Thoughts on GearWrench 120XP's?

[Underground]

Anyone been using these things as daily drivers to see how they hold up over time?

I had to buy a 3/8 Pittsburg Professional Series long handle swivel. Locking extntion set. A pair of Sockets sets (Deep/shallow) and a few kinds of wrench sets.

Not thrilled. Was about to switch up jobs. And head back, to doing my thing in the garage.

Now im just Looking for a new box.....and tools.
Thank you so freaking much to the jack ace's that had a much merrier Easter than I. I guess the April fool was me....

On the bright side the mrs. Aint after me to fix the back door anymore. Mostly because it's just a peice of plywood now. But I miss a few things. Maybe I will talk more about this another time. Still kinda ******* me off to the point of wanting to punch the wall......but I wouldn't be able to "fix" that now would I.

 

[Citation]

Sorry to hear about the "missing" box. For what it's worth I prefer the single pawl Gearwrench ratchets to the XP120s. The single pawl has lower back drag and a lower profile head. I don't see much value in the extra tooth count. The Husky ratchets are basically the same things with a lower tooth count. Since I like the quick release the Husky tools get my nod. However, there is a good deal on GW stuff that comes with a good socket set floating and here.

 

[Wamsutta]

The first sentence in the opening post is the only one that makes sense to me. I can't make sense out of the rest of the post.

 

[shawndp]

I used Gearwrench 120 almost exclusively for almost 2 years and they function really well - mine were the all metal sort and flex head. If Apex wasn’t such a bunch of (insert your favourite expletive) I would still be using them. One of my colleagues has a long 3/8 soft grip as his primary. If ease of warranty is better in the US, then they are excellent daily drivers.

 

[Underground]

Lack of sleep,
sorry if first post is a little off. I was up all night long looking for good quality replacement tools.

But I am just now realizing this is going to be trickier than I even first anticipated.

From what I am seeing/reading the past 3 nights, Quality are at an all-time low's, with prices being at all time highs. W.T.F. craftsman made in china, Apex is been forced to stop giving us our good old usa sockets, snap-on's made in usa stamp missing probally beacuse 49% or less in made here. My local Sears and KMart closed this past year and we never had an ace hardware. so I couldn't even get China craftsman if I wanted too. However now I have some sockets I dont really trust. And I ratchet that looks like my old dual 80.

But it's not...

 

[Wamsutta]

You're opening a can of worms. First of all, stop associating Apex with Craftsman. Apex had nothing to do with Craftsman before the Danaher acquisition. And Snap-on makes all of their hard line tools including the F80 ratchet in the USA; Elizabethton Tennessee to be exact. I'll leave a link to the Apex catalog; there are no Craftsman tools in there.

https://www.apexfasteners.com/fasteners/images/ApexToolGroupCatalog.pdf

 

[Tonyuk]

My 84 tooth gearwrench flex heads are nice, i got them as part of a set.

 

[shawndp]

Lack of sleep,
sorry if first post is a little off. I was up all night long looking for good quality replacement tools.

But I am just now realizing this is going to be trickier than I even first anticipated.

From what I am seeing/reading the past 3 nights, Quality are at an all-time low's, with prices being at all time highs. W.T.F. craftsman made in china, Apex is been forced to stop giving us our good old usa sockets, snap-on's made in usa stamp missing probally beacuse 49% or less in made here. My local Sears and KMart closed this past year and we never had an ace hardware. so I couldn't even get China craftsman if I wanted too. However now I have some sockets I dont really trust. And I ratchet that looks like my old dual 80.

But it's not...

It doesn't have to be complicated. There are too many people on this board over-thinking aspects of wrenching that have little to no impact on getting the job done. The first question you have to ask is - do you want a quality tool at a decent price or do you want to get choked up on Country of Origin?

I work in a high volume environment and tools don't get much rest from my coworkers and I. It is wholly possible to service a $100,000 Mercedes or BMW with the cheapest possible Craftsman / Harbor Freight tools as it is to use Hazet (or SnapOn). The ratchets (and sockets) work - even the much maligned latest Chinese ones. My customers don't care what brand of tool I have used to get the job done, as long as it is done correctly.

Having said that, the 120XP represents a good medium in ratchets and aren't terribly expensive ($150 CAD for the 4 piece set) - so I fail to understand the "price at an all time high" comment. I've used some old coarse tooth US ratchets and they are absolutely inappropriate for modern automotive application (10 degree swing in a tight engine bay vs 3 degrees) - so that means buying new Dual 80 or Eighty8 ratchets, which are a touch more expensive than GW.

The bottom line is - are you using your tools for revenue service or as a hobby collecting them? If it is the first, buy the most efficient tool (the one that provides the best value). If that's GW ratchets and sockets or Tekton sockets, so be it. Happy wrenching!

