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Lowes now selling Craftsman tools ...

Crazy Horse

Crazy Horse

Well-known Member
Maybe someone here mentioned this already, but up here Lowes is advertising that they are now selling the
Craftsman line of tools.

Of course, that means nothing these days, Craftsman tools are as much Craftsman as they are something else
(like Maytag washing machines, etc). Let's just say that they sell tools with the Craftsman badge on them.

I'm curious if a guy has a broken Craftsman wrench or socket that is 40 years old, would Lowes replace it?
 
Stanley Black & Decker owns the Craftsman name and is said to honor the old Sears Craftsman warranty.
 
I liked Craftsman because I knew it was always at Sears. All the other lifetime warranty tools move around monthly it seems. It was also good in that I could buy the missing pieces without buying a whole set. I only need one 13/16 wrench.
 
Stanley is a very diverse company. They own more names than we realize. When it gets to door hardware they are a very big umbrella with many names under it.
 
(quoted from post at 16:40:01 11/01/18) I liked Craftsman because I knew it was always at Sears. All the other lifetime warranty tools move around monthly it seems. It was also good in that I could buy the missing pieces without buying a whole set. I only need one 13/16 wrench.
Click to expand...
When I need to replace one socket or one wrench, I go to ebay. Saves a lot of money on gas.
 
I just today took a broken Craftsman ratchet wrench to Lowes to see if I could get a new one. The person at the service desk asked if the wrench was purchased in a set of six wrenches which it was. He said I would have to return the wrench in the set it came with and they would give me a new set. He said they don't stock individual wrenches. He gave me a phone number to call on how to just exchange one wrench. I did not get a chance to call today.
 
(quoted from post at 21:13:27 11/01/18) ours will, but the replacement will be the new style tools
Click to expand...

If I ever take my stanch of useless craftsman ratchets in for replacement I hope they replace them with something else...
 
I agree on that. The only thing snap-on and those tools have is they come to you. Craftsman wrenches and tools have never let me down and if i break it just take it back. I have taken ratchets back before and no problem either they swap it out or put the new gear in while i stand there . works for me
 
I found a garage sale a couple weeks ago, that had a good sized box of miscellaneous wrenches. I dug through and picked out six Craftsman wrenches - (2) 1 1/4", (2) 1 1/8", and (2) 1 1/16"....Paid $15 for all 6....
 
(quoted from post at 09:26:48 11/01/18) Maybe someone here mentioned this already, but up here Lowes is advertising that they are now selling the
Craftsman line of tools.

Of course, that means nothing these days, Craftsman tools are as much Craftsman as they are something else
(like Maytag washing machines, etc). Let's just say that they sell tools with the Craftsman badge on them.

I'm curious if a guy has a broken Craftsman wrench or socket that is 40 years old, would Lowes replace it?
Click to expand...

I'm 60 years old, and not a little guy, and in a lifetime of "wrenching" on some pretty good sized farm equipment and trucks I have broken very few tools, and, yes, I've abused them.

Every time this topic comes up I wonder WHAT some of you guys are doing to tear up so many tools???

Were they "defective", or simply "used up"?

If in a commercial setting they're and used up/worn out, write 'em of as a business expense and move on, already!



Also, do any of you warranty queens think is a sustainable business model to repeatedly replace tools for the minority of your customers/abusers that repeatedly tear 'em up?
 
(quoted from post at 23:17:47 11/01/18) I know SK replaces their tools after 40 years, no questions asked! Really satisfied with their tools and sockets.
Click to expand...

I like SK too, but finding a dealer locally is a problem.

I've taken Craftsman tools back to our local Ace Hardware and they replace them, no questions asked.
 
Ditchwitch ..... do you mean that you'd take a ratchet wrench back to the store and they'd repair it for you right there and then?
 
Also, do any of you warranty queens think is a sustainable business model to repeatedly replace tools for the minority of your customers/abusers that repeatedly tear 'em up?
Click to expand...

That doesn't matter. Sears made a "promise" and they expect Sears to keep good on that promise come he** or high water, if they have to go down in flames doing it, and from beyond the grave if need be.

It was never a sustainable business model. Sears didn't take into account that the baby boom after WWII would taper off. Sears didn't take into account that the rest of the world would eventually rebuild and catch up after WWII. Sears never thought they'd ever have any competition. Sears assumed the exponential growth post WWII would continue on forever, and their response to the above was, "It'll come back, just wait." Well, they waited too long...
 
As a former auto dealership mechanic in my first "career," I found that Craftsman tools were not all good and not all bad. Their screwdrivers were among the good, with a good replacement warranty. Their sockets were terrible. 12-point sockets that were prone to either cracking or just stripping the head on the fastener you were working on. Wrenches were OK. Not great, but not bad.

I see a few comments about S-K tools here. I found that their warranty was not consistent. The first thing that the tool dealer would say about a cracked socket was that it was used on an impact wrench. Even if it wasn't. I was refused replacements for quite a few cracked sockets. It seemed to be more the mood of the dealer than anything. Either way, while I did like the S-K tools, especially their ratchets, I quit buying them.

Snap-On tools were good, but overpriced. Matco and Mac tools were every bit as good and had about the same warranty. I have owned all of them.
 
(quoted from post at 22:44:22 11/01/18)
(quoted from post at 09:26:48 11/01/18)


I'm 60 years old, and not a little guy, and in a lifetime of "wrenching" on some pretty good sized farm equipment and trucks I have broken very few tools, and, yes, I've abused them.

