Craftsman tools not warranted/guaranteed forever

I am pretty sure that Craftsman Sockets are made by Danaher. The same company that owns Jacobs and Fluke.

Dan

On 20 Nov 2004 09:03:47 -0800, snipped-for-privacy@krl.org (Dan Caster) calmly ranted:

I found out AFTER I bought and picked up the replacement tool from NAPA that it was made by Danaher, same as new Crapsman tools. We'll see how well it lasts. Hopefully this tool company will do them proud. The cheapest possible crap from India/Taiwan/China surely did not.

-- Friends Don't Let Friends Eat Turkey and Drive --

I bought my 9-44478 150 Ft-Lb DigiTork sometime after 1981 (the receipt I found in the box for the 9-44467 blow-molded storage box from Catalog is dated 6/29/86)

From the back of the instruction booklet (dated 6-1-81):

FULL 90-DAY WARRANTY ON CRAFTSMAN DIGITORK (tm) MICRO ADJUSTING TORQUE WRENCH

If, within 90 days from the date of purchase, this Craftsman Digitork (tm) Micro Adjusting Torque Wrench fails due to a defect in material or workmanship, Sears will repair and/or calibrate it free of charge.

LIMITED WARRANTY

After 90 days and until one year from date of purchase, Sears will repair any defect in material or workmanship in the torque wrench, free of charge. This warranty coverage does not include recalibration. Warranty service is available by returning the wrench to the nearest Sears store in the united states. This warranty gives you specific legal rights, and you may have other rights which vary from state to state.

-->--

I agree. In September I took 20 year old Craftsman 1/2, 3/8, and 1/4 rachet drives to my local Sears store, and they were replaced with rebuilt drives on the spot!

Harry C.

Well, there are Craftsman power tools, and there are craftsman power tools. Their cheap stuff is pretty well crap. An example is circular saws. They currently have 4 consumer grade saws, and one professional. The pro is every bit as good as the Makita 5007nb or Dewalt dw368

Same with the belt sander. 3 consumers, and 1 professional.

The cheap Makita stuff is every bit as bad as the Craftsman low end stuff. Cheap Bosch stuff too.

Thay only replace with the same part number if that number is no longer made you are out of luck..period

The "professional" Craftsman stuff used to be Black and Decker, which was OK. The regular Craftsman power tools were extremely low grade junk that would quite often fail immediately. I don't think I've purchased one of their power tools in 20 years. I've never seen a Bosch or Makita product in the same league as a Craftsman tool- I've been using both for quite a few years.

(Snip)

I still own the inexpensive Makita drill and circular saw I purchased ~20 years ago. They both still work just fine, though both have been through some pretty tough use.

Ya guess I got the best of a bad design?

Me, neither.

In that time, I have 'used up' a cheap B&D 3/8" drill, a more expensive Sears 1/2" drill, a cheap impact wrench and a couple Skil circular saws. Didn't take long, either.

My 'King Kong' (Really) drill press and Enco (bad old days) belt sander both keep on chooglin. I do not know why.

--Winston

Currently, the high-end Craftsman tools are a mix of DeWalt, Skil (the 77 wormdrive), and Bosch (jigsaw). There may be others now, but I haven't checked recently.

GTO(John)

Not true. I have had 30 some year old tools replaced with "today's equivalent" - different part number, but same function/description.

You are most likely right.

I think, for the most part, the home shop types tend to use their tools in a rather light fashion. Certainly not continually, like a guy does that works with his tools daily on the job. It is for that reason that when I buy a tool that will get little to no use, I head for HF. If I'm going to get inferior quality, I fully intend to pay a price in keeping with the quality. If it serves my purpose for the job at hand, I'm pleased.

I also purchased a ½" Hitachi hammer drill while working on the castle. I used it exclusively for drilling concrete, so it got little use. About the third time I used it, perhaps ten days after warranty had expired, the trigger switch died. Took it to an authorized repair station where I was told "tough luck" and had to pay for a new one, which promptly died again. Tough luck I was told yet again, so I never repaired the damned thing and have never again purchased anything made by Hitachi, nor do I say anything complimentary about them. The switch was obviously not suited to the application. All I did was use it as it was intended to be used. Incidentally, the failure was in the variable speed. The drill continued to run, just on or off. It did that until about a month ago, when it quit completely.

Any advice regards buying a new hammer drill that may not get much use? HF? Can't afford, nor can I justify, a good one, like Hilti, which would be my first choice if I worked with it daily.

