Posted by Samurai my brother has a ton of Snap-On tools. Problem was, as Bandi just said, the rep never came around. And when he DID come around, he gave the mechanics such a hard time about the warranty, no one wanted to do business with them. Have you noticed that even craftsman tools have gone to shit in the past ten years?

How true on this..At one time they would just give you a new tool when you give them your old broke one....But now they make you pick out a rebuilt tool out of this box of crap they had repaired..And some tools have no warranty at all...The Norman, Oklahoma Sears store does it this way

I've bought easily 500$ in new tools the past few months and honestly i've had a better experience with CT than sears... Which is sad, I bought an ISO bubble flaring tool from canadian tire for 50$ and had to exchange them 4 times - about every 5-10 flares. because the die was made of white metal instead of hardened steal and kept snapping, smushing... etc. Canadiant tire did it no questions asked.
As for sears - I've looked at buying a bunch of things from them but they're more money for less quality, and the warranty just isn't what it used to - I want to and do buy tools once.

Posted by Ricky_from_TV I've bought easily 500$ in new tools the past few months and honestly i've had a better experience with CT than sears... Which is sad, I bought an ISO bubble flaring tool from canadian tire for 50$ and had to exchange them 4 times - about every 5-10 flares. because the die was made of white metal instead of hardened steal and kept snapping, smushing... etc. Canadiant tire did it no questions asked. As for sears - I've looked at buying a bunch of things from them but they're more money for less quality, and the warranty just isn't what it used to - I want to and do buy tools once.

I avoid tools from CT for that exact reason, sure the warranty is great, but there is nothing more frustrating than breaking a tool half way through a job. I've went through a fair amount of their Maximum line 3/8 drive sockets, extensions and ratchets. I work on helicopters for a living, and 90% of what I use is Snap-On (With the odd Westward/Grey/Proto/Xcelite/ stuff), some of which is older than me, and it's all holding up very well. They seem to be good about their warranty, not that I've broken a lot of Snap-On stuff. I guess that mainly depends on who your rep is, because I have heard bad stories. Work has recently provided us with some Mastercraft Maximum ratcheting open end wrenches, and what a load of garbage. It's not uncommon that I'll be working in super tight spots in awkward positions and I've found most of the Mastercraft ratcheting stuff has way too high TPI to be useful for anything. Ever use a mastercraft multimeter? Complete fucking useless garbage, I refuse to use anything but Fluke. Fuck cheap tools.

I have quite the mixture of everything from harbor freight to snap-on, most of my every day stuff (impact gun, ratchets, sockets) etc. are snap on or matco. Some other stuff I use once and awhile or things you can get away with buying cheap I don't mind as long as its decent.

Haven't bought Craftsman in a few years because of sketchy warranty policies and such, and ditto with Canadian Tire. Why the hell do you want a receipt for a broken, lifetime warranty johnson bar I purcahsed three years ago? I didn't make my own, have it chromed and then have the Mastercraft logo cast into it, just so I could break it and get a new one which is worth $45.

And yeah, for multimeters, Fluke is the only way to go. I've had a couple cheap ones go absolutely insane while trying to track down parasitic draw or an intermittent short. That's never fun.

Westward makes some nice stuff, but it's getting hard to find.

Posted by blaistom77 How true on this..At one time they would just give you a new tool when you give them your old broke one....But now they make you pick out a rebuilt tool out of this box of crap they had repaired..And some tools have no warranty at all...The Norman, Oklahoma Sears store does it this way

Same here. I had a chisel that was my grandfather's that he probably bought in the '40s or '50s. Broke the tip off and Sears replaced it. This was in the '90s. A few weeks ago my son broke a ratchet of mine, and they gave me a refurbished one as a replacement.

Speaking of Snap-On and Matco, how much does it cost to buy into one of their franchises? I guess I could Google it, but I want your opinions, too.

Posted by Professor Chaos I avoid tools from CT for that exact reason, sure the warranty is great, but there is nothing more frustrating than breaking a tool half way through a job. I've went through a fair amount of their Maximum line 3/8 drive sockets, extensions and ratchets. I work on helicopters for a living, and 90% of what I use is Snap-On (With the odd Westward/Grey/Proto/Xcelite/ stuff), some of which is older than me, and it's all holding up very well. They seem to be good about their warranty, not that I've broken a lot of Snap-On stuff. I guess that mainly depends on who your rep is, because I have heard bad stories. Work has recently provided us with some Mastercraft Maximum ratcheting open end wrenches, and what a load of garbage. It's not uncommon that I'll be working in super tight spots in awkward positions and I've found most of the Mastercraft ratcheting stuff has way too high TPI to be useful for anything. Ever use a mastercraft multimeter? Complete fucking useless garbage, I refuse to use anything but Fluke. Fuck cheap tools.

