SK vs Armstrong vs Wright Combination Wrenches

[bob15]

Yes I second Williams Supercombo's

I would skip the Williams. I found the 3/8, 7/16 & 1/2 open ends spread too easily, and including the 9/16, the finish flakes off too easily. Maybe they've improved since my were made (mine are the first year made), but I found a used Snappy FD+ set for almost the same amount and found they gripped better and the chrome didn't flake off.

To the OP, I like Wright and SK. As to which one, i would say, find a local dealer and go with them. OR go with the cheaper of the two, then down the road when a second set is needed, buy the other brand.

bob

 

[JerseyBoatBuilder]

I would skip the Williams. I found the 3/8, 7/16 & 1/2 open ends spread too easily, and including the 9/16, the finish flakes off too easily. Maybe they've improved since my were made (mine are the first year made), but I found a used Snappy FD+ set for almost the same amount and found they gripped better and the chrome didn't flake off.

To the OP, I like Wright and SK. As to which one, i would say, find a local dealer and go with them. OR go with the cheaper of the two, then down the road when a second set is needed, buy the other brand.

bob

I have 3 sets of Super Combo's Sae & mm they with stand the same abuse as my FD Plus's.
I actually sold my Snap On's to a coworker to fund my 3rd set's of Super Combo's
Other than beam thickness and name on the wrenches I saw no difference in performance.
I just prefer the thicker beam on the Williams.

Never seen an open end spread and never had a problem with the finish and I use them around salt and brackish water daily.

 

[DMAR]

Same here, I've got a set of metric Williams Supercombos and have not had any problems with them, they are really nice wrenches. I love the beam thickness, length, and the fit and finish is excellent. I also have flank drive Snap On's, and they are great too...

I also agree that the Wrights are also a good choice, and decent price.

 

[Gregg33]

Have you thought of used SO? I find of all the brands I have, the box ends of the SO combos can get into tighter areas best. I also have alot of Gray's that work good too, but being in the U.S., they might not be a realistic option.

 

[BullfrogJohnson]

I would skip the Williams. I found the 3/8, 7/16 & 1/2 open ends spread too easily, and including the 9/16, the finish flakes off too easily. Maybe they've improved since my were made (mine are the first year made), but I found a used Snappy FD+ set for almost the same amount and found they gripped better and the chrome didn't flake off.

To the OP, I like Wright and SK. As to which one, i would say, find a local dealer and go with them. OR go with the cheaper of the two, then down the road when a second set is needed, buy the other brand.

bob

Funny you bring that up about the supercombo's. I have metric & sae and the smaller ones spread open really bad. Mine are almost 6 years old.

 

[Farmall450]

Have you thought of used SO? I find of all the brands I have, the box ends of the SO combos can get into tighter areas best. I also have alot of Gray's that work good too, but being in the U.S., they might not be a realistic option.

Some, but isn't it still going to be 150+ for a used set?

 

[JerseyBoatBuilder]

Considering you're age why spend money and change what you have now when you already have it and it works for you..
If you are missing sizes buy singles to fill in the gap's of what you have now then use the money you saved on other things you need.


There is plenty of time in you're future to get better stuff especially if you stick with the mechanical trade and go to school which would allow you to get student discounts on tools and ect..

 

[pipsters]

I bought a 6-32mm set of SK wrenches for $50 locally. I sold them, and kept my Craftsman Industrials. In truth even the Craftsman RPs were better. The SK wrenches, while almost perfectly finished, flexed open at a lower torque than my Craftsman Industrial and Raised Panel wrenches. They were also very short.

Honestly, had I not picked up the Industrial wrenches on sale @ Sears Outlet, I would have kept my Craftsman RPs. They are fine, good wrenches. I do agree with the polished being more comfortable, yes they are nice, but at full retail are they worth it? I rarely use regular wrenches, I mostly use my Gearwrenches if I need to use a wrench. I recently swapped the ****** on my car and only used wrenches to back up impacts, and I could've used a breaker bar w/ socket on it for that.

So much emphasis is put on wrenches and ratchets on here. I just don't get it. Me personally I hardly use wrenches and use a 1/4" air ratchet 90% of the time to zip stuff off. Although that will change now that I have a 1/4" impact driver, probably use that more.

 

[ChevyEFI]

Wright combination wrenches come in both full polish and satin finishes. You also may or may not see them advertised as "Wright Grip" but if you buy from anyone who sells enough of them to not have any old stock around, you will get the Wright Grip wrenches.

Is the vee at the base of the open end an indicator of whether the wrench has the Wright Grip? I want the rounded open end but I don't want WG.

 

[Conductor562]

I'm just glad to see a 14 year old boy who has such an interest in tools as opposed to dope and Video games.

