After banging up my knuckles, almost rounding off two nuts, and spending a lot of quality time in the backseat of the Legacy that didn't involve being naked with a girl, I've decided to buy some ratcheting wrenches for things like... say, rear tophat nuts in a sedan. Since the cheapest set of ratcheting wrenches I've seen around town has been $40, I decided to look on Ebay. This is what I found. With shipping it will be $22. The set that comes with a selection of SAE wrenches would run me about $40. Compare that with my worst case of $76 for a set of Craftsman. I'm a shade-tree mechanic that works on my own cars about once a month, and is willing to help out others. Give me reasons why I should spend double-triple the cost for a ratcheting wrench? Does anyone have experience with Ebay tools?
E-bay stuff is always a gamble if there's no brand names involved. From my own experience with tools, I always went with Snap-On (Even though I hate our dealer down here) or Matco and they haven't been wrong. I would just suggest spending the extra cash on some used tools and trading them in for new if they break. It's better to have tools that will last you your whole life of wrenching than dealing with stuff that isn't machined correctly and will break every other time you use them.
Go to Home Depot and buy the Husky, the quality difference is amazing. The Ebay crap is just that... Crap. If you want it to break after 5-10 uses then buy the crap. Otherwise go to someone who will stand behind their tools.
My experience with with ebay tools.... i broke one of my buddies straight wrenches and it left a nasty scar on my arm... you gotta have scars from your car but i would much rather have my tool break after like 10 years of wrenching insted of the first or second time i use it.... besides, most other tools (craftsmen, husky, snap on, matco ect) all have pretty decent warranties... ebay does not.
The number of teeth in the cheaper sets is less. That means you will have to move the handle farther than compared to the better ones. Not to mention cheap handles. You get what you pay for. Here is a cheap set at Sears. http://www.sears.com/sr/javasr/prod...rpose&subcat=Wrenches&vertical=TOOL&ihtoken=1 Here is the better set by Gear Wrench. http://www.sears.com/sr/javasr/product.do?pid=00944002000&vertical=GIFT&BV_UseBVCookie=Yes I believe Gear Wrench has a set that is double ended (no open box end) and has twice as many sizes (like 11mm and such)
Thanks for the input. I've been shopping around more, online, and of course, to get what I need (8, 10, 12, 14, 17) you always have to buy the bigger sets. Looks like I'll wait and pick up some good tools (ie Craftsman. Yes, I know that Crafstman aren't *good* tools in the grand scheme of things, but they work for me and my limited use) next month.
Harbor Freight and all those other cheap places are alright for hammers, screw drivers, creepers and that kinda thing, but any precision tools and what not... might as well pay a little extra. (had a HF 150 ftlb torque wrench that was only accurate in the 75-125 range... plus if you pay to have it calibrated you'd be at the price of a craftsman, etc... creeper works great tho )
I have a set of craftsman metric ratchet wrenches. They are the best thing ever. I try as hard as possible to never get a tool without a warranty. Husky is good stuff, however one thing to be wary of is that if you break a socket you will need to mail it in to get a replacement as they do not stock sockets larger then like 14mm. You pay for what you get. I am glad i payed the extra and got the craftsman set. heck i took of a set of headbolts (which are torqued to insane amounts) w/ just a 14mm ratchet wrench and a big hammer. wrench is still in perfect shape.
Most of my other tools are Craftsman. I've broken a number of inferior tools in the past and I'm not sure why I was seriously considering going cheap... I guess I had too much time to surf Ebay.
The cheapest I go is Stanley from Walmart. Too be honest there though, I removed my 170,000mi struts mount bolts with them and the ratchet is still in great shape!...even after I I jumped on it with a cheater bar to break several of the nuts free!
Go to sears and buy Craftsman... like many have said the warranty is great for not much more... and also I have used them in a workshop everyday for 3 yrs and only have replaced 1 ratcheting wrench (3/8th) and thats cause I would also hit it with a deadblow on some bolts... it finally bent some teeth or something.... I only bought some cheap ratcheting wrenches from Harbour Freight to have some as backup as I barely used them in the shop but nice to have something occasionally...
Craftsman for the win, you pay not alot more for the initial investment and you wont have you buy another one when they break. dont go cheap, you'll end up spending more in the long run anyways
