A few years back I invested in a set Wilson Screwdrivers. Holy crap, my days of ill-fitting striped screws are completely over ever since.

1/4 inch drive Snap On u-joint sockets are very useful. The set is very expensive, but I have found that many sizes in the set have kept me from buying special tools to do a job. Sometimes, nothing else will fit in the space to get to a nut you need to deal with. Also, will say my Snap On torque wrenches and ratchet wrenches will be with me until my last day. My previous Snap on guy would replace the blades on my screwdrivers when they were damaged. After he retired, I have just about stopped buying Snap on. New rep just wants to sell me a new driver and won't warranty. If I need something now, I get it online. Have multiple sets of SK tools, and they are acceptable. The only thing left I have of Craftsman label are multiple Grip latch ball bearing drawer toolboxes. You can buy a bunch of those for the same price as one Snap on or even Matco box. OLD craftsman tools are perfectly usable, but what you get now are not acceptable for everyday use.

Most if not all the name brands mentioned are perfectly suitable. Well, Crapsmen are an exception lately. Too much Chinese in their content.

I might also add that ratchets in my roll-a-round boxes are dis-assembled, scrubbed clean with a nylon brush and re-assembled with oil in the proper places. They function and last a hell of a lot longer.

Thanks guys. I got my paws on various Wright ratchets today to compare. The contour grip models are great in the hand. The ratcheting mechanism was just OK. Didn’t seem near as smooth as Snap On. May just be the nature of their dual pawl design. Seemed solid though and quality. I think I’ll go Snap on with this box on sockets, ratchets, and wrenches.

I ordered some long nose Knipex pliers also.

Bump.

I’d like to get a few nicer tools that I use most often like a 1/4” Drive ratchet and metric 6pt sockets. I’ll probably get some Whia or Brownells for the Allen and Torx bits.

A breaker bar or small piece of pipe to slip over wrenches.

If I could "punch in the face and get away with it" the snap on guy would be in the top 10. I'm paying 50 a week for my tools on my truck account. The three bank box sits in my parents garage. I have migrated a lot of the tools to my house/basement workshop area, which is nice. Way overkill though.

As much as I hate their sales practices, snap on makes some phenomenal tools. For the work you do, and the money I assume (hope) you're charging. But once cry once, get the snap on tools, just stay off the fucking truck, or for "only a bucks a week more, you can have this amazing 1" impact gun you don't need" (that shit adds up insanely fast.

quote:

Originally posted by cmr076:
If I could "punch in the face and get away with it" the snap on guy would be in the top 10. I'm paying 50 a week for my tools on my truck account. The three bank box sits in my parents garage. I have migrated a lot of the tools to my house/basement workshop area, which is nice. Way overkill though.

As much as I hate their sales practices, snap on makes some phenomenal tools. For the work you do, and the money I assume (hope) you're charging. But once cry once, get the snap on tools, just stay off the fucking truck, or for "only a bucks a week more, you can have this amazing 1" impact gun you don't need" (that shit adds up insanely fast.

1" impact wrench??? Don't you work on super cars and not cat d11 bulldozers?

quote:

Originally posted by jimmy123x:

quote:

Originally posted by cmr076:
If I could "punch in the face and get away with it" the snap on guy would be in the top 10. I'm paying 50 a week for my tools on my truck account. The three bank box sits in my parents garage. I have migrated a lot of the tools to my house/basement workshop area, which is nice. Way overkill though.

As much as I hate their sales practices, snap on makes some phenomenal tools. For the work you do, and the money I assume (hope) you're charging. But once cry once, get the snap on tools, just stay off the fucking truck, or for "only a bucks a week more, you can have this amazing 1" impact gun you don't need" (that shit adds up insanely fast.

1" impact wrench??? Don't you work on super cars and not cat d11 bulldozers?

I was trying to make a point on the truck guys selling their clients totally unnecessary shit. Mea culpa and all that. But when you hand a man a power tool that could rip the lugs off an 18 wheeler, he's obviously interested.

quote:

Originally posted by jimmy123x:
Well, I guess your experiences are different than mine. Would you like me to mail you the 2 I have now to warranty them out that I have that are currently broken so you can see for yourself and then you can send them back to me or what?

Nope, I can believe you miss use them.
Just stick them in the box with all your crappy Pex fittings.

What I'd really like for you to do, is too quit quoting me for the purpose to try and stir up shit.

OMG. I just went to the Snap-On web site. I knew they were expensive, but I had no idea they were THAT expensive. Yikes! $500+ bucks for a ratchet and a dozen sockets. My head hurts!

quote:

Originally posted by Rey HRH:
Get a small and large rubber strap wrenches. I've used them quite often with stuff that I don't want to mar with channel grips or metal wrenches.

Also useful for us older arthritic types struggling with a jar of Skippy.
 

Felo makes nice tools. They are from Germany.
I bought a pair of Wiha pliers and they were made in Vietnam.
Williams makes nice tools also.

I can't remember the last time I bought sockets or wrenches. I have my dads snapons , craftsman and S&K the fifties and sixties.

