Tools!

big tee · Jan 6, 2019

I will add this to the post below. When my son-Ray- graduated from high school in 2000 he had a Deere dealer sponsor him in the Deere tech program. That Summer the tech school at Calmar,Iowa had a "Tool Day" and all the big tool companies were there-Snap On-Mac-SK and others. I went along to watch. My Son had his scholarship, graduation and his own money and he was in a buying mood. An old tight arse like me couldn't believe the prices. My son in-law-Nick went through the same program and they made my tools look like junk. Far Side the cartoon used to be in our local paper and I cut this cartoon out and had it on my wall in the shop for years until it must have blown away in the Summer when I had my big door open-but I googled it and low and behold I made another copy!---Tee

moresmoke · Jan 6, 2019

But, if you have the money, the tools are affordable through the tech school. Something like 50% of list.

Down side is if you don?t have the cash, you can very easily end up owing the tool guy $500/wk until you die.

oldtanker · Jan 6, 2019

What most people overlook is the fact that a mechanic can't afford to damage a customers vehicle/equipment because that cheap harbor freight tool slipped or broke. He also can't afford to take off from work every time a tool fails to run get another.

Rick

paul · Jan 6, 2019

Funny.

I?m a tool fan, so I can see myself in the picture.....

I can get more tools to hang on the wall at hArbor Frieght, so I tend to shop that sort of place mostly these days.

I got some Craftsman back in the day for good stuff, and I seem to like Napa stuff these days for good tool, tolerable price.

I tend to use a special tool once, or once a year, and tend to need 4-5 of the common tools to carry with the tractors and combines and lose in the cornstalks as I repair stuff on the fly. And so, the cheap stuff fits my needs these days.

Those who make a living with the set of tools every day need the good stuff.

Pretty easy to see the different needs for the different levels of top shelf, moderate, and cheap.

Glad they are all available for all of us, it?s scary where quality and top notch stuff is heading to as their market and buyers shrink the costs gets higher and higher!

Paul

P I Pete · Jan 6, 2019

My SIL was a snapon dealer, carried his clients accts. on his own one day he went on his route one guy left his job along with his tools big bucks. No one knew where he went and no help from snapon. So much for being a nice guy.

Pete

dzc3 · Jan 6, 2019

Harbor Freight wrenches get a bad rap, I have yet to have someone show me, where they failed compared to any other brand. Now I am talking apples to apples don't compare you six sided wrenches to their 12. Same guarantee as big name brands

SVcummins · Jan 6, 2019

Turning wrenches everyday it pays to have a good
tool more than once had a snap on tool save me
when a crapsman wouldn?t grab some things are
hard to heat and beat and when you?re on a
customers tractor burning paint or melting wire isn?t
an option on the old stuff I work on now it doesn?t
matter if it takes me all day to get something apart

4520BW · Jan 6, 2019

When I went thru the Deere Tech program,snap on sold us tool sets at half price. When I got my real job the employer would let us buy tools and they would do payroll deduction. Snap on made all the cummins service hand tools so we got 40% off. After the big flood of 08 I got all brand new snap on tools and boxes, the dealer said it cost $23000 to replace my stuff.

WGM · Jan 6, 2019

Please verify how many times a Harbor Freight tool has slipped or broke and damaged a customer's
vehicle.

WGM · Jan 6, 2019

Most broken tools are due to owner abuse regardless of the brand.

Elton Fancher · Jan 6, 2019

I have a truckload of handtools bought here and there. Every brand. I do like having some cheap wrenches in the truck cause I lose some, the grandson throws em down everywhere, and I can't see snapon for me. Craftsmen ratchets aint much, but I will put a pipe on one in a heartbeat, and not a lot of tools take that well. I have some NAPA 3/4 stuff, excellent tools. But I use whatever I can get cheap.

big tee · Jan 6, 2019

I have a Deere dealer 8 mi south and 10 mi northwest and there used to be Mac and Snap On tool trucks that made their stop I believe every week-If you were in the shop when the tool trucks pulled in you better watch it or you would get run over.---Tee

4520BW · Jan 6, 2019

Did your son stay at the dealer? I stayed about a year after I graduated then went to Cummins. Doubled my wages!

