this at a pawn shop. Was 1/4" drive 1/4" 6 point. I snagged it because I thought the plastic collar would help me spin it in a restricted area instead of slipping over the chrome. I didn't know it was from the 80's

 

[malibu101]

Yes, they were part of the sets that featured the stainless ratchets.
I have a set of 1/2" drive SAE sockets that I cut the plastic rings off of. You can still see the discoloration on some. They are stamped as normal under those rings. I'll try to remember to take a pic tonight.

I have the 1/2" ratchet but seldom use it. I left the 3/8" ratchet in a junkyard MANY years ago and still miss it.

 

[malibu101]

Notice the black leftovers on the short sockets, that's from cutting off the plastic.
I didn't even remember I had an extension too.

 

[Jason280]

Neat, never seen those before!

 

[Djosbun]

Notice the black leftovers on the short sockets, that's from cutting off the plastic.
I didn't even remember I had an extension too.

Very cool!!

-- Dave

 

[John in OH]

Nope, never saw them before! Very interesting!

 

[John in OH]

I have a set. Bout the only ones I can read the size on easily.

Sent from my SM-G960U1 using Tapatalk

For ease of reading, take a look at the current Wright sockets ... really nice BIG numbers!

 

[DFB]

Have a couple spark plug sockets like that with the black band seemed neat at first but turned out pretty useless as there were many places they didn't fit

 

[Farmall450]

Yup. Dad has a set, plus all the rats. Pretty desirable online.

 

[outofbounds]

Neat, never seen those before!

Wow, I never saw those either.......Oh, wait, you guys are talking about socket sets. Never Mind.