Best 1/2 drive breaker bar with best warranty

Tom N MS

Well-known Member
Asked before but failed to act on it and do not remember the brand suggested..Guys at work breal them like toothpicks--yes I know misuse and abuse..Anyway recommendations please."They say" can't go to 3/4 because of some close places..SUGGESTIONS.Thanks
 
Craftsman . Yea go ahead and laugh , i carry and LONG Craftsman breaker bar all the time along with two different cheater pipers and IF i break it i just go to the sears store and get a new one just like there sockets . I have found that them Craftsman sockets will take more abuse then my Snap On's or S&K's or Mac. On a Farmall 06-86 sires they use ONE 12 point bolt that either holds the speed transmission to the range transmission or a bigger one to hold the frame rails to the clutch housing , don't know how many of them bolts i have removed and reinstalled over the years but the Craftsman socket has stood the test of time with the long breaker bar and the LONG cheater pipe . Thought that i would have broken it on the last job as my four footer was not long enough and had to use a six foot pipe and everything i had to break two bolts loose .
 
I have a long handled Snap ON 1/2 drive breaker bar. I have abused the heck out of it and never broke it yet. I have a regular handle Craftsman that I have twisted off twice. Do not know if they use a different head on the short verse long handle breaker bar or not. Just know that the Snap On has not broke so far and the Craftsman has.
 
I go along with Craftsman. I have been using Craftsman for over 50 years and have used eight foot pipe and never broke one yet. I have broke several sockets and wore out several ratchets which Sears replaced with no problems.
 
I would suggest you buy two of anything you can find reasonable with a lifetime warranty. That way you'll have one to use till you get the broke one traded in. My long Craftsman broke on the second bolt I used it on and that was without a cheater pipe. The ratchets are stronger. JMO
 
If I called that tool by it's proper name most of you guys would not know what tool I was talking about. Sometime in the past 40 to 50 years it's name got changed to Breaker Bar.

Dusty
 
Craftsman did make pretty good tools. All made in China now unless you find some that were lost on back room shelf for a while. In the last 3-4 years Sears found it was cheaper to replace the tools more often that it was to supply a high quality tool in the first place.

Personally I like SK brand. They were always a little better than Craftsman (IMHO) but not as good as Mac or Snap On, still made in the US and still offer a lifetime warranty.




http://garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=181081
 
Well for awhile there S&K was out of bizz and i needed to get one of my ratchets repaired and had a vary hard time finding a repair kit but did find a new ratchet . I have broken more S&K sockets over the years . As well with the rest . Way back when HECTOR was a pup and i was fast car crazy i started building my tool set with what ever i could buy when i needed something .But back then there was some quality in everybody's tools . It did not matter if you went to Western Auto , Penny's, Sears , Monkey Ward's , Mac , Proto , S&K , CornWell, Snap On, Wright, You bought decent tools that would do the job . Back then i worked for a vary large Const. co . Started with then just Mowing the grass and cleaning the office and shop. When my work was done i would watch the Mechanic , welders and machinests working on the equipment and be the gopher that extra hand or just be in the way. Then i started doing and learning . When the owner bought me the new truck we set it up as a service truck and he bought all Mac and OTC tools along with a PTo drive Hobart welder and a PTo drive Garder Denver air compressor that would run a 100 LB jack hammer . I liked the Mac wrenches better then my bosses SnapOn's , what i did not like was Mac's ratchets or the Snap on's Wright had a finer tooth ratchet but they would break more easly . One of the other guys had S&K and i liked his ratchets best so i had all my ratchets swapped out for S&K and still do to this day . There were five of us that had comapny trucks loaded with tools and i was the youngest but could do what ever was needed from running any piece of equipment to welding or a major repair in the field . Sooooooooo good tools have been a huge part of my life. And NO you never have enough as there will always be that one job that you get into that ya need something you do not have but you figure out a way to get it done .
 

Well as for MAC good luck with finding a MAC man and IF you break and OLDER MAC long combination wrench don't expect to get it replaced with one just like you had as it will be shorter and clunker and god help you if you break one of the flex wrenches as oh they do not make them anymore . I have and old Mac long combination wrench set that goes from 1/4 to 2 inches and i broke my 7/8 and after finding a MAC man and WAITING for the new one to come it is two inches SHORTED then the OLD one . I broke my 1 1/4 flex wrench and THEY DO NOT Make it anymore so tobad to sad your out of LUCK on that one. Mac is a shadow of it's former self since it was bought out by STANLEY .
 
My best 1/2 inch is Snap-on .My best 3/4 inch is Craftsman which is a very strong breaker bar. If it is too long it can't fit inside a wheel well to break brake bolts loose but too short is worse.
 
I don't know if they would be appropriate for commercial work, but I have one from Harbor Freight that serves me well.
I have a broken Proto breaker bar that will cost me more to find a dealer, then be a hassle to replace.
 
Not according to when Snap-On contacted eBay to complain about one of my ads saying warranty. Snap-On seems to feel they offer it to original owners only.
 
I know several people that have tried to sell tools on ebay. The tool company gets ebay to cancel the listing because the listing indicates factory warranty.

I also know someone who bought craftsman tools at ACE hardware and took the tool to Sears for warranty. Sears(the local store) won't warranty tools that were not purchased at there Sears location.
 
I too will have to say snap on long handle 1/2 in drive, had mine 10 years now and haven't even bent it, get your checkbook out though..
 
How would they know where you bought them unless you told them and Sears never asks? We have a ACE hardware store that sells Craftsman and they take care of any warranty on what ever they sell even Craftsman.
 
(quoted from post at 18:05:46 09/21/15) I know several people that have tried to sell tools on ebay. The tool company gets ebay to cancel the listing because the listing indicates factory warranty.

