Craftsman tool alert!!!

Anytime I get near a Sears store I always check the tool dept to see if they have a loss leader on sale that I can use. Tonight they have their 260 piece tool set on sale for $169. 1/4, 3/8, 1/2 drive SAE and Metric with wrenches etc!

I bought the 5 piece mini pliers set for 1/2 off cuz I don't teed the other tools.

If you need mechanics tools and are a little short on funds sell the dog/cat, sell the DeSoto or something.

This will give you a really good basic set of hand tools.

 

That is a good deal. I always look for the sets that include a lot of 1/2 drive. Some of them skimp, and thats the expensive stuff.

 

No, not the dog!!!

 

Don't you think tool sets are like drill sets, you seem to get a load of what you have already. :lol:

 

Chacal, I never ever thought I would have the opportunity to tell you you are mistaken. A man MUST have tools, dogs, althouh nearly essential, are usually optional. Exceptions of course would be seeing eye dogs, dalmations to sit on beer wagons and any dog smart enought to open an ice chest to retrieve cold beer! .


Wizard, you are right. With sets you tend to get a lot of what you already have. Old guys like us have picked up numerous sets over the years and we buy them in sets beause they usually have the right tools for an excellent price. I have a set in each boat, one in my wife's GrandAm and a set in my pickup.

Now, if you are a young person with mis-matched hand me down tools a set like this is an opportunity to get a quality set of basic hand tools for $.5468 per piece. For some reason they gave me an additional 10% off at the register for a grand total of $152 plus change. I forgot to mention that I bought a set for my son in law as an early birthday gift. Just couldn't pass up on the deal.

 

Wamaxim, you may be right about me being mistaken (happens quite a bit, actually!), but please, please...........NOT THE DOG!

 

A man simply cannot have enough tools.

A man cannot pass up the opportunity to acquire a new tool, even though it may be three or five years before he uses it again.

Quality tools are truly a lifetime investment. Go for it.

 

I agree, you never have too many tools. I always had Craftman tools and like them. I nver had any problem with the lifetime gaurantee. They've always replaced any wore out or broken tools I had (OK, I'm hard on them) so I'll keep buying from them.
It's nice to have an extra set to throw in the car/truck when traveling too. Ya just never know.

 

that was a great deal. i recently moved out of my parrents and living on my own i do have a nice gargage to work on my bike but with no tools it stunk. but when i saw this set on sale i dont you could beat that. excellent set of tools for my first set i think.

 

I recently bought Home Depot tool screw driver tool sets. Very very poor. The steel is soft and the hardener tip is just fake coloring of some sort. It's amazing the quality different when compared to my dad's old craftsmen stuff, which looks like crap but the steel is noticably harder.

Thanks for the heads up - I might just jump at that.

 

Just a note.... I don't know if any of you have had any problems with Craftsman taking back their tools, but I have a friend who took a 3/8 drive socket that was cracked back to them, and they wouldn't replace it in the store for some reason. I think he had to mail it to them.
I havn't had any problem. I had a long handle 3/8 rachet that would slip a tooth every now and then, and they had no problem switching it out. Even though they didn't have the exact same rachet in stock. I ended up with a nicer one.

On another note. I have taken back broken tools to Harborfreight, and had them hand me another and say "here you go". I couldn't believe it. One was a pitman arm puller that the threads were stripped out of, and one of the ears was broken off. (6' pipes on the end of a pull bar will do that) Maybe just my local store does that, but I have had very good luck with them standing behind their tools.

I have also seen a few times on some small bolts, for example brake bleedes on an old car, where the harbor freight wrench would seem just barely to big, and try to round them off, and I grabbed a craftsman wrench, and it fit perfectly.

 

I used to work at Sears and for a while I was in the mechanical shop fixing mowers, tillers, chain saws, anything that had an engine. If I ever lacked a tool I could just waltz over to the store and pick up anything I needed. I wound up with a real nice tool set. I wanted so much to take it with me when I left.

As far as the Craftsman warranty goes, I've found tools out in fields rusted so bad that you could barely make out the word "Craftsman", took them in to the store and got a brand new replacement. Try that with Snap On.

 

I found a Snap-On rachet under a car battery, rusted solid, cleaned the rust and applied dirty grease to make it look like a used tool, not a found tool, and the man swapped it out with brand new. Chasing down the Snap-On truck was the hard part.

 

Turkey, did your friend go to a real Sears, or one of the rebadged Kmart stores?

 

I seem to have an OCD for tools. I have to force myself to stay away from the tool department unless I specifically need a certain one. I'd spend a whole paycheck if i let myself.

 

So, my Craftsman ft/lb torque wrench broke and like so many before me I just waltzed on down to the Sears tool department to exchange it for a new one thinking it was a hand tool. Apparently one should manipulate torque wrenches using a different part of their anatomy. Torq wrenches are warrantied for 90 days. Buy it on Saturday, break it on Sunday, return it on Monday without a receipt? Tilt, game over, no warranty.

There is an alternative! I wanted a 3/8 " drive torque wrench so I wouldn't have to use 1/2" drive sockets or a reducer. Lowes to the rescue. 3/8" drive, 10 to 100 ft/lb Kobalt torque wrench for $74.95 WITH A LIFETIME WARRANTY. It looks pretty snazzy in my rollaway with that Kobalt blue handle.

Quality looks to be the same as my Craftsman in/lb torque wrench. Like they are the same design.

Lowes does not seem to have the in/lb model so still have to go with Sears.

BTW, Lowes seems to have loss leaders on sale in their tool dept each week which makes for some pretty fun shopping.

Happy Hunting!

 

there is no such thing as a real sears anymore. the days of an honest working man's store where you can go to find real people selling real products and real warranties went out the window when they merged with k-mart. hopefully nobody gives them a bailout when they finally run themselves into the ground.