Who makes the best lower priced hand tools?

[Focused Gunfire]

I am looking for some wrenches and such for a job on my truck. A friend of mine pointed out Kobalt brand, saying it was Lowe’s owned, American, and had a lifetime guarantee. Said I could get a good set for about thirty bucks. Any opinions on tools, and tool brands? Suggestions are welcome.

[El Laton Caliente]

Kobalt is good, I also like Cresent and Stanley. Cresent and Stanley both make 100 to 200 piece sets that fold up in a plastic case and carry in a car/truck well.


The 170 piece Cresent runs about $120...


I have this 148 piece set in my truck:

[mrkalashnikov]

Stanley used to make nice American-manufactured hand tools; wrenches, socket sets, screw drivers, etc etc.. @ reasonable prices. Now I believe all their stuff is made in China, like most other crap in this country.

All my wrench and socket sets are S-K Wayne, which I bought back in the early 70's. They still look & work as good as when I first got them.

[Kadmos]

Kobalt don't suck as bad as some of the Chinese crap, but they still suck.

Craftsman is the lowest quality sockets and wrenches that I will buy, anything below that is only worth having in an emergency when nothing else is available.

Got a flea market nearby? Likely you can find some craftsman stuff pretty cheap.

A small but quality socket set under $20...it was on sale over christmas for $10 but you missed the boat on that one

http://www.craftsman.com/craftsman-1...4000P?prdNo=27

It's not a lot of sockets, but it will do most things you need on a car.


Decent wrench set, same price
http://www.craftsman.com/craftsman-8...3&blockType=G3

It would be nice to go at least one set up on each as some of the other wrenches and sockets do come in handy, but both those sets will get you started pretty easy.

Also check out garage sales, yard sales, and be sure to ask about tools if they don't have them out.

[rci2950]

"Power Fist" is a good cheap brand. I have a number of tools by this name and they are great value for the money. My torque wrench in particular is 100% as good as the big names

[Gunner1558]

Back when K-Mart was K-Mart, they sold Buffalo tools.

Buffalo tools were 1/2 the price of Craftsman and carried the same, " You break it, we replace it" guarantee.

[Helen Keller]

i still have my craftsman sets BUT I've been buying up the brand that advanced auto sells that has the socket size in GIANT numbers on them.


GO to a sears lately?? Craftsman stuff is CHEAP and constantly on sale.
Unless you're using the shit 8+ hours a day even the Harbor freight stuff will work.


Only thing I wont skimp on are Box wrenches.

[Krupski]

Kobalt don't suck as bad as some of the Chinese crap, but they still suck.

Craftsman is the lowest quality sockets and wrenches that I will buy, anything below that is only worth having in an emergency when nothing else is available.

Got a flea market nearby? Likely you can find some craftsman stuff pretty cheap.

What's wrong with Craftsman? Almost all my tools are Craftsman (purchased 20+ years ago). They are all USA made. ALL my tools are US made except for a few things (Japanese and German made measuring tools like micrometers and calipers).

As far as flea markets, I have gotten AMAZING buys (usually from old ladies selling their deceased husband's tool collection). I've gotten things like a complete Proto 1/2 inch drive 6 point impact socket set in a beautiful dovetail wooden box for $5.00 (yes, five bucks!). Also got a CP (Chicago Pneumatic) 1/2 drive air impact wrench at the same garage sale - $20! Got a 1 inch micrometer for a dollar. Not a cheap-o either... a Mitoyo.

She had a nice medium sized drill press WITH an X-Y table bolted to it for $50 - but another guy got it before I did (dammit!). I also missed out on a nice 3/4 horse, 4 cylinder air compressor with a large tank (don't recall how many gallon - but it was about 24" diameter and about 4 feet long) with a regulator and drier for $50.

[El Laton Caliente]

What's wrong with Craftsman? Almost all my tools are Craftsman (purchased 20+ years ago). They are all USA made. ALL my tools are US made except for a few things (Japanese and German made measuring tools like micrometers and calipers).

That was 20 years ago... since then they moved most manufacturing, first to Taiwan, then mainland China. Quality went to hell, they were more reluctant to honor the lifetime warranty.

I also have a HUGE problem with the credit card unit. I would pay the card off 100%, try to CLOSE the account. They would assess an accounting charge to a ZERO BALANCE ACCOUNT, and then charge me late charges and interest if I didn't pay it. In a five year fight with them my balance went from zero to over $500 while the card was unused, cut up and burned. I finally had to get my lawyer involved.

Believe it or not the account is still there and active. You cannot ever cancel a Sears card...

[davepool]

That was 20 years ago... since then they moved most manufacturing, first to Taiwan, then mainland China. Quality went to hell, they were more reluctant to honor the lifetime warranty.

I also have a HUGE problem with the credit card unit. I would pay the card off 100%, try to CLOSE the account. They would assess an accounting charge to a ZERO BALANCE ACCOUNT, and then charge me late charges and interest if I didn't pay it. In a five year fight with them my balance went from zero to over $500 while the card was unused, cut up and burned. I finally had to get my lawyer involved.

Believe it or not the account is still there and active. You cannot ever cancel a Sears card...

Same experience for me on both counts, Sears credit is an evil sucking leech.

38 years ago before i started roofing i was a mechanic for Checker cab and since i hadn't inherited my dads tools yet i bought a set of Craftsmen tools. Back then their warranty was one of the best.

They had come out with a new style ratchet that i really wanted, the 1/2'' drive i had worked perfectly and since i was a lowly cab mechanic, i couldn't afford to buy the new one, so i clamped it in a bench vise and beat the shit out of the handle with a 5 lb hammer and finally managed to knock a tooth off the ratchet mechanism. When i took it back to Sears it was pretty obvious what i had done, but the salesman just threw it in a bucket and handed me a new one ( i know ,i'm going to hell for that one)

As i was leaving the salesman told me that since they had come out with their redesigned ratchets, a lot of old ones had come back with vise marks on the tang

[Krupski]

I am looking for some wrenches and such for a job on my truck. A friend of mine pointed out Kobalt brand, saying it was Lowe’s owned, American, and had a lifetime guarantee. Said I could get a good set for about thirty bucks. Any opinions on tools, and tool brands? Suggestions are welcome.

You should be looking for a tag that says "Made in USA", not the price tag.