Lumpie · Jan 6, 2019

If a mechanic is breaking tools working on stuff, I'm not sure I want him working on my stuff anyway. Expensive tools don't make a mechanic any better, a good mechanic will get it done with whatever he's got.

SVcummins · Jan 6, 2019

I wanted to do that Deere tech school so bad even had a dealer ready to sponsor me and everything but I ended up not getting to do it because of family issues still wish I could have done it

moresmoke · Jan 6, 2019

Some places the Deere dealers are getting better about pay. Should be able to when they charge $160/hr. About the same story here, I went somewhere else for more money and less hours.

Funny thing is, I had a mix of tools, a fair amount of older Craftsman and I got paid the same amount as the other guys that had $$$$ tools. Actually, I made more with a higher efficiency bonus.

And when someone needed a socket bigger than 3 inch, they didn?t have a problem using my HF set.

big tee · Jan 6, 2019

I think he stayed 3 years and went to Deere's PEC-Product engineering -Deere research farm-still there and took over farm 5 years ago. Different subject-I saw on the national news where Cummins lost 200 million because of the tariff dispute with China. Wow-it showed lots of engine blocks sitting there and they all had made in China molded in them. Does Cummins have a foundry anymore? So you guys are flooded again-I not going to your part of the country-the Yt cops will flame me again---Tee

big tee · Jan 6, 2019

I think you would have been good there. I also think you and 4520 and I should be neighbors-we would get along good! Also when you weld that clevis on that cylinder be careful. I know you will and I don't want to sound like a old YT cop but I have also done it before. I take a old bath towel and get it real wet and extend the rod all the way out and wrap the towel around the rod tightly. This will keep the heat from transferring to the oil. When I was a kid I heard the story of a farmer who bent a loader cylinder and took it too a welding shop and the dummies heated it up and blew the cement block walls out and killed them all. Good Luck---Tee

4520BW · Jan 6, 2019

The foundry that did alot of the blocks closed in 2000. Town grew around it then everyone complained and got it closed. The engines that are built in our building ( 19,30 and 95liter and 903) mostly come from Brazil. I thing the dodge blocks are from Mexico. Both places have good castings. The last crank I messed with was from the USA.( it weighed a ton).
Not to much water right now..last week was flooded good. In 08 the building u were in with Doug had 5 feet of water in it.

Hobo,NC · Jan 6, 2019

What you have to watch out for in this day and time is when something new comes out... Tool manufactures can only sale so many wrenches/sockets/screwdrivers ETC... All tool manufactures out source tools snap-on seams to have the new stuff captured for a year... Example a cam/crank seal installer set snap-on $200 wait a year and its on the net by the original manufacturer for $90... Problem is I see it and want it NOW for pay up the $200 because I can see the benefit of having a special tool like this on hand...

There is a special set of seal puller legs in the set that are EZ to break after you break a few you understand not to go there if the seal does not pop out EZ STOP... Snap-on warranty's the puller legs I even brought a extra set so I would not have to wait for the tool guy to order them...

Matco don't make chit they out source every thing when you see something new on a Matco truck you better go google it you will find it from the original manufacturer at 1/2 price...

You guys should consider yourself luck china makes some good tools a DIY guy can afford... It has not always been this way...

Every tool manufacture I have deal with will change the warranty rules you can bank on that.... Snap-on has always backed up what they sale ay least for me... As long as I don't loose it they have replaced it and its the only manufacturer that's stood behind what they sale...

