There was a tool tread a week ago or so and I greatly enjoyed reading what people thought about brands, pricing ect, and seeing people's collections. So let's have another one Veeky Forums.
I just bought pic related to be my primary storage, I will easily store everything and replace my old craftsman box I've had for awhile. Yes I completely realize I don't need snap on as a hobbyist, but I love all their hand tools so much and I make enough money to have no problems supporting the company.
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Craftsman and harbor freight. Flame on.
what are you asking that isn't in catalogues?
Do you need tools to fill the box?
Teng tools are shit hot, and less than half the price of snap on, with lifetime warranty....
snap on will always be the best, until they ship ALL the manufacturing to china.
I had teng tools sets when I started out as an apprentice. They are shit.
I would buy their kits as an "at home" tool kit but wouldn't bother using them professionally myself . They are higher quality than any hobbyist stuff, but I'd say they are only trade-quality for light duty/car shit. They aren't up to the demands of a heavy diesel workshop.
I also have bought a torque wrench that's not on the pic
It's almost everything I need
I think the tools are very good, I have absolutely no problems with it
Overall a bad choice for tool storage. Roll carts like that work so much better when used in conjunction with a double or triple bay roll cab.
If you dont use a tool nearly every day it just doesnt belong in a roll cart. If you try to store all your tools in there you will find that your mobility will become limited.
Also buy the shelf for that box. The greatest thing about a roll cart is a shelf to lay all your dirty tools on so you can just wipe them off when youre done with your job.
Depends on what you work on. I have everything I use down to one cart, it's tight but not undoable. The things that really eat up space are diag tools, things like spring compressors and seal drivers, and hardware, if you have a set of shop tools for those things that gives you most of your space back. Most brands don't need SAE anymore either so if you only work on imports or new cars you can leave all those tools at home.
I'm proud of my Harbor Freight tools collection in the HF Rolling Tool Box tray. It was economical and I have a lot of tools. They work for me in the shop. I know lots other mechanics use HF tools.
HF has eaten away all of Sears' Craftsman tools business. Sears will go under soon.
Here's my tool cart I use at work. You can see part of my tools on top
Harbor freight is perfectly acceptable, however under no circumstances should you buy anything that is mechanically intricate or that runs on electricity. Pajeet over at the factory in Jodhpur is OK at making hunks of metal and plastic, but not so good at wiring and hydraulics
How much did that tool box cost you?
Would you trust their car ramps?
My Bare. Fucking. Hands.
I have the same cart in orange. do you have the extra drawers on the bottom?
I don't know mang, I bought a cordless impact driver there back in 2012 that put up with 2 years of abuse in a shop. The problem is shitty QC, just because mine has been good doesn't mean all of them are good.
no but i thought about buying them mine is only a 3 drawer and all the drawers are at capacity im currently shopping for a new box. but i owe alot to the tool trucks so im hesitant
>not making your own tools
God those bike engines are fuckugly
Several guys at work own these mac carts. Feels like you need a pry bar to open them sometimes. All 4 casters are swivel casters so it rolls like shit. It literqlly takes two people to position the car into place.
I actually like my HF 5 drawer more than.these and it was only 1/4 of the price. Theres also a couple of those snap on roll carts like in the OP and those things feel like they hover off the ground.
On call kit
on call for what?
i dont know what your talking about mine rolls just fine and i bought this used off the mac truck for 300$
Harbor Freight is fine if you are really poor or need 20 of one size that you lose a lot. But even then, a lot of HF stuff is garbage. Otherwise buying a big Craftsman set when they have their sales is the way to go.
Lowe's Kobalt stuff is straight too. But I've had Craftsman all my life and it does great with weekend warrior projects. Plus there is always a Sears nearby when I decide to use a flathead screwdriver as a pry bar.
Emergencies
>he has never had to perform an emergency c-section on the side of the interstate
>all those out of place sockets
I bought pic related (Kobalt 432 piece mechanic's tool set) from Lowe's on sale for $199 last week. Seems like a great investment so far, it's got almost every tool I'd need in there. The only thing lacking are some flex head ratchets and ratchet wrenches. A couple of the wrenches are comically large though, I'm not sure I'll ever find a use for a 32mm wrench but at least I can say I have one.
That's straight they gave you ratcheting wrenches with it. Those don't come in many kits and are nice when you need to get on the bolt on one side and nut on the other.
