Metrinch Open End Spanners are rubbish
SL...@bigpond.com
heard that Sidchrome had gone downhill since they were taken over.
I got convinced to buy a set of Metrinch. They are the type that can handle
both metric and A.F. in the one spanner.
Well, my opinion is that they are complete junk. I have been working on the
fuel injection as well as water pump replacement on my Mercedes and these
bloody spanners have rounded off about half a dozen nuts !!!!!
They are absolute suicide on brass fuel fittings - the open end spanner just
never fits properly.
The ring end is so thick that you cannot use it in tricky spots.
Has anyone else had the same bad experience with these ????
Also , I now want to buy a proper metric set of spanners. Any recommendations
???
I've heard GEDORE are good and TOLEDO are good value for money.
i've heard various opinions on REPCO.
I used to have a couple of MCEWANS own brand ring spanners and they were
awesome (strong , very small head for tigh spots , nice and long for good
leverage).
Can you still get them ?
I am moving my Metrinch spanners to a new home (the bottom of the harbour).
Regards Slug
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Roofi
What I've seen of Proto, Snapon and Stahwille they are excellent
I think McEwens used to get theirs made by Sidchrome, but McEwans are just a
'Republic of China' clearing house now.
I think Kinchrome would rate below Sidchrome.
BTW what did exactly did happen to Sidchrome?
I used a freinds Metrich spanners on a rally Escort (which has an annoying mix of
metric and imperial as std) and they were OK. However none of the bolts had been
in place long so they weren't super tight.
--
Internet - the CB of the 90's. CQDX anyone?
Darren Gibbens
>BTW what did exactly did happen to Sidchrome?
>
They got bought out by Proto of the USA. Their Sidchrome type spanners are
still available as they have been for years, but now they've added many of
the Proto tools to the catalog along with the Proto price.
Darren
Sean Dunlop
SL...@BIGPOND.COM wrote in message <7biknj$blu$1...@nnrp1.dejanews.com>...
Sasha Nackovski
I have a number of brands in my tool collection, but my favourite
brand is Stahlwille. They are excellent quality and very strong, but
are hugely expensive. I don't have any Snap-on so I cannot compare,
but from what I have seen they probably are not worth the huge cost. I
also have a number of the older Sidchrome which are very precise and
very strong, and were at one stage very good value for money. I
recently bought some Sidchrome-Proto stuff, which seems to be good
quality but is now within the realm of Stahlwille and Snap-on in
price, and IMHO not as good as either.
A guy at Repco recently told me that they rate their tools as highly
as Snap-on for strength, but are less precise (perhaps because they
are made in Taiwan?). My brother recently bought a set, which he uses
on his trucks, and thinks they are excellent value for money, but from
what I have seen and used, Repco would be crazy to say they are as
good as Snap-on. However, depending on what they are to be used for,
these could be the tools for you.
A tool dealer recently told me that Sandvik (German) are up there with
Stahlwille in quality and cost much less, but I have not used them so
cannot comment. I also have some tools that were made for specific car
manufacturers production lines, and as you can imagine the quality is
excellent- for example I have some factory Peugeot tools that are very
good in strength and quality. It might be worth finding out (if you
know anyone in the industry) what Toyota/Ford/Holden do with their
obsolete tools and perhaps purchasing some of these if possible?
Cheers,
Sasha.
John Harvey
<geo...@NOSPAM.hotmail.com> wrote:
> I like the lifetime guarantee on Sidchrome. If you break it, they give
>you another one, no questions asked. If that offer is still going,
>how can you go wrong?
I think that offer expired just after my dad bought his!
The black handles on both breaker bars cracked and crumbled after not
many years and had to be sent back to Siddons for remolding
(definitely no offer of replacements despite no abuse) and they
weren't even able to lay them straight in the mold.
The chrome has fallen off most of the sockets and spanners in my field
kit (no warranty anymore) and if a socket breaks first question asked
is has it been used on a rattle gun. Anything resembling the
slightest burr in the square drive and it's deemed abuse (no warranty
either).
Kinchrome or Repco (both made in Taiwan) are half the price and twice
the quality these days - I'd lean toward Kinchrome. No one in their
right mind buys Sidchrome any more!
