Sears Craftsman tools

[Mr.Nutcase]

I was going to buy a metric tap and die set, saw it was made in china........, did not buy it...., saw their pro wrenches , bought the metric long set for 66 bucks...

 

[muskaman67]

nice. im thinking about picking up a set of their wrenches as well. what sizes does it include?

 

[JWink]

I was thinking about picking up a set but everyone I talk to keeps pointing me in the direction of Snap On

 

[muskaman67]

I was thinking about picking up a set but everyone I talk to keeps pointing me in the direction of Snap On

why is that? i hear that the cman pros are very close in the feel of snap on and just as comfortable. and a whole lot CHEAPER.

 

[JWink]

I personaly like the craftsman pros and had planned on buying them. Then I started talking to some of the guys in the shop I work in and they all told me I should buy the snap ons. And since I the snap on student discout it might be worth the extra cash if they are better.

 

[rsanter]

I personaly like the craftsman pros and had planned on buying them. Then I started talking to some of the guys in the shop I work in and they all told me I should buy the snap ons. And since I the snap on student discout it might be worth the extra cash if they are better.

snap on at half price
do it

bob

 

[KraftwerkMk1Jetta]

i plan on purchasing the Cman pro's while they're on sale for 69.99. My old man has a set, and I always liked them, the chrome has held up good on his set, and overall I think the quality is nice.

 

[Hiball]

snap on at half price
do it

bob

more like 1/4 the price, Lol

 

[adam728]

I personaly like the craftsman pros and had planned on buying them. Then I started talking to some of the guys in the shop I work in and they all told me I should buy the snap ons. And since I the snap on student discout it might be worth the extra cash if they are better.

I've never really understood the Snap On die-hards. I wrenched in 2 different shops through college. In shop #1 everyone was a Snap On fanatic. If it didn't say "Snap On" on the tool, it was garbage. I got ripped on for haveing Craftsman boxes and tools (many of which were older than me and came from my father and grandfather). Guys that couldn't pay their rent or child support had no issues with going deeper and deeper in debt with the Snap On truck every Tuesday. I know one guy owed Snap On more than he'd make in about 7 months time.

Anyway, the other shop everyone was all about using whatever was cheap, but not ****. Everyone had a mix of tools, mostly Craftsman and stuff from Car Quest / Napa. No ubber cheap flea market stuff, but defintely no Snap On, Matco, etc for hand tools (air guns, on the other hand, were all Snap On).

Don't get me wrong, Snap On is nice stuff. I just am a little too frugal. Heck, I once bought a set of long combo Stanley wrenches that I needed for 1 day of work while on the road. 5 years later and I'm still using them in my track/trail dirt bike tool box.

 

[Tool Pants]

This was reported on the Craftsman message board some time ago by Adam the ratchet guru. Adam is now in sales and stocks the shelves. He works at my local Sears. I was there about 2 weeks ago. The Klein stuff was gone - replaced by Greenle. Did not see a single Greenle tool that was not imported.

Sears is changing under Lampert. I will bet someday the names Craftsman, Diehard, Kenmore, and so on will be sold off or licensed.

In the meantime, I will continue to buy old stuff at the flea market and ebay.

 

[Old Donn]

nice. im thinking about picking up a set of their wrenches as well. what sizes does it include?

7mm thru 19mm, including a 16mm which most sets omit these days.

 

[Mr.Nutcase]

The box ends are 29 bucks, I paid 43 a few years ago..... damn, I going get the SAE and midget wrenches, damn....... adiction.... I have snap on coming in soon.

 

[Mike83]

I like the C-man pros but I have had chrome issues with several of the wrenches. For the relatively little use I give them they flake too easily imo.

 

[Mr.Nutcase]

I gave the boxend some hell while in school..... crome is still good on some

 

[HandyManny]

I've never really understood the Snap On die-hards. I wrenched in 2 different shops through college. In shop #1 everyone was a Snap On fanatic. If it didn't say "Snap On" on the tool, it was garbage. I got ripped on for haveing Craftsman boxes and tools (many of which were older than me and came from my father and grandfather). Guys that couldn't pay their rent or child support had no issues with going deeper and deeper in debt with the Snap On truck every Tuesday. I know one guy owed Snap On more than he'd make in about 7 months time.

Anyway, the other shop everyone was all about using whatever was cheap, but not ****. Everyone had a mix of tools, mostly Craftsman and stuff from Car Quest / Napa. No ubber cheap flea market stuff, but defintely no Snap On, Matco, etc for hand tools (air guns, on the other hand, were all Snap On).

Don't get me wrong, Snap On is nice stuff. I just am a little too frugal. Heck, I once bought a set of long combo Stanley wrenches that I needed for 1 day of work while on the road. 5 years later and I'm still using them in my track/trail dirt bike tool box.

