SNAP-ON PHENOMINON HAS BEEN PEEKING MY INTEREST LATELY - MORE THAN USUAL!

[model3sw]

Organizing my tools since I read this thread

See what you guys did. I've been organizing my tools and tool boxes since I read this thread. Well, it's not like I have very much else to do ( I did have lots to do ). Finding out I'm missing 10mm sockets out of almost every set of Snap-On sockets. Missing a 1/4", 2x3/8", and a 10/11 line wrench. And missing a 13 mm out of another 1/4" drive.

My metric combination wrench set already has a replacement Snap-On 10 mm as it had been misplaced once prior. The 10 mm is newer than my set by about 10 years.

Missing a few Snap-On sockets from my 1/4 and 3/8" drive. And some mix and match socket substitutes in my Snap-On and Williams 3/4" and 1" drive sets but filled missing odd sockets with replacement fill-in Williams I had (my original set of 40 years ago). I'm not too snobbish to substitute a Mac, Matco, Proto, Craftsman or SK socket to fill in a missing Williams or Snap-On.

I even have 1/32" increment sockets and some 32" wrenches. Most 32nd sockets are either Pre-WWII or just post WWII Williams stuck in between Snap-On standard sized sockets:

e.g. a full 1/2 drive socket set includes: 3/8, 13/32, 7/16, 15/32, 1/2, 17/32, 9/16, 19/32, 5/8, 21/32, 11/16, 23/32, 3/4, 25/32, 13/16, 27/32, 7/8, 29/32, 15/16, 31/32, and 1"

And I found 4 x 36 mm x 1/2" drive, medium deep, impact sockets. One belongs in the set and 3 extras. I can't remember what 36 mm was for but it must have been a popular one, like drive axle nuts, etc.

I have 7 x 3/8 to 1/4" adapter and I cannot find one 1/4 to 3/8" adapter. Plenty of 1/2 to 3/8" a few 3/8 to 1/2 adapters and a few 3/4 to 1/2" and 1/2" to 3/4" adapters.

Perhaps you guys want to go off line for swap stuff. I have multitudes of everything 1/4, 3/8 and 1/2" drive sockets, impact sockets, and much more of many brands.

 

[CScott]

I too was a Snap-On Dealer for more than 15 years. Don't be misled into thinking that some other brand with a similar outward appearance will be of equivalent quality and usefulness as genuine Snap-On. Costly? Sure. But a few years down the road and you won't think you paid too much especially if you use them professionally.
Remember, you can buy a Taurus or Charter Arms or any number of other serviceable revolvers for a lot less money than an S&W. But are they the same? No way.
You pays yer money and yah takes yer choice.
Scott

 

[sar4937]

I've never had warranty issues with Snap-on. They will follow you shop to shop, it's a profession. The average home DIY does not really need it. Today's cars and trucks demand it, or it's equivalent. Every trade seems to have it's own special tool provider. I don't see the issue, buy at your comfort level.

 

[Frank46]

Over the years I've aquired various hand tools. 70's era Craftsman,Proto, Williams, Armstrong and others. Recently as I'm getting older running back and forth to the garage for tools and that was getting old fast. I sprung for the Kobalt master socket and ratchet set and added a selection pf both inch and metric wrenches. These were bought over a period of time as money permitted. Now when I have to mess with my Sears riding mower or Kubota L3800 diesel tractor just about everything I need will be on a cart or cart mounted tool box. Not a professional mechanic by any means just someone who like to fix stuff.Haven't broken any of the Kobalt stuff yet and since lowes is about 20 minutes from the house they do have a replacement warrantee. Sears no longer has their store in my town. About an hour each way next town over. Probably have about three complete sets of sockets. wrenches. and whatever.Son in law has my old Dewalt 14volt cordless drill so perfect excuse to get me the 29 volt one. Frank

 

[model3sw]

I too was a Snap-On Dealer for more than 15 years. Don't be misled into thinking that some other brand with a similar outward appearance will be of equivalent quality and usefulness as genuine Snap-On. Costly? Sure. But a few years down the road and you won't think you paid too much especially if you use them professionally.
Remember, you can buy a Taurus or Charter Arms or any number of other serviceable revolvers for a lot less money than an S&W. But are they the same? No way.
You pays yer money and yah takes yer choice.
Scott

Can you give me some insight. Since I closed my garage in West Palm Beach, just one town over my Ranch is 1000 ft off a main commercial drag of Military trail. I have called Snap-On no less than 5 times in the past 15 years to schedule a driver stop here. They never showed.