John H
Dene Oehme
>>Well, my opinion is that they are complete junk. I have been working on the
>>fuel injection as well as water pump replacement on my Mercedes and these
>>bloody spanners have rounded off about half a dozen nuts !!!!!
Yea, I like that - The spanners rounded off the nuts, not you. That's
what you get if you don't buy quality
Regards
Dene Oehme
de...@camtech.net.au
http://www.adelaide.net.au/~dene/menu.htm
SL...@bigpond.com
I have just bought a couple of Stahlwille Open end / Ring spanners and I agree
that they really are superb.
I am going to use the Metrinch spanners as sinkers the next time I go fishing.
Does anyone know a cheap source of Stahlwille products in Sydney ? I am paying
about $25 per spanner at the moment.
thanks Doug
> I have a number of brands in my tool collection, but my favourite
> brand is Stahlwille. They are excellent quality and very strong, but
> are hugely expensive. I don't have any Snap-on so I cannot compare,
> but from what I have seen they probably are not worth the huge cost. I
> also have a number of the older Sidchrome which are very precise and
> very strong, and were at one stage very good value for money. I
> recently bought some Sidchrome-Proto stuff, which seems to be good
> quality but is now within the realm of Stahlwille and Snap-on in
> price, and IMHO not as good as either.
>
-----------== Posted via Deja News, The Discussion Network ==----------
Andrew Janke
: <Chomp spanner tale of woe>
:
: i've heard various opinions on REPCO.
Buy a tool for a job not a multi-tool for many jobs........
I'd go for REPCO. I have em and can't fault em yet.
On the other hand I just bought a Chinese 3/4" socket set :)
rote -=DUH!#16=- (Y2)
Rotes Projects http://student.uq.edu.au/~s324570/
aus.cars FAQ http://www.clubduh.com/
additions to the FAQ to aus....@clubduh.com
John Harvey
wrote:
>Yea, I like that - The spanners rounded off the nuts, not you. That's
>what you get if you don't buy quality
IMO either genuine Vise-Grips or Stillson wrenches are excellent for
the round type nuts depending on the torque required (I also find that
each foot of pipe used to extend the handle gives an accurate 100
lb-ft of additional torque), although often a sharp crack with a
suitably blunted chisel will save a lot of time. Choice of brand is
very important however as you can do a lot of damage without shifting
anything if you use an inferior one - mine's an Eclipse (large size).
:o)
John H
Pete!
"Sean Dunlop" <se...@commerce.wa.gov.au> wrote:
>I thought Snap-on ruled??
So did I until my partner in crime (who was an ex StrapOn dealer) and I saw a
set of Italian made Allen key "T-Handles" by the name of "BETA". They make the
SnapOn product look very KMartish....... Although when I snapped a SnapOn
(SnapOFF?) socket type Allen key, then replaced it FOC, despite the 720 degree
twist in it :-)
Our collective opinion is the best valued tools around are either Gedore (he
almost became a Gedore stockist) or Repco.
For the record, I have a Metrinch 1/2" ratched and find it near as good as our
SnapOn in terms of "feel" and its never had a problem.
P!
Trent
over 20) and is still going strong.
I got a set of 1/2" drive sockets ranging in size from 10mm to 19mm for $12
at kmart. They are supatool and they haven't caused a problem yet. They even
worked on the impossible to remove crankshaft pulley bolt which you guys
helped me with a while back.
Trent
jonibu...@gmail.com
Jason James
> A set of both is a good thing as the metrinch black sockets with half inch drive are good for getting those bolts & nuts that don't want to budge (head bolts)(exhaust bolts after heating them with a blow torch and giving it a sharp blow with a hammer taking care not to damage the thread you may have to repeat it a few times until you hear a cracking sound of the rust between the threads break
I only broke one Sidchrome socket on a wheel nut in 40 yrs of butchering :-) Their ratchets with the sliding pin [fwd and reverse] last forever, literally, as long as its hand driven and not with a 6'length of pipe on it.
Jason
Noddy
> A set of both is a good thing as the metrinch black sockets with half inch drive are good for getting those bolts & nuts that don't want to budge (head bolts)(exhaust bolts after heating them with a blow torch and giving it a sharp blow with a hammer taking care not to damage the thread you may have to repeat it a few times until you hear a cracking sound of the rust between the threads break
--
--
--
Regards,
Noddy.
