Donut Media test torque wrenches, the results may surprise you.

[XraytecH]

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[In3briatedPanda]

I love their videos. true car dudes who dont take themselves seriously.

 

[Rahkmalla]

+1 like for a video i enjoyed watching
-1 like for using a clickbaity title

 

[XraytecH]

+1 like for a video i enjoyed watching
-1 like for using a clickbaity title

That's how the internet works unfortunately.

 

[CerOf]

Snapon, keeping mechanics enslaved to debt.

 

[Rusty PW]

Snapon, keeping mechanics enslaved to debt.

When I was spinning wrenches in the early 80's. The joke was $40.00 a week to the Snap-On guy for the rest of your life. Today, it's $400.00 a week.

 

[j.o.y.ride]

Snapon, keeping mechanics enslaved to debt.

I used to do car electronics work. Kid we worked with was all snap on, mustve been $10k 20 years a go. He went broke, didnt do any different work. Just paid more.

 

[Pedal Metal]

So, my dad was a maintenance mechanic starting maybe 45 years back on forklifts and mfg machinery. He mainly had Craftsman, so those were the tools I mainly started to receive as gifts / collect 30+ years back. It was really sad to see the Craftsman line diminish the way it had and the obviously scaled down versions of say a 1” combination wrench made in chInA compared to the prior made in the United States forging. I will not say that all stuff from that land is inferior, but quality and structural integrity are hit and mis.

Not to get off topic, but that place really isn’t our friend if you’ve done any reading on hazardous products, associated liability and non satisfied judgements. Just saying that the vast majority of us here may only have 1 place to call home, so we’d do well to remember that.

 

[steve68]

I love my Snap On, Mac, and Matco,

I buy most of them used, lightly, I pay a quarter of the price, and no failures, I do have Craftsman from the early 80's when it was good stuff, its all junk now,

check pawn shops, yard sales, garage sales,

I have these tools cause I'm always wrenching on something, all the time, have 4 cars in the shop plus the Gladiator, and 3 daughters, a wife, and a mother,

 

[Rahkmalla]

I love my Snap On, Mac, and Matco,

I buy most of them used, lightly, I pay a quarter of the price, and no failures, I do have Craftsman from the early 80's when it was good stuff, its all junk now,

check pawn shops, yard sales, garage sales,

I have these tools cause wrench on something all the time, have 4 cars in the shop plus the Gladiator,

I buy cheap shit. The idea being if it breaks i'll replace with quality. Except in 2 years working as a mechnic and the 15 years since, i've only ever broken one 16mm 3/8 socket.

I know this post is about precision tools, and that's a completely different ballgame for reliability where you have to trust it's working because you can't see that it's not, but the idea of dudes out there buying snap-on socket wrenches because of the number of teeth is a joke. I've got garbage era craftsman stuff, stanley, husky, dewalt, pretty much every single "big box cheap but not quite harbor freight cheap" brand is in my toolbox. Snap-On and it's ilk are a scam.

 

[JAVIERGONZO]

The tools we use in the Navy to fix F18s come from a variety of different manufacturers. And we give them HELL. Deployments, corrosion, etc. But what I can say is that the SNAP-ON tools on average outperform and outlast any other brand with ease.

I'll take the 3/8 ratchet I used to hammer in a 3 inch bolt because I was too lazy to grab a hammer over most peoples "garage kept, never scratched" tools any day

 

[Garemlin]

I've had my Harbor Freight torque wrenches for years and they have never failed. I had more expensive brands before them and they lasted a few years.

 

[Jeep-A-Kneez]

What tools I purchase anymore are the cheaper ones from Lowe's, HF, etc. as they tend to disappear for whatever reason. Wonder if that rusty old toolbox on the tractor, nevermind...

Quality has significantly improved for the import stuff over the last decade or two, and that goes beyond just tools. Unfortunately it makes it harder to justify paying 3, 4 plus times the price for US made. Some years back I had a coupon for a free digital caliper from HF, I think it was priced at 10 bucks. Comparing them to my Starrett 798 calipers, (about $220 at Grainger's), using a gauge block, just as accurate.

 

[Charles 236]

I work in a dealership, and have had my tools for many years. I have Craftsman tools that I bought back in the seventies that I still use. Also have Snap On, Mac, Matco, and other brands, including the Harbor Freight Pittsburgh brand. I use them all and occasionally break one. They all have been good tools, and at this point (I am about three years from full retirement, I work three days a week) any cheap tool is probably going to last long enough. I do have a few "clicker" type torque wrenches, but when I have to get it really on the money (like head bolt or bottom end fasteners), I use a beam style Industro brand torque wrench that is probably as old as me. I see many young techs buying tool boxes that cost more than most of the houses I have lived in, and I shake my head. I always bought used tool boxes so I had more for the tools that made money for me.

 

[Barnaby’sdad]

I've had my Harbor Freight torque wrenches for years and they have never failed. I had more expensive brands before them and they lasted a few years.

Their Icon line is great. Not a fan of their entry level/Pittsburgh stuff though.

Icon is every bit as good as my S&K stuff that sprouted legs. I’ve been gradually replacing the stuff that was lost and stuff that has gone to shit (the finish on Craftsman stuff made in the past 20 years or so isn’t great, in my opinion).

I’m picky with ratchets. Icon are every bit as good as the S&K and Snap-On ones that I’ve used over the years.

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