kobalt is a lowes only brand, as husky is home depot.

i just had a major issue with sears. i bought 2 tq wrenches when i was building my motor. i havent used the inch pounds wrench yet, and have only used the foot pounds one maybe 6, or 7 times. the head is now super loose, and i you tighten it up it wont work.

i called sears only to find out it only had a 1 year warranty(retarded, i know). so i asked the guy i was talking to(store manager) if i could have it sent out to be repaired, and he answers me "im pretty sure", and i responded with you dont sound so sure, could you find out please. which then he responds, yes, you can, do you like that response better(in a very rude tone, mind you). so i got his name and reported him.

few hours later store owner calls me, tells me hes out of town, and will warrant the tq wrench, and give me a gift card to compensate me when he gets back in town(memorial day weekend). needless to say, i didn t hear from him again. called and complained again, and it was sent to the regional manager, and got zero contact from him/her. i then called and complained again, and it got sent to corporate. again, zero contact! so after 6 phone calls, and sever hours of my time later, the gave me 100 bucks worth of shop your way rewards points.

now, my tq wrench still works, just is very loose. so i bought a screwdriver set, a multimeter, and a prybar set.

sears, and craftsman have gone way down hill in the last 10 years, in both quality, and customer service.

from now on i will only buy high end tools, or kobalt, husky, or the like.

 

Yeah, and I know the few guys out there with a Salvage Freight grinder that has run like a raped ape for 10+ years. Compare a Salvage Freight anvil or vice to a quality US made Wilton and notice the difference in the finish, operation, and that the Wilton is made of smooth castings while the China Freight looks like it's covered in smallpox lesions. A quality tool will have a nice ring when struck whereas the China Freight stuff goes *thunk*.

I have a set of metric and SAE end wrenches I bought from HF back in the mid-90s that were made in India. The quality is superb and they have a light feel and the deep ringing sound when struck. The set I bought for my son about eight years ago are complete crap. I felt so bad for doing that to him I swore I'd replace them with quality tools.

On the one VW forum, the people there are so cheap it's just sad to see them whine how the tools they bought at Salvage Freight fail. [I think] the funniest are those who buy a torque wrench from Salvage Freight and are appalled that it is inaccurate right out of the box. Clicker wrenches are gimmicks, a beam torque wrench is the most reliable.

I remember Husky was said to be top notch in the mid-90s but I've been reading different in the last five years or so. Kobalt manufactures their tools in Taiwan, where at least the standards are much superior to that of China. US companies have been manufacturing in Taiwan for a good 30+ years.

Sorry, but you're just becoming more aware of Sears' lack of quality and customer service that has been going downhill since Ed Lampert assumed control. Sorry to but when I started amassing tools in the early 90s, I spent a few hundred bucks on Craftsman. The first items to fail were the 3/8" ratchets. I took them back only to be given replacements that had the flip trigger on top. They were worse as they constantly slipped. I took them back and complained only to be told there was nothing that could be done. I finally got fed up with them a couple of years ago and tossed them into my scrap metal collection.
Then, the [then]wife bought a Craftsman toolbox stack. That piece of shat fell apart within a few instances of my opening and closing drawers. The one bottom drawer would always pop off and would never operate correctly. It was a great day when I was able to chuck that in the scrap pile. Anyway, for those who (falsely) believe Sears has been "making tools in the USA until 200x" that is complete BS. My dad cornered a Sears salesman on that in 1988, where he walked down the tool aisle and pulled out circular saw blades, wrenches, screwdrivers, and others and asked the clerk, "What does that say? Italy, right? How about this -- Ooooh, Made in China! How about this one? Since when is Japan located in the US?"

Another one I forgot to mention is Wiha. That company is apparently the best for screwdrivers and torx drivers. Again, pay once, cry once.

As for tool boxes, I snapped this up for $850 off Craigslist and I swear it could do some serious damage to a 1960s VW Beetle in a collision.

 

My dad had a Hoyt roller tool box when he was being master mechanic. Some of the other mechanics at the same place had other brands but they did not hold up as well as my dads set.