Clocky
> On Tuesday, August 11, 2015 at 10:24:46 AM UTC+10, jonibu...@gmail.com wrote:
>> A set of both is a good thing as the metrinch black sockets with half inch drive are good for getting those bolts & nuts that don't want to budge (head bolts)(exhaust bolts after heating them with a blow torch and giving it a sharp blow with a hammer taking care not to damage the thread you may have to repeat it a few times until you hear a cracking sound of the rust between the threads break
>
> This is a 16 yo thread,..:-) 1/2 inch drive is the standard for mechanics,..they may well have smaller drives, and larger,
but 1/2 does allmost all car stuff with few exceptions like
diff-pinion and suspension bolts.
>
> I only broke one Sidchrome socket on a wheel nut in 40 yrs of butchering :-) Their ratchets with the sliding pin [fwd and reverse] last forever, literally, as long as its hand driven and not with a 6'length of pipe on it.
>
> Jason
>
it will ever break.
Xeno
> On 11/08/2015 9:11 AM, Jason James wrote:
>> On Tuesday, August 11, 2015 at 10:24:46 AM UTC+10, jonibu...@gmail.com
>> wrote:
>>> A set of both is a good thing as the metrinch black sockets with half
>>> inch drive are good for getting those bolts & nuts that don't want to
>>> budge (head bolts)(exhaust bolts after heating them with a blow torch
>>> and giving it a sharp blow with a hammer taking care not to damage
>>> the thread you may have to repeat it a few times until you hear a
>>> cracking sound of the rust between the threads break
>>
>> This is a 16 yo thread,..:-) 1/2 inch drive is the standard for
>> mechanics,..they may well have smaller drives, and larger,
>
> Without the smaller ones you're not going to get too far.
drive sockets. The 3/8" drive stuff is much more useful in the
oftentimes confined spaces on modern cars.
> but 1/2 does allmost all car stuff with few exceptions like
> diff-pinion and suspension bolts.
>
> 1/2" drive for those for mine.
>
on trucks. Ooops, almost forgot - Mini flywheel was one part on a car
that always needed something a tad more substantial.
1" drive was essential when working on heavy earthmoving gear and did
you ever know it when you were carting one of those socket sets around.
I've never owned a set of 3/4" or 1" sockets as they were invariably
always supplied by the company I worked for at the time.
>> I only broke one Sidchrome socket on a wheel nut in 40 yrs of
>> butchering :-)
invariably break. It was thinner at the double hexagon apexes which
meant it was easy to break compared to all the others.
If you were using standard sockets on a rattle gun, then any of them was
equally as liable to break. As an apprentice I had a full set of metric,
SAE and Whitworth/BSF sockets. Even had a full set of SAE single hex
sockets. Still have a few of those original single hex left.
> Their ratchets with the sliding pin [fwd and reverse]
>> last forever, literally, as long as its hand driven and not with a
>> 6'length of pipe on it.
out to the point where they would slip.
>>
>> Jason
>>
>
> I use a Snap-On #71 1/2" drive ratchet. Ugly, uncomfortable but I doubt
> it will ever break.
>
>
them when overseas. Nice slim and strong tools that are a delight to use
and, unfortunately, often get knocked off because of that. I doubt if I
have a single Proto item in my toolkit now. I eventually stuck with
Sidchrome and similar as I could more easily afford to replace those.
--
Xeno
keithr
Clocky
Blue Heeler
> >
> >
> Snap-on is good stuff but expensive.
snap-on is not bad, but far from the best.
On the other hand, snap-on is relatively cheap, and much more
available, on the strength of buying no more than a couple of tools a
year from them they are kind enough to send me catalogs and the
travelling salesvan driver greets me like a long lost brother.
jonz
"keithr" <no-...@nowhere.com.au> wrote in message
news:d2u87d...@mid.individual.net...
I have a .5 in drive Russian socket set that iv`e had for over 20 yrs.
Basic, clunky to use but unbreakable! Most of the sockets have been used
with rattle guns, no probs...The price was about $35. Bloody good value.