Best Mechanics Tool Set? Let’s Find Out!

many years ago I bought a mechanics tool set and it was probably the best investment I've ever made cuz it saved me a lot of time and money well I just went out and bought eight more Brands to see which brand is the best let's compare the selection and performance of the wrenches ratchets and adapters let's also build out a complete tool kit that'll meet just about every basic mechanical need all the tool sets will be testing have a/ quar 3/8 and/ in drive the tool sets will also have SAE and Metric at a value price of only $140 for 225 pieces is this Pittsburgh brand which is sold at Harbor Freight one of the first factors to consider when a mechanics tool set is whether or not the tools inside the case stay in the proper position I had all the tool sets mailed to me and the Pittsburgh has 40 items out of place unfortunately part of the toolbox case is already broken the kit includes the most common metric sizes of 10 12 13 14 and 15 mm it's also the only kit with an adjustable wrench diagonal cutters and needle-nose pliers nut drivers and bits run up the numbers on the tool count and usually don't offer nearly as much value as other tools I give the Pittsburgh a rating of a B for organization quarter and steep sockets are located in the top top half of the box there are a few half-in Drive sockets on the top row of the bottom half of the toolbx there's a decent assortment of quar and 38 in sockets in the kit it's very nice to see socket extensions universal joints and socket adapters in this kit the maximum hex key sizes include a 1/4 in and 8 mm larger sizes are definitely needed for many vehicles and the three ratchets made by Pittsburgh have a 72 tooth count the Pittsburgh brand is made in Taiwan the toolkit weighs 26.9 lb and manufacturers sell ratchets using marketing information about Arc swing and tooth count they're trying to convince you that their ratchet is the best for working in a tight space so let's take the 38 inch ratchet from each brand and see how they perform working within the 30° space let's see how many right to left passes it takes to spend one full 360° rotation if you're working in a tight space with the Pittsburgh it's probably going to take a while to get the job done and it's 23.5 right to left swings for one full rotation at a price of only $149 is this Craftsman tool set according to Craftsman over $950 value for only $149 the kit includes $26 two pieces the Craftsman has a lock that secures all three trays the top tray includes Quin Drive tools and hex Keys it has 1/4in Drive Extension I really don't like the vertical orientation of some of the sockets and there's a lot of wasted space in the toolbox the maximum hex key sizes aren't quite large enough at only 5/16 and 7 mm the ratchets have 72 teeth the middle tray has 3/8 in Drive tools and a nice assortment of deep sockets however it is missing socket adapters and universal joints the bottom tray includes the wrenches and/ in Drive tools only four SAE and four metric wrenches means that this kit will definitely need supplemented with a proper set of wrenches compared to the Pittsburgh the Craftsman is much better organized but it's lacking a lot of tools and a Craftsman tool set is made in Taiwan and is 3.84 lbs for the Craftsman just like the Pittsburgh the Craftsman has 72 teeth but the handle is pretty large however the gear set does seem more refined compared to the Pittsburgh ratchet and it completed one full rotation and 21.9 passes to move into the lead at a price of $155 is this DeWalt brand all of the items inside the DeWalt kit are in the proper location includes 192 pieces unfortunately the dwell kit does not include any wrenches the sockets are pressed and locked into place and they take some effort to remove and put back overall this kit includes a very nice assortment of sockets this kit also has the best assortment of extensions universal joints and adapters of the three kits we've looked at so far the maximum hex key sizes aren't quite large enough at only 5/16 and 7 mm the DWT tool kit is made in Taiwan the DWT kit weighs 35.4 lb DW claims that their 72 to ratchet delivers a 5° Arc swing and the dewalt's gear set also has 72 teeth and the handle is extremely wide which really hurts ratchet efficiency in a tight space and the duwal moves into third place behind the Pittsburgh at 24.5 right to left swings at a price of $169 is this husky brand according to husky you'd spend $700 assembling this kit one piece at a time and 14 pieces are out of the proper location in the Husky set the SE rent set is decent but it's missing to sizes 12 14 and 19 mm for the metric it also has some socket extensions the top part of the tool tool box contains the ratchets it also has some qu and halfin drive sockets the top removable tray includes a good set of Allen Keys the best yet in fact up to sizes 38 and 10 mm