Did it come with torx or hex bits? Those things are great if you get the sockets, I had to grab that Craftsman kit on sale from Sears last December. The 1/4" nut driver bits that can go in cordless impacts and stuff are nice too. Just a couple things that aren't necessary but you wonder how you lived without them after using em.
Yeah, it has regular torx and hex bits as well as some that fit on a ratchet. I mainly got the set so I'd have a big matching set of sockets and wrenches. I had some wrenches and an assortment of sockets but it was from several different brands and I was missing some sizes. I'll just keep those tools around as backups now.
I still need to get a decent impact driver and sockets though.
The out of place socket is that snap on one you see. I cracked it.
>A couple of the wrenches are comically large though, I'm not sure I'll ever find a use for a 32mm wrench but at least I can say I have one.
I've had to run out and buy big sockets or wrenches for specific jobs like torsion bar keys or wheel hubs. You'll be stoked when you realize you already have the weird, correct size and either don't have to run out and buy one or wait until the next day when stores open again.
I had to turn a 2-1/2" nut once, HF 24" Crescent wrench did the fucking job for 25 bucks, and now makes for a nice adjustable hammer whenever it's within reach.
Its on the snap on site for ~$1700, but I got in touch with a local dealer and he's delivering it to my house for $1600, not huge savings but I was presently surprised he would do business with a random guy with no shop affiliation , but I guess money is money.
Is that a 120xp? How does it compare to a dual 80?
>brushed cordless tools
Why would you do that?
I am one of those people that genetically lack aptitude for any mechanical/hands type of work. I shouldn't use tools but I still try. Just in the last 24 hours, I have spent over $600 trying to free a stripped/seized nut with no luck. I ended up just giving up but I did keep the tools so my collection is looking pretty nice currently.
I just picked up a half inch DEWALT impact driver with some HUSKY socket heads. Also got a full Dremel kit. I have some meme hand tools set but I am considering going out today to buy a proper kit. Any brand recommendations/suggestions? I need hand wrenches/sockets made from the hardest material known to mankind because I strip not only the bolt but also the wrench itself
Do you have a Lowes or Sears nearby? If so, get down on whatever Kobalt or Craftsman sets are on sale. Be patient with it because one week the kit may cost $450 and then the next it will be $199.
And buy a fucking breaker bar from HF.
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This would make a pretty good 3/8 drive kit to start out.
>Craftsman and harbor freight.
Harbor Freight has put Sears Craftsman nearly out of business in my city. Sears is a ghost town in their tools section while HF is always full of customers.
Had this sweet Snap-On box for a few years. Sold it when I moved on to greener pastures.
>Pupper not included
Why didn't you just cut it off with a reciprocating saw or a cutting wheel. That's how I remove seized axle nuts if the pipe won't move them.
people love chinese garbage.
even if sears was fully made and assembled in USA no one would buy there. americans are cheap cunts with no conviction.
You're gonna have fun doing an oil change on a WRX
Biltema/Teng Tools for simple stuff and cheap consumables, Makita/DeWalt/Bosch on electrics, and Würth on hydraulics, pneumatics and stuff where quality really matters (steel drill bits, fuel lines, grease)
Obligatory
To be fair a lot of craftsman tools were crap before they went overseas. There is literally no discernable difference in the chinese and usa combination wrenches.
It's only a matter of time before Sears goes out of business. They've stayed afloat so long because they owned so many valuable properties where their stores had been for many years. But they've basically converted their fully owned properties into leases (sell their property to a new owner and then lease that property from that new owner) so there's nothing left. Sears has that problem of needing a large minimum cash flow to pay off company pensions as well as medical benefits and 401K. So it's a bunch of boat anchors that chinese-based companies don't have.
Harbor Freight has finished dominating my area with predatory pricing strategies, so the availability and number of their infamous 20% off coupons has slowed to a trickle now. They only had those methods of legal price dumping until they managed to force enough local hardware or stores like Sears out of the area's tool business. Now that they are gone, HF prices have been creeping back up or even in some cases jumping up by 30%.
How were they crap?
>How were they crap?
Because on Veeky Forums it is fashionable to hate usa brands like craftsman and say the chinese tools are just as good. Those people have no proof other than their overbearing liberal attitude against usa brands.
