Beware when buying Craftsman tools

As long as Americans are willing to buy cheap crap, there will only be cheap crap to buy.
This is nothing new, it started after WW2 with a flood of cheap crap made out of beer cans from Japan. Now China is cranking it out.
As long as you buy it, they will sell it.

 

If I may I'll add a few words on this subject.
I am getting almost paranoid to write anything as I have seen someone attaching an FNG to my input. I was trying to help in any matter I can offer. That makes a member mad and is NOT a way to welcome anyone on board. After all WE ARE ALL in the same Boat! Those of us in our later years try to impart some knowledge in our field on to others. We all don't think alike so we attack our problems at different angles and ways of doing things! That is why there are so many DIFFERENT hot rods and styles. So we do not always make good decisions when we build something nor sometimes we make mistakes. I have redone something on a car 3 and (God Forbid) "Four" times to finally get it right. In fact, if you hold onto one of your cars long enough, and redo it through the years, it almost becomes a different car! Some of mine I have held onto since 1965! I was living in Missouri and not on the East or West coasts like a lot of were. I had to learn a lot of stuff from Photos out of the little books until they began growing up too. We took our cars to the drags and broke them often. We would be all over the pits ooglin the cars that won unless they would not let anyone local near them. That was a significant part of MY education! Not to be outdone I would be trying what I saw within the next few weeks or months or over the winter. College came first for me as I wanted desperately to get away from the little houses that we all were raised in and have a life!!! My father and mother never had a garage until I built one to work on my cars. After moving away and finally taking some of my cars dad finally had a place to pull his car in at night. He only lived for 4 more years that way.
I taught school in Florida and while teaching there I had the pleasure of having some of A to Z Tools offspring that attended our high school where I worked in Vocational Education. Arnold Zazulia was the owner and he purchased tools from ROC in Containers. They had a place in New Jersey and also in Tampa Florida (now in Plant City). One of his sons told me that China made most of Craftsman's Tools! In fact he brought me a set of wrenches to class and yes it LOOKED exactly like the Craftsmen tools. One MAIN difference was that there was no labeling of the handles. No name stamped into the wrench! I said well I bet that they won't hold up to any tough WORK! Wrong they did as good as our Snap on brands. This was 1978!!!!!!!
Their tool line was AES. I bought several sets for my classes and some students if they allowed me to. I was not a VENDOR so I couldn't just buy what ever I wanted. But for educational purposes sometimes!
AES tools are sold by MANY body shop supply houses. They are pretty good as far as hand tools. And pretty fair on other tools as a whole. Not the Quality of Snap-on! But not as expensive either. If I were working all day long with my tools then I would rather have the Snap on. The tools that were made in the ROC for Craftsman were built to their specifications and content as far as I was told.
Another note I NEED to mention... I do not buy a lot from Harbor Freight!!!! I use to but I really got tired of the short life span of their products!!! I still do use a few of their tools but they SUCK!!! as a whole. My opinion only here!
Their 2 year warranty is only good for a one time replacement on even a small part! # mos after purchasing these warranties on all of my tools that I had been buying I ran into this problem!! That means that if you buy the extended warranties and use it once that IS IT!!!! Security Cameras included.
My local store first would trade out with me and I thought, "All Right!!". But later they got in trouble and even a few of those employees were either let go or left. I feel that Harbor Freight is using us to get our hard earned American $$$$. They do not care about making a superior product!!!! They have taken ALL of our formulas and technology developed by our companies through our hard and long time trials and errors and started out doing what we asked. Now a lot of our main companies are having their use to be GOOD products fail! While China puts out some Quality (their name brands) that cost more and hold up longer. Carter Fuel pumps for one. (Ask your autoparts store!!). So if I have spoken as an FNG them PLEASE ignore this information!! We do not need to be selling all our scrap steel and aluminum and copper to them to get back JUNK and FILL UP our land fills!
Joe in Mo
The FNG guy!! ????????????? I've only been at this stuff since 1958!!!

 

Dont believe that craftman ever warrenteed torque wrenches. I remember reading the paper work that came with mine long time ago. After mine crapped out I would use it for a long handle ratchet till HD was offering that thay would take any broken lifetime tool for a new one of theirs. So the store guy didnt know that it had a limited warrenty so I got a new husky.

 

So, what's next???... Cheap chinese beer???...

 

You wanna buy cheap but USA good?
I was looking for a large 1/2" drive socket, and it was expensive and made offshore in the big box stores....

Went to a tractor show and sale, one vendor had a box full of older used large sockets...all same price $3 ... some made offshore, some marked USA....
Bought a good USA socket for $3.

There's a lot of truth in the saying "oldie but goodie."

 

I forgot to mention that Arnold told me that there were 5 levels of manufacturing quality made in ROC. The top of the line is really good but not cheap. Buffalo Tools was the BOTTOM of the Barrel. I think Harbor Freight is vacillating between that Buffalo quality and the next up but still no where near the top. In the USA we try to over-engineer our products or at least we use to! Now we have "Planed Product Life Span that they try to make us engineer into mfg'rd. Products after the warrantee period. A Planned product obsolescence self-destruction if you will.
Thanks and I'm outta here.

 

They didn't but under normal use they last. I have a beam torque wrench that's over 40 years old and it's still accurate. How do I know that? I have a friend who calibrates tools that are used in quality control check it for me.