the top tray also includes 1/4in deep and 38 in standard sockets the bottom tray has a very nice set of deep sockets however they leave out some key metric sizes for some of the 38 inch Drive sockets the Husky is packaged in China but it has goods from Vietnam Taiwan and China the Husky kits the heavy shed at 43.2 lb and the Husky ratchet also has 72 teeth but the handle d is designed for working within a tight space husky claims a 5° working Arc swing and it just completed one full rotation and only 19 passes to move into the lead at a price of $219 is this Cobalt brand several items in the kit are out of the proper location a maximum size of 1/4 in and 7 mm for the hex key set is under sized for most Vehicles the top part of the toolbox has 38 in Drive sockets and there's a lot of wasted real estate between each of the sockets a more efficient use of space would eliminate one tray and save a lot of time searching for sockets unfortunately there's no way to lock the three tool trays the top tool tray contains standard 38 and 1 12 in Drive sockets the second tray has a few more sockets three ratchets and several extensions the bottom tray includes a pretty nice assortment of wrenches but it's missing the 15 mm size unfortunately the quality of the tool case is the worst yet this is a brand new kit and the tray falls out of position the kit is also missing universal joints and socket adapters the Cobalt mechanic set is made in Taiwan and it's 34.55% easily outperform all the previous Brands since they have 72 teeth even though the Cobalt does have 90 teeth the gear set is very sloppy and inefficient for a 90 to ratchet however 21.5 passes is good enough to move into second place behind the Husky at a price of $240 is a starw workk brand up top the Stark brand has ratcheting wrenches it's a pretty nice set but it does not include a 19 mm wrench and the hex key set includes up to size is 1/4 in and 8 mm the bottom half of the toolbox includes a pretty thorough set of standard size sockets for qu 3/8 and 1/ in drive for deep sockets the set only includes a/4 and 38 in sockets unfortunately there is not a 19 mm deep socket in this kit it also has some socket extensions the Stark brand is made in Taiwan and a starworks kit weighs 28.1 lb just like the Cobalt the starw workk has a 9 to ratchet and the starworks gear set seems far more refined than the Cobalts and 18.3 back and forth passes is good enough to take the lead from the Husky at a price of $253 is this Crescent brand the top level of the crescent toolbx contains the wrenches it does not include an 11 mm wrench or a 16 mm in larger wrenches fortunately the tool trays can be locked a few sockets are out of position inside the top tool tray each of the three ratchets has 72 Drive teeth however it is pretty nice to have the quarin drive sockets extension and Ratchet located in one tray the second shelf has a nice assortment of 38in sockets a few more sockets fell out of position on the second shelf the second shelf also includes an extension and an adapter and the Crescent ratchet has a couple of holes near the directional lever that EXP exposes the internal parts to dirt and debris definitely not a good design the bottom shelf has a very basic set of standard half-in Drive sockets and hex Keys the hex key set includes up to size as/ qu in and 6 mm overall it's a fairly well organized tool set the Crescent kit weighs just under 31 lb and the 92 Crescent ratchet should have a 4 Dee Arc swing and a crescent ratchet has by far the largest head in the lineup however it's also the most efficient so far with an impressive 18 right to left passes at a price of $355 the most expensive brand we'll be testing is made by gear wrench the three ratchets have 90 teeth for working Arc swing of 4° also the half-in drive extensions adapters and universal joints are also up on top this kit has by far the best assortment of standard siiz sockets it also includes some pretty large sockets in the kit both of these are gearench 90t ratchets the one on the left is included in this kit and the one on the right is the ratchet that won to 38 in drive ratchet Showdown the one in the kit is quite a bit larger and definitely not going to be nearly as competitive fortunately the gear Ren trays can be locked into position the top tool tray includes clud a/ Quin drive ratchet universal joint and extensions it also includes qu and 3/8 in Drive sockets gearid has done a great job of packing more sockets on each shelf compared to most of the other brands the middle shelf includes 38 in deep sockets extensions a universal joint and some adapters and the bottom tray includes the best selection of wrenches of all the brands it includes wrenches sizes 6 to 19 mm very impressive and the gear wrench kit is right at 43 lb and the gear wrench 90t ratchet also claims to offer a 4 Dee Arc swing and the gear wrench is making about 20° of