Problem using new Craftsman sockets with new Snapon Ratchet

[Ian95rrc]

I just purchased this 3/8 Snapon ratchet.

http://buy1.snapon.com/catalog/item...group_ID=12898&store=snapon-store&dir=catalog

I also have some new 3/8 laser etched Craftsman sockets. The two don't want to work together. I've had new sockets fit really tight before but these will not even go on all the way. I don't own any 3/8 Snapon sockets to see if they would work.

Has anyone else had this problem?

 

[Ian95rrc]

Well it appears I have a defective Snapon Ratchet. I forgot to try the sockets on my 3/8 Techwrench. They work fine on the Techwrench. When I called Snapon about the problem they simply said that they had never heard of the problem. Telling me that perhaps Craftsman designed their sockets not to work with Snapon. That was definitely a bunch of BS. Once I tryed the sockets on the Techwrench and called them back, they were willing to to admit the ratchet was probably defective. However, they claimed that I would have to pay for the return shipping. A 3rd call later I was able to get them to read their own return policy and they finally agreed to pay for return shipping.

Needless to say I'm very disappointed with Snapon's internet order customer service. They didn't even appologize for the problem.

I was trying to save myself the hassle of tracking down the Snapon guy here in town but I guess that was indeed what I shoul d have done. Lesson learned.

 

[Cooper]

snap on service

As much as I like my snap-on tools, I have also had problems with their service. After a couple of months of setting up appointments with the local guy, via direct phone contact, or through customer service, my local driver will not stop at my place of work.

I am not considered because I'm not:

1. A large buyer.
2. working "in a garage.."
3. Am not really on the route ( he drives right by the door on his way to Cooper-Technica.)

I have however, purchased enough to be emailed to set up an account (and have a truck stop by.)

I have flagged down a Matco truck in the street and purchased from it... Go figure

When I buy online I'm assuming that we pay full retail... I don't know if it's the same deal as buying from a local rep... Perhaps someone could enlighten me?

I've seen some cool ass low profile "nesting" ratchet adapters SLA something, and I can't get them with a phone call or from the website.

Maybe I can get John Lee to buy the stuff I need in Cali and ship it to me when I place an order...

 

[Ian95rrc]

Perhaps it's a problem with the Midwest division of Snapon. When I called our local Snapon people here in St. Louis they gave me the number of a dealer that doesn't even frequent my area. It seemed as though they were not interested in my business because I wasn't working out of a shop. I called again and they finally set me up with a very nice dealer that is in my area about once a week. It's still a pain to call him and then find his truck, but after this experience it's a better deal.

 

[john]

Our Snap-on guy has always been very good to us. He loves to hang out at the shop on Friday afternoons and we often go to dinner together as well. He even came by the shop on Bill Burke night:

Our MAC and Matco guys are top notch too. All three dealers have been very good to us.

When you buy from the tool guy, you pay full retail. If you're buying large/expensive items, then you can negotiate a better deal. Our air compressor and both of our KRL's, for example, came with discounted prices and tool credits. I also know that discounts are common on the high-dollar diagnostic equipment like Snap-on Vantage and such. This is basically up to your guy though.

Ian, that 3/8" ratchet is a piece of shit anyway, so it's just as well the anvil is out of spec. Get one of the soft-grip flex ratchets. I love those. Or get that all-steel locking flex ratchet. That's another great ratchet.

Nathan, if you need something, just let me know and I'll see if our guy has it on his truck. Although I think getting your Snap-on guy to stop by every week or every other week would be better. You could set up a shop account with him and then pay him on payments. If you owe him money, you can be sure he'll stop by every week. Setting up a shop account would also let you write off your Snap-on addiction.