I bought a set, wait two sets of long handle sae combo wrenches from canadian tire after XMAS for 10bucks a set (reg price is $100 - I figured hey, What the hell. So far they're great - The only complaint is they're shiny chrome - i prefer dull. But they're survived heat, extreme cold, being hit with a sledge hammer, etc. (I fix small engines in the freezing cold)
Mastercraft multimeters are terrible - The onesss i have are all incoherent I've been researching them and deciding on what to buy.

Haven't bought Craftsman in a few years because of sketchy warranty policies and such, and ditto with Canadian Tire. Why the hell do you want a receipt for a broken, lifetime warranty johnson bar I purcahsed three years ago? I didn't make my own, have it chromed and then have the Mastercraft logo cast into it, just so I could break it and get a new one which is worth $45.

LOL,

Same here. I had a chisel that was my grandfather's that he probably bought in the '40s or '50s. Broke the tip off and Sears replaced it. This was in the '90s. A few weeks ago my son broke a ratchet of mine, and they gave me a refurbished one as a replacement.

I've never understood them giving refurbs as an exchange... Im bringing this back because you failed - don't give me a used item - make it right and give me a new one.

I'm not familiar with this master craft brand, maybe it's a Canadian thing?

Posted by sleeperspirit I'm not familiar with this master craft brand, maybe it's a Canadian thing?

Mastercaft is Canadian Tires house brand - Its like Sears Craftsman.

90% of my box is all SK branded tools. Snap on quality for 1/4 the price in many cases. Ive broken very few of them and its easy to break tools in the heavy equipment shop.

Have some other stuff too. Mac, Matco, Williams, Proto, Thorsen, snap on, and cornwell. Bought a lot of stuff from the trucks when I needed it immediately so there wasnt a lot of brand snobbery going on lol.

Ive got an assortment of cheap crap too that I always kept around to I could modify them if need be.

Check out SK tools if you havent already.

I made off with a 1/4 inch set of SK sockets when I left the body shop after I graduated highschool. very good quality, and I bought a set of used (but still very nice) wrenches from the snap on guy for something like 20 bux but ill take them over overpriced snap on crap any day!

i had an entire snap-on toolbox stolen out of the back of my Buick back in the day... i have a suspicion who stole them, but could never prove anything.

Must have had a big Buick or a small tool box.

Posted by sleeperspirit Must have had a big Buick or a small tool box.

Theres no such thing as a small buick.

Posted by Ricky_from_TV Theres no such thing as a small buick.

This is true

Posted by Ricky_from_TV Theres no such thing as a small buick.

I had a Buick Skyhawk that was small. Yes, Sam, a J-body.

Posted by sleeperspirit Must have had a big Buick or a small tool box.

1981 Regal coupe

Posted by Samurai i had an entire snap-on toolbox stolen out of the back of my Buick back in the day... i have a suspicion who stole them, but could never prove anything.

I worked with a dirtbag who stole a Snap-On compression test kit and a bunch of other stuff from me. He vanished for a few years but I randomly saw him in Toronto 2 summers ago. It was a busy place so kicking his head in would have been a poor choice- but I did notice his car was for sale, so I got his phone number off of the sign and put a few ads up for a $600 Porsche 911 that had been in storage and needed some work to finish- complete with photos of a dusty one missing a few pieces.

All of the ads said "Call before 11 am" because Kurt usually got up around noon.

Posted by bandi I worked with a dirtbag who stole a Snap-On compression test kit and a bunch of other stuff from me. He vanished for a few years but I randomly saw him in Toronto 2 summers ago. It was a busy place so kicking his head in would have been a poor choice- but I did notice his car was for sale, so I got his phone number off of the sign and put a few ads up for a $600 Porsche 911 that had been in storage and needed some work to finish- complete with photos of a dusty one missing a few pieces. All of the ads said "Call before 11 am" because Kurt usually got up around noon.

Hahahahahaha Best thing ever.

Craftsmen I haven't broken one of their tools in years so I dunno what they do these days.

As for Snap-On, when I was in my old job, we had the national account to inventory all Snap-On trucks....I did all 10 of them in the Portland Metro Area and a few of the reps told me when it came to sockets, even if there is 5 15mm sockets in a drawer in the truck, those 5 sockets could have 3 different manufacturers. Also, at least in Portland, Snap-On kept changing the territory for their drivers unless you were a big shot car dealer or something where you get to buy direct. So places like Bob's Transmission could in year 3 different trucks come by...

Posted by splumer I had a Buick Skyhawk that was small. Yes, Sam, a J-body.

Skyhawks and Firenza's are hard to find now.