[Bilgemaster]

I have had one of those wrenches in my tool box for about the past 10 years.  I can't recall where I bought it or how much it cost, but knowing me, probably not much.    I have found it handy at times, but I do worry about trying to put too much torque on the wrench in its extended position.

For sure, they're a little "hefty" on dishing out the foot-pounds even un-extended, so a light "pinky torque" touch is probably advised with most nuts and bolts. Still, fully engorged it does offer that OOMPH really needed for those really tight wheel nuts (maybe 500 lbs. per inch?).  Anyhow, I'm likely to toss it into one of my panniers on any longish tours. Hell, for what it cost and with a lifetime guarantee, I can always just use it to hammer in tent stakes.

[Bilgemaster]

I'm just resurrecting this elderly thread to let folks know that the Harbor Freight  105 Piece Tool Kit with 4 Drawer Chest  currently has a coupon in their recent mailer for just $32.99, which is about the cheapest I've ever seen it. The coupon is valid until November 30, 2019.

Oddly enough, the coupon's not to be found in the otherwise normally comprehensive Harbor Freight Coupon Database. So, I've taken the liberty of attaching a photo of it to this posting. Alternatively, its coupon code is 10679207, which a cashier could also key in at the register.

If you want to read my original writeup about this kit, just click here. Suffice it to say that it's super handy, will have most everything you'll need to keep your bike well fettled in a nice neat box, and the tool quality really ain't half bad, in marked contrast to their normally slightly cheaper 130 Piece Kit, which must be made at some different factory out of recycled soup cans and machined by the visually impaired...Really dreadful stuff.

Hey, if nothing else, get some Christmas shopping done early!


UPDATE TO THE UPDATE.....
The Den of Tools YouTube channel just posted a "Deal Alert! 224 Piece Craftsman Tool Set for $100" concerning this box kit from Ace Hardware:

Sure, it's not the "all-rounder" everything-you-need kit that the Harbor Freight one is, with pliers, screwdrivers, adjustables, electrical tools and a host of other needful doodads. It's just a big whompin' set of wrenches, ratchets and sockets. And sure, the "Craftsman" name maybe ain't what it used to be, but they still ain't half bad and still have a lifetime guarantee. So, yeah, damn straight I grabbed one for store pickup, just like the bear told me to do, for just $99 after my 20 bucks off, threw in a few bucks for the Governor's cigars, and got mine for a total of $105.99.

[Bilgemaster]

I can't tell if editing/updating an earlier posting kicks it into folks' "Recent Unread Topics", but I doubt it.

Please scroll up to see my previous posting in this thread for info on that current Craftsman tool kit deal.

[Bilgemaster]

Just thought I should resurrect this elderly thread to pass along another "Tip from the Bear" and let folks know that Ace is currently offering yet another decent little Craftsman promotion that might interest folks. If you're an "Ace Member", which is free to sign up, you can pick up one of these little ⅜" or ¼" drive SAE or Metric ratchet and socket sets for just $9.99: Click here. (also shows "big kit" currently on sale)

Who among you couldn't use a nice fairly decent little extra socket set for the kind of money that would normally have you wading into the very shallowest yellowest end of the pool of Harbor Freight's offerings?

[Karl Childers]

That's a great price! 45 + years of accumulating tools has me about tooled up to the max. Sales like that might turn me into my father, after he maxed out he still couldn't resist a sale like that and would then turn around and give it away.

[Richard230]

Thanks Bilgemaster! I just ordered the tool kit as a Christmas present for my brother and will pick it up at my local Ace Hardware store later today.

[Bilgemaster]

That's a great price! 45 + years of accumulating tools has me about tooled up to the max. Sales like that might turn me into my father, after he maxed out he still couldn't resist a sale like that and would then turn around and give it away.

That's about where I'm at now: I needed four new ratchets like I  needed four new gills on my buttocks. But yeah, I got 'em anyhow.

[Carl Fenn]

Well tools for me are a bit like a drug addiction  l have a very large stainless chest with just about every thing in there, l have always bought expensive tools many going back decades and decades for every bike,  but over the last few years l have bought some cheap spanners and large ring types, l must say devil needs where the devil must but l have been pleasantly surprised by the quality and certainly recommend them for the home mechanic and saving cash not bad at all when l look closely at them, they can be had for a snip and probably last the rest of my life.

[20MarkIII]

I remember buying a cheap set of box/open end wrenches from an outfit named Homier Tools maybe 30-35 years ago. They would come to town, set up tents and set out all kinds of cheap tools for 3 or 4 days then pack up and leave. The wrenches, made in India, came in a roll up pouch and included 15 or 16 pieces. Most horrible set of tools I ever purchased. Off center broaching on the box end and sloppy fit on fasteners, rough forging and rusting issues. Gave them away in disgust. Circa last few years, HF sells some 7-piece wrench sets for dirt cheap on sale. Both SAE and metric. Made in India and are excellent! Durable and nicely finished. Thank goodness India is now producing quality products at excellent prices offering outstanding value.

[Bilgemaster]

I remember buying a cheap set of box/open end wrenches from an outfit named Homier Tools maybe 30-35 years ago. They would come to town, set up tents and set out all kinds of cheap tools for 3 or 4 days then pack up and leave. The wrenches, made in India, came in a roll up pouch and included 15 or 16 pieces. Most horrible set of tools I ever purchased. Off center broaching on the box end and sloppy fit on fasteners, rough forging and rusting issues. Gave them away in disgust. Circa last few years, HF sells some 7-piece wrench sets for dirt cheap on sale. Both SAE and metric. Made in India and are excellent! Durable and nicely finished. Thank goodness India is now producing quality products at excellent prices offering outstanding value.

