My father was a professional mechanic for many years and has a lot of Snap-on/Mac tools as well as a few Craftsman. When I started to buy my own tools he recommended Craftsman for the above posted reasons, good quality for the price, great warranty, etc.

Been really happy with their tools over the years and have had to get a few things warrantied. FYI, they do give out refurbished ratchets now, not brand new...if they have some refurbs in stock. Not a huge deal really..


I will also say...there is a significant difference in the Snap-on tools compared to my Craftsman. But for the hobby wrench turner...they (Craftsman) work great.

 

+1 on the Craftsman. I have had similar experience taking back old wornout tools.

 

+1 I have mostly craftsman because there is a Sears Hardware store 5 miles from my house and their guarantee is 100%. I found a 20 year old broken craftsman box end wrench on the road once. Took it back and they gave me a brand new one. Now my wifes family gives me Sears gift cards for Christmas.

 

Has anyone ever stripped out the slots of a phillips head screw because the tip of the screwdriver you're using is worn out/beat to death? Snapon screwdrivers are freakin' bulletproof I tell ya! Other than that, I use Crapsman.

 

I like me some Craftsman tools too, good prices, quality is spot on for most all of the tasks that we all need done. Yeah and I love the no questions asked returns.

 

For the weekend warrior Craftsman works great. I have some specialty Snap-on tools, but mostly Craftsman. If I wrenched for a living I would most likely go for more Snap-on.

 

Both Craftsman and Snap-on sell tools that are NOT guaranteed forever. It has to do with the quality of the tools and how much you want to spend. I have used Snap-on ratchets that had plastic gears and was not guaranteed as well as some that had metal gears. Their Blue Point pneumatic tools are good but are cheaper than their Snap-on brethren

 

Craftsman profesional series is as close to Snap on a man can get for about 1/2 of Snap On and Matco. I use a little bit of everything in a Craftsman 3pc stack.

 

I started buying Craftsman 30+ years ago because A) there was a Sears store 10 min. from my house, and B) because they would go on sale. I still have the very first hand tool box I bought from them, and a lot of the metric sockets / wrenches / screwdrivers are from the 80's. I've had several replaced over the years.

I do remember going there one Sunday after the new sales flyer showed up in the newspaper. I had been wanting another combination wrench set for a while. They had two different 7-pc or 9-pc sets (I forget which). One was $19.99 and the other was $34.99. Both had the exact same sizes and number of wrenches. Only difference is that one set was made in the USA, and the other set was made in Japan. I asked the clerk if the Japan ones were still guaranteed for life, and he said yes, so I bought them. A few years (5?) later, Sears was doing a big ad campaign w/ A.J. Foyt, and touting how their hand tools were made in America. I stopped into that local Sears store and was talking w/ one of the guys I dealt with all the time, and told him about how I had a couple of combination wrench sets that said 'Made in Japan' on the side. He got his manager to come over, and the guy told me if I brought them in, he'd give me new, made in USA versions. Swapped them all out! In hindsight, I should have probably held onto them.

I have a very good friend that has been a professional mechanic for over 25 years. He uses primarily Snap-On tools. I have to say, that after using them quite a bit, the combination wrenches and the screwdrivers are fantastic. Compared to a Craftsman wrench, a Snap-On wrench just feels so much better in your hand, Same goes for the screwdrivers. I also really like how their ratchets feel (and work). The Snap-On ratcheting screwdriver is the best ratcheting screwdriver I've ever used, well worth the money.

That all being said, some tools that I've recently acquired are Gearwrench ratcheting box-end wrenches. The beam has the feel of a Snap-On combination wrench, and the can handle tough jobs. I've put some serious torque on some of the larger sizes (5/8" / 17mm and up), and they have never missed a beat. The ratcheting function is great, and the flex head ones are REALLY versatile.

I've had ratcheting box-end wrenches over the years, and the Gearwrench ones beat them all. Got mine from Sears when they were on sale at Christmas 2 years ago. Went back last year and bought a set of the Craftsman ones because the Gearwrench ones weren't on sale. No comparison, as soon as the Gearwrench ones go on sale, I'm buying them and selling the Craftsman. The beams just feel clunky, and the ratchet mechanism is no where near as good.

Something else that I've found to be indispensable is a set of allen-head and torx-head sockets. I have both standard head and ball-end on the allen-head ones. Great stuff. That, and wobble-end extensions.

And an IR-231 is still a great air gun. I've seen ones in professional shops that have years of service, and they're still going strong.

 

I think my service manual states very clearly that only H-D approved Sears Craftsman tools can be used on the Dyna.

I understand your a newbie but an SAE wrench is an SAE wrench. SAE = U.S (1/4, 3/8, 1/2,9/16...). You'll also need some metrics.