I am going to try SKs new 90 tooth low profile ratchets as soon as a 1/4" is available. Might be worth a look, as a lot of the YouTube tool guys claim to like them better than the F80 (I think) Snap-on. YMMV.

I really like Wright tools but I have never used their ratchets. I would guess it falls somewhere in between a craftsman and a snap-on, but closer to snap-on.

To me snap-on ratchets are the best and definitely worth the money. For almost everything else at home I use wright with some craftsman sockets. Wiha or snap-on for screwdrivers.

Can't go wrong with Wright for sockets, haven't used their ratchets as I have SO. Proto is another option for sockets. I transitioned all my combo wrenches to Williams, make sure they are USA made.
http://www.toolsdelivered.com/...Combination-SAE-Sets

The tools that I am buying new are Nepros, Wright, and CDI (for torque wrenches - part of the Snap on Group).

Wiha and Wera also get a look if I need something extra fast (Amazon stocks a lot of them)

I try to stay away from screwdrivers and tools with rubberized handles.

Eventually they rot and make your toolbox smell like vomit.

quote:

Originally posted by Excam_Man:

quote:

Originally posted by jimmy123x:
Well, I guess your experiences are different than mine. Would you like me to mail you the 2 I have now to warranty them out that I have that are currently broken so you can see for yourself and then you can send them back to me or what?

Nope, I can believe you miss use them.
Just stick them in the box with all your crappy Pex fittings.

What I'd really like for you to do, is too quit quoting me for the purpose to try and stir up shit.

I do not try to stir up shit. The fact that someone else's true life experiences, which may happen to be different than YOUR true life experiences, do exist in real life. The problem is, you have this vision that nobody else's experiences can be different than your own. You cannot accept when someone else's experiences are different than your own. What you fail to realize, is that your favorite AC unit which may be totally reliable in your area, might not be in Texas or a different climate. These are MY real life experiences. The fact that you make these childish low blows, is pretty ridiculous.

I have had that set of Gear wrenches since they first came out. I DO NOT mis-use them. I don't even use them on a daily basis. I never put any additional leverage on them via a breaker bar or even an additional wrench locked into the end of the other wrench. They are also all spotlessly clean with no corrosion on them. Usually what always happens with them is they fail to ratchet and just free spool. The little spring in the selector lever goes bad (to switch ratcheting direction) and they free spool. I've noticed that most of the new Gear wrenches and similar ratcheting open ended wrenches, the direction is no longer reversible, you have to flip the wrench over 180 degrees to loosen instead of tighten a bolt or nut and vice-versa.

As for the PEX fittings. I can give you 3 mechanics or companies (well respected professionals) phone numbers that you can call that have been in the Marine Industry for decades, that will tell you the same thing, that we deal with replacing 10-15 year old PEX shit that is constantly failing ALL OF THE TIME. The Marine industry adopted plastic PEX style plumbing decades before anyone in the housing industry even knew it existed......I've worked on yachts built as early as 1983 with it. Whether it be Quest, Whale, Sea tech, it ALL fails. It's so often, you could start a business just specializing in that, here in Fort Lauderdale and make a killing. In fact, I just dealt with 2 yachts where nearly a dozen fittings and 15' of tubing needed to be changed because the water pumps couldn't get a prime and the fittings were all brittle and breaking or falling apart and the tubing was stiff and brittle. A 2003 40' Tiara and a 2006 36' Luhrs. The other issue is not one single place stocks all of the fittings you need, so you then need to go to 3 wholesale warehouses and spend 3-4 hours tracking them all down.

The Marine Industry started crimping all of the fittings, but after 15 years they would all start failing from the PEX tubing expanding and contracting over the years with the water temperature changes, and as the pex stuff ages it gets very hard, stiff and shrinks slightly in diameter, so the crimps aren't tight like they were when the PEX was new and the fittings start weeping water, I have not seen any blow off like the push lock ones did, but they would all start leaking and can leak a considerable amount of water (couple of GPH). The plastic push lock fittings eventually degrade, crack or snap or the PEX hose simply blows out of it and you have a major leak. Plastic has never been a long term product that lasts decades for just about anything. Copper has been proven for water supply lines to last at least 60 years with virtually NO issues.

I can GUARANTEE that you haven't been dealing with PEX tubing since 1995 like I have on applications that have been in service since 1985 +/-. Next time you're playing with PEX, get a set of calipers and measure it when the water is 60F and run the water and see what it measures when 90F and 140F is going through it, you'll see 1/16" or sometimes more diameter change.....this plays hell on the crimps over time and the tubing where it's crimped and the crimps loosen over time. Like I've told you many times before. I'll save you a big old box of broken/brittle fittings and PEX tubing and ship it to you and you can see for yourself. People build houses with PEX because it's CHEAP, and any idiot can run the tubing faster than copper, NOT because it is a better product than copper. The yachting industry switched to it because it is lighter and weight is a big concern, not because it's better than copper.

Sorry for the thread drift, everyone else.

The only thing you can guarantee is more BS.

Go take your meds and relax before you stroke out.