Or, you could call/email him whenever you want to order something, and then I would think be would be more inclined to stop by. This is the arrangement I have with our MAC and Matco dealers. We don't buy a lot of MAC and Matco and so I feel bad that these guys go out of their way to stop by the shop when we buy so little. Both are more than willing to stop by every week, but I don't want to waste their time. So whenever I need a MAC or Matco tool, I just call them on their cell phones and order the particular tool or tools I want. The next week, they come by and drop off my order and I just write them a check. Done deal. It works out well for all of us.

 

[john]

Nathan, you talking about these low-profile adapters?:

 

[Cooper]

John,

Those are the ones....

Magnetic also? Excellent..

These are not available online.

I will put the beg on the local guy again..

 

[john]

I believe Snap-on discontinued those slimline adapters. Those adapters are made by some other company though and are still available through MAC and Matco.

Here's the MAC Tools part number:

http://www.mactools.com/ProductDetails.aspx?ItemNum=MT3A

I couldn't find those adapters on the Matco website, but they're listed in the current Matco catalog. The part numbers are:

MSA1003A - three-adapter set
MSA1012A - 1/2" to 3/4" adapter
MSA1038A - 3/8" to 1/2" adapter
MSA1014A - 1/4" to 3/8" adapter

If you can, get the paper catalogs for Snap-on, MAC, and Matco. Each company has certain products that the others don't have. It's nice to have access to all three.

 

[Cooper]

Ahh, I see- thank you for the link... Got the snap-on paper will get the others soon...

 

[clayatem]

I don't konw about yall but the over all servce of Mac, snap-on, and
Craftsman have gone down hill with stanley tools as the parent comp.

 

[GregH]

I don't konw about yall but the over all servce of Mac, snap-on, and
Craftsman have gone down hill with stanley tools as the parent comp.

MAC is Stanley's premium line of tools

I believe that Craftsman at one time did contract with Stanley to manufacture tools but since about 1994 the contract has been with Danaher.

I don't believe Stanley has ever had anything to do with Snap-On.

 

[Ian95rrc]

Snap-on Incorporated (NYSE: SNA) is in no way affiliated with Stanely Tools. As far as I know there are 3 major tool manufactures in the US; Stanley(MAC, Proto, Husky), Danaher(Craftsman, Matco, Kobalt), and Snap-on.

 

[Brian...]

SnapOn Ratchet

See, Ian, that's what you get for not getting the 1/2" TechWrench. You have angered the SnapOn gods by not fully realizing that by purchasing the inferior SnapOn 3/8" ratchet without the softgrip in utilization with the Craftsmen sockets that you have condemned yourself to travel down the painful path of tool h*ll. I think that the only way in which you can rid yourself of such troubles is by accepting that you are a fallen man and buy a 3/8" Facom ratchet instead because they are the queen's bees or knees or something like that.

Seriously, repent and get a better wrench as long as it doesn't say C-R-A-F-T-S-M-A-N (even a rock has better engagement than those drivers.)

 

[Ian95rrc]

My 3/8 Techwrench is the shit, I'd rather have it anyday over a 1/2. I have my 1/2 beater Craftsman for anything the 3/8 Techwrench can't handle. I suppose if I equiped myself with the proper rubber gloves I could barrow your 1/2.

The 3/8 ratchet I ordered was just plain simple bare bones, no frills. As far as I know it shares the same head design as the flex and softgrip models. I looked at the soft grip model again and that's probably what I'll get to replace it. I have to draw the line on price somewhere. The flex head ratchets I've used in the past have been royal pieces of shit, so in my head I associate bad with flex head ratchets. There have been many times when I wished I had a good flex head ratchet but not enough to warrant the added cost at this point. I've got my eye on some new flank drive wrenches, so that'll add up real fast.

I haven't been able to get ahold of my dealer. Do you have the number of a crack dealer I don't know about Brian? Gary Zarbo is the guy I've been going to.

 

[Brian...]

Torque Baby, Torque!

Well, you'll never know when you might need those 250 ft-lbs of accurate (to 2%) torque.