>M is due for service, free so why not
>later that month, doing charcoal filter delete
>find really nice snap-on ratchet in there
still have it, one of my best tools
anyone got a good suggestion for a fullsize 1/2 inch battery powered impact wrench ?
would be to install/uninstall slicks at the track
all the good ones are super expensive.
also im in Canada
How are Harbor Freight's torque wrenches and is 3/8 or 1/2 better for motorcycles?
I actually have a cheapo craftsman one
I don't have anything "higher end" to compare it to, but I've used it for almost two years and it hasn't failed me yet
3/8 and complete shit, but so are all torque wrenches under 150 bucks, unfortunately.
just use a breaker bar. also if you're going to do that, get makita 1/2" li-on one, and you'll need a couple batteries. you'll be looking around 200 for the tool and 100/ea for batteries.
tl;dr: get a breaker bar.
Makita
>How are Harbor Freight's torque wrenches and is 3/8 or 1/2 better for motorcycles?
In other threads, there was mention about small inaccuracies in harbor freight torque wrenches and their micrometers. One person was able to check because they had access to a torque wrench calibration tool to verify the torque values.
The assumption by thread readers was HF was close enough to be usable since he didn't say the torque accuracy was so bad as to be unusable.
>get a breaker bar for installing removing slicks.
He's racing at the track he needs to do it quickly.
Op craftsman ones go for about 150$ you need to tell us how much breakaway torque you need for us to recommend one.
I guess I was assuming the "super expensive" he mentioned would encompass the $400 option I recommended.
You're not going to be saving infinite time with the impact, but if I had the money I would do it for sure. especially if I had a set of makita tools that used their larger 4ah batteries already.
I guess I could pick one up, there's a huge labor day sale and it's only $15 with a coupon.
makes sense, i already have a breaker bar but i never used it, ill try to see if i get tired of it.
ill probably wait to get a bigger budget for it.
what i was looking for was ballpark 200-250 with battery(ies).
I got those slicks on some classifieds last year but didnt end up using them yet.
Yeah, the HF coupon is 25% off. But they raise their prices for the sales too.
Check the welds beforehand, my guess is it's fine. Their floor jacks are ok
the problem is chinese metal. chinese alloys might not be up to spec in terms of alloy percentages. harbor freight is not really a name brand like craftsman but the name of a large sales outlet accepting lots of products from various item suppliers some of which have dubious quality and some which have okay quality and a few which have great quality. it varies a lot. i've bought stuff from HF that was defective out of the box but they still have an easy return process as if they even expect "DOA" percentage fails.
Craftsman doesnt manufacture anything, theyre a brand name slapped onto products made by a variety of manufacturers. Craftsman professional pry bars are the same thing as mayhew dominators and are actually a decent product, but craftsman combination wrenches have been awful for as long as I can remember. Theyre too short, uncomfortable to use and dig into your hand, and the machining tolerances are pretty bad. Craftsman ratchets are by far the worst ratchet I have ever used period. A lot of inexperienced guys thing a good tool is just one that does not break, but that just isnt true. There are so many more qualities like smoothness, finish, balance, and ease of use that go into a good tool.
The majority of craftsman is crap and at best on par with HF tools and many tines actually worse, but if you know what to look for there are a couple gems.
>The majority of craftsman is crap and at best on par with HF tools and many tines actually worse
Pretty harsh on Craftsman tools. Well, Sears won't last too many more years. They are upside down due to their pension payments so they will go down once the current management figures out how to make their golden exit parachutes survive federal scrutiny (since they are a public stockholder corporation).
It'll be the end of both K-mart and Sears as well as parts for Kenmore appliances. That's too bad since I have always liked my Lady Kenmore Elite series appliances.
Craftsman raised panel wrenches and their standard ratchets really leave a bad taste in your mouth. They were absolute garbage long before being made in china. HFs earthquake impact guns are in a completely different class than those garbage ass craftsman impact guns. Craftsman torque wrenches are literally made out of plastic and have a very limited torque range. Craftsman tool boxes are laughably lightweight scrap metal in contrast to the us general line of boxes at HF that are actually moderately priced decent boxes.
What makes all of this so sad is that sears dropped the fucking ball and have flat out failed to compete since the dot com era. Amazon.com is what sears should have become.
lol true, but that's everywhere tho
32 is a pretty common size on trucks for things like compression fittings in air lines and spring pins