I just upgraded my 3/8" Ratchet collection by adding two new models of 3/8" Snap-on Ratchets. They are (2 different models of) Snap-on's Duel 80 tooth technology and just noticed that they are missing the "Made in USA" markings. Their website claims they are still made here and the consensus on some of the tool websites is that they are getting ready to move more of their tool production over-seas and have started desensitizing the customers by removing those words. This way, even though they claim the Ratchets are STILL made in the USA but don't say it, people will learn not to miss it on future production and we will not notice that more and more of their tools are NOT USA Made.

I can understand that Company's that have very competitive pricing and low profit margins are forced to move their production over-seas just to stay in business, but with Snap-on's pricing being so outrageous to begin with I see little reason to do this other than pure greed. Who knows - maybe the they see the high priced tool truck business as a rapidly declining one, but think its a BAD move on their part.

I am NOT a professional mechanic and use these tools for personal use only and could certainly get away with another brand if push came to shove. I do own plenty of Craftsman (USA made) tools that are of excellent quality but they are not made here anymore either. Seems like the King of the Hill tool giant is now starting down the same road as most others have already done.

Maybe some of the Pro's here on the Forum know more about this than I do, so please feel free to chime in. For the most part I am done buying any major tools anymore (got pretty much all I will ever need) and the two Snap-on's I've just purchased might be the last two snap-on tools I purchase. Unless something breaks, I think I am now set.

I used to buy Snap-On Tools the old fashioned way with the Snap-On man stopping by once a week to show off his new wares and collect his payments. I now shop for my Snap-On tools on eBay, and the price and selection is often better than it was by walking on the truck. Granted, I already have most of the tools I will ever need, but it is nice to know there is an option.

Wish I could help. Sign of the times I guess.

Never saw the need for Snap On tools because of the price. I understand having good tools but Craftsman has served me well for many years.

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Life Is A Gift. Defend it!

Yes I see that ebay is a great place to buy tools now - including Snap-on. You won't get the Snap-on Lifetime warranty because you won't be the original owner but unless abused they rarely fail. Even on the rare occasion that a tool does break, you could easily afford to just buy another one and pay for it with the tons of money you've saved on ebay purchases over what the truck guy would charge.

The truck guys are not really in the tool business anymore - seems they are now in the financing business! It's quite ironic that the fellas who swing a wrench for a very modest living are charged the outrageous prices they are for the tools they need to make their living. I would not be surprised if some of them start bailing out on the truck tool guys since they are gonna be peddling foreign goods soon too. We'll see........

Nothing at all wrong with the older "Made in USA" Craftsman tools and I do have plenty of them. USA Craftsman is now a thing of the past!

I do use the 3/8" Ratchets more than any others and so I do enjoy the Snap-on's, (outrageously priced but they are the best IMHO) - thankfully these two should be the last two I need for a long time.

Pawn shops can be a great place for tools. At least it is for me.

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Life Is A Gift. Defend it!

Not being a professional mechanic, I do not use tools enough to justify the price of Snap-on's. I have always bought Craftsman and in 70 years have only broken one and that was because I used a pipe to get some extra torque(oops, that did not work!). I took it to Sears and they replaced it.

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Corripe Cervisiam

Where were you when Nike started making their $200 shoes in overseas factories that paid workers $.50 an hour? Talk about greed!

Heck, I was po'd when Craftsman started buying their stuff from China.

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So many S&W's, so few funds!!

I'm an ex Snap-on Dealer\tech rep... been about 23 yrs since I left. But I'm still a hard core Snap$on fanboy. Snap-on has been selling made overseas tools for years, just not their guaranteed for life tools. I'm on the truck still every week, you couldn't give me a crapsman tool today... well maybe you could.. But the bottom line is using these tools everyday... no way I would buy anything else. We'll have to see where this "made in Chine" stuff goes, but for now, Snap$on has no match.

As for the old days.... when I was a young buck, getting in the repair business, my 1st tool set was the big ole Craftsman set.... everyone around here had one... heck, Moore \Drop Forge in Springfield, Ma., where I am from produced the Craftsmen tools!!! Big difference in the quality of Crapsman now compared to what my fathers era produced..

