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Ive had enough of Mac, Matco, Snapon bull****

As many of us pro's have said there will be times and places where a tool failure is just not an option. Failure is defined as the tool won't fit, or rounded off fastener. Use what you like and can afford. I hate the prices the tool guys charge. But I forget that after I use the tools and they don't complicate my life.
 
I work for Union Pacific and we use a bunch of different tools, mostly Snap On though and alot of older Proto stuff. It all holds up fine, ESPECIALLY the ratchets. I have beaten the hell out of our 1/2 inch ratchets and never broke one yet. I even went out and bought my own.

As for gearwrench I have a set at home and we use some at work for smaller jobs. The ratchet end seems kinda flimsy but so far no breakage. I have compared the Snap On ones to gear wrench and there's no comparison.

One question comparing Craftsman to Snap On sockets though. For years I have used the same 3/8's standard sockets with no breakage issues and when I bought my Jeep I had to invest in some metric sockets so I bought a set of 3/8's shallow metric sockets and besides looking prettier I can't physically see any real noticeable difference and I compared fitment with some borrowed metric Craftsman sockets and again, couldn't see a comparison. Is the only real difference strength??

I'm in need of a good set of 1/2 drive metric sockets and i'm considering the Snap On ones for the fact that everyone says they are much stronger and the last thing I want is to break a tool on the trail and be stranded so I guess its good insurance. What's everyones take on that?

On a side note, I bought a set of Snap On screwdrivers and will say that they are worth the money, very nice and the tips are strong as hell, i've broken several cheapy ones.
 
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I HATE my Craftsman ratchets and screwdrivers but I am happy with the rest of the stuff I have. I'll look into the gear wrenches when I have the $$ to spend on tools.
 
remember one thing with snap on ratchets, they are NOT warrantied forever... the warranty only goes as long as they have parts for that model ratchet... im having this problem now. i have 2 snap on ratchets that are from the 70's sent one in to be fixed and they wouldnt fix it cause they didnt have a cover plate for that model ratchet any more. and they wont replace it with a new ratchet either...so to me that means there warranty isnt forever!!

last month i bought a broken craftsman ratchet at an auction for 3 bucks, must have been at least 30yrs old.. took it to sears and they gave me a brand new one for nothing... i like that....
 
Yes Craftsmen Warranty is very no hassle I will give them that,

But I'd still prefer Good tools that I dont HAVE to go get warranty on. It cost me alot of time and money to drive to the local Sears. Snap-On guy comes to me when I call him
 
I've seen Snap-On replace out of date broken ratchets with new ones. Depends on the dealer I think.

Martin
 
yup, gotta hold your tool guy accountable.... my guys have always hooked me up, never a warranty issue...

i blew up 3 crapsmen ratchets in 1 yr, never again...
 
J.R. said:
remember one thing with snap on ratchets, they are NOT warrantied forever... the warranty only goes as long as they have parts for that model ratchet... im having this problem now. i have 2 snap on ratchets that are from the 70's sent one in to be fixed and they wouldnt fix it cause they didnt have a cover plate for that model ratchet any more. and they wont replace it with a new ratchet either...so to me that means there warranty isnt forever!!

last month i bought a broken craftsman ratchet at an auction for 3 bucks, must have been at least 30yrs old.. took it to sears and they gave me a brand new one for nothing... i like that....
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Umm you are getting ripped off.

I cannot speak for Snap-On's warranty policy, however for Matco it goes like this. If you have a broken ratchet and it is discontinued, you get the equivalent product in replacement. If you have a "Lifetime Warranty" product that doesn't have a replacement at all, you get a credit for the original purchase price of the product. Say you bought a $50 ratchet now, and 10 years from now, there is NO similar ratchet(some oddball design or whatever), you would get a credit to your truck account or toward the purchase of new products in the amount of $50.

Now "Lifetime Warranty" does not mean YOUR lifetime. Tools DO have a lifetime. If you read the warranty policy it states this. If you have a 50 year old socket, that is rounded out and won't grip fasteners properly anymore, by the letter of warranty policy that is not warranty. You got your "useful life" out of the tool, and really lets face it, you got your moneys worth out of it. Now, have I EVER denied someone warranty because of this? Nope. The distributor is the Warranty enforcer. It is his discretion what is and isn't warranty. And if he warrantees something that the company deems not warranty, he is out of pocket for the product. So it is his money being messed with too.

This all applies to ANY "Lifetime Warranty" tool or product. Craftsman, Kobalt, whatever. They have these same policies in place. However being as the person seeing and replacing the tool is often some middle aged woman or some snot nosed kid, they don't know what they are looking at, and don't care. They just swap it out and call it a day.