 

Well, Bud and Miller (owns Coors now) are no longer a American Company even though they still make beer here in the U.S.
But if you want true American owned/made beer, you have to go with those microbrews (Sam Adams, Firestone, etc............)

 

I am glad mine are snap on

 

Chinese beer is neither cheap nor good. It smells like piss and probably tastes like piss.

I only buy local microbrew beer.

 

Like I said earlier; "Beware when buying anything."

 

I drank a lot of Tsingtao beer when I lived in hong Kong. Now THAT will give you a headache just like this thread!!

 

That is correct snap on owns blue point and matco has silver eagle and cornwell has blue power. And the Mac guy sells everything under the sun. I'm a matco guy myself, my box and 90% of my tools are matco and even the low dollar silver eagle stuff they sell is good as far as I'm concerned. The fact is everyone has a Asian maker of low dollar tools and that's not going to change so my suggestion is find what works best for you and stick to it.


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Sad!...Just fucking sad...

 

Not sure how this fits into what you posted, but Matco was originally an offshoot of the Mac tool company.

 

I've been an auto tech all my life. Yeah, I got some older craftsman stuff, but just about everything in my boxes are snap-on, matco or mac. and I'm not talking about a few tools, I'm talking I could retire on the money I've spent in over 40 years. My snap-on man doesn't disappear after he's paid up. He's always around trying to sell you something else and replace broken stuff. As far as torque wrenches go, I don't know any tool manufacturer that has a lifetime warranty on one. You buy quality and you get quality, you buy crap and you get crap. Some of my tools are still around from when I started in 69. Like was said earlier here, feel the difference. Ken

 

I didn't know that but that's a cool bit of knowledge for sure!


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anybody remember aj foyt's craftsman commercial from around 20 years ago? "they're made right here in america so you know they are good" or some words to that effect. i wonder what the ol man thinks about them now?

 

The problem is that Craftsman was about the only US made tool out there that was affordable and easier to buy than the professional series tools. People were wiling to pay a little extra for a better tool that was not made in china, taiwan, etc. Now those greedy assholes at sears/k-"fuck you"-mart have decided to take that last choice away.
It's time for K-shit-mart and Shit-for-brains-EARS to go away once and for all.

 

Channel-Lock, still proudly made in America.








Now back to your regularly scheduled programming

 

You ever see him throw a fit????....
He gets pissed really quick!...

 

People want the quality of the old Sears, but at the price of Harbor Freight. Sears gave you all what you wanted. Who can blame them?

 

funny thing is, when that commercial was running, i had craftsman metric wrenches that read made in japan on them. i wanted to have him autograph one of them.

 

8 pages of posts.....99.9% done on computers made off shore. It is 2012 folks. Get over it.

 

I was OK with paying a fair price for their tools. There used to be a time you could buy nearly whatever tool you needed at sears. Not anymore or for that matter it's been many years that you can't.
If I wanted HF prices, I went to a swap meet or garage sale.

 

Great heads up!!!! Vise grip is doing something very similar!

 

WRONG!

You clearly did not read the entirety of what I posted. They are NOT selling anything at Harbor freight prices, they are selling Harbor Freight tools at Craftsman prices. The Chinese Craftsman tools are still 2-3x the price of Harbor Freight. What makes a 12 pc. wrench set made in China worth $100? Remember, the USA and China tools right next to each other on the shelf are the same price!

I think that most of the responses here are only focusing on half of the picture here... Yes, I begrudge the hell out of them for moving production overseas. But keep in mind:

They are using their prior good name and reputation to make you think you are paying for something that you are not!

A few of you mentioned you bought some tools recently without noticing it. That is what they are hoping for! They have a clear intention of deceiving you, the unsuspecting consumer!

No change in price or packaging, other than the lack of the tiny blue sticker in the corner that stated MADE IN USA. They have always had a Chinese alternative to the Craftsman line, I think it was called "Companion" a few years back. There was a price difference to reflect it. What they are doing is not fair and its not right, so I will never spend a dollar in SEARS, Kmart, or on a Craftsman tool again. Remember, in a capitalistic society the only way to make a meaningful change is to vote with your wallet. I fully intend to do so.

 

Too late for that one....
The damage is already done....

 

Last time i needed sockets I bought some at a flea market place for a buck each. Made sure to pick out US made ones. Could have bought wrenches and things that way too.

I had a board with a whole batch of new USA made wrenches that retailed 10 years ago for like 8-10 bucks and took it to the swaps $3 each two for $5. I think in two years I sold four wrenches. I stopped taking it to swaps.

 

oldsmobum got it right.I too will never buy another Craftsmen tool.,I have a large amount of Craftsman wrenches, maybe 50 years old. The box wrenches had strong thin walls and a nice offset. I keep hopeing they never wear out. I have a favorite 1/2" - 9/16" I would never part with. The new Craftsmen wrenches are worse then the HF ones. The box ends are so thick walled you can't get on a bolt in a tight spot. The box wrenches don't have the offset they used to have. I admit , I do buy HF tools and FOR THE MONEY, they are a good buy. You pay premium for Polished Craftsman, where most HF wrenches are polished. I have not had one break yet, and I have abused them a time or two. Sears used to have a no questions asked replacement on all HAND TOOLS. Now you have to watch every package for the length of warranty. A hand tool is not always a hand tool. Try taking back a staple gun that takes a shit because behind the outer metal you got plastic parts that break. HF, you break it, you take it back and get another. They have though tightened their belt on large power items.