progress with each pass and the gear rench just moved into a two-way tie with the Crescent at 18 passes so the Crescent and gear wrench tied for first place at 18 right to left passes for one complete 360° rotation starw workk also performed very well at 18.3 passes a ratchet with a lot of backd drag really makes removing or installing fasters and tight spaces a challenge at times if there's enough space adding resistance to the socket using finger pressure allows a ratchet to make progress but that's not always an option I'll be using a 78 in socket fishing line line and a scale to measure the backd drag and the Pittsburgh ratchet did struggle a little bit on the working Arc swing test but it performed well on this test at 212 G and the Craftsman didn't perform quite as well as the Pittsburgh at 290 G of backd drag and the dwell really struggled in this test at 409 G which is about twice as much backd drag as the Harbor Freight Pittsburgh and the Husky also struggled with excessive backd drag at 338 G and the Cobalt moves into second place behind the Pittsburgh at 271 G and the starw workk just moved into the first place ahead of the Harbor Freight Pittsburgh at only 183 G of backd drag and the Crescent performed almost the same as the Craftsman at 282 G and the gear just moved into third place with 251 G of backd drag so the starw workk finished in first place at 183 G Pittsburgh finished in second at 212 G and gear wrench 251 G of backd drag let's go a and test the performance of the combination wrenches next on this extremely soft coupling nut this is very soft metal and should not cause too much harm to high quality wrenches I'll be using a Proto torque wrench calibration tool which is Extreme ex precise and the Pittsburgh's jaw opening is 05065 in let's see how much torque it takes to round the coupling nut and the Harbor Freight Pittsburgh gave up at only 41.9 inbs on the first attempt I'll rotate the coupling nut 180° so I can test the Pittsburgh again on the undamaged part of the coupling nut and a Pittsburgh gave up even sooner on the second attempt at 384 inbs and the jaw and a Pittsburgh has stretched to 0.511 in and a Craftsman has a tighter fit on the coupling nut at 05045 in compared to 05065 for the Pittsburgh and a Craftsman outperformed the Pittsburgh by over 200 inbs very impressive and a Craftsman brand continued to perform very well on the second attempt at 63 inbs which will be very hard to beat we'll skip the DeWalt since the DeWalt does not come with wrenches and the husky has a pretty loose fit at 0.057 in the sloppiest fit yet even with the sloppy fit the Husky still perform well at 570 INB or about 60 inbs less than the Craftsman unfortunately the Husky lost a lot of ground on the second attempt at at 4491 in lb that's a 21% performance loss and the Cobalt also performed well on the first attempt at 5259 in lb the Cobalt held up better than the Husky on a second attempt at 4912 inlb to move into second place and the starw workk has a pretty sloppy fit at 05075 in and a starw workk wrench moves into fourth place behind the Cobalt at 4941 in lbs and the starw workk performed well in the second attempt and did not lose too much performance at 4725 in lb which is about 20in lbs ahead of the Pittsburgh wrench and the Crescent seems to have a pretty sloppy fit at 0.506 in and it struggled at 44.3 in lb on the first attempt and a crescent lost 50 in lbs of performance on the second attempt at 44.1 in lb and a gear wrenches fit is a little bit sloppier than some of the other brands at 05075 but it still performed well at 52.3 inch pounds on the first attempt and the gear wrench continued to perform very well in the second attempt at 51.6 inbs to move into second place behind the Craftsman so the Craftsman offers the best initial nut busting torque at 627.736 INB let's go ahead and test to close into the wrenches next and the Pittsburgh finally rounded off the nut at 1,344 inbs I'll rotate the coupling nut 180° and test a Craftsman on the undamaged part of the coupling nut and the Craftsman delivered 1,752 INB of torque that's over 400 INB better than the Pittsburgh very impressive the Craftsman damage area is on the left and the Pittsburgh is on the right and a Craftsman carved out a wider and deeper path than the Pittsburgh skipping the DeWalt since the kit doesn't come with wrenches and the husy performed well on the open end of the wrench and it performed well on this test too at 1 1534 inbs and the Husky and Cobalt performed about the same on the open end test and they performed about the same on the closed end at 1,586 for the Cobalt Cobalt is on the left and the Husky is on the right and both areas of the damaged nut look very close to the same and the starw workk trail the Husky and Cobalt on the open end test and the rting mechanism just broke on the starw workk at 1,435 INB and the Crescent opened in performed