Question about quality and reliability of impact sockets. Are there any differences between Stanley, Craftsman and Gearwrench , Grey Pneumatic and Sunex. I see many positive words on all of them, especially GP. Craftsman and Gearwrench are nice and shiny, GP and Sunex are kind of rough. I need something which will serve me as long as possible because there will be no replacement option if one brakes.(will be living in a middle of nowhere ) Do you guys have any preferences on any, and if yes, what was your decision of choosing either?
I have a bunch of Gearwrench impact sockets,hard to beat for the pricewhen i got them. Gearwrench is pretty good,I have all sorts of stuff from them, sockets,wrenches,pliers. I wouldnt even touch Craftsman nowadays unless you can find the USA made ones as they are defo much nicer.
Im not familiar with GP but i did look them up,those seem really nice. Hard to go wrong with a lifetime warranty,id never buy a hand tool without one.
Almost all my ratchet wrenches are gearwrench had them for about 9 years and they still hold up very well. I like the way their impact sockets look but don’t have anyone who has them or used them. I guess I’ll try one set first, if they will withstand my new m18 2763, I will buy the rest. Thanks for sharing.
Any true impact sockets should survive bud,but if not thats why they have a warranty. Gearwrench customer service is really good in my experience. Even Harbor freight ones are probably fine,most of their sockets are pretty indestructable.
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My son is a Ford mechanic (dealership) and his tool box is full of Harbor Freights finest impacts(lol) its quite funny to see his tools, Snapon sitting next to Pittsburgh right by Craftsman with a little MAC stuff here and there and a little 12v Hitachi Drill Impact kit.
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Well, even though I am not a rich guy and I do not buy cheap things, at the same time I can’t afford something top of the line, so I always trying to get quality and affordability. If I would be a full time auto mechanic, I’d invest in snapon-mac-facom tools, but been a DIY mostly, I just don’t see myself spending thousands on something what I won’t be using every day. I did buy Wera Zyklop sets anyway, spent that money but I love handling those pieces of fine German craftsmanship. Probably HF or even Husky are not that bad,Hitachi and Chicago Pneumatic will do its job as well, but just thinking that this is a low budget tools, won’t make me feel great about it, so I’d like to have something little bit nicer than that ))
My first set of impact sockets were Snap-On. Still have them almost twenty years later, but also still have the Sunex metric set I bought a year or two later. Never had a problem with them. I’m pretty certain my impact swivel sockets are also Sunex. DeWalt’s impact sockets seem decent. I picked up a set of 1/2" drive ones on clearance at Tractor Supply to keep with the cordless impact wrench in the truck. Made in Taiwan, and they have thinner walls than most sockets designed for pneumatic tools. Not sure how much strength made be compromised, but I could have used them years ago, when my SO and Sunex sockets wouldn’t fit in a wheel.
Kind of hard to define top of the line anymore in tools,just because you buy it off an overpriced tool truck doesnt really mean its the best There is only so many companies(OEMs) making all of these tools.
go with what you can afford,and upgrade if you need to as you go.
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In my experience, when it comes to impact accessories the sockets won’t be an issue. All of the brands (even HF Pittsburg) are chunky enough and do the job. Most of mine are Craftsman, but I’ve got a few GM, some Husky, etc. When it comes to impact extensions and adapters, that’s probably where you want to be sure to buy a high quality product.
Agree. Especially swivel head adaptor (I invested in SnOn 15 years ago, paid about $45 that time, still good.
Elevator mechanic here, I use the 1/2" drive Kobalt sockets, haven’t had an issue yet
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Im looking for impact sockets as well, to use with my Milwaukee 3/8" impact wrench.
3/8" seems to be an odd size to find…HF doesnt have their “pro” set in 3/8", so Im thinking Suntek, Tekton or Grey Pneumatic.
The Suntek 42 piece master set seems like a good deal. For the 1/2" drive I would go with the Pittsburgh Pro from HF since they are ChrMo.
After some thinking and looking around I decided to get a Grey Pneumatic. Got 1/2" set 10mm-36mm $80 and 3/8" 7mm-19mm $40. What I really like about them is that there are all the sizes, not skipping, comes in a nice molded box, 3/8 are really thin walled for an imact compare to HF, Craftsman , GW. I already tested both with both sizes impacts and the held some really good tension. Thank you guys for an input.
Have an old set of USA made Craftsman sockets, very, very happy with them, but the imported ones don’t seem to be any better than the Harbor Freight ones anymore. To be fair, the Pittsburgh Pro brand from Harbor Freight continues to impress me in general. Don’t have their impact sockets, but I have no reason not to think they’d be the same way. If you are going to use them a lot, the better brands hold up better, but by their nature most any should be more than strong enough. Where the better brands seem to stand out, is combining the strength needed, with a fairly thin sidewall. The cheaper sockets seem to be strong enough in my experience, they are made of cheaper metal, so they need to be thicker to get that strength. If clearance will be an issue, the better brands may be the way to go.