Beware when buying Craftsman tools

Good grief, at this point I'm wondering if the Craftsman USA plant has been bought by the Chinese yet.

 

Seems like everything is made offshore these days.. We can all thank the free trade agreement. I work at a new car dealership (gm) and pretty much every part box says made in china.

Not to get ot, new exhaust manifold for a 2010 equinox came in with a tag on it.... MADE IN CHINA.

Another bad example.. A/C mode door actuator, these are motors that work the HVAC doors. Well we got a bad batch, they work opposite of hot or cold. GM parts told us to identify the bad ones if made in Taiwan and the known good are made in China.

Buy an american car... nothing is made here.

 

It's not just Sears and Craftsman that are changing Mac,Matco,Stanley,
Snap- on,Cornwell, they are all importing tools from somewhere overseas. They have been doing it for years with no question's asked! I returned a couple of "broken"tools to Sears recently and the fellow behind the counter tell me this will be the last time we can replace this because "Craftsman"doesn't make it any longer"they gave me a Stanley product instead, the other tool was replaced with a far more inferior product although it was a c"Craftsman product! I have had similar dealings with Snap-On and Mac,Cornwell, even had to argue with a Snap-on dealer that yes it is guaranteed so the whole tool world is changing and not for the better!
BUYER BEWARE!!!

 

I know I'm just an amateur mechanic and insignificant to the overall scheme of things, but surely there are perhaps a millions of others just like me? Regardless, I'm delighted to get the heads-up from this post!

I was just thinking to myself the other day how I was glad to have these vintage Craftsman hand-tools, as if I break one, I could just run down and get another.

Now I hear that the don't even do that anymore and if they do it would be a Chinese Crapsman! That's enough for me! I'm done. I will surely be spreading the word, and SEARS I HOPE YOU ARE LISTENING!

No threat, fact.

 

Believe it or not, I think one of the best places to get good tools it at an estate sale or garage sale. Most of them are older, better tools, and cost a whole lot less. If you break it, just throw it away, because the new crap you buy is basically disposeable as well, but a whole lot more expensive.

 

Kobalt tools are made by Snap-on. Snap-on owns Kobalt. I found out this by a Kobalt rep that came to the Oklahoma City NSRA show a few years ago.

 

I bought a big set of craftsman tools last year and they have made in usa stamped on them. They seem to be of quality but i have noticed some cheap looking stuff in sears last few times ive been in their browsing through tools. I've never had any trouble yet but I don't plan on buying anymore from them anyway. Im working my way into owning more snap-on and matco stuff a little at a time.

Another thing that is interesting is that ingersol-rand makes matco's air tools that includes their awesome composite series impacts and air ratchets. The ingersol titanium series is the exact same for a lot less. BTW, just saying, best impact I've ever used hands down IMO.

 

Ok...go to Lowes and read the Kobalt label...made in China. Or read this from wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kobalt_(tools)

 

From a year and half ago..

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=601500

 

From Wikipedia:" Kobalt is a line of tools owned by the American home improvement chain Lowe's as their house brand.
Lowe's and manufacturing partner J.H. Williams launched Kobalt in 1998,[1] with the intention of competing against rival retailers Sears and The Home Depot and their respective Craftsman and Husky tool brands.[2] Since 2003, Kobalt hand tools have largely been made by the Danaher Corporation.[3][4] Previously made in the USA, initially by Snap-on's JH Williams brand, Kobalt sockets and wrenches are now made in Taiwan, while pliers and other tools are made in China."

Bob

 

I thought Snap-On owned Blue-Point....

 

I just posted a link to this thread on the Craftsman page on Facebook. We'll see how long it stays up before getting deleted.

 

I started that one...

 

If we are truly traditional here by seeking out old real original parts for our cars, how hard can it be to find old real original tools to work on them? Stop buying new tools...that was easy...

 

Yes, yes, you did..

 

It all went downhill when K-Mart bought Sears a few years back.
.

 

Lets start by seeking them via telegraph or smoke signals,and throw the damn electronic boxes away.
How traditional can we be?

 

Lol.......................................

 

Yep

 

Another dissatisfied Sears customer! Beside the obvious lack of quality and country of origin, I remember 15-20+ years ago when you'd go into Sears and the guy working there actually knew something about tools. For at least the last ten years, everybody I've spoken with in the tool dept. was a tool! High school kids w/o a clue about anything. Another huge disappointment, is I live over an hour away from the big Sears store and remember 3 or 4 times making the drive to pick up a particular tool and they were out of it! Oh well we can order it for you... Yeah and so can the catalog store that's 15 mins from my house! I drove here to buy the tool not order it! I actually had to go to Horror Freight a couple of times and I don't think the quality was any worse and the price was much better. This whole country is going down the shitter and all they care about is more profit!

 

I never said that they were made in the USA. I only know what the tool rep told me. Maybe snap-on sold the rights to Kobalt tools to Lowes or maybe they are in someway owned by the same parent company. I do know that the Kobalt and Craftsman tools that I own have been great. The only tools I have had to exchange have been old Craftsman that have broken after many years of use.

 

If you want to buy snap-on tools you can purchase directly from them on their website.

 

I also try to buy USA made tooling exclusivley as well and most of it is Snap On, but the sad reality is more and more of our tools are made in China and Taiwan and Snap On isnt exempt in this either, but their prices definatly don't reflect on the cheaper production costs. I receintly brought a new Roller cabnet tool box from Snap On and right along the side was made in China!!!

 

I've broken 3 Craftsman 1/4" ratchets this year. Take them back and they hand you another from a box under the counter, all labeled 'refurbished'. Even the sales clerk said he "gets back a lot of these Chinese made ratchets".

I was thrilled to get a box of used tools from a garage sale this summer, all 20 or more years old and every one US made. The quality difference is huge.

Sears stores are closing all the time, they are on the ropes and sinking fast!

Steve

 

Don't be a smartass...old used USA made tools are cheaper than new store-bought crap from overseas and are easy to come by via garage sales, estate sales and pawn shops.

 

What i dont like is when you get a new socket from them its not stamped with the size anymore its like is etched or something and if you sscrub it against anything then the size is gone. It makes a big difference when you have bad eyes. I,ve been useing chraftsman tools since the mid 60's and now i realize how important they are to me and i handle them completely different. I bet i have 20k in there tools.
Bob

 

G'day, I gave up on Sears/Craftsmen tools 20+ years ago. I started out with nothing but Craftsmen. When i started wrenching for a living I started buying Snap-On and Mac tools. Both dealers treated me right and gave me good service. Never had an issue with a broken tool getting replaced as rare as that happened.

When I quit wrenching I hauled most of my tools up to my Dad's for him to use so had to put together a set for my own use. I bought a lot of Snap-On tools from the pawn shops. A lot of times Tech School students would get their tools paid for and would drop out of the program. These tools always seemed to end up at the pawn shops and you could get new to almost tools for 40% on the dollar. I have also got some exceptional deals at estate auctions and even on Ebay.

 

they been changing makers for a few years now of the hand tools. the stores around me had alot of the american made tools on sale a while back when they got alot of the chinese tools in. look at your mac and snap on tools too some of those are not american made either, i got a buddy thats had a mac jack made in china been replaced three times in 8 years i think.

 

Yup, that's all I buy now.....swap meets, Ebay and antique malls .

 

And you return the broken ones the same way?