Impact sockets (was Re: [AT] Check out Harbor freights sale on 8000lbwinches

[Stuart Harner]

Well said Mike.  I quite often buy a cheap tool if I know it is not going to 
be used much, thus saving my $$ for something that I really need to buy 
quality.  My thinking is that if circumstances change and I start using the 
cheap tool enough to wear it out or break it, then I truly have a need for a 
better one.  In the mean time, I have usually gotten my $$ worth of use from 
the cheap one.  There are exceptions where the cheap stuff does not pay for 
itself, and there are exceptions where I get way more use from a tool than I 
expected.

Not too long ago, I broke a cheap gear puller that I had used for several 
years.  Following my own advice, I went to town and bought a quite expensive 
one (stamped made in USA) and promptly broke it with the same box end wrench 
I was using on the old one.  Sometimes you don't get what you pay for, but 
most times you do.

I for one appreciate places like Harbor Freight and Wal-Mart.  They provide 
me with products I want at prices I can afford.

The discussion of prices, trade, CEO salaries and stock dividends is 
interesting and many myths need to be dispelled.  But, not here.  For those 
interested, I would recommend "Basic Economics" by Thomas Sewall.  It is an 
easy read with great examples.

If it ever warms up today, I need to get to the shop and do some wrenching.

Stuart


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Mike Sloane" <mikesloane at verizon.net>
To: "Antique tractor email discussion group" <at at lists.antique-tractor.com>
Sent: Friday, December 02, 2005 6:39 AM
Subject: [atis] Impact sockets (was Re: [AT] Check out Harbor freights sale 
on 8000lbwinches


>I don't want to start a p***ing contest over this, but regardless of which 
>make you buy, impact sockets are not designed to be used with regular 
>ratchets wrenches and regular sockets are not designed to be used with 
>impact wrenches. (That is regardless of the quality of the item, and if the 
>tool is junk/defective to begin with, it will still fall apart even if used 
>properly.) I have some Chinese impact sockets, and they have held up as 
>well as my USA made sockets, although I willingly admit that I don't use 
>them all that often. The problem for me is the cost difference between USA 
>made and Asian hand tools - if it were only a matter of a couple of bucks, 
>I would buy USA, but when a set of USA impact sockets costs 3 or 4 times as 
>much as Asian for something that I might only use two or three times a 
>year, I cannot justify the higher cost. Tinkering with tractors is my 
>hobby; if I was a professional mechanic who depends on his tools for his 
>livelihood, I would buy the best equipment I could find.
>
> Mike
>
> Rob Wilson wrote:
>> Dean,
>>  I admit you are right I should say most. I bought a couple things from
>> there to save a buck and the only thing it did was cost me money in the
>> long run. The worst was a set of impact sockets that I broke one of them
>> with a ratchet. Cracked it right down the side. I drove all the way back
>> their store and the clerk said to get another one out of the sets they
>> had on a cart. Ironically each one of the "new" returned sets had at
>> least one or two broken sockets in it. I wasted at least $10 in gas, a
>> couple hours of my time and some skin. Rob
>>
>
> -- 
> Mike Sloane
> Allamuchy NJ
> mikesloane at verizon.net
> Website: <www.geocities.com/mikesloane>
> Images: <www.fotki.com/mikesloane>
>
> When I was young, I admired clever people. Now that I am old, I admire 
> kind people. -Abraham Joshua Heschel, theology professor (1907-1972)
>
>
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