Just the other day when I was torqueing down the cylinder head bolts on my Series, a smile came across my face because I was glad that if I had needed it, I had at my disposal the extra torque capacity to get the job done.

I only have one crack wh*re left. His name is Brian and his number is 314.486.8104. I have been meaning to buy some bling from him, but he seems to hang in South STL a lot which makes it sort of a pain to get the product. All the rest of my betties have gone to the wayside.

Flank Drive? Man, that is so 1990. Real men use Gear Wrench ratcheting combination wrenches. They haven't failed me yet except for those bolts that I can't get loose.

 

[Ian95rrc]

Thanks, I'll give this Brian guy a whirl.

Call me old fashion but I've always found great need for open ended wrenches and I'm digging the Flank Drive Plus wrenches. I guess I've had one too many fasteners get rounded off by my current Craftsman wrenches.

 

[john]

Gearwrench? EEEEK!

Ian, if you want Flank Drive Plus and ratcheting box ends, get the ratcheting Flank Drive Plus, the ones at the top of this pic:

The open ends are Flank Drive Plus:

And the box ends are ratcheting with selectors:

I love those wrenches. Cost isn't really any more than the non-ratchet Flank Drive Plus wrenches. The box ends are chubby though. They won't fit into tight spots like the non-ratcheting Flank Drive Plus. But they are so useful for everything else I love them.

Another sweet thing about these wrenches is that you can disassemble the ratcheting mechanism, grease it, and then reassemble it. The ratcheting mechanism is oh so smooth when it's greased.

For the 3/8" ratchets, this is a very nice one:

Cost is a chunk more than that plain jane model, but the extra $30 or so is worth it I think. You get the flex head and you can lock it as well. I only wish Snap-on made a locking flex with the soft-grip handle. That would be so sweet.

 

[Ian95rrc]

I was looking at the ratcheting flank drive plus last night and I think you're right John. Really for the money they are a better value than the standard box end. 17mm : $41.95 for ratcheting vs $38.25 for standard combo. I didn't realize the Snap-on ratcheting ends where servicable. That is really sweet.

As far as a ratchet goes, I think the ideal ratchet would be a 9 9/16" soft grip locking flex head. Too bad that animal doesn't exist(at least for Snapon). For my use, I think the 11" of the locking flex head is a little long. If I want that kind of leverage I can pull out the 1/2" ratchet. I guess it comes down to making a compromise between flex, length, grip, and price.

 

[john]

Yeah, the locking flex can be long and tiring to use. This is my favorite 3/8" ratchet right now:

It's a 1/4" drive flex ratchet with soft-grip handle. I removed the anvil and put in a 3/8" anvil (Snap-on sells anvils separately as part of its rebuild kits). This is now a 3/8" ratchet. The ratchet is very light and the head is very small. You can see in that pic that the head is just barely larger than the socket. The head is about dead even in width as a 14mm socket.

 

[Ian95rrc]

The saga continues......



Snapon is sending me back my ratchet, claiming that it is not defective. They said they tried the ratchet with their sockets and they work fine. When I sent the ratchet back I told them that the ratchet would work with my extensions and a few other cheap sockets. The reason I see the anvil as defective is that these same Craftsman sockets work with my 3/8 Techwrench anvil. I don't see any difference between the ratchet and Techwrench anvil.

The top of the ratchet anvil was ground down at an angle. They claim that this was done so that sockets would fit on the anvil. As I see it, this is the reason the anvil isn't working with my sockets. No such scar exists on my Techwrench anvil, it is a perfect circle.

So I'm left with Craftsman sockets that I can't take back and a new Snapon ratchet that doesn't work with these sockets. Apparently the costumer service supervisor was out sick today so I have to wait until tomorrow to bitch. The supervisor was in on the decision to send the ratchet back to me, so I have pretty low expectations they will be willing to fix the problem. Needless to say I'm pissed.

Ok, I'm done with my bitchfest.