On Wed, 24 Nov 1999, Dave Williams wrote:
> Putting 85 ft-lb of torque on a 12-point 7/16" isn't a good thing. The
> crappy Craftman (any Craftsman post-1980 or so) sockets tend to strip.
I was wondering about this also as well. my brother has a full set of
craftsman tools from about ten years ago. I have a smaller set from about
six years ago. my brother's ratchets are different from mine. it's hard
to describe, but I have the kind they sell now. small balck reversing
lever, release button, etc. his also have the release button and
reversing lever, but his lever (rather, the lever on his ratchet) is
bigger, and both the lever and button are chromed. they also 'feel'
better, with more positive action. the lever goes through a larger hole
in the ratchet.
anyhow, a few years back, he destroyed it and I went to sears to get it
replaced, and they said they didn't make that kind (or its rebuild kits)
any more, now they only had the kind like I had. I don't like the one I
have, so I held on to his and didn't swap it. they let me look through
the return box first and by golly, they had some *real* tools in there.
one of them looked like a quality ratchet, the guy said someone had
returned it the other day, and it was at least 20 years old! some of the
other returns looked old, and they also looked to be better quality. what
gives? I've noticed this with their ratchets, and pro wrenches, and dave
said their sockets. and I've had people tell me that the new craftsman
stuff isn't as good as the old stuff. why? you'd think that with every
re-design the tools would improve, not degrade. the wrenches are made of
cheaper steel, and look worse now than they did just a few years ago, the
ratchets decline in both 'feel" and strength... does anybody know why
this would be? steel getting hard to come by?
just wondering if perhaps there was a news release: "sears to stop making
tools, decides to piss off customer base to eliminate demand."
scott
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