 

[ocloc24]

Snap On has USA stamped on almost every single thing they sell.. on the ratchets they moved the USA stamp from the head to the handle, it was still made in the USA though, the myth that they were secretly making them overseas has been debunked thoroughly. They are overpriced, but they are def 95% USA Made outside of power tools.

 

[uncwstudent]

I don't use them every day but I really love the Gearwrench 84 tooth ratchets. I had a 120xp just to try but really didn't like the higher tooth count. The 84 tooth seems to be the nice medium and you can get them for great days at Advance Auto Parts or Amazon for pretty cheap. I've tried the Harbor Freight ratchets and they are okay but Gearwrench is FAR superior. I'd also look at your local pawn shops if you want some nicer Snap On/MAC/Matco stuff for decent prices. Personally, I've sold most of my Matco/Snap On/MAC ratchets because of the lack of warranty (I don't have a driver and I'm not a professional mechanic) and gone almost exclusively with Gearwrench and couldn't be happier.

 

[Mr_B]

84T is the ones to have, buy them as cheap as can in the sets, break them in for a month or 2 then open, clean and lube them well .
decent spec and sized ratchets that very usable .

 

[Elsinore13]

Anyone been using these things as daily drivers to see how they hold up over time?

I had to buy a 3/8 Pittsburg Professional Series long handle swivel. Locking extntion set. A pair of Sockets sets (Deep/shallow) and a few kinds of wrench sets.

Not thrilled. Was about to switch up jobs. And head back, to doing my thing in the garage.

Now im just Looking for a new box.....and tools.
Thank you so freaking much to the jack ace's that had a much merrier Easter than I. I guess the April fool was me....

On the bright side the mrs. Aint after me to fix the back door anymore. Mostly because it's just a peice of plywood now. But I miss a few things. Maybe I will talk more about this another time. Still kinda ******* me off to the point of wanting to punch the wall......but I wouldn't be able to "fix" that now would I.

Cryptic post is cryptic but it sounds as if you had a break in and some stuff stolen. Had that happen to me a time or twelve over the years and always *****.

Although I haven't had any 120 XP products, all of my Gearwrench wrenches have always performed flawless. I wouldn't hesitate to give any of their other products a try.

 

[2ndGearRubber]

I've always felt the 120xp is an inferior mechanism compared to the 84. Thicker head, higher backdrag. I took the 120s home and kept the 84s at work.

The 84s are dumb simple to swap the kits in, and the Armstrong and matco kits interchange. If you blow a snap ring off of a specialty style ratchet you have to keep up and running, it's easier and faster to fix it up.

 

[DadsTools]

I agree with what's being said about the Gearwrench 84 vs 120.

 

[customh]

I've been wondering about this as I just went for the 120XPs as bigger numbers = better obviously. I don't mind them but the replacement parts has me a little worried. I wish I would have just gone with the ubiquitous 84 tooth for ease of getting parts down the line.

 

[Tallpilot]

Lack of sleep,
sorry if first post is a little off. I was up all night long looking for good quality replacement tools.

But I am just now realizing this is going to be trickier than I even first anticipated.

From what I am seeing/reading the past 3 nights, Quality are at an all-time low's, with prices being at all time highs. W.T.F. craftsman made in china, Apex is been forced to stop giving us our good old usa sockets, snap-on's made in usa stamp missing probally beacuse 49% or less in made here. My local Sears and KMart closed this past year and we never had an ace hardware. so I couldn't even get China craftsman if I wanted too. However now I have some sockets I dont really trust. And I ratchet that looks like my old dual 80.

But it's not...

That does sound like a very crappy Easter weekend. Sorry to hear about that.

Snap-on is more expensive than ever; no argument there. However some stuff that is better than Craftsman ever was can be had for reasonable prices. Give us a budget and what you need the most so we can make suggestions.

Certainly try the 84 tooth Gearwrench (look for specials at Advance Auto Parts). It will feel the closest to your old dual 80 if not quite as awesome and it will be noticeably smoother than the Harbor Freight. One thing about the HF though; it will take quite a beating so save it for when you should be using a breaker bar but for some reason don't want to.

 

[Mgdoug3]

I like my 4 piece flex set of 120xp ratchets for the most part. There seems to be some side to side slop in the flex though. I have never tried the 84 tooth models but the back drag on my 120xp's is low and has never been a problem for me. I wish I had some non flex models. The stubby ratchet I have probably used the most. Warranty hasn't been a problem for me. The snap ring on my stubby was loose. GW sent me an entire rebuild kit since they don't send just a snap ring.

While the 120xp have been nice and work great I still prefer my S-K's and will buy more of them for long straight ratchets.

 

[Kev442]

I would start with this as a starter kit: https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=321931

The 3/8ths and 3/8ths stubby was 84 in mine, while the 1/4 was 120. Break them in for a while, then decide if you like the brand.