 

[Farmall450]

I'm just glad to see a 14 year old boy who has such an interest in tools as opposed to dope and Video games.

Thanks! Well we collect antique tractors and engines and both my father and grandfather are/were AMT's at United so it's just natural I guess.

 

[cgv69]

So much emphasis is put on wrenches and ratchets on here. I just don't get it. Me personally I hardly use wrenches and use a 1/4" air ratchet 90% of the time to zip stuff off. Although that will change now that I have a 1/4" impact driver, probably use that more.

I don't agree with you on the ratchet thing (not all of us have air) but I do mostly agree with the wrench thing. I guess it depends on what you do and how you like to do it but my wrenches are not used near as much as my sockets\ratchets are. That said, there are times when nothing else will do and when I do need to one, I want to use a good one. The CM RP's are a great bang for the buck but I just don't care for them. They are too short and uncomfortable IMO.

 

[byoungblood]

Is the vee at the base of the open end an indicator of whether the wrench has the Wright Grip? I want the rounded open end but I don't want WG.

They will have "Wright Grip" stamped on them where the Wright logo normally is, plus they do have a little more material added that does give them a little more of a "vee". But I have noticed that even in Wright's own catalog that they haven't changed the pictures, so they all still look like the old style wrenches.

Unless you can find old stock, Wright does not make any of their combination wrenches without Wright Grip until you get above 1-1/4". Their double open ended wrenches are still plain if you need them for something that isn't going to mar the fastener. I can tell where I have used the open end of my Wright Grip combos and had to apply more than a marginal amount of torque.

 

[Farmall450]

I don't agree with you on the ratchet thing (not all of us have air) but I do mostly agree with the wrench thing. I guess it depends on what you do and how you like to do it but my wrenches are not used near as much as my sockets\ratchets are. That said, there are times when nothing else will do and when I do need to one, I want to use a good one. The CM RP's are a great bang for the buck but I just don't care for them. They are too short and uncomfortable IMO.

I guess I tend to use ratchets more, but often with a wrench holding the other end.

 

[Pumpman1968]

Keep in mind that by buying Williams....and Blue Point for that mater, you are getting Snap On quality......without the tool truck price. My local "tool truck" guy is about as worthless as **** on a teddybear but keep in mind that I'm sure there are guys out there that are worth every extra penny you spend.

 

[Conductor562]

A good set of combos are worth their price. You may not use them as much as your sockets or you may use them more, but either way, when you go to use them you want a good one. How many busted knuckles does it take to justify that extra $100? When I smash my fingers I tend to yell obscenities. Looking at it that way, my Proto ASD's just might save my immortal soul.

 

[kippieland]

I'm with Pipster (except the ratchet part) and CGV69 on this. I don't use my wrenches very often at all. I use my ratchet 90% of the time and use ratcheting wrenches for the rest. I use them so little, that I bought a set of KT pro (good Taiwan wrenches) instead of the above brands....I do have a Long pattern SK (standards are stupid small) 14mm and a Williams SuperTorque 17mm that I got off of Ebay since I use those size a lot. The quality of the two is much better then the KT pro but I couldn't spend that much for something I don't use very often. RP's are good as well. I like the idea of filling up gaps and buying what I am going to use verses a set when it comes to something like this. Either way the three you mentioned are good products IMO.

 

[SMKS]

Raised panel wrenches are fine. Keep them for now. Upgrading at your age and budget won't be worthwhile. You may want nicer wrenches, we all understand that. But you likely won't see a performance difference in your application.

I also don't really like fully polished wrenches that much anymore. I have had fully polished sets. They look nice, but I don't like it when they get scratched up. Since I buy my wrenches to use, satin finish is fine for me.

 

[Farmall450]

I guess Satin's good in that respect...do the Black Oxide rust bad? They wouldn't be left out, and wiped down if they got dirty/wet.

 

[Hiball]

Is the vee at the base of the open end an indicator of whether the wrench has the Wright Grip? I want the rounded open end but I don't want WG.

The V open end style will not have "Wright Grip", those are older wrenches, but amazingly you can still find NOS sets on ebay occasionally. There are still a lot of the Newer style (round) wrench sets on the market without wright grip. Harry epsteins is a great supplier of wright tools and can answer any questions you might have, jsackin is a member here and works at epsteins.

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/member.php?u=4392

 

[ChevyEFI]

Thanks for the feedback on wright-grip, youngblood & hiball.

 

[Conductor562]

I guess Satin's good in that respect...do the Black Oxide rust bad? They wouldn't be left out, and wiped down if they got dirty/wet.

My black Proto set (Pre-ASD) have never had any rust issues. I take good care of them though.