I had to mail in some of my warranty stuff to Snap-On to get it replaced.
I have about 5 items that need legit warranty replacements and NO Snap-On dealer. What's the best way to handle this ?

 

[Old Seabee]

Tools

Find a local shop where the Snap-On dealer stops and when handle your warranties there . That also will give you a chance to talk to him and resolve the problem. OldSeabee

 

[Boox]

I too was a Snap-On dealer at one time. Early 70's, in a suburban-rural area in the Syracuse NY area. About 65% of my business was corner gas stations. The rest was mostly heavy equipment shops, and some truck service outlets.
My first van was an old Grumman bodied NBC bread truck with about a zillion miles on it. The one with the curved front window glass. Bought it for $500 and had it painted and decaled and after signing a mortgage loan on my house i was in business. 10,000 dollar initial investment. There were 6 other dealers working from our local warehouse, one guy with 20 years in and all the rest had multiple years on the road. It was fun work and I had a ball, made some good friends and a few not so good.
Now I remember one year, we had a tool box promo going on and that year SO was offering like $100 extra on any trade in tool boxes. Our most expensive at that time was probably around $500. but with the profit from those trade in boxes I bought my wife a year old Monte Carlo dealer demo with a 402 fat block in for $2400 cash.
The fun was from the older guys, in the truck shops and heavy equipment shops. SO said to keep payments on tool balances at at least 10% of the balance. Those older guys would not give more that $5.00 a week, regardless of what they owed, and that was when you could catch them in the shop as many were on the road doing repairs. I used to get hell from my supervisor about that every month. It was fun trying to catch them old guys.
But the real problem, and the reason I gave up the franchise was the first real gas crunch...remember that? Odd even days, gas limits, stations were closing left and right and within about 6 months half of my business was done, gone. Got out safe with a few bucks, but even now, 90% of my tool box is still Snap-On. In fact my primary tool box is an original from the early 40's. I love my Snap-On tools.

 

[Old Seabee]

Tools

Liked talking to tool salesman about chasing people for money , in bathrooms standing on toilets . The story's were unbelievable.
Bought a lot of tools that we would call financial adjustments . OldSeabee

 

[johnbeaver]

New a guy long ago that used Craftsman, but I don't think he bought any from Sears.
He would prowl garage sales and haggle down busted Craftsman tools and return to Sears for replacement.
Always thought it somewhat CS but it worked for him.
We bought Craftsman for the shop, mostly. Sometimes Snap On.

 

[CScott]

Liked talking to tool salesman about chasing people for money , in bathrooms standing on toilets . The story's were unbelievable.
Bought a lot of tools that we would call financial adjustments . OldSeabee

I've got plenty of stories about chasing people for money but perhaps not as many as most people think. One I do remember was catching up with a guy as he was coming out of a methadone clinic. For some reason (!!), he was in such a nice frame of mind he paid enough on the spot to get all caught up with me.

 

[CScott]

The best sales aid was to replace tools under warranty but for some reason, many SO dealers would hedge on it. The company would always back up my decisions on warranty but I would also try to fix what I could and re-sell them as used. More profitable and would interest lower budget customers.

Honestly, I think your best bet would be to befriend a mechanic that does have regular visits from a SO dealer and leave your stuff with that person to be fixed or exchanged. I actually do this now in my present job for my customers because I usually see a SO dealer on my sales route.