I pay for every ratchet I warranty. Then I send it back to Matco and HOPE they credit me for that ratchet. And I have had them deny me many times. Then I have to fight and bitch to get it warranted.
 
Sled Dog turned me to Matco ratchets and I really like my 1/2 long flex head one. I've broken it twice in 3 months but my dealer has been very cool and taken care of me. I swear to god rusty suspensions on a semi are the hardest things on tools. When I can I use a torch to heat things but sometimes the hot wrench is not possible. Then tools start to break....
 
Sucks that you've had it break even that much. I cannot tell you the last time I rebuilt a 1/2" ratchet. But I don't have many truck shops. I keep hoping my own personal one breaks since it is the old 60 tooth ratchet and I want to upgrade to an 88, but it doesn't happen.
 
for the record........ Allen may have heard otherwise, but 99.9% of mechanics, myself included, have ratchets fail due to improper use...

technically, your not suppose to be cracking fasteners free with a ratchet imo.... that is what a breaker bar is for...

almost all ratchet failures (other than us marine guys subjecting them to saltwater! :whistle:) are due to that load being put on the pawl/gear when breaking fasteners loose... you'll notice it'll get worse and worse over time with each difficult fastener you crack loose...
 
I will agree with that. I mean the teeth of the pawl basically, skip(ratchet) passed the teeth on the main gear with every turn of a ratchet. So eventually, grease/oil or not, it will wear out. It happens. So once in a blue moon there is that failure.

I notice for certain that my "frequent flyers" to Matco's warranty policy are the ones who I know are doing things they probably shouldn't be. Like the kid that tried to break loose lugnuts with his 3/8" ratchet then gave me crap when the anvil twisted off... Got one wheel off before that happened. He breaks more 1/4" ratchets than any of my other customers. Never says what he was doing with it, but knowing his track record, I know.
 
Obviously your gonna be a little biased , but in your opinion hoe does Matco stack up Compared to Snap-on?? I've never been around any Matco stuff
 
I have some of everything, Granted this isnt as big of a deal for me since I am not a mechanic, but I love my snap on and matco ratchets. theres a night and day difference to everything else. craftsman ratchets are borderline garbage, yes I have a few, but the good ones get used 95% of the time. 90% of my sockets are craftsman though and rarely is there one to fail, I dont use them for 8 hours a day though either.

I completly agree that a breaker bar should be used as well to break the bolt loose then use the rachet, I will admit that I rarely do that unless its something pretty big, or torqued fairly tight.
 
yellowK20 said:
Obviously your gonna be a little biased , but in your opinion hoe does Matco stack up Compared to Snap-on?? I've never been around any Matco stuff
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I like Matco stuff better. I bought Matco before I was a Matco guy, and I will after I leave Matco(which will be soon).

Matco ratchets have a thinner head design, and finer ratcheting mechanism. That lets you get into a tighter spot and ratchet at tighter angles. Snap-On has the screw on face plate with sort of makes them stronger when you are putting really weird angles on the ratchet, but the screws are known to fall out, then they are useless. And it also is why they are thicker.

I have a Matco toolbox, and I love it. Damn thing weighs almost 100lbs more than an equivalent Snap-On box due to the added material to make it that much stronger.

Our cordless tools have all Lithium ION batteries(not just our 1/2" impact) and they last a long time on a single charge. Our wrenches don't mark up fasteners.

I could go on. There are certainly things Snap-On does better. I won't say they don't have things that are better than ours. But on the whole, if I had to choose to only buy from one from here on, I'd go Matco still.

I know there are one or two things I will buy from a Snap-On guy when I get back to a shop, but it is odd ball stuff. Like their video borescopes are very nice. I will likely get one of those. I can't really think of anything else off hand though.
 
sled_dog said:
Sucks that you've had it break even that much. I cannot tell you the last time I rebuilt a 1/2" ratchet. But I don't have many truck shops. I keep hoping my own personal one breaks since it is the old 60 tooth ratchet and I want to upgrade to an 88, but it doesn't happen.
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We're cool and I've told my guy that when I can I heat things to make it easier. But sometimes I cant get the torch in there without burning wires or airlines.

As far as thin and easy to get into places. This one rocks! It really does go places the others won't easily:D

And it does make life better on starter bolts in a cat cummins or detroit...
 
Yeah, Detroit Series 60 starters ate quite a few gear sets in my long Snap On ratchet.

Martin
 
smalltruckbigcid said:
We're cool and I've told my guy that when I can I heat things to make it easier. But sometimes I cant get the torch in there without burning wires or airlines.

As far as thin and easy to get into places. This one rocks! It really does go places the others won't easily:D

And it does make life better on starter bolts in a cat cummins or detroit...
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Your guy needs to show you the Induction Innovations Mini-Ductor. No flame, just cherry red fasteners in no time flat ;)
 
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