 

[Farmall450]

My uncle's a carpenter not a mechanic...but does some stuff and has some Black Oxide Husky sets, which he's never had a problem with. So I should be fine.

 

[BullfrogJohnson]

Took some comparison pics of snappy vs williams vs wright

 

[JerseyBoatBuilder]

The Snap On is a Long wrench if was a standard length wrench it would be the same exact length as the Williams

 

[BullfrogJohnson]

The Snap On is a Long wrench if was a standard length wrench it would be the same exact length as the Williams

The snap on is an extra long.

 

[byoungblood]

Wright calls theirs "long pattern" but in reality, they are usually about .5-.75" longer than a comparable RP wrench of the same size. I have a couple of FD+ wrenches sitting around and the Wrights are about the same length shorter than those. So they are about halfway between a Craftsman RP and a SO standard length FD+ if someone was curious.

 

[winlinmac]

I recently acquired an SK Metric Set and just today, came across a great deal on a set of Wright Grip's. I'm kinda' stuck now, and unsure what to do from here-on. Should I just return the SK and buy the Wright set (metric) instead?

 

[theoldwizard1]

I recently acquired an SK Metric Set and just today, came across a great deal on a set of Wright Grip's. I'm kinda' stuck now, and unsure what to do from here-on. Should I just return the SK and buy the Wright set (metric) instead?

If you can return them, yes. If I were buying new today and had the extra coin, I would go with Wright Grip.

 

[winlinmac]

If you can return them, yes. If I were buying new today and had the extra coin, I would go with Wright Grip.

Thanks, I also noticed the SK's to be a tad smaller length-wise than the Tekton, is this inherit by design? How does the Wright compare in size (length)?

 

[Bruce57]

Between home and work I use Snap-on, Matco, and Armstrong. I like the Armstrong and find them comparable to the Matco. I picked up the Armstrong from eBay and got very reasonable prices on like-new sets.

 

[Fedwrench]

Thanks, I also noticed the SK's to be a tad smaller length-wise than the Tekton, is this inherit by design? How does the Wright compare in size (length)?

You must have purchased standard length SK wrenches. They run a little shorter than other brands. If your Tekton wrenches are the full polished ones that come in a rack, not a roll. & are made in Taiwan, Tekton considers those longer wrenches without being long pattern.

If you want SK wrenches, I would stick to their long pattern versions.

 

[winlinmac]

You must have purchased standard length SK wrenches. They run a little shorter than other brands. If your Tekton wrenches are the full polished ones that come in a rack, not a roll. & are made in Taiwan, Tekton considers those longer wrenches without being long pattern.



If you want SK wrenches, I would stick to their long pattern versions.

Thanks, I wasn't aware of that, does this mean the wright wrenches are similar in length to the Tektons?

Also, based on the following thread ( http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=140314&page=2 ), the Wright Grips are also shorter than the Tekton's. Seems like SK and Wright consider standard length as "slightly short" if I'm not mistaken

 

[Fedwrench]

Thanks, I wasn't aware of that, does this mean the wright wrenches are similar in length to the Tektons?

Below is a picture of a Tekton Taiwan made 14mm wrench compared to a Wrightgrip 14mm wrench.
The Tekton comes in at approx 7.5 inches long overall whereas, the Wrightgrip 14mm wrench measures approx 7 15/16 inches long which are both shorter than a Proto, Gearwrench (non ratcheting), snap on, and others).

There are a zillion wrench threads here besides this resurrected dead one discussing wrenches. Which is about how many different attributes each wrench brand has depending on its user. Most brands have decent online catalogs that you can compare lengths and other features. Good luck in your quest.

 

[winlinmac]

Thanks, I'm going to have to check out the other Brands as well. The Tekton Wrench Sets do not progress steadily from the smallest to largest sizes in their 15-Piece Sets (as seen in RealToolReviews), rather irregular as it seems.

Lately, I've been having more luck with Proto over SK and Wright.

 

[Parabellum]

Wright Grips

 

[winlinmac]

I'm siding with Wright Grips on this one. I couldn't withstand seeing the 14mm SK Wrench being an inch smaller than my Tekton 14mm.

 

[jobo1004]

I recently acquired an SK Metric Set and just today, came across a great deal on a set of Wright Grip's. I'm kinda' stuck now, and unsure what to do from here-on. Should I just return the SK and buy the Wright set (metric) instead?

How about some pics of the SK set. Everyone likes seeing new tools.

 

[winlinmac]

How about some pics of the SK set. Everyone likes seeing new tools.

They were used, will post pictures comparing the SK and the Tekton

The Wright Grip is apparently a tad bit longer than the Tekton

 

[winlinmac]

Here's the comparison, the 14mm is in a not so satisfying cosmetic condition by the way, was purchased used