Who makes Autozone Duralast tools?

[chris142]

I have a few I picked up as needed over the years. They seem to be very well made. One is a flex head ratchet that looks exactly like my Snap on ratchet.

Wondering if maybe GP or Sunex?

 

[BlakeTheCarGuy]

They switched suppliers about 5 years ago around 2019 or so. They are now made by Apex Tool Group who also makes Husky, Gearwrench etc. I’ve had good luck with all generations of Duralast tools. The company that made your ratchet is different if it is one with the blue and black comfort handle. Can’t remember who was the supplier back then but back then the Duralast was the “premium brand” and Great Neck was like the beginner brand or whatever. I use Duralast on a daily basis, does fine for me so I’m going to keep buying it. I’ve been trying to get one of those ratchets like you mentioned but they pop up on eBay for insane prices.

 

[GeoBruin]

I saw this thread pop up and started a countdown until Blake responded. I didn't have to wait long!

 

[PopcornSutton]

I have bought some when I needed a replacement or lost something. Haven'r broken anything Duralast yet.

 

[shoggoth80]

I have some Duralast stuff. It's not bad. I too wonder who OEMs them. Particularly fond of a 3/8 stubby ratchet I picked up a while back.

 

[Jtels85]

What Blake said, current OEM supplier is Apex. They have some gems... their composite ratchets and thin wall 3/8 deep impacts are really great.

 

[four.cycle]

^ just FTR: I called a local AutoZone store here and asked. The young man who answered the phone said "I don't know. Hold on a minute and let me check," and then came back to the phone and said "I grabbed a wrench and it has "China" stamped on it."

 

[d.mcfarland]

The previous generation of Duralast tools were made by OEM which is a subsidiary of Great Neck. Those tools were VERY highly regarded especially for the price.

The APEX made items shouldn't be bad either, but the price has increased which takes away the value aspect.

 

[peejay75]

The APEX made items shouldn't be bad either, but the price has increased which takes away the value aspect.

And they got rid of the color-coding and messed with the logo!

 

[Grokew]

This confuses me, because I had some stuff that on the sticker on the back had Hangzhou GreatStar or star Asia. The ratchets do look almost the same as the SATA ones. They even have the same selector switch (also the crescent ones)

 

[four.cycle]

Great Star is China (PRC)
Great Star / Hangzhou GreatStar Industrial, No.35 Jiuhuan Road, Jiubao Town, Hangzhou, China 310019 / http://www.greatstartools.com/ / est. 1993 / (see also GreatStar USA) / parent company of Adjustable Clamp Co. (Pony Jorgensen), Arrow, Goldblatt, Millers Falls, Shop-Vac, S-K, and others /

Star Asia LLC is Taiwan (ROC)
Star / Star-Asia USA LLC, PO Box 58399, Renton, WA 98058 / https://www.titan-us.com/ / product manufactured in Taiwan R.O.C. / see also Titan /

 

[AJHD]

^ just FTR: I called a local AutoZone store here and asked. The young man who answered the phone said "I don't know. Hold on a minute and let me check," and then came back to the phone and said "I grabbed a wrench and it has "China" stamped on it."

Were you expecting something else? Like all other major corporate entities, they hire warm bodies. There are no knowledge or intelligence requirements. Some of the people I worked with there could barely read or count.

 

[chris142]

The previous generation of Duralast tools were made by OEM which is a subsidiary of Great Neck. Those tools were VERY highly regarded especially for the price.

The APEX made items shouldn't be bad either, but the price has increased which takes away the value aspect.

I have some OEM impact sockets I bought around the same time. They too seem well made.

 

[Grokew]

Great Star is China (PRC)
Great Star / Hangzhou GreatStar Industrial, No.35 Jiuhuan Road, Jiubao Town, Hangzhou, China 310019 / http://www.greatstartools.com/ / est. 1993 / (see also GreatStar USA) / parent company of Adjustable Clamp Co. (Pony Jorgensen), Arrow, Goldblatt, Millers Falls, Shop-Vac, S-K, and others /

Star Asia LLC is Taiwan (ROC)
Star / Star-Asia USA LLC, PO Box 58399, Renton, WA 98058 / https://www.titan-us.com/ / product manufactured in Taiwan R.O.C. / see also Titan /

Hey, thanks for clarifying.

So the star Asia stickers were from all the titan stuff I got from the shelves under the checkout counter (mini ratchets, pistol grip pliers, ratcheting precision bit drivers, screw extractors, etc).

Now I need to find out what was the stuff that had the Hangzhou great star sticker on it (I have geardrive stuff, but that was from Amazon not AZ, and it is a boxed set, not a screwdriver hanger)

Edit: It was a folding pocket knife, with a camouflage handle. It wasn't even in a screwdriver hanger to begin with.

Thank you
I stand corrected.

 

[Andres26tnt]

Don't know why people disrespect retail workers, that grind my gears. Not sure why they expect them to know every single detail on all the items offered. Sales/Retail is def one of the worst jobs ever, specially dealing with this type of customer. anyway rant over.

AutoZone has some gem for sure even as they switch over to mostly china made. The sockets for sure are nice, apex makes a great socket for being china. They def got some gems, only think i didn't quite like was the extendable ratchet. It was super sloppy, makes me not what to use it.

 

[reader2580]

Don't know why people disrespect retail workers, that grind my gears. Not sure why they expect them to know every single detail on all the items offered. Sales/Retail is def one of the worst jobs ever, specially dealing with this type of customer. anyway rant over.

I worked for CompUSA around 1993/1994. There were hundreds of various expansion cards and such that were not plug and play like today. Customers expected us to know everything about every item. That wasn’t happening for $5 an hour.

 

[AJHD]

I worked for CompUSA around 1993/1994. There were hundreds of various expansion cards and such that were not plug and play like today. Customers expected us to know everything about every item. That wasn’t happening for $5 an hour.

The same **** is still happening...
When I worked at Home Depot, most non-pro customers expect employees to be plumbers, electricians, contractors, landscapers, carpenters, HVAC, engineers, etc... All for about $15/hr.

 

[Andres26tnt]

The same **** is still happening...
When I worked at Home Depot, most non-pro customers expect employees to be plumbers, electricians, contractors, landscapers, carpenters, HVAC, engineers, etc... All for about $15/hr.

lol i just expect them to know where the major isle are at, everything else i research my self before hand.