Ratcheting Wrenches

Asbjorn

Active Member
Location
Montrose, CO
My wife was pressing me for a Christmas wish list, so I put these on it, and I’m 100% certain she ran down to NAPA and picked them up.

Decided to give Gearwrench a chance. 5/16”-1” reversible. Time will tell if it was a good choice, and how NAPA will, or won’t, swap them if they fail.
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On a side note, I chased down a Snap On truck in a parking lot and asked about what he had for ratcheting wrenches comparable to the Gearwrench set. It’d run me about $700-800 for the same selection of wrenches.
 

TRD270

Emptying Pockets Again
Supporting Member
Location
SaSaSandy
I picked up a 60 piece set of Milwaukee normal and flex head for $650. Not cheap but from what I read they are high quality, certainly cheaper than snap on. I'll report back when I receive them.
 

zmotorsports

Hardcore Gearhead
Vendor
Location
West Haven, UT
I think those will serve you well. I can't speak to how well NAPA will warranty the Gearwrench stuff but the couple of items I have had issues with of OTC and Carlyle, my local NAPA has been great. Swapped them right out and if they didn't have it, they ordered the tool immediately. Granted this has only been a couple of times but I have had no issues at all with my local NAPA and warranty of products they carry.
 

Asbjorn

Active Member
Location
Montrose, CO
Warranties seem to be hit or miss with all brands/dealers. I asked the Snap On driver what their warranty is like. He said it’s no questions asked, unless you try to exchange with a different truck than you purchased from. In some instances, drivers won’t warranty a tool that you didn’t purchase from them. Given that I’ll be moving out of state in a few months, I don’t want to take my chances with warranty discrepancies. If NAPA in my new location won’t warranty these, I can accept that. If it were an issue with Snap On, I’d be pretty pissed off.
 

zmotorsports

Hardcore Gearhead
Vendor
Location
West Haven, UT
Warranties seem to be hit or miss with all brands/dealers. I asked the Snap On driver what their warranty is like. He said it’s no questions asked, unless you try to exchange with a different truck than you purchased from. In some instances, drivers won’t warranty a tool that you didn’t purchase from them. Given that I’ll be moving out of state in a few months, I don’t want to take my chances with warranty discrepancies. If NAPA in my new location won’t warranty these, I can accept that. If it were an issue with Snap On, I’d be pretty pissed off.

I haven't experienced that at all from Snap-on and one of the reasons the majority of my tools are Snap-on, quality and warranty being the two biggest factors. I have had about 8-10 Snap-on dealers over my 33+ year career and I have never had one deny a warranty on something that I purchased from a previous driver.

My current dealer is absolutely fantastic as the majority of my tools were purchased many years ago and long before he became my area rep. I had a 1/2" Snap-on combination wrench that the chrome started to peel on it. This is from my first set of wrenches that I purchased clear back around 1990 and when I asked if it was covered he replied "hell yes that's covered. That is a safety issue and we don't want you to get cut." He even went out of his way to try and find a period correct wrench to match the rest of my set but was unable to find one so just got me a new one from a set.
 

Gravy

Ant Anstead of Dirtbikes
Supporting Member
I’m not sure who carries Stanley anymore, maybe Walmart?? Even if so, I don’t want sub-par tools to work with. I’d rather upgrade.

Home Depot and Lowes both carry Stanley.
But they'll ship you replacements directly from Stanley for free.
 
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TRD270

Emptying Pockets Again
Supporting Member
Location
SaSaSandy
Grrrr. My order arrived today but was missing one of the sets. Customer service said out of stock offered a refund which would be half the cost to replace the single missing set on its own or return the whole set........ Web shows they still have it in stock so I ordered again and returned the missing. Maybe some day I can offer some insight
 

TRD270

Emptying Pockets Again
Supporting Member
Location
SaSaSandy

Asbjorn

Active Member
Location
Montrose, CO
Saw this pop back up and thought I’d add a 6-month review of my Gearwrench set. I haven’t had any others fail, BUT almost every wrench flip flops from forward-reverse on their own while ratcheting them quickly when I am running a bolt down/out without load. They do okay when snugging a bolt down or breaking one loose, but once the fastener isn’t under tension, the wrench constantly flips directions.

For me, no more Gearwrench tools.
 

Kevin B.

Big hippy
Moderator
Location
Vehicular limbo
That sucks. I have the floppy head ones that don't have the direction change lever, you gotta flip the wrench to go the other way. So they haven't had that problem, obviously.
 

Bart

Registered User
Location
Arm Utah
I have a set of SAE and 2 metric sets (long and stubby) of Gear Wrenches, and have had great luck with them. I don't do a finish tighten with them, but use them a lot. The 9/16s gets jammed once in a while. The are one direction and don't reverse directions.
 

UNSTUCK

But stuck more often.
Saw this pop back up and thought I’d add a 6-month review of my Gearwrench set. I haven’t had any others fail, BUT almost every wrench flip flops from forward-reverse on their own while ratcheting them quickly when I am running a bolt down/out without load. They do okay when snugging a bolt down or breaking one loose, but once the fastener isn’t under tension, the wrench constantly flips directions.

For me, no more Gearwrench tools.
Same here but on the driver for my tap/die set. Running it down fast to clean out old threads will cause it to switch as well. Drives me nuts when I’m not paying attention and it keeps switching and not making any progress.
 

mesha

By endurance we conquer
Location
A.F.
My first set of ratcheting wrenches (purchased maybe 10 years ago) were gear wrench and I still use them all the time. I bought a second set of gear wrench and they were NOT the same quality. I got rid of them and bought some Tekton reversible ratcheting wrenches. I really like them. They are one of my most used tools and they have held up great. Tekton no longer sells the reversible style though so I guess I am no help :).
 

mesha

By endurance we conquer
Location
A.F.
I think for the price the combination wrenches from them cannot be beat. I have a full set SAE and Metric in the tool box and a full set in a roll up pouch I take with me in the truck. I think they are the current bang for the buck leader.

They have started raising their prices like everyone else.
 
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