SVcummins · Jan 6, 2019

I would like to meet you and 4520 and a lot of other people on this board . That?s a good idea about the Towel I?ve never done that before seems like a good idea . That would be an awful way to die trying to fix something and get blown to smitherenes

Bruce(OR) · Jan 7, 2019

MATCO is an off shoot of MAC. MAC is owned by STANLEY. STANLEY owns Black & Decker and Craftsman and others.
MATCO dealers had a problem with MAC several, several years ago and broke away. A lot of MATCO dealers even got away from MATCO.
You really desire problem tools?
My favorite is Cornwell.
I had a Cornwell dealer show up at a shop I was working in last century, He finally had problems getting tools warrantied by Cornwell and
gave up his dealership. He was the first Cornwell dealer I saw in better than 20 years.
As for the school programs and buying tools, it is the best time. Snap on will sell tools to students typically at below what the dealers can
buy them for. One slight drawback is they only sell a designated set of tools to students. At least that is how it was some 30 years ago. ..

sammydwm · Jan 7, 2019

(quoted from post at 21:17:25 01/06/19) What most people overlook is the fact that a mechanic can't afford to damage a customers vehicle/equipment because that cheap harbor freight tool slipped or broke. He also can't afford to take off from work every time a tool fails to run get another.

Rick

But he can afford to wait a week till the truck shows up again?
Snap On stuff does break...

FBH44 · Jan 7, 2019

I'll say this for Snap-On. I found a crescent-style wrench alongside the highway one time, a Snap-On. Does it work well??? well sure it does. But as I look at it I am really impressed. The arm is a heavy I-beam shape, the top flange of the I-beam is 2X as wide/thick as the bottom flange. The top is smooth and rounded, 2X as thick as the bottom, and really feels good. As you push it down, it is extremely comfortable for your palm. The jaws are calibrated on one side in mm, all the way up to about 30 mm, on the other side in 1/4 1/2 3/4 1, every 1/16 inch. Big warning labels forged into the arm, NO EXTENSIONS NO HAMMERING, which we all know not to do and we all go ahead and do. The turner knurled thing turns is SO smooth, it has no friction at all. None. Chrome plating is heavy and beautiful, it appears they might have don't it properly, might actually be plated copper then nickel then chrome, just like it supposed to be done. The inside of the jaws are slightly grooved for a 'bite'. Sit it there on your desk, it is a work of art. I'm impressed.

fixerupper · Jan 7, 2019

Getting back to the tool day at school. Something mes when a young man goes to tech tech school he might not end up pursuing that career so why should he start with expensive tools? My son went to diesel mechanics at a local area college. On tool day there were reps from Craftsman, Snapon, Mack and maybe another one. My son chose Craftsman because he was running on a budget. He dropped out after the first year which is another story, so going the Craftsman route was the wise decision. He now pulls wrenches on feed trucks, both his own and those owned by a local co-op but has built up an Arsenal or higher priced tools as needed.

A neighbor boy went to the same diesel course but bought the whole nine yards of Snapon tools and an expensive Snapon tool cabinet. All on his dad’s dime. He dropped out after three months, whining about how bad he was treated. Now dad has these expensive Snapon tools in his farm shop but can’t use them because they supposedly belong to his son.

Just a couple of real life stories. Maybe I’m too much of a tightwad, but I just can’t see starting out with top of the line tools when the future is uncertain. Its a poor business decision in my humble opinion.

jddrawbar · Jan 7, 2019

I have plenty of top quality tools, what I need is someone to pull on them. Not as much fun as it use to be.

T.R.K. · Jan 7, 2019

Well, for me its an extra 15 minute break in the day if the tool man comes by.

I recall when I was in Tech. school, The Snap-On rep came one day and offered us that tool deal. Seems like it was about 1,000 bucks, back in about 1986, for a tool chest with 1/4, 3/8, 1/2 drive sockets in std. and metric and combination wrenches in std. and metric.

I didn't buy it. My money was tight. That Christmas Mother and Daddy gave me a Craftsman set with a 3 drawer tool box. But that's another story.

Some of the young men did get a set of those tools. Seems like they were set up on time payments. Two of those guys disappeared a few weeks later with their tool boxes and before long the Snap-On rep was asking where those guys might be found. I always wondered if that was their scheme all along. They were working in a shop somewhere and acted like they knew everything about cars.

Tools!

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