Bought a Snap-on ratchet for $180 and it broke in 3 months

I figured splurging on a fancy Snap-on 3/8 flex ratchet would be worth it, you know, the whole buy-once-cry-once thing. Instead, the mechanism started slipping after maybe 60 days of normal use on Gulfstream gear at our shop in Savannah. Now I'm out the money and back to using my old Craftsman while I wait for a warranty replacement that's taking forever. Anyone else had Snap-on tools crap out way faster than they should?

3 comments

3 Comments

cole_murphy2d ago

Feel for you man, @lucast81 nailed it with the Gearwrench backup idea. That's exactly what I did after my Snap-on ratchet failed. Had to grab a cheap Husky from Home Depot just to finish the shift. The warranty guy comes through Savannah every two weeks, but he told me they're backed up on rebuild kits. Three months for a $180 tool to break is ridiculous, especially when you're working on multimillion dollar jets. I'm keeping my old Craftsman as my daily driver now.

lucast812d ago

Man that sucks, I feel your pain. The exact same thing happened to me with their 1/2 drive impact swivel socket set. Paid way too much, and the pinless joint locked up solid after maybe 50 impacts on truck frames. The warranty truck does show up here in Raleigh but the replacement took three weeks and I had to hunt the guy down. Honestly, I keep a set of Gearwrench ratchets as backup now because waiting on Snap-on is brutal when you need a tool today.

kellygrant2d ago

Cracked up reading your comment (not my tools though, thankfully). I had a similar Snap-on fail last year with their 3/8 drive flex head ratchet. Paid a stupid amount and the head locked up after a month on brake jobs. The warranty guy in Charlotte is great but he's only here every third Tuesday or something, so I was stuck borrowing my neighbor's Harbor Freight ratchet for a week. Gearwrench is looking real good right now, honestly.