Replacing broken Craftsman sockets

[13brian]

It may be as strong or stronger than the the thinner tool truck brands. We dont know. But it is not optimized for getting in to tight spaces and still being strong enough to take typical abuse.

I completely agree, that was the point I intended. Good clarification

 

[sparg45]

I've heard a rumor that Lowes will honor Craftsman tool lifetime warranties.

They have been for years since they started selling Craftsman.

 

[srwa]

Correct me if I'M wrong.........Several years ago K-MART was in bankruptcy....They bought Sears.

How does that work???

I have a "mom & pop" hamburger joint that has 5 places around town. I file bankruptcy. Can I go buy McDonalds?...........and with what??

 

[TobyU]

I have been using sockets on autos for many years and have never broken a socket; impact sockets are for specific applications like wheels with an impact wrench only.

I have been renting on cars for many decades and started on bicycles when I was about 5 years old and then went on to lawn mowers before I got to cars
Most of these repairs have been with Craftsman Brand products especially the sockets and ratchets.
Most of these of course were made by Danaher tools or whoever might have been making them before that but that was the last good USA manufacturing company who had the Craftsman contract.
I have broken a number or I guess I should say a few sockets over the years.
Typically they will crack and I have cracked quarter inch Drive sockets from just using a quarter inch drive ratchet on them and I have broken 3/8 Drive sockets from just having a 3/8 drive socket on them so there was no increase torque or adapters or breaker bars.
I also started breaking the ratchets once we got up into the early 2000s or maybe around 2003 to 2005 as the quality was getting so low with the plastic lever and not so great gear mechanism inside.
It's a little dangerous when you put some good pressure on a ratchet and it slips and makes it a real knuckle buster.

It's never been an epidemic thing but as I said I've probably broken maybe a grand total of 12 to 15 sockets over the years but I certainly do a lot more work than most people.

I feel that Craftsman is more than enough quality for the average person and even the backyard mechanic and even for professional mechanics if they had the upgraded Craftsman professional series ratchets that were available for a while those would suffice nicely.
There is no way you will convince me it's worth paying three times as much or more for snap-on and Mac etc.
They are not even twice as good as a Craftsman but they cost 3 to 5 times more.
More recently though, Craftsman fit and finish has gone downhill some and Husky is just as good if not better and Kobalt is a little better than both of those.
The prices between all of these is not that much different even though the husky is probably the cheapest of the group and I would prefer to have those over Craftsman currently.

 

[TobyU]

I was disappointed when I went to Lowes a few days ago to exchange an old ratchet that broke. The employee at the Courtesy desk said of course we will, as long as it’s the same model number. Obviously none of their model numbers even remotely matched.

I could warranty that ratchet. I guarantee it.
Do you have the original receipt? This could actually be the problem.
Because the number of the one they scan won't come up with the number you have so you basically need to go over to the tool section and find the ratchet that looks the closest to what you have.
These people there don't get paid enough to sweat the little stuff and they have a whole lot of stuff to do throughout their day and they see lots of products and the store carries tens of thousands of products so they can't know much about all of them....
If you walk up there with a Craftsman old ratchet that says Craftsman on it and a new one that looks about like it that says Craftsman on it 8.4 employees out of 10 are going to just go ahead and warranty it out.
Then, make sure you keep the receipt and paperwork they give you with the new one showing the exchange because that might come in handy later.
If that doesn't work, I have other methods but I can return just about anything.

 

[StarTech]

Just another trick they are using (changing model numbers as they redesign things). Another reason just to buy cheap throw away tools.

 

[twisted99]

Correct me if I'M wrong.........Several years ago K-MART was in bankruptcy....They bought Sears.

How does that work???

I have a "mom & pop" hamburger joint that has 5 places around town. I file bankruptcy. Can I go buy McDonalds?...........and with what??

Yes they "merged" or something back in the early 2000s. I worked at a "sears" auto center that was an old Kmart store for a few years, it went down in the 2012 round of sears store closings. Bankruptcy works a WHOLE LOT different for corporations compared to the average citizen, I know first hand.

 

[StarTech]

Just how Briggs paid its CEO and then filed Chapter 7 or 11 to stick it to their suppliers. Sounds like DJT trick to me.

 

[rickfischer51]

There is more to it than lower strength steel. There are special forming grades with alloying elements that have nothing to do with strength, but greatly aid forming. High strength steel will split in the forming dies as easily as low strength if the raw material has rolling flaws. The thinner the wall, the harder to form. The more forming operations, the better the shape, but more work hardening. You can get ahead of the work hardening by annealing before you start, but thats an extra cost. And so on. There are a lot of variables, and they all have to be balanced against performance and cost. Its probably harder to get a Craftsman socket formed correctly than a Snap-on, because Craftsman is at a lower price point.

 

[1madmouse]

With quality of Craftsman tools these days if you trade in a new tool for what they have now, it's broken traded for junk. Not really worth my time to see how long it will last. Most all of the tool makers are selling out to China , even Pony and S&K. Hard to find any good tools any more. Of course if you use a 5ft cheater pipe on it, (but I would never do that.), you are on your own. Corporations can write off everything, but labor, and the the executive guys aren't liable for anything.