Where to buy Tools?

[marty]

stay away from powerbuilt, kingchrome and koken, although they are fine for home garage use - i have a $1500 wall mounted kingchrome tool kit at home - but in comarison, the WHOLE kingchrome kit was cheaper than my stalwhille 3/8 drive socket set.

get a snap on ratcheting screwdriver. they're about $160, but it's the best piece of kit you can get. the new ones have a removeable shaft - i just boought a 900mm long one ($120 though, ouch)

[ducatilover]

i have a ratcheting [sp?] screwdriver that cost me 70 bucks and its a piece of shit

[Edbear]

Ahem! I may be able to help. I sell tools. A variety of quality and price to suit every budget. Good quality guaranteed. PM me, I'm mobile and work for one of the biggest tool company's in NZ

[Edbear]

We break heaps of Snap-On stuff,they replace them no questions asked.You won't get that by other tool brands sold by agents these days.The Hazet agent won't honour my tool claims,the Stahlwille agents were very reluctant,it was only when I blew my top that they handed a socket over.Snap-On are their own company in NZ,and they charge so bloody much for their tools that the odd claim is easily carried.

PS. Pretty much everything we sell has unconditional warranty. Trouble with Hazett is more availability than warranty acceptance. There's not much of it about. We sell several good brands. The Company's motto is look after your good customers rather than worry too much about the letter of the warranty. Koken is good stuff but the only company that's turned our requests for warranty down, (not always, but sometimes), and you do pay for the name.They're the only one we deal with where we can't decide on warranty claims on their product. We decide on all the other brands and we rarely turn anyone down. With apologies to the respective reps. I believe Snap-On and Stahlwille are far to dear for what you get.

[marty]

bollox. there is no substitute for good quality gear, and in my line, cheap tools soon show their hand.

for instance, i have a koken 12 point 1/4 drive socket set. almost without exception, the holes in the centre of the sockets are too small for the threaded portion of the bolt/stud to go into. also, the wall thickness is about .030' thicker than the same set from stahlwille.

koken tends to get ground and bent for specialty tools in our hangar.

also, i have a full set of hazett spanners (3/16" to 1" - bought second hand from the tool shop in penrose). i also have a matching set of snap on, and the snap on are just much nicer feeling and weighted.

i have a couple of stahlwille 1/4" drive ratchets. one stahlwille one is nicely weighted, but only has 24 teeth. the other one has 72 teeth, and has a super small swing ability.

my favorite tool though is a pair of snap-on 6" lockwire pliers with reverse and wire hold. small, will twist up to .040" lockwire, and do a fantastic job. that, the ratchet screwdriver, then an 8" snap-on cresent.

i'm sure your tools are fine for the jobs they are intended - this is just my personal observation.

[Motu]

The trouble with the tool places is they pick up and drop brands at a whim - ''Oh,we don't stock those anymore.....but we have these instead....'' They won't honour my Hazet claim because they don't make that model anymore....well I don't give a damn,it's just a 1/2 standard ratchet,give me another one.And of course I didn't buy it off whoever the agent is now - they just kick them around and then wipe their hands when you say you bought it off someone else.Like all my SK stuff came from Motor Specialties....''uh,like who's that?'' says the pimple faced salesman.My SK tools came with a lifetime warranty,and if I put a broken socket on Motor Specs counter,a new one was put in it's place,no questions asked.I don't care if you didn't sell the item in question,you represent the company....you honour the claim.But it doesn't work like that anymore....they have excuses.

[mikey]

i got some tools for sale

[Edbear]

Got no problem saying Snap-On is good quality, at least the tools actually branded "Snap-On" are, but they are so far above the USA prices for that brand that we wonder about the company structure in NZ! We do SK and have never turned down a warranty request for any SK tool. The other brands we sell are all good quality with generally an unconditional lifetime warranty. WE don't sell low quality stuff if we can avoid it, though for some people, price is the main consideration. I don't usually recommend Koken myself but some of their stuff is very good and they seem to be about the only place to get Whitworth from. If anyone is breaking sockets, one of our brands is proving virtually unbreakable and it's not the dearer brand, either. While generally you do get what you pay for, experience can save a lot of wasted money if you know what to look for.

[Motu]

The best,most used and most loved tool in my kit is my SK 3/8 ratchet,it's the long swivel head sparkplug one.I got this in 1977,as a replacement when my tools were stolen the first time (again in 1980,but they didn't take my SK 3/8 or 1/2 Hazet socket sets) I use this for everything,good leverage,so seldom have to go to 1/2,the handle is as long as a 1/2 ratchet,and I use it where most guys go to 1/2,flip the handle up and it's faster than an air ratchet.If any tool has been abused it's this one....and all I've done in nearly 30 yrs is replace the ratchet head once - made when Made in the USA was the benchmark in quality.

I have very few Snap-On tools,too expensive for what they are,best value for money are Facom spanners.When my cheap plastic Fuller 1/4 ratchet broke I replaced it with a $150 Snap-On job,I hate it...so got a cheap plastic Teng instead,much better.

[Ixion]

I buy most of my stuff second hand, if you wander round the second hand tool places you can get good quality gear quite cheap. Some things , like ratchets it's best to buy new, but a socket f'instance, you can see if there's any wear or damage, ditto screwdrivers and such like.

A respected name is good to see, but some stuff you can judge just by weight and "look" - sometimes you'll see something like a Stillson wrench, the old ones with the wooden handle, obviously had a lifetime of use, but still completley serviceable.

My faithful friend is the Abingdon socket set I inherited from my father , and HE got it when he finished his apprenticeship, so figure out how old that is. Best British quality when that was quality, it's as good as the day it was made, and I've abused the hell out of it over the years, let alone what he must have done. And that would have had daily use in the days of cast iron engines and blurdy tight bolts. And of course my BLOODY BIG HAMMER , also inherited.

Stahlwille sockets I quite like cos they have thinner walls than some, and bikes seem to have inaccesible bits.

Edbear, I've made a note,give y' a call next time I need something.

[Youngjim]

Can any of you guys give a recommendation and aproximate price on a 3/8 drive torque wrench and where to get one ?

Cheers

[FROSTY:Me]

there is only one brand i'd suggest -norbar.
-calibration is fantastic

[Youngjim]

Thanks for that Frosty, I will look around for them.
Cheers

[Uncle B]

Whilst at the 1996 NHRA Drag championships in Pomona California I bought a 300 piece Craftsman set with a massive array of sockets, drives and spanners you could want for.
Top quality kit with a lifetime warranty anywhere in the world.

Now if I have to buy a tool I go for a quality brand with a guarantee like Snap-on or Powerbuilt.

[Motu]

The warranty issue changed a few years ago from unconditional to ''if we feel like it'' when Sidchrome won a court case - their theory was that the life of a tool ends when it's broken...so when it breaks the warranty is void.Up until then it was truely unconditional - you presented your tool you cut in half with a gas axe,and got a new one....not anymore.Snap-On still does uncondtional,but you pay for it...Matco do too,but Dave has the only truck on the road now and does other brands than Matco....they did a bit of a dirty on him.