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Snapon tool quality control declining?
- Thread starter 777mech
- Start date
MaverickDMD
Well-known member
re: new !/2 SO ratchet: It's the S80A which quickly replaced the S80. The S80 cover plate bolts came from the bottom and were bolted into the casting of the ratchet body (like the F80). Apparently there were a lot of failures due to stripped bolt holes so to end the onslaught of warranty issues, Snap On redesigned the S80 to the S80A, the current version, where the cover plate bolts are now entered from the face of the ratchet head and terminate in threaded holes in the cover plate. This design is similar to all SO ratchets prior to the newer dual 80 design. Here if a bolt hole is stripped only the cover plate needs replacement, not the entire ratchet.
Last edited:
Loscaldazar
Well-known member
- Joined
- Feb 23, 2013
- Messages
- 2,385
^ The S80s were also blowing their guts out under repeated high torque loads (had this happen a few times to my SL80, Snap On replaced it with a SL80A). Moving the screws solved that problem for reason probably only the engineers know. That was the main reason for the redesign. If it was just stripped threads, they would redesign the 3/8 and 1/4 drive ratchets too.
toolenthusiast
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jan 21, 2017
- Messages
- 723
Snap On is smarter than that. The warranty cost is built into the original price. They can sell tools at 50% to tech students and still make a profit, so for those of us paying full price, we're practically paying for them to make a second tool already.
Do you really think they are making money at a 50% discount? SNA's 2015 numbers show a gross profit margin of almost 50% (including their lucrative financing operations), and only a 14% net margin for the business. The numbers for 2014 were similar. The numbers for 2013 and 2012 were worse.
I think it's much more likely that promotional discounts to tech school students are just that: promotional! They're a loss leader, intended to get kids "hooked" on Snap-On tools and Snap-On culture. Those discounted hardline tools will be paid for many times over when the same guy is financing a scantool at 25% APR a few years down the road.
The loss leader is quite a common business practice, so much so that I can name quite a few even if I restrict myself to automobiles. There have been widely-reported stories of compact cars being sold at a loss in order to introduce young buyers to the brand (sound familiar?). Some dealerships will order 1 base-model car and advertise it below invoice, but you'll find when you arrive that the unit in question has been sold and only its better-optioned brethren remain on the lot. Oil changes are offered for $10 in hopes of an upsell found during the multi-point inspection. Alignments are under-billed at $49.95 because they usually uncover suspension issues.
Let's all dismiss this notion that tools can be made in America, to exacting specifications, with a lifetime warranty, on the cheap.
bixxjs
Well-known member
I've bought plenty of Snapon tools off eBay,I had my dealer warranty them if I had any issues with them.Guarranteed for life...
I have had a bunch of defects.
Some are funny, a philips driver with 1/4 square to fit one of the handles. It took a year to get one to fit. the 1/4 square was good the diameter was to big to allow the driver to sit and set in handle. We ordered it 4 times before it was good, kept sending it back.
I joke with my driver if it going to get messed up it will be my order.
A few times he has special ordered stuff for me and once in a while it goes to a wrong address in Hempstead which he never had anything to do with, only my stuff.
There not perfect but I have had no problems with resolution with my current dealer.
He has even taken discontinued tools that I had picked up on ebay which I had duplicates of because he did have some warranty demands for them.
Some are funny, a philips driver with 1/4 square to fit one of the handles. It took a year to get one to fit. the 1/4 square was good the diameter was to big to allow the driver to sit and set in handle. We ordered it 4 times before it was good, kept sending it back.
I joke with my driver if it going to get messed up it will be my order.
A few times he has special ordered stuff for me and once in a while it goes to a wrong address in Hempstead which he never had anything to do with, only my stuff.
There not perfect but I have had no problems with resolution with my current dealer.
He has even taken discontinued tools that I had picked up on ebay which I had duplicates of because he did have some warranty demands for them.
MaverickDMD
Well-known member
Let's all dismiss this notion that tools can be made in America, to exacting specifications, with a lifetime warranty, on the cheap.
This has to be the best summation I've read here yet!