Every time this topic comes up I wonder WHAT some of you guys are doing to tear up so many tools???
Click to expand...

Totally agree. I too have wondered what all these Frequent Warranty Flyers are doing wrong that they are buggering up so many tools?

Obviously, nobody HERE does this, but my suspicion is that vast majority of all these Craftsman "failures" a guy hears about are due to using too small of a drive size. I see it all the time on videos on YouTube, guys attaching a 36-inch breaker bar and trying to dislodge a 1-1/4 inch bolt with a half inch drive. And if it doesn't work, they attach a 5-foot pipe! Stick a crowbar in your wallet and buy the RIGHT sized tools ya bunch of generic mechanics.

I bet 95% of socket and socket wrench failures are due to consistently using too small of a drive.

My rule of thumb has always been what I was taught. If the hardware is bound up and won't easily come loose, switch to the biggest drive size that will fit. So if you're using a 1/2 inch and you're flexing the breaker bar 3 inches, you're using the wrong dang tool. Switch to the 3/4 or 1 inch drive and you'll spend a lot less time looking for replacements.

BTW I've got Craftsman drives/sockets, I've got an S-K set from the 1970s that's never had a single piece replaced, and I've got the Taiwan set my dad gave me 40 years ago. They all work still.

Grouse
Click to expand...
 
I don?t break many tools I carry enough wrenches
on the truck including the 3/4 drive set that I can put
enough torque to something to get it apart . I do
break a few but If I break more than two doing the
same job I look for a better tool
 
I have in the recent past taken some broken craftsman tools to Sears for replacement. They either didn't carry that tool anymore or wouldn't replace because that item is not covered anymore. Things that are replaced are of lesser quality. Just saying.
 
(quoted from post at 14:17:36 11/02/18)
(quoted from post at 22:44:22 11/01/18)
(quoted from post at 09:26:48 11/01/18)


I'm 60 years old, and not a little guy, and in a lifetime of "wrenching" on some pretty good sized farm equipment and trucks I have broken very few tools, and, yes, I've abused them.

Every time this topic comes up I wonder WHAT some of you guys are doing to tear up so many tools???
Click to expand...

Totally agree. I too have wondered what all these Frequent Warranty Flyers are doing wrong that they are buggering up so many tools?

Obviously, nobody HERE does this, but my suspicion is that vast majority of all these Craftsman "failures" a guy hears about are due to using too small of a drive size. I see it all the time on videos on YouTube, guys attaching a 36-inch breaker bar and trying to dislodge a 1-1/4 inch bolt with a half inch drive. And if it doesn't work, they attach a 5-foot pipe! Stick a crowbar in your wallet and buy the RIGHT sized tools ya bunch of generic mechanics.

I bet 95% of socket and socket wrench failures are due to consistently using too small of a drive.

My rule of thumb has always been what I was taught. If the hardware is bound up and won't easily come loose, switch to the biggest drive size that will fit. So if you're using a 1/2 inch and you're flexing the breaker bar 3 inches, you're using the wrong dang tool. Switch to the 3/4 or 1 inch drive and you'll spend a lot less time looking for replacements.

BTW I've got Craftsman drives/sockets, I've got an S-K set from the 1970s that's never had a single piece replaced, and I've got the Taiwan set my dad gave me 40 years ago. They all work still.

Grouse
Click to expand...

Yeah, well around here the only place to get a 3/4 or 1" drive ratchet set was either one of those traveling tool shows that had china stuff or Snap On. Now we have Harbor Freight, but the tool snobs tear you a new one if you mention HF. It's a no win situation for a lot of us- if we abuse a tool, which IMO we ALL do from time to time, someone says we're idiots. If we don't buy Snap On/Mac/Proto/whatever and go HF for a tool we use once every 3 years, we're cheap skates that hate America. All I can say is if I had the money to go buy a new tool every time a hard job came up, I'd probably be hiring the work done in the first place!
Click to expand...
 
Long thread for the most over-rated hand tools there are.
Craftsman tools are the "loan out" tools to most mechanics I know.
They won't loan out their good tools.
I did try to take a Craftsman ratchet back to Sears a few years ago.
They dug through a box of used ones to see if they had one like it
to replace it with. They didn't, so they begrudgingly gave me a new
one. It doesn't work right. Never has since new. The ratchet pawls slip.
I will agree with jimg on the older screwdrivers. They work well.
 

It was just announced tonight on the local TV station that Lowes is closing its local store. The Sears store closed last year. So you're still SOL if you want Craftsman tools in southern MN.
 
(quoted from post at 08:32:03 11/04/18)

Yeah, well around here the only place to get a 3/4 or 1" drive ratchet set was either one of those traveling tool shows that had china stuff or Snap On. Now we have Harbor Freight, but the tool snobs tear you a new one if you mention HF.
Click to expand...

You sure won't hear me badmouthing the HF 3/4 inch set. I've got it! Works great and per my post, IMO they are a cheap way of leading yourself NOT into the temptation of abusing smaller drive tools that are undersized. Or for a few buck more, get the 1 inch set and really go to town on that rusted on stuff.

Also, get yourself some of HF's jumbo adjustable wrenches. I've got the 24 incher I call the Nut Cracker and go ahead and put a pipe on that one, she'll take it no problem.

Absolutely nothing wrong with Harbor Freight hand tools. Look, I know the tool truck guys don't want to hear it, but hand tools aren't the space shuttle. China can make them and make dang good ones these days.

Grouse
 
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