Craftsman Lifetime Warranty

Have a 40 year old 1/2″ socket ratchet (Sears) that is slipping. Just curious if anyone has had any luck with the old Sears lifetime replacement warranty.

Thanks
Pete

Give the ole` girl some oil in the little hole on the top.

Or use a needle nose to collapse the spring that retains the rotating mechanism, remove the guts to clean & oil before reassembly.
I can’t imagine a Lowes (I think they now sell Craftsman) will honor Sears guarantees.

I brought a busted Sears Craftsman ratchet into Menards a few years ago and they just told me to grab one similar off the shelf for an easy free exchange.

I took a junk craftsman ratchet to Lowe’s a couple years ago and they told me to grab a new one off the shelf no questions asked

x2 at lowe’s

I have taken my old Craftsman tools to Ace Hardware for free exchange with no questions asked.

I took a broken Craftsman ratchet to the local Ace Hardware (IGH) and they said they would only do an exchange with a model they have on the shelf, no old stuff. One of many reasons I won’t darken their doorway anymore.

SR

Lowe’s or Ace hardware. I’ve done several exhanges, ez.

Don’t exchange it at all! Why would you want a good tool to hit the dumpster in order to exchange it for an inferior Chinese POS? I guess it’s just the appeal of getting something “free”, but I don’t consider a ratchet that wears out over 40 years to be a manufacturing defect, so I don’t expect and don’t want warranty exchanges on these old, high-quality tools.

Craftsman ratchet rebuild kits are available online from many sources. Rebuilding is very easy and in most cases only requires the removal of a snap ring.

Obviously, you have to pay for a rebuild kit. IMO I would MUCH rather pay a few bucks to rebuild a 40-year-old quality tool than I would exchange that level of quality for a “new” Chinese piece of crap.

TheFamousGrouse wrote:

Don’t exchange it at all! Why would you want a good tool to hit the dumpster in order to exchange it for an inferior Chinese POS? I guess it’s just the appeal of getting something “free”, but I don’t consider a ratchet that wears out over 40 years to be a manufacturing defect, so I don’t expect and don’t want warranty exchanges on these old, high-quality tools.

Craftsman ratchet rebuild kits are available online from many sources. Rebuilding is very easy and in most cases only requires the removal of a snap ring.

Obviously, you have to pay for a rebuild kit. IMO I would MUCH rather pay a few bucks to rebuild a 40-year-old quality tool than I would exchange that level of quality for a “new” Chinese piece of crap.

The gears on the new one are so much nicer imo. And it’s still lifetime warranty even though it’s a “China piece of crap”

Lowes replaces them for free

TheFamousGrouse wrote:

Craftsman ratchet rebuild kits are available online from many sources. Rebuilding is very easy and in most cases only requires the removal of a snap ring.

Obviously, you have to pay for a rebuild kit. IMO I would MUCH rather pay a few bucks to rebuild a 40-year-old quality tool than I would exchange that level of quality for a “new” Chinese piece of crap.

So are the rebuild kits, “old stock” or are they ” “new” Chinese piece of crap.”?

Huntindave wrote:

So are the rebuild kits, “old stock” or are they ” “new” Chinese piece of crap.”?

Read the fine print yourself. The last one I used was for a Craftsman 3/8 and it was made in USA and I only needed the pawl, but like everything else you can find them made all over the place.

I have never seen a Proto or SK rebuild kit that wasn’t OEM made in USA but they probably exist somewhere.

I’d still rather replace parts of an American-made tool even if the only choice was foreign parts than I would throw it in the dumpster for a free 100% made-in-China tool, but that’s just me.

I just requested warranty exchange on ~10 year old craftsman ratchets both of which were stripped out (missing 2-3 teeth each).

Stanley Black and Decker responded to my email 2 weeks later. Two weeks after that I received both replacements in the mail.

Replacements are branded craftsman and made in Taiwan. They appear to be of decent quality.

For both models that I replaced, they were stamped made in USA, however the only replacement parts kits available were being sold on ebay and one other site, both seller’s wanted $30+ for the parts kits. As much as I’d love to keep old made in USA ratchets going, the cost of doing so was entirely unrealistic in my case.

Taiwan isn’t as bad as China, still wish it was USA though. Seems like craftsman is not putting our rebuild kits anymore under SBD ownership. Or maybe it’s just the two specific models I had.

I have lots of craftsman tools, but my newer husky stuff seems to be right up there for anything I’m doing in my garage, from motor swaps to rebuild trannys. I still need specialty tools but husky does just fine for a garage mechanic

Bearcat89 wrote:

I have lots of craftsman tools, but my newer husky stuff seems to be right up there for anything I’m doing in my garage, from motor swaps to rebuild trannys. I still need specialty tools but husky does just fine for a garage mechanic

How does husky tools have anything to do with craftsman tool warranty?

Nothing to do with warranty more so to do with China junk. Hence the reason I said it seems to handle the same work load as the craftsman stuff. Apologize for commenting on some thing that was not from the op.

Have some old craftsman and other brand tools from long past relatives and old friends that get rebuilt when they break. Just did an old craftsman 1/2″ breaker bar that was my dads and would never part with any of those old tools. For me has zero to do with quality or use, but the memories of the people’s whose hands those tools were in years ago. Nothing like using a functional, old tool and remembering the people tied to them. Guess it’s just a stupid gesture or way a guy honors previous generations.

Give the ole` girl some oil in the little hole on the top.

Denny, I had to think twice about what/who you were referring to above……

Darned if it didn’t work!

Thanks

Pete

trophy19 wrote:

Give the ole` girl some oil in the little hole on the top.

Denny, I had to think twice about what/who you were referring to above……

Darned if it didn’t work!

Thanks

Pete

Ratchets need lube. Zep45 does a fantastic job of keeping my junky gear wrenches alive at work.

trophy19 wrote:

Give the ole` girl some oil in the little hole on the top.

Denny, I had to think twice about what/who you were referring to above……

Darned if it didn’t work!

Thanks

Pete

You are welcome.

I wish Malco made more wrenches and socket sets. They are heavy into the HVAC tools… their Eagle Vise Grip was discontinued… poor marketing I heard.

Was inspired by this thread to disassemble and clean my 30 year old craftsman ratchets. Started with the 1/4”. That little BB gave me run for my money and tried to get away a couple of times in the garage. No idea how I found it each time?! Gave up on it for a bit and decided to give it a go today. Mission accomplished and it works like new!

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