Harold

You want to take a look at the new professional 15 amp 7 1/4" circular saw. It is hands down the best saw I've seen for the money at $199 list Canadian. They have a 15 amp version available with the "laser trac" now too - a fantastic saw.

The non laser trac pro saw was cat#092-921-166 and was on special this summer for $169.They had them on at the Woodstock Wood Show for something like $139. My old Delta 7 1/4" is still doing the job, as is my 8 1/4" Milwaulkee so I didn't get one. Neither one has gotten much use in the last couple of years.

20 years ago Makita built ONLY quality stuff. The bean counters got to them like every other company - and chances are VERY good your 20 some year old Makita will still outlast the one you would buy tomorrow.

B&D is one real good example of a company that went from "top shelf" stuff to "down the tubes" over the last 20 or so years. Likely almost

30 years since they started the downhill slide. They bought DeWalt because they needed a "respected" name for their "pro quality" tools. No-one would trust a B&D any more.

A SEARS drill is a cheap drill - like a B&D. I have an electronic feedback electronic controlled Craftsman drill that I find to be VERY good, as well as a pair of craftsman cordless drills - 12 and 14.2 volt that I'm happy with.

As an electrician, My dad used up a fair number of drills - 3/8 and

1/2" OVER THE YEARS - and he used Makita cordless drills as power screwdrivers. IIRC the red ones stood up real well, then the green ones just dropped like flies. I still have his old Craftsman Professional 1/2" drill (model 315) That he bought in 1967? and he used to rough in several thousand houses. He had it out for repair ONCE and bought some other make of drill to use in it's place. IIRC it was only after burning out 2 or 3 replacements inside a period of several months that he decided to get the old one fixed. It is still one nasty thing to hit a spike with drilling on a ladder - it'll take you clean off the ladder faster than you can say "craftsman". Not variable speed.

Yep, me, too. I took in an old cracked socket that bore no resemblance to the sockets of today. My father had it in some old tools he had owned for years. Walked in with it in my hand and walked out no less than a minute later with a new socket. I must say they've always been pretty good about replacing mechanic's hand tools.

Harold

I would have sent that letter right back to the president of Sears. When you get in trouble, you write an apology. You don't complain about having gotten in trouble for the first place.

I tend to go right above a local manager's head as well if I have a problem with a company. It scares them into actually fixing the problem rather than just satisfying a single customer.

statement below is just plain not true, I've replaced several items with new ones when old part # is no longer in existance - in one case (lathe chisel) they dont even cary an equivalent, so they gave me store credit on a different tool.

The locals on the floor don't normally care - they just want to get rid of you (and any problem you have). I bought a Sears 3-1/4" electric plane once - got it home and evidently it had been assembled incorrectly at the factory as you *could not* retract the blade far enough to keep it from taking about 1/8" off the wood. Rather than fixing it myself (which I sometimes just go ahead and do), I decided to return it to the store for a replacement. The replacement was fine and the blades could be retracted until they would not even touch the wood (as it should be) - and told the salesman that the unit I was returning should be sent back as it was manufactured wrong - and could not be used - demonstrating the problem so he would understand. Also letting him know that if it got sold to another customer, that it would "bounce back" to him again due to this problem. "OK - I'll take care of it" says he. - - - Several days later, I was in the store - sure enough - there sat the planer on the shelf, waiting to be sold again.... sheeeessszzzz -- why bother? Ken.

It is always a bit of a gamble, but my philosophy for tools that I use relatively infrequently (which in my home shop is almost everythng) is a used quality brand over new cheap junk. I'd go for a used Bosch, Hilti, or similar over a new Harbor Freight piece of junk. Even a Milwauke rep at an industrial show once confided that nobody makes hammer drills like "the Germans." I saw a Hilti 1/2 inch hammer drill with a case, a few drills and a bunch of fasteners at a Pawn shop the other day for under $50. Scraped up and dirty, but seemed to be in excellent mechanical shape. I was tempted, but I have a similar Bosch that has been going strong for years.

Mill

Sometimes -- but it does not always work. I had a bad experience with Circuit City a while ago. It will be the last experience I have with them as I will not ever go in one of their stores again. Local manager was completely un responsive. I went to the internet, found the President's name, and wrote him a letter. I got a phone call from somebody who identified himself as an "executive assistant." His message amounted to something like "We have our policies; we do not care if our sales person mislead you; and we do not care if we lose you as a customer." I asked him why he bothered calling -- and he could not seem to answer. I wish them the best of Chapter 11.

Mill