I also know someone who bought craftsman tools at ACE hardware and took the tool to Sears for warranty. Sears(the local store) won't warranty tools that were not purchased at there Sears location.

Maybe if they aren't craftsman tools, but sears warranties craftsman tools no matter where they were bought.
 
Tom,I have had one of these for 30 years and give it lots of heavy use.Broke it one time in all those years.It was replaced /no charge with a new one.Buy it once and as long as it stays around,it will last them.Expensive but made to last Snapon Great tools!
Breaker Bar
 
(quoted from post at 09:51:52 09/21/15) If I called that tool by it's proper name most of you guys would not know what tool I was talking about. Sometime in the past 40 to 50 years it's name got changed to Breaker Bar.

Dusty

I had always heard them refered to as a "Strongarm" long before I ever heard tell of a breaker bar..

What's your proper name?
 
Horror Freight has a 25" breaker bar with a lifetime warranty. Is it cheap? Yes. Is it the best? Of course not. Is it Chinese made? Of course. Do I own one? Unfortunately I do, but that's just so that my Matco 1/2" breaker bar doesn't get broke. (I no longer have a Matco dealer nearby, so sometimes I have to baby a few of my Matco tools)
The best thing it has going for the HF breaker bar it is the length and the warranty, plus it's probably smarter than the girls that work at my nearest Harbor Freight store.
 
I learned back in the mid to late 50's that the tool you guys are talking about is a spanner handle.

Dusty
 
snap-on warranty is a joke. Unless you are serviced by a snap-on distributor it is hard to impossible to get anything warranted. I gave a snap-on distributor a ratcheting wrench that was broke and never saw him again.
 
We don't want the tool to break in the first place! When you break a tool you have lost the use of it till you find a replacement.

I twisted off a Craftsman 1/2" breaker bar torquing the head bolts on a Cummins engine using the torque-turn method Cummins recommends. When I mentioned this to an IH machanic he held up The long Snap On breaker he uses for this job and said "you won't break this one".
 
Tractor Vet, Just had my father's breaker bar from Wright replaced this spring. Dad bought it in the late 40's or early 50's. I had broken the ear at the swivel some years back. Found out that they had a lifetime warranty, didn't even have to send them the broken one.They allowed me to warranty thru the local contractor, Kokosing, they sent one twice as heavy as the original one. They did that as the original style is no longer made.I look for Wright tools at the local auction every week.Bill
 
How do you get service if you can't find a truck. I tried to buy locks for a older tool box I have and found a dealer (truck) and called him and the man would not call me back. I called snap-on and they told me who they buy locks from and I dealt directly with them.
If you want warranty service do you go directly to Snap-on if you can't find a truck?
 
I broke my 24 inch snap on 1/2 inch breaker bar. Snap dealer no longer in area. Traded it even up for a Mac. Broke the mac a few years later. Now, Snap on dealer is back, but no Mac dealer around. Snap on dealer won't make any kind of a trade (Doug A). I really need that long wrench so I give him the $70 for a new one. We hire a new young fellow who knows a Mac dealer. Takes my old Mac wrench to him, gives me a new one so now, I'm "retired" and have two 24 inch wrenches. Seems like I always got an argument from Snap On with warranty. Most trouble was my air conditioning manifold. The snap coupler would fly off under pressure. Real handy. He said it's the nipple, not the snap coupler. I would tie it down with a chunk of wire. Well, when he finally did give me a new one it has never flown off. Real handy right next to the fan blades.
 
They do over and over...I stirred them up today when I told them that most of the problem is that they don't torque bolts like they are suppose to..
 
I've never had an issue with MAC. I also doubt their warranty replacement tools are made in China like Craftsman. Just what I want to do is hand over my 10 year old $70 ratchet wrench and get a $20 made in China POS back.
 
to my thinking there are 2 types of breaker bars.
flex head/ swivel head
and then the long round bar with the sliding head, much stronger
 
Back in the day, my father had SK sockets, ratchets and breaker bars, most of them 1/2 inch drive. I just spoke with SK on the phone the other day, and they told me the tools are under lifetime warranty, just send them back any that are broken, and they will replace them for free. They even pay for their shipping!
 
1/2" drive ones I never use a cheater, only on 3/4 drive.
Average working fella can easily break a 1/2 one...any brand, with a short pipe.....fastener out in the open, yep, just your arm can break them.
point is, I go extreme quality on the 3/4,
but on the 1/2" one, trusty ol Craftsman will do the job
(they are actually pretty tough)
Buy 2, they don't cost that much, and like said a broken tool is useless when you need it...now....not after a run to the store.

Warranties....hmmph...
'ask me no questions and I will tell you no lies'
tolerate the 3rd degree from somebody I don't know...not likely.
one word when you drop it on the counter is enough...."Broken"
 
Can't expect more than that. SK is good stuff..All I have is a Craftsman 3/8 drive-- 10" and a 1/2" drive Eastco ---18"--obviously I do noheavy duty stuff--rap them with a hammer if needed and have had no problem--probably had both of them 30 years...Not familiar with Eastco but it does the job and has not broken in 30 yrs so looks like it will outlast me..
 
Yea, had about forgotten I do have one of the round ones with the sliding head--it is in a
no name socket set my Father in law bought for me at an auction-been used a lot and never
had a problem..He and I went to an auction in the small town where they lived--when we came
back and he had bought the set for me my wife told me I was something special-that he liked
me-she said he never bought anything for his first son-in-law..He has passed on now but the
inexpensive tool set has always been kinda special to me--been lots of times I have had a
socket in that set that I would not have had otherwise..
 

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