about the same as a Pittsburgh Ranch compared to the Pittsburgh it underperformed on this test at only 1,64 INB and the Crescent carved out a very narrow and shallow path in the coupling nut unlike the other wrenches the gear wrench has a six-point closed end and the gear wrench refused to round the super soft coupling nut but the wrench did Bend with a peak force of 1, 1525 INB damage caused by the gear wrench is on the left and the Crescent is on the right so once again the Craftsman came out on top at 1,752 INB Cobalt finished in second at 1,586 and husky 1,534 INB if you're reaching for the/ in to 3/8 in socket adapter you're probably about to apply some serious torque so let's compare the failure load of each brand and the Pittsburgh broke at performed well in the previous test but the socket adapter gave up a little bit early at 193. n ft-lb and the DeWalt ratchet really struggled against the competition and the socket adapter is also struggling at only 185. n ft-lb and the Husky outperformed the DeWalt ratchet for working Arc swing in backtrack and the Husky also outperformed the DeWalt again at 235 foot- PBS to move into the lead let's go ahead and skip the Cobalt starw workk and Crescent since they don't come with adapters and their kits and a gear Rance has performed above average throughout the Showdown and it performed above average again at 20 5.6 ftlb so the Husky came out in first place at 235 ftlb Pittsburgh performed well at 221.05 point6 ftlb up next let's go aad and compare the failure load of the 38 in ratchets and the Pittsburgh's ratcheting mechanism experienced failure at 245.20 231.50 foot lbs to move into last place behind the Pittsburgh just like the Craftsman the drive is the point to failure and the Husky outperformed the Pittsburg Craftsman and dwell on the working Arc swing test and it outperformed them on this test too at 265.0 ft-lb and when the drive finally broke Parts went flying everywhere and the Cobalt ratchet Trail the Husky on the working Arc swing test and it Trail the Husky once again at 25.5 ft-lbs just like the Husky the drive is the point of failure and the starw workk ratchet performed very well in The Showdown and it performed well in this test two at 29.5 ft-lbs to move into second place behind the Husky the drive on the ratchet is the point of failure and a crescent has a massive ratchet head and having a big head for the Crescent wasn't enough at only 2331 ft-lb and a point of failure is the internal drive assembly and the gear wrench ratchet has done the best so far and it did by far the best on this test at 302 ft-lbs very impressive and the drive broke on the gear wrench so the gear wrench came out on top with a very impressive 302 ft-lbs husky finished in second at 20 65.7 ft-lb and starw workk 29.5 when the tool boxes arrived some of them had tools inside the case scattered throughout let's see how the tool boxes stay organized using a more controlled approach with a small impact while in the vertical position the Pittsburgh tools all stayed in the home position let's roll over the Craftsman on its side and see if the Craftsman contains the tools in the proper location and a Craftsman toolbox did a great job just like the Pittsburgh and Craftsman the DW's tools all stayed in the proper location laying the Husky on its side and then standing it back up several sockets moved out position however I forgot to place the mat back inside the top of the toolbox so let's try this again much better job so these mats are very important for keeping the tools in the proper location the Cobalt tool trays don't lock into position and laying this toolbox forward would create a huge mess all of the tools inside the Cobalt toolbox stayed in the proper location just like the Cobalt all the tools inside the starw workk case stayed in the proper location and the Crescent performed just as well as the other brands and all the tools stayed in the home position gear wrench also did a great job of keeping the individual tools in the proper location all the tool cases seem adequate for moving tools from one location to another rating tool case quality is highly subjective however the Craftsman DeWalt starw workk and gear wrench all receive the highest possible rating of one how a toolbox is organized is also highly subjective most of the toolboxes received a rating of two Pittsburgh Husky and Cobalt received a rating of three unfortunately the tools in those tool cases just are not organized for efficient use the DeWalt is on the left and a crescent is on the right and a crescent ratchet has by far the largest head in the lineup and ACC Crescent is just way too big and not as well designed for working in a tight space the DeWalt has the most compact head from side to side but the starw workk and husky are also pretty compact front to back dimensions are also a factor to consider and the gear wrench is right