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Jack C

I have a complete set of Craftsman 1/2", 3/8", and 1/4" sockets and ratchets which I bought many years ago, never had any failures. But what I use the most is a cheapie set of 3/8" sockets and ratchet made in Taiwan, I paid maybe less than $10 for the whole set, as something to keep in the car. Never a problem with those either. But I am not a professional mechanic.

FWIW, MAC went to China with some of their products a few years back. When I called them, they justified it by saying their PRC facilities have twice the inspection stations as do the American plants. Not a pro either. I'd love to have a set of SnapOn, but I can't justify the cost. Built a healthy supply of Craftsman before they went off-shore. Now I'm afraid to break anything because it'll likely be replaced by something made in PRC. If I wanted Chinese tools, I'd shop at Harbor Freight.

Back when I worked part time at my buddies speed shop/ garage and did a lot of work on my own cars (I was a serious street and strip racer) I bought just about everything SK Wayne made.I also had some tools from other companies. That was from the early 60s to mid 70s era. Used and abused those tools for years and yes I know that SK company had a succession of owners and the quality of the tools was interesting to say the least.

A year ago I either lost or my kids lost them for me some of my SK tools. I went to the store and bought some new ones. WOW what a difference in quality. You sure as poop did not have to be Stevie Wonder to see/feel the difference.

I also had from the 60s a old catalog with prices in it. Something I paid a $1.25 for is now selling for over $6 now and the quality is less than half of my older stuff.

I do have a couple older Snap Ons from that 60-70s era, but do to their ridiculous price I only bought "specialty'' items.

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14 S&W Revs none with locks!

Worked with guys that used Craftsman everyday "all day"! Nobody buys the Craftsman today...asked a Foreman he said Jim New Craftsman is ****! Glad I have the old stuff!
Jim

I'd say that 90% of my tools are Snap On, since I retired a few years back (2010), I haven't been on a dealers truck. I don't have much interest in fixing cars anymore so most of my tools just sit in the box. I figure I used them enough when that was my job.

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Reckon the truck guys will be putting Harbor Freight decals on their trucks?

While I am not a professional mechanic, I am a professional and use professional tools. I do not own, or will I ever own cheap anything. My tools are Snap-On, Cromwell, Mac, Crescent, Rigid, Victor, Lincoln welders, to name just a few. I do not do bad work and I do not use cheap tools. While Snap-On will put its name on anything, like Remington does, they do not make many of the things their name is on. Snap -On built quality tools but their are specialty tools built by companies that are the cream of the crop. Rigid pipe wrenches, Victor torches, Vise Grips of old, Reed vises to name a few. My power tools are Porter Cable of old when they were still made in the USA. Craftsman got in trouble a few years ago for claiming US manufacture when in fact they were foreign made. I may not own much, but what I do own is quality. I would rather own one fine firearm than 10 poor models. Like everyone, money came hard and the decisions on where to spend my hard earned money were constant. I chose for myself to by quality and take care of the item, and forgo eating out and fancy boats. I use tools daily and have many tools that I bought 45 years ago. To each his own.

I don’t understand why we pay name brand prices for Chinese made stuff.

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A gun has no brain.. use yours

Bkreutz..........

Just judging from your "NEATNIK" Garage photo, I would BET your old tools are still in great condition!

AHEM,,,, It is CORNWELL tools.

To date your Snapon tools look for these marks.
Dick

I AM a pro mechanic, and I would say 95% of my tools are Snap on. Over the 40 years I have turned wrenches I have had the best service from the many different Snap on guys I have had. I had some Mac, and Cornwell, but have not had one of their dealers even stop in here in more than a decade. The BluePoint brand is Chinese made, but as far as I know, real Snap ons are still US made.

I started wrenching in 1968 And snap on had a series called blue point. Same stuff but not polished at almost half the price. Even the tool boxs were sans chrome and frivolities. Still have everything and the wife bought me a new Craftsman tool box setup for Christmas about ten years ago. Brought me to the store and said pick out what you want. I did.

DW

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"NUTS"

You should have pointed out to MAC that quality made products don't need inspectors.

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So many S&W's, so few funds!!

Was not that long ago you had your hammer thread going with bad information.
The first Dual 80's were marked with coo on the head.
Then they were not marked at all. Snap On's web site stated USA as coo.
Much has been written and discussed about why they were not stamped with coo.
Because of the complaints from people, the coo is back on the ratchets.
It is now on the handle and has been for over a year that I know of, maybe longer.