When I come across someone who is that fanatical about a brand I often wonder if that person places just as much emphisis on the quality and skill of his own work, or if he is just only focused on his tool brand. Some of the best, most skilled, and most competent mechanics I knew were guys who knew how to use their tools to do a job right. Sure they owned various brands of good tools, but never got hung up on any particular brand, and you never heard them dropping a name or bragging about a particular brand. They knew what worked for them and then turned around and placed more emphisis on the job at hand. As it should be.

 

[APEowner]

My problem with Craftsman is that their quality is all over the place and when you do need to warranty something you may get junk as a replacement. At one time my favorite 3/8 drive ratchet was a Craftsman but when I went to get it repaired parts were no longer available for that model and the replacement was total junk.

I have tools from Snap-On, Mac, Craftsman, Matco, Williams and others and over the 30+ years that I've been using them Snap-On is the only one that has consistently maintained their quality and had someone (or someplace) in the area that would provide warranty support.

 

[xroad]

When I come across someone who is that fanatical about a brand I often wonder if that person places just as much emphisis on the quality and skill of his own work, or if he is just only focused on his tool brand. Some of the best, most skilled, and most competent mechanics I knew were guys who knew how to use their tools to do a job right. Sure they owned various brands of good tools, but never got hung up on any particular brand, and you never heard them dropping a name or bragging about a particular brand. They knew what worked for them and then turned around and placed more emphisis on the job at hand. As it should be.

I met a few along the way that border line being the Taliban of tool brand ownership.

 

[Mr.Nutcase]

Found thw metric tapand die set, made in USA... got for 88 bucks with the craftsman club...
I hate stuff made in china. that just wrong..... they charging 100 bucks for china ****, they should lower the price..

 

[WSMC633]

My CMan Metric Tap and Die Set is USA made....... Of course it's probably 25-30 yrs old. But it's still in great shape. Just used it on Sat. in Fact. It's a very nice set in my opinion. Maybe I'm just not very hard on 'em.

 

[Major Ramifications]

This was reported on the Craftsman message board some time ago by Adam the ratchet guru. Adam is now in sales and stocks the shelves. He works at my local Sears. I was there about 2 weeks ago. The Klein stuff was gone - replaced by Greenle. Did not see a single Greenle tool that was not imported.

Sears is changing under Lampert. I will bet someday the names Craftsman, Diehard, Kenmore, and so on will be sold off or licensed.

In the meantime, I will continue to buy old stuff at the flea market and ebay.

Wow, Adam works at your Sears store. I wish he worked at the one near me. I am actually kind of surprised that he is still with Sears, as he is very outspoken.

 

[supertooljunkie]

I have Snap-on metric combo wrenches and I love them. Those stay in the shop. I bought a set of the Craftsman Pro metrics to take on service calls. They are high quality have good hand feel and the set was on sale $79-80. I bought the sizes loose to fill in what was not in the set. Still much cheaper than the Snap-ons I bought 20 years ago. They are much better than the standard Cman raised panel wrenches. After 30 yrars I have some of all the brands, high$$ and cheap. For the $ the C-Pros are nice tools.

 

[supertooljunkie]

This was reported on the Craftsman message board some time ago by Adam the ratchet guru. Adam is now in sales and stocks the shelves. He works at my local Sears. I was there about 2 weeks ago. The Klein stuff was gone - replaced by Greenle. Did not see a single Greenle tool that was not imported.

Sears is changing under Lampert. I will bet someday the names Craftsman, Diehard, Kenmore, and so on will be sold off or licensed.

In the meantime, I will continue to buy old stuff at the flea market and ebay.

I believe Snap on bought Klein several years ago. Klein was listed in a Snap on Industrial catalog I had a couple of years ago. It is just not Sears that is getting rid of Klien. Most of the electrical supply houses I have been in from GA to TX are taking them off the shelves. The counter guys say the nut drivers round out or split much easier, the screwdriver tips break. The worst thing they complain about is Klein will not warrenty the broken tools anymore. They had so many complaints it was easier to replace with made overseas Greenlee than fight with Klein.

 

[Merkava_4]

Most of the electrical supply houses I have been in from GA to TX are taking them off the shelves. The counter guys say the nut drivers round out or split much easier, the screwdriver tips break. The worst thing they complain about is Klein will not warranty the broken tools anymore. They had so many complaints it was easier to replace with made overseas Greenlee than fight with Klein.

I find that disturbing.

 

[dngrmse]

This was reported on the Craftsman message board some time ago by Adam the ratchet guru. Adam is now in sales and stocks the shelves. He works at my local Sears. I was there about 2 weeks ago. The Klein stuff was gone - replaced by Greenle. Did not see a single Greenle tool that was not imported.

Sears is changing under Lampert. I will bet someday the names Craftsman, Diehard, Kenmore, and so on will be sold off or licensed.

In the meantime, I will continue to buy old stuff at the flea market and ebay.

Came across your quote while researching Greenlee. Only took about 8 yrs, but you called it!