Scott

 

[chief38]

I turned wrenches for 42 years. Mostly on heavy trucks and equipment.
The thing about Snap-On and similar tool trucks is that they gave a new guy in the trade a chance to get what he needed, pay over time and make a living right now. There's no way a new guy in the business can afford all the tools he needs right off the bat. I too was indebted to the Snap-On man for many years. But once I got him paid off, I never bought tools on credit again.
Frankly, I never liked Snap-On wrenches. I dealt with a lot of rusted and frozen bolts. SO wrenches were too thin and in a hard pull felt like they were cutting into my hand. Never cared much for their socket wrenches either. Again, I just didn't like the way they felt in my hand. I do love their screwdrivers though and did buy those.
I always used Craftsman wrenches. In fact I only bought from SO, Mac or others if Sears didn't make it. Back in the day Craftsman had a lot of specialty stuff too. Sears had a separate special catalog just for tools. Craftsman wasn't cheap, but it was no where near the price of the fancy brands.
The great thing about Craftsman was that in the event I broke or lost something, I didn't have to wait a week for the Snap-On guy to come around. A quick stop by Sears on the way home solved my problem.
Sadly, Craftsman ain't what it used to be. Quality has fallen badly and there's not near the selection they once had.
I do think Snap-On made excellent tool boxes even if they were very expensive. Out in my garage right now is the same set of SO boxes that I used for most of my career. I bought those back in 1975.

I disagree somewhat..... Most who own their own home can easily get an Equity loan (on their home) and the interest rates on them are somewhere's in the 4 - 6% range rather than the 22% interest or whatever the Snap-on guy charges. One could get a lower interest loan and buy all the descent quality tools they need to get heir career going. Equity loans usually have no prepayment penalties and they don't have a Snap-on guy breathing down their necks every week and pushing them to get into debt even more!!!

For those who do not own their home I think you do have a point, however they would be far better off borrowing seed money from a parent, relative, Bank (if they can qualify) or good friend.

YES, S-O makes it too easy to borrow from and once they get their hooks into to you, you pay almost forever at ridiculous interest rates far beyond current going rates.

All that said, they DO make GREAT tools!!

 

[Adk.IBO]

I too was a Snap-On dealer at one time. Early 70's, in a suburban-rural area in the Syracuse NY area. About 65% of my business was corner gas stations. The rest was mostly heavy equipment shops, and some truck service outlets.
My first van was an old Grumman bodied NBC bread truck with about a zillion miles on it. The one with the curved front window glass. Bought it for $500 and had it painted and decaled and after signing a mortgage loan on my house i was in business. 10,000 dollar initial investment. There were 6 other dealers working from our local warehouse, one guy with 20 years in and all the rest had multiple years on the road. It was fun work and I had a ball, made some good friends and a few not so good.
Now I remember one year, we had a tool box promo going on and that year SO was offering like $100 extra on any trade in tool boxes. Our most expensive at that time was probably around $500. but with the profit from those trade in boxes I bought my wife a year old Monte Carlo dealer demo with a 402 fat block in for $2400 cash.
The fun was from the older guys, in the truck shops and heavy equipment shops. SO said to keep payments on tool balances at at least 10% of the balance. Those older guys would not give more that $5.00 a week, regardless of what they owed, and that was when you could catch them in the shop as many were on the road doing repairs. I used to get hell from my supervisor about that every month. It was fun trying to catch them old guys.
But the real problem, and the reason I gave up the franchise was the first real gas crunch...remember that? Odd even days, gas limits, stations were closing left and right and within about 6 months half of my business was done, gone. Got out safe with a few bucks, but even now, 90% of my tool box is still Snap-On. In fact my primary tool box is an original from the early 40's. I love my Snap-On tools.

My first encounter with Snap-on was at Honda of Syracuse in 1976 as an 18 yr old mechanic there. Snap-on tried to recruit me then, I was not ready for the commitment. 1986 I was ready after stepping on a truck for a warranty and telling the story of being recruited the dealer said this route is up for grabs. 2 years later I went on to be a Field Manager in the Adirondacks, recruiting and training new and existing dealers. Not quite 2 years later I went back on the road as a dealer and stayed another 10 years. I changed, the company changed, and we became incompatible. That was around 2000. Glad I had my journeyman electrian background to fall back on, otherwise I would have had to stay a dealer...