Patrick

I remember years back the full time mechanics at my old NG Aviation Unit ALL had HUGE Snap-On boxes and work centers. The truck would be at the hangar for hours as they perused the new items as well as paid off their bills. One mechanic bragged that he had $50K in tools!!

I have a complete 1/4" and 3/8" set of sockets and extensions that I bought at a bargain price from a shooting/gun club friend who was one of the area Snap-On dealers. Tools he took back from guys who failed to finish paying for them. I paid the balance owed and got a couple of amazing sets of sockets.

My old S-K tools still working fine, but they were 1960's and 70's production. Current production Craftsman and many others are now chinese or Indian garbage.

When I worked in the HVAC trade all my tools bought back in the day were Craftsman and made in the USA! All trade specific stuff was the same.
Never bought SnapOn unless it was a specialty item that I needed, but more than likely it would come from MAC Tools.
I would by the Chinese and other off brand cheap stuff for throw always, when I knew I was going to abuse and beat them up!
I still have all of my originals !

I remember a "shark tank" episode where a guy insisted to keep production here and one of the sharky sharks asked him if he'd rather have "made in USA" products and files for bankruptcy in a few months or if he instead goes overseas, stays in business and makes a good profit.

If it comes to the mighty $ we have to put our feelings aside. Do I like it? No! Do I understand the concept? Yes.

I'd like to quote Metallica here and say that this is "sad but true!"

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Jorge

I still have a Husky set I got with S&H Green Stamps when I was 16.

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Don

A couple weeks ago I was using a like new Craftsman 1/2" ratchet. It wasn't even greasy, but it would tighten, but not loosen nuts. I took it into Sears and they replaced it with an identical ratchet. I told the clerk that I was going to leave it as new with packaging and just use my Snap On ratchets. That way when Sears finally goes belly up I can sell it as a collectible.

Back in the 80s my wife asked me what I wanted for Christmas and I told her I would like a good set of 1/2" impact sockets. I had a Chinese set. I opened my new Craftsman sockets set up and read "Made in Taiwan" on the sides.

It's kind of sad, but as old and lazy as I'm getting now I probably won't have to buy to many more tools. I still have some surplus army tools I bought while in high school in the 50s.

Whenever I go to replace a broken Ratchet at Sears They try to give Me a rebuilt one or a repair kit. I always get in a argument with the Sales Person about the warranty saying replace with a new one but They always try to give Me a hard time.
One day I returned a Ratchet at a Store that had a bunch of People looking at tools and I get the same run around so I loudly said Don't You People honor the Warranty anymore? and People started to put the Tools back on the Shelves so They gave Me a new Ratchet just to get rid of Me.
I guess the squeaky wheel really does get the Grease.

This is your answer ^^^. The logo is back on the ratchet. Same ratchets that have always been made in the USA, for several years without the logo on them, now has it on them again. Now on the handle instead of the ratchet head...

I know Snap On has foreign factories that serve their foreign markets. I sure hope they don't start selling China made Snap On stuff here under the Snap On brand, I won't buy it. They've been selling their Asian made Blue Point branded stuff for years. That's fine for the folks that want/need to save some dough, but I hope they don't ruin the Snap On brand relative to their hard line tools.

The Snap On ratchets are expensive, but IMO the best, as is the case for most of their product lines (love their sockets). Matco 88s are also a good ratchet.

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NRA Life Member

No argument as to Snap-on being top notch! Also NOT (and never said) saying that they are NOT made in USA - JUST VERY CURIOUS as to WHY a USA made product would NOT proudly state that. I also do realize the new production ratchets have the COO on the handle but what was this whole thing about?? I surely do not think it was an oversight or accidental.

[QUOTE=vrichard;139071989]To date your Snapon tools look for these marks.
wow, this is cool! thanks!

I have a ViceGrip pliers that Dad got for Red Head gas coupons...I remember being with him in the 57 Plymouth when he got them...

They are, and more importantly, I still have them all (even the first ones I bought in 1968) The main reason I haven't lost any of them is I always put the tools away after every job, even before pulling the car out of the bay. That way when one came up missing, I didn't have to go hunting that car down later.

