Wrenches for Christmas (your advice wanted)

[pharmvet]

Like most males of the human species, I have been slowly acquiring tool over the past 20 years. What Im lacking is large wrenches that can be used for the larger bolts and nuts on farm equipment as well as the tractor itself. I have mostly Craftsman tools so I guess Ill stick with them. My question is this.

1) What are the most common sizes over 1" on farm equipment (shredders, discs, etc)

2) Would you recommend 12 pt. or 6 pt. ??

thanks

 

[firefighter9208]

I bought a Craftsman 3/4" socket set a few years ago. Like this one Craftsman 16 pc. Standard Socket Wrench Set, 12. pt., 3/4 in. Dr. . It's now $249.00. Last summer I purchased one of these - Harbor Freight Tools - Quality Tools at the Lowest Prices for use at our Fire Department.

I've broken the Craftsman ratchet three times in the past 5 years (4 foot cheater bar). They have replaced it with no questions. I don't know how good the warranty is at Harbor Freight, but have heard it is also lifetime.

The Harbor Freight one isn't quite as nice, but comes with a breaker handle. We haven't broken it yet.

My wife bought me these for Christmas last year - Harbor Freight Tools - Quality Tools at the Lowest Prices . I couldn't justify spending the extra money on Craftsman. I've only used them twice in the past year and that was to put the chain back on a trencher when it came off. Tractor Supply also has them Masterhand 6-Piece SAE, Jumbo Wrench Set - 3835349 | Tractor Supply Company . They just cost twice as much as the ones at Harbor Freight.

When you get into wrenches and sockets this size you don't have to have the exact close tolerances like you do with smaller 1/2" stuff. All my smaller stuff is Craftsman, a few Snap On, with various other brands thrown in.

Chris

 

[MIKE_D]

All my big stuff(1"+) is from Harbor. Cost and frequency of use were the factors, also Harbor has a lifetime warranty on all HAND tools.

 

[bp fick]

Life time warranty/easy replacement is key.
I like impacts sockets a whole bunch
Give me 6 sided sockets almost exclusively. Our shop's pretty busy and the second son does wrenching for a living by day and supplements at night. I do a ton of charitable mechanic work as well as doing my own stuff.

The OP asked about sizes. Get the graduated sizes as they come in sets. Sets are always cheaper than buying one at a time. Sometimes a set will begin at 7/8 and run up to 2 1/4. or 21mm on up to 36mm. Christmas "sales" aren't always the best time for these larger tools, but keep your eyes open. You almost always end up buying a specialty size here and there, as well.

Matching graduated sockets are helpful.
Needless to say, SAE and Metric are almost mandatory today. Got doubles of just about every imaginable thing. Just a reality. Best wishes

 

[pharmvet]

Ive been doing some research on wrenches and cannot find what Im looking for which is:

American made
6 pt.
combination
1" and larger

Any suggestions on wrenches that will meet this criteria?

 

[radman1]

I have a set of big wrenches and 3/4" sockets. Cheap HF equivalents or maybe they are HF. For minimal use, they work just fine but nearly indespensible when you need them. Bought mine several years ago. You can probably find USA made large wrenches but 1-2 wrenches probably cost more than my entire set.

A handy large wrench to have is the closed end kind designed just for use with trailer hitch balls. 1 1/8" on one end and 1 1/2" on the other. I have a couple of those and used frequently. Not very expensive - about $9-10 at Menards. Reeese makes one for about $13.

 

[swines]

Ive been doing some research on wrenches and cannot find what Im looking for which is:

American made
6 pt.
combination
1" and larger

Any suggestions on wrenches that will meet this criteria?

Proto

Wright Tool

Armstrong Tools

And of course there's SnapOn, MAC, etc.

 

[UncleBuck01]

Like most males of the human species, I have been slowly acquiring tool over the past 20 years. What Im lacking is large wrenches that can be used for the larger bolts and nuts on farm equipment as well as the tractor itself. I have mostly Craftsman tools so I guess Ill stick with them. My question is this.

1) What are the most common sizes over 1" on farm equipment (shredders, discs, etc)

2) Would you recommend 12 pt. or 6 pt. ??

thanks

1-5/8 , 1-11/16 are the ones I use most often, I have pieced together sets with proto, wright, masterhand (tractor supply) and some snapon
Most of my purchases have been on ebay - it takes time,or tractor supply(they are now clearing out the larger combo wrenches) mostly 12 point for the combo wrenches and mostly 6 point sockets.

 

[EddieWalker]

Big wrenches are funny. I have three tractors and a dump truck. Each of them have more of one size then the other. I did it wrong and bought them one at a time, as I needed them. If I could bo back in time, I'd buy the full kit.

Northern Tool has some.

I bought mine from Tractor Supply.

Eddie

 

[D7E]

Like most males of the human species, I have been slowly acquiring tool over the past 20 years. What Im lacking is large wrenches that can be used for the larger bolts and nuts on farm equipment as well as the tractor itself. I have mostly Craftsman tools so I guess Ill stick with them. My question is this.

1) What are the most common sizes over 1" on farm equipment (shredders, discs, etc)

2) Would you recommend 12 pt. or 6 pt. ??

thanks

I find that when you go over 1in 1"1/8 and 1"1/4 and 1"1/16 are the common ones but as said it's usually cheaper to buy a set for $100 than buy individuals for $30 each and as machinery gets newer i need a lot more metric these days .
Along side all the sets we have i like to have a pile of the sizes you use most commonly like 9/16,1/2,3/4,15/16 etc that can be carried around in cabs