Missing

cuttin edge · Dec 8, 2021

These days, tool sets can be fairly cheap to buy. I see complete metric and standard sets for the same price as one of my father's old Snap on ratchets. I don't make a living with tools, but it saves me money when it comes to my own vehicles. Why is it that they seem to leave out the sockets you might need? Especially metric sets. I have my father's tools, mostly Snap on, but his collection of metric stuff was sparse. I have a dozen 9/16 wrenches, and so on, 5 or 6 10mm sockets. Where is my 15mm, or my 18mm, that I had to run out and buy? Don't know how many times I have forced a standard socket onto a metric nut because I didn't have the in between metric size.

BigWrench55 · Dec 8, 2021

I have the same complaint. Every time I buy a new set it will be missing something. I bought a set of gear wrenches and it's missing the 18mm. But I have a 9mm wrench. I have never used a 9mm, but I need the 18mm. It seems that for every common size socket, or wrench missing. You get some odd ball size that never gets used.

Old Doug · Dec 8, 2021

A big company will spend millions trying to figure out what to put in a set and what to leave out. Most sets are complete till you get in the bigger sizes hen they skip around. I think its because when you look at a set you start off at the small end and you lose concentration by the time you get to the bigger ones. Alot of metric tools will have 20,21 22, 23 skip to 30.

JD955SC · Dec 8, 2021

I’m finding the better “cheap” sets are more complete these days, outside of big box store sets.

Gearwrench, Tekton, Icon, and I think Milwaukee all offer no skip sets plus Grey Pneumatic and Sunex do the same for impact sets

cuttin edge · Dec 8, 2021

Paul Council said:
I have the same complaint. Every time I buy a new set it will be missing something. I bought a set of gear wrenches and it's missing the 18mm. But I have a 9mm wrench. I have never used a 9mm, but I need the 18mm. It seems that for every common size socket, or wrench missing. You get some odd ball size that never gets used.

I think a set of gear wrenches will be my next purchase. They have them at work with the hinged boxed end, very handy. I would like to get a bigger air compressor. I have a little one for an air nailer, and it won't run any of my fathers tools. I put a pig on it, and it won't last long enough to break a bolt lose. The old garage where my father worked for most of his life was purchased by a trucking company. They went bust and the bank took it. It's an old half round building. It's been ransacked, and all the wiring and copper has been taken. I think there might be a few homeless people stay there from time to time. I noticed the door open many times, and stopped one day for old times sake. The old air compressor is still there. The motor is gone, but the 2 compressor heads are still on the tank. No one seems to know who is in charge of the building, and with my luck, the cops would come along as I was pulling it outside.

Zewnten · Dec 8, 2021

Toptul and gedore make very complete metric tool sets for not too much money, so for modern cars and equipment it should cover a lot. I used to have the harbor freight 300 piece mechanic set and added 2 sets of $25 wrenches and a breaker bar, did almost everything I needed. The new Quinn set seems decent but I haven't handled them in person.

cuttin edge · Dec 8, 2021

The snap on stuff of my father's is nice, and most of it's old, but I could never justify the cost. Most of my own stuff is Sears Professional, back when Sears was in Canada, and Canadian Tire Mastercraft. We don't have harbor freight, but I am told it's like princess auto

JD955SC · Dec 8, 2021

cuttin edge said:
The snap on stuff of my father's is nice, and most of it's old, but I could never justify the cost. Most of my own stuff is Sears Professional, back when Sears was in Canada, and Canadian Tire Mastercraft. We don't have harbor freight, but I am told it's like princess auto

The cost of Snap On is absolutely insane. A small wrench set will be $400+, hell they had a manual impact driver set a few months ago, the kind you hit with a hammer, a $25 tool anywhere else for $830 in the specials flyer. Not to mention $20,000 toolboxes.

https://shop.snapon.com/product/Impact-Drivers-(3-8")/36-pc-3-8"-Drive-Impact-Driver-Set/PIT2230E Tell me how is this worth $830 to anyone?

A basic set of wrenches for heavy equipment to cover up to 1 5/8 is $2245! How does this make any kind of financial sense to purchase for a guy making $20-30 per hour???
https://shop.snapon.com/product/Sta...-Combination-Wrench-Set-(1-4–1-5/8")/OEX724KB

I go to work to make money, not spend money to work so I stay off the godforsaken tool trucks.

Truck Shop · Dec 8, 2021

I need wrenches or just tools, I call Napa and buy the Carlyle brand. Those work just fine and they will
deliver them to the shop.

XSKIER · Dec 9, 2021

As a regular buyer of snap-on tools, I have their pricing structure pretty well figured out. Something like that impact driver set, that is meant to be hit with a hammer, will likely be replaced 10 times over its life for "free". The same goes for 1/4" drive stuff, the purchase price is close to the 1/2" stuff, but you will get many more "free" replacements with the smaller stuff. You just absorb those costs for warranty replacement on the initial purchase. I do appreciate the weekly truck visits as well. If there is something new that can help me do a better job faster, I usually buy it. I can always make more money, but every minute that goes by I am one more closer to the end.

sfrs4 · Dec 9, 2021

Tool companies will have the understanding from a couple of decades back, that when metric was introduced most bolt manufactures also decided to standardize metric bolt sizes as well, so M6=8mm, M8=10mm, M10=17mm, M12=19mm, M14=22, M16=24, M20=30 and so on. So those were the spanners made for "set's" as they were the most common, obviously since then the different nations around the world have decided to bastardize the system to make it fit their needs and make it a nightmare for tool companies.

dieseldog5.9 · Dec 9, 2021

Truck Shop said:
I need wrenches or just tools, I call Napa and buy the Carlyle brand. Those work just fine and they will
deliver them to the shop.