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I wold not have expected anything less - LOL

Reminds me of me!

While in high school, my after school/Saturday/summer job was in an automotive machine shop that rebuilt large gas and diesel engines mostly for the government, big 6 cylinder Continentals, Hall Scotts, Cummins, Molines, Detroit Diesel and others. I usually reworked cylinder heads, which included doing crack testing using compressed air blown into the water jackets, plugging all the normal holes and then spraying a soapy water mixture on the head in areas that often cracked. If the air leaked through a crack, I got bubbles, marked the cracked area and then Magnafluxed it. The heads had expansion plugs in them that were designed to pop loose if the engine got too hot, sort of a fail safe against cracking something expensive.

To make a long story short, when a plug leaked air, often it just needed to be tightened deeper into it's threads. The plugs had a square hole in the top surface that were the sizes of socket ratchet wrench drives, mostly 3/8" and 1/2" I would use a ratchet to tighten the plugs.

One cylinder casting had a plug in a spot with little access room and the only way I could tighten it was with a "wobbly" extension, an extension that had basically two joints, like U joints, in it. I had to sometimes really put the torque to the plug with the wobbly and a breaker bar. That broke the wobbly fairly regularly.

I had spent my 1969 income tax refund on a nice set of Snap-On tools in a big red Snap-on chest and occasionally bought things from the Snap-on dealer who came by weekly. I would take the broken wobbly extension to him and he'd give me a new one. A week or two later, I'd break the new one and again he'd replace it. Guaranteed forever!

After breaking a half dozen of them, one day the dealer asked me to show him how I was breaking them, as nobody else broke their wobblies and, perhaps, he might have another, less costly tool that would work and not break. I showed him. I broke the second wobbly of the week right in front of him.

He got me another replacement and then said quietly, "I bet the MAC wobbly is a lot stronger than the Snap-On, try one of them," and gave me a $20 bill to buy one!

Incidentally, in the Snap-On tool driver assortment in my set was a screwdriver designed to use to adjust ignition points. About 5 inches long, hollow ground tip. It fits the sideplate and grip screws of Smith & Wesson revolvers perfectly, as well as the mixture screw on my Amal carburetors

My metric tools are Craftsman, and my Whitworth tools, I dunno the bloody brand, wot.

Not sure where you get your work done but most shops around here charge $95/hour. That seems more than modest to me.

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James Redfield
LM #497

The shop charges that, rest assured the lions share of that number goes into the shops coffers. The "wrench" does not make a large percentage of that. Where a good "wrench" makes out is developing his skill to do it faster than the book says is time required.

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14 S&W Revs none with locks!

Different shops operate different ways. New car dealers often pay by the job on warranty repairs, so you are correct, if a mechanic can 'beat the clock', he makes out. In some cases, mechanics discover shortcuts the factory isn't aware of, but in some cases, to beat the time allotment means skipping somethings, as the factory's time allotment is usually on the 'skimpy' side of things. Many dealer mechanics have to work extra hours to make decent earnings. They of course also have to pay for their own tools, so when the factory comes out with a new type of fastener, or a procedure that requires a special tool, they have to pay for that too. Dealerships make more money on non warranty work as they can charge beyond what the factory deems appropriate. In a private garage, mechanics are generally paid by the hour, so the high labor rate not only has to cover wages for the time the mechanic is working but also the time the mechanic is sitting idle. In both worlds, a large part of the labor rate also covers overhead, which includes the building and all it's associated costs (heating, cooling, electricity, taxes, insurance, mortgage and maintenance) and non mechanical help, such as cashier, custodial duties, service manager and parts runner. In small shops one person may handle some or all of these non mechanical duties, while larger shops will require more help. Then you also have employee costs such as insurance, worker comp, and unemployment insurance (depending on state laws). I have a friend who owns his own shop, and it's a case of feast or famine, and he's always on the look out for mechanics, as they will pack up their tools and move down the road if they find someone who will pay more per hour.

So while $95 an hour sounds like a huge amount of money, in the over all scheme of things, it's not as much as it seems. But it a deciding factor in what I have done, and what I do myself. And around here, it's more like $120 an hour.

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So many S&W's, so few funds!!