I still have the top box, its rusty as the dickens but its still solid and the drawers slide pretty nicely yet.

Last summer I bought Harbor Freights $150.00 three cabinet roller box for myself. I spent a lot of time with the wire wheel cleaning up dads old tools and added some new ones to the pile.

One investment I made was a Harbor Freight electric impact wrench. I know a lot of you don't think much of HF tools in general but that impact has held up and done the job for me quite nicely. When it does go belly up I will get another.

I still have dads Chicago Pneumatic1/2” and 3/8” air wrenches but the1/2” is pretty weak these days and needs a rebuild. I also have a cute little Ingersoll Rand 3/8” 'butterfly' impact that has been darn handy sometimes. It was pretty much indispensable when I was doing a lot of exhaust systems.

The truth is that most of my tools just sit in the box for days, weeks, months, even years with no use at all these days. Last summer when I was doing all the work on the Neon and HHR was the first time in a long time I even use the hand wrenches for a 'real' job. Still, its nice to have this crap on hand.

 

i have a few husky tools, theyre ok, not the best. my kobalt tools are great!

my craftsman tools are par at best. my screwdriver set says assembled in america with imported and domestic components. my multimeter says made in china, and my pry bars actually say MADE IN THE USA right on the front.

im not quite 25, so i havent been buying tools for very long, so i have just noticed craftsman/sears issues within the last 10 years.

cornwell is a fantastic brand! my impact gun, and my angle grinder are cornwell tools.

i only have a handful of snap on, mac, matco, and sk wayne tools. the only snap on i have is my mt2500 snan tool. my ball joint press is a cornwell/otc press.

 

There is no getting around many electronics being Made in China; however, it will boil down to quality.

That brings up another point - Craftsman. Sears never has and never will manufacture anything. Craftsman and Kenmore have always been brand names. Many people do not understand that for the longest time, Sears wrote contract specs for Kenmore appliances and tools to manufacturers who merely slapped the appropriate label on the product.

For example: Up until 2009(?) Kenmore appliances were merely Maytag or Whirlpool appliances until Sears opted to contract with LG.

Some Internet Google searching will show which suppliers manufactured various Craftsman tools over the years.

I know a dealership mechanic who swears by OTC. I word of caution is to weigh whether you'll be using the tool a lot or if it's a one shot deal. Again, I always advise to never put price over quality.

As tired old man pointed out, yard sales and estate auctions are a great way to scoop up quality tools for cheap.

 

all of my sk wayne tools, and about 60% of my craftsman tools i got when my neighbor passed away. theyre all well over 30 years old, if not older. id say maybe even 40 or 50 years old. its some quality stuff!

he was 90 when he passed, so i know theyre all pretty damn old. he was like a grandfather to me, and his family was like my own.

im going to be either building, or buying a new workshop/shed within the next year or so. my current shop is 12x20, and was poorly built by me and a friend before we really new anything about carpentry.

there is a shed manufacturer about an hour from me that will custom build, deliver and set up a 12x20 gambrel style workshop with a loft, for around 6500, or i could pull permits, and build a 12x20 myself for less than half the cost.

 

Spend a bit more, pull the permits yourself, and build a 20x30. You will appreciate the extra room.... (trust me on this. )

 

i dont have the room for a 20x30, otherwise i would. technically my current shop has an 8x12 shed attached to it, so its almost a 20x20. but any further back, and theres trees, a drop off to my leach field, and my property line.

so along with a building permit, i also have to get a demo permit, to take the old shed off the taxes.

20x12, or even 20x14 would be perfect for me, itd be like a large 1 car garage. i could turn half of it into a man cave!

 

I have a 50X50 storage barn.... which will at some point, become the shop.... and it is already too small.

 

I remember when I had my garage built and had it made 24'x30' and I swore that place was huge. The first time I looked at it built I was like awesome it will take me a long time to out grow this. Hehehehe, I out grew it in less than 6 months. I wish I had your 50'x50' barn right now.