I had a bunch of Napa branded tools for years, liked the tools and their service, set up ten matching toolboxes, bought sets with blow molded cases for tool identification, figuring lost tools would be quick to be replaced and match, a few years later Napa brought Carlyle in and my plan went to ****, as nothing fit the old Napa sets, who ever made Craftsman also made Napa tools and those worked for a while, now Sears is gone.

And always had to buy 18 mm separate.

Old Doug · Dec 9, 2021

I wish i could sell all my tools for what i gave for them and then bough another set. I have about 3 sets of the basic stuff because of working in 2 shops and at home . I may sell off some one day. I have some of every brand snap on is good stuff but if i was hiring a guy starting out i would tell him he couldnt work for me if he bought new snap on tools they dont add up there not worth going in debt over.

cuttin edge · Dec 9, 2021

JD955SC said:
The cost of Snap On is absolutely insane. A small wrench set will be $400+, hell they had a manual impact driver set a few months ago, the kind you hit with a hammer, a $25 tool anywhere else for $830 in the specials flyer. Not to mention $20,000 toolboxes.

https://shop.snapon.com/product/Impact-Drivers-(3-8")/36-pc-3-8"-Drive-Impact-Driver-Set/PIT2230E Tell me how is this worth $830 to anyone?

A basic set of wrenches for heavy equipment to cover up to 1 5/8 is $2245! How does this make any kind of financial sense to purchase for a guy making $20-30 per hour???
https://shop.snapon.com/product/Standard-Handle,-inches/24-pc-12-Point-SAE-Flank-Drive-Combination-Wrench-Set-(1-4–1-5/8")/OEX724KB

I go to work to make money, not spend money to work so I stay off the godforsaken tool trucks.

The old man pulled wrenches all his life. Started working for Ford when he was 16. If he was still alive he would be 81. He liked the Snap on warranty. In later years when salesmen said their stuff had the same warranty, he said I don't want to spend my time returning tools that break, I rairly break Snap on,. He swore by their screwdriver tips, and figured no other wrench that he ever tried had as much strength in the open end. Of course in later years there was a mixing of brands. All his one inch drive stuff is Sears, a few others as well. I do like how thin their non impact sockets are for tight places. He also had a tool allowance when he moved away from the car dealer, and onto truck and trailer. I gave his inch and a half drive stuff to his old work place. I rairly use the one inch stuff, so I figured I would never need the inch and a half. He had left his widow maker impact gun there when he retired. Besides that impact, it was only about 6 or 8 regular impact, and 5 deep impact. I don't even remember the brand.

JBrady · Dec 10, 2021

My little Nissan Frontier broke down while I was driving into town and I needed to fix it in the parking lot where it sat. Not having all my tools with me, I walked a few blocks to Home Depot and picked up a 3/8" set of Husky metric impact sockets that were low profile and had the hex on the outside of them so you could turn them with an open end wrench. I think I paid $25-30 dollars for the set. It is a full set with no skips. I am super impressed with them. I have a lot of Snap On and Proto tools and don't get me wrong they are nice, but when I am working on small stuff like 4 wheelers and chainsaws, I constantly find myself grabbing the Harbor Freight colored metric ratchet end wrenches. Little things like color coding or having an easy to use storage case make more sense to me. Obviously, if I am going to be doing bigger stuff like tearing down a backhoe cylinder where cheater pipes, heat, and impacts are involved, I want something like a Proto or Williams socket on that.

skyking1 · Dec 10, 2021

the 18 MM is a pet gripe of mine. I was in the UK and offered to do a front brake job on our friend's Mercedes wagon, and that was the fastener. It was not in any sets. I had to track down the single wrench at an auto parts store with a proper rack. I blame the germans, always.
The japanese at least followed a consistent standard in the early days. You needed an 8, 10,12,14, sometimes 15, 17,19. Most jobs were 10,12,14,17.
The US got started in the metric game and they were the exclusive purveyors of the @#$@%13 mm fastener size.

mekanik · Dec 10, 2021

All the guys I work with refer to the Snap-On truck as "The Rape Van"

cuttin edge · Dec 10, 2021

skyking1 said:
the 18 MM is a pet gripe of mine. I was in the UK and offered to do a front brake job on our friend's Mercedes wagon, and that was the fastener. It was not in any sets. I had to track down the single wrench at an auto parts store with a proper rack. I blame the germans, always.
The japanese at least followed a consistent standard in the early days. You needed an 8, 10,12,14, sometimes 15, 17,19. Most jobs were 10,12,14,17.
The US got started in the metric game and they were the exclusive purveyors of the @#$@%13 mm fastener size.

My old TEA20 tractor had one wrench in the tool box that pretty well fits every bolt. That's smart engineering

cuttin edge · Dec 10, 2021

mekanik said:
All the guys I work with refer to the Snap-On truck as "The Rape Van"

I remember when I was a young fella, the snap on guy came once a week. He knew his product, and the guys that bought them. His truck was well stocked, and he always had something new for you to try before you buy. He retired, and I don't think you can get Snapon unless you drive for a couple hours.

terex herder · Dec 10, 2021

The hex is supposed to be half again larger than the bolt. SAE, the 5/16, 7/16, and 9/16 were fudged a little.

But the metric charlie foxtrot? Who knows? There are at least 3 different metric specifications. Take the common 10 mm bolt. If its Japanese, it was produced to JIS and has a 15mm head. If it was continental European, it was produced to ISO, and has a 16 mm hex. Now if the Krauts made it, its DIN and has a 17mm head. Chinese? It depends on whoever produced the product they copied. And if its American? Chances are good they whored out their brand name and just assembled parts from whichever country offered them cheapest. Green tractors for example.

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