I paid a whole dollar for the big roll of Indian combination wrenches shown when I was down in Austin, Texas back in the early '90s. I fished 'em out of a huge "Your Choice $1" bin at the vast local HEB supermarket, where you could also register your car or get glasses. I imagine that bin must have been what happened to your tent tools when that circus had to strike those tents and leave town...fast and likely in the dead of night after someone's teenage daughter came home a little too late and disheveled.

But I've had no complaints with those wrenches. Sure, they're a little sloppy, and the casting quality looks like they may have been formed between stale bread slices, but their chrome ain't bad, and none have broken...not that I haven't given them a good heave-ho with a pipe now and then--check out that 3/4" bowed like a cowboy's leg while fussing with the suspension of a '60 Plymouth Savoy. But it didn't break! When I had practically nothing toolwise, these were prized items.

[20MarkIII]

I paid a whole dollar for the big roll of Indian combination wrenches shown when I was down in Austin, Texas back in the early '90s. I fished 'em out of a huge "Your Choice $1" bin at the vast local HEB supermarket, where you could also register your car or get glasses. I imagine that bin must have been what happened to your tent tools when that circus had to strike those tents and leave town...fast and likely in the dead of night after someone's teenage daughter came home a little too late and disheveled.

But I've had no complaints with those wrenches. Sure, they're a little sloppy, and the casting quality looks like they may have been formed between stale bread slices, but their chrome ain't bad, and none have broken...not that I haven't given them a good heave-ho with a pipe now and then--check out that 3/4" bowed like a cowboy's leg while fussing with the suspension of a '60 Plymouth Savoy. But it didn't break! When I had practically nothing toolwise, these were prized items.

I get a real kick out of your posts BM. Might I add to the Austin Powers meme, 'Hump your girlfriend while you're shooting to win her a stuffed alligator'. TRUE! '60 Plymouth, huge fins when the fin fad was so over. Keep'em comin' Bilgey!

[Bilgemaster]

I get a real kick out of your posts BM. Might I add to the Austin Powers meme, 'Hump your girlfriend while you're shooting to win her a stuffed alligator'. TRUE! '60 Plymouth, huge fins when the fin fad was so over. Keep'em comin' Bilgey!

Thanks! That '60 Plymouth Savoy was a real pearl. I got it way up in the Texas Hill Country from the family of a former car dealer who'd long since passed. I was told it had been a dealership demo, and it was LOADED with ALL the weird options of the day, my favorite being a little 45 record player. It was a little "woozy", but still worked...kind of. I particularly enjoyed its push-button automatic transmission, which was a characteristic feature of those Mopars of the period. I bought it thinking I would export it to Germany, where I'd been living for several years, and where old American boulevard cruisers with fins were a hot commodity. But I ran into an insurmountable bureaucratic hurdle: It seems no 1960 Plymouth Savoy had ever been registered anywhere in Germany. Accordingly, no preexisting certification of its roadworthiness existed, so that if I wanted to bring it in I'd have had to bring it up to then-current (1990?) German vehicle safety standards. I imagine I might have had an easier time getting it loaded into the bay of the Space Shuttle and launched into orbit. Oddly enough though, I guess its European destiny trumped all. After a long road trip around the Southwest, mostly scouting out ghost towns, I sold it in LA to a nice older Swedish couple who brought it back home. So, it made it to Europe anyhow. As for those enormous sharklike fins, I never quite got over being startled by them in the sideview mirror. Cue the theme for "Jaws". I'm sure I've got old paper photos of it somewhere, but it resembled this one though with a white top...

[Carl Fenn]

Well l think cheap tools are OK especially if you are on a tight budget let’s face it they get the job done, you can buy that less than one snap on, really expensive tools are OK, 1, if you can afford them, and 2, if you work as a pro in most instances a £20 set of open ended will do as well, l have Facom sets of spanners but always have found l grab the cheap ones mostly. There are some really decent sets of cheap six point out there real bargain buckets. I think the issue is some of the stuff l bought just lasted far to many decades. Don’t think you can’t start getting involved in mechanics because of the price of tools there are plenty of cheap or second hand tools out there not hard to find at all.

[Bilgemaster]

Here's a HART Multiple Drive 270-Piece Mechanics Tool Set  on Clearance now at Wallyworld for just $79: https://www.walmart.com/ip/seort/713811084

I've got the very similar 215-Piece one, and it really ain't too shabby. Smooth 90 tooth ratchets in 1/2", 3/8" and 1/4" and very little "fluff" you'll never use in a really nice box. One plus is that its sockets are FAR more visibly labeled for size than most. Overwhelmingly 5-star reviews (4.8 Average) So, what's not to like? Grab one if you can find one. They may be in a separate "Clearance" aisle, though it also looks like you can order online with free delivery.

You can see my old review of that similar HART 215-Piece Set with a little hack or tip about
better securing its top lid here: https://www.google.com/search?q=hart+215+mechanic+tool+set#fpstate=riv&rivi=0&rivzd=REVIEW_15173321172049250534

[Carl Fenn]

Well not a bad set most of what you need to maintain bike if you are a newcomer.