Ive been looking at SK, Snap on (OMFG its expensive), and craftsman. Seems like craftsman is entry level...SK is middle of the road, and snap on is ELITE. Im not made of money, but I'd like to get a set of tools that I can have for the rest of my life. I have around 1500-2000 bucks to invest at the moment...and I can pick up things as I go.

I also need to get some more metal fab tools...of my own :-P

What do you guys suggest for an air compressor? Speedaire 80gallon?

thanks

 

i use snap and mac all day and love them but of cours I did not have to pay for them

 

Snap-on, mac or matco, there all good

i have thise setup

Snap-on ratches, sockets, some screwdrivers
Mac wrenches, airtools, tool box some screwdrivers, torque wrenches

 

I use Snap-On at work along with a Snap-On box but I home most of my stuff is Craftsman in a Craftsman box

 

i personally think that sk sucks, i dont like how the ratchets work, wrenched are too short, not finished nicely. i am a professional mechanic at a dealer and most of my tools are snap-on. the reason for that is b/c i mostly had only 1 tool guy the whole time. dependability sold my tools. maybe not so mice price and quality. i think snap on is mostly over priced. i broke more snap on sockets than craftman though. we have a cornwell guy at my work, look into them. that are still expensive but way cheaper that the big 3.

if you have a credit card or cash, than i highly suggest outright purchases from ebay. used tools are just as good as new, same warranty and cheaper.

 

use craftsman they have a forever warranty and there like 80 times cheaper than snapon snapon is just a name they have some specialty tools that are good to have but for wrenchs and sockets and stuff go with craftsman

 

i dont like the regular craftsman wrenches. they are too short in the smaller sizes and not polished.

 

I like snap on. But I have a lot of craftsman too.

 

I say go with Craftsman. I haven't had any complaints with them. And they have a lifetime warranty if anything does happen.

 

i just cant believe that its 450 for set of metric sockets and drive. I mean....****.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by ~RTErnie~ &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">i just cant believe that its 450 for set of metric sockets and drive. I mean....****. </TD></TR></TABLE>

A long time ago I thought that too, but when you work on cars a LOT especially as your form of income it makes sense to have the right tool for the job. I was personally getting tired with the low buck sockets and wrenches rounding off fasteners. The SnapOn and Matco tools that I have now never do this. What this means to you is less time drilling or cutting out broken fasteners bc you're using a precision fit tool. So you pay more for the tools up front but in the end you get the job done a LOT faster and make money.

For a shadetree who just wrenches on their own cars and some buddies cars, Craftsman for example will definitely get the job done. But I have to admit, once I started borrowing some SnapOn wrenches and checked out some Matco boxes I had to make the change.

 

if you take a craftman 19mm socket and a snap-on 19mm socket. use a micrometer or something else to precision measure the inside of the socket. would they both measure the same? or would the snap-on be a little tighter?

 

the big thing is the amount of flex in the craftsman sockets from what ive noticed. they both fit hte bolt the same but when using a lot of force to break something loose...the craftsman sockets seem to flex and start rounding bolts off...the nicer sockets stay firm and dont mess anything up.

i used to not see the point in snap on stuff.....but have probably spent 2 grand on snapon tools in the last year..... my snap on dealer is real cool....always cuts me a lot of slack on the price of things, and asked me to come work for him? haha.

i have a craftsman box, most of the "basic" tools are craftsman...but all specialty tools, things that take a beating, and things i use a lot are snap-on. i dont understand some of snap on's pricing....you can buy a socket for a couple bucks....but if you buy a "set" of sockets its like 40 million dollars.

my snap on gear wrenches, torque wrenches, and impacts get used the most. they have a 1/4 inch impact thats the best thing ever. i like my snap on timing light a lot too. and battery powered impact is great at the track. i just bought a die grinder on friday, havnt used it yet.

and the best part about snap on is their "financing". i give my snap on guy like 50 bucks a week and can pretty much take anything out of the truck i want and worry about it later. no interest either which is awesome. usually every time i buy something i get like free T-shirts, cups, beach towels, coolers, jackets, all sorts of stuff. our last snap on guy was a ***** though...i never bought anything from him.

 

thanks for the advice Joe...Im looking into used Snap on tools..and a 15 ton press.

 

as far as hand tools I bought this kit from Snap on and it is about the use fullest thing I bought from them
http://buy1.snapon.com/catalog...talog

 

oh yea and the snap on spark plug sockets with locking extensions are the best thing ever too

 

The knurled extensions are good when you have oily hands to..

 

Snap-on is crazy expensive but i like that the guy comes to our shop and replaces parts even if they are just worn out. Snap-on tool boxes are good because you can always trade them in for almost the same price as you paid as long as you keep them in good shape.

 

what brand of t-handle allen wrenches would you consider best?
i love craftsman stuff, but i went to sears yesterday and didnt like their T's...

 

Harbor freight all the way baby

 

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here's mine, its taller then me

 

uh-oh ***** envy coming up. ill post my box with pics of the drawers. i need to anyway for insurance. you can see what each tools look like and so on.

 

I don't have any actual pictures of my box right now but this is the model I have

 

not that I want to get myself into serious debt...but how exactly does a snap on account work?

 

you can either get a truck account which is no intrested and just pay the dealer some money a week dependin on how much you owe.... they also have credit account that works liek any kinda credit intrest on it sucks mine was 19%... but i paid $5300 off on it this year.... i will only use snap-on matco tools. they are made to last and are alot more easier to use. yeah joe the 1/2 cordless impact is the best thing ever for the track.... anyone local to me looking for a matco 2 bay roller tool box im selling it!