at 12.5 mm husky is about as compact from front to back at 13 mm if one combines the front to back as well as the width measurements the most compact ratchet is the gear wrench however the Husky is just about as compact so when it comes to just tool performance which brand is the best and the gear wrench came out on top with the best average finish of 2.4 husky had an average finish of 3.3 and Craftsman 3.6 this list took a while and it does not include every tool in each of the kits however it is meant to compare the main Tools in each kit obviously it's subject to human error so please double check my work before making a purchase for standard and deep size Quin SAE sockets the kids are pretty close to the same for standard and deep 38 in SE sockets the gear inch is by far the best offering up to a 1-in socket dealt husy and Crescent also have a good selection for standard size half-in SAE sockets the Cobalt and the gear wrench brands offer the best size range for halfin deep DeWalt has the best selection several of the kits do not even come with halfin deep sockets for quarin drive standard in metric all of the brands offer a pretty good size range but the gear wrench came out on top unfortunately all of the brands skipped or left out key sizes for the metric 38 and/ in drive standard and deep sockets adapters universal joints and extensions are often times necessary and the gear wrench offers the most comprehensive assortment of all the brands for a budget kit the Pittsburgh has most of the bases covered and so does the DeWalt kit SE wrench selection is pretty limited for most of the brands and the gear wrench brand offers the best range of sizes when it comes to wrenches all of the kits left out key metric sizes except for the gear wrench and the gear wrench brand offers the best range of sizes and the Husky offers the best size range for the hex keys so looking at all the different categories overall the gear wrench offers by far the best selection of tools with the least number of missing sizes I never drive over 100 miles from home without a decent toolkit with me in the trunk of the vehicle in addition to having one of these tool kits there are definitely some must have tools that I highly recommend including in your tool kit I really like this gear wrench three drawer tool boox to store extra Tools in an organized Manner and this 20 piece gear wrench Drive Extension universal joint and adapter kit fills in the missing pieces for any of the kits in a previous review on screwdrivers the Craftsman makes a pretty good set of budget screwdrivers for under $20 I highly recommend locking pliers in a toolkit and the Irwin brand proved to be a pretty good performer for under $20 in a previous review irn also makes a great set of diagonal cutters we definitely want some needle-nose pliers in a toolkit I definitely don't like to go cheap when it comes to water pump pliers and I really like the knipex brand I much prefer a wrench or socket but sometimes an adjustable wrench comes in handy and the Crescent brand perform well in a previous review if you don't carry a pocket knife all the time a utility knife is a great tool for the toolbox and sometimes a roll of duct tape is all you need to get through a bind some JB Weld is also a great option for an emergency repair a roller wire is also a great resource for the toolbox for those emergency repairs I always keep electrical tape in the toolbox because you never know when you're going to need it before I go on a road trip I also make sure that I have a fully charged jump starter with a tire inflator in the vehicle I'll leave a list of everything in the video description I think it's a good idea to remind folks that I always buy everything that's reviewed on this channel and I do not accept sponsorships or even free products from manufacturers if I had to buy just one set I would definitely buy the gear wrench set I know it's expensive but I like to say buy once and cry once if you don't you'll probably end up wishing you had a better set of wrenches a set that is complete with all the different sizes all the videos in this channel include this one are viewer suggested so if you have a video idea I hope you'll take time to leave a comment thanks so much for watching please take care and I look forward to next time

Channel: Project Farm

Views: 1,621,096

Keywords: Mechanics Tool Box review, best mechanics tool set, gearwrench tool kit review, craftsman tool kit review, Pittsburgh tool kit review, crescent tool kit review, kobalt tool kit review, husky tool kit review, Starwork tool kit review, Dewalt tool kit review, mechanics tool kit comparison, gearwrench ratchet and wrench set, dewalt ratchet and wrench set, tool kit, took kit comparison, tool kit review, wrench and ratchet kit review, mechanic tool kit review

Id: iEsW-eMLSbM

Length: 21min 2sec (1262 seconds)

Published: Sun Nov 26 2023