Gearwrench wrenches

Last night I was looking through the tool department at Sears while my wife was shopping. I saw a set of seven Gearwrench wrenches. They are standard length; open end on one end and the box end has the Gearwrench mechanism. The packaging says that you only need 5 degrees of movement to loosen or tighten. The box end pivots up to 180 degrees, which looks like it could be very helpful. They appear to be professional grade, similar to what I bought from SnapOn many years ago in my days at a Honda motorcycle dealer. I think the sizes are 9mm, 10mm, 12mm, 13mm, 15mm, 17mm and 19mm.
I have read about these types of wrenches, but have not used them. Are they as useful as they look? At Sears, they are regularly $99, but I bought them last night for $71 as part of a special sale. Is this a good price? If not, where can I get similar quality for less. I can return them if I can buy at a significantly better price. I checked Harbor Freight, but only found the stubby version. I've had my 2002 5-speed for about a month and I find myself getting back in the mood to do my own work.
Thanks,
Jessidog

They are useful as long as you can get the heads to slip over whatever nut you are trying to use them on. The cheaper ones have larger heads and coarser ratchets. I've replaced my ratchet set with a gearratchet set for the most part because I like the fact that you don't need deep sockets anymore.

Keep them, you got a good deal.  Those swivel heads are usually about $13 apiece.  You will find them handy.
JD

They are my favorite garage tool period. They're more useful than my entire collection of air tools, but just barely. I love my gear wrenches.
I own three sets: regular/straight, flexy head, and stubby. All metric. They make any project take at least 20% less time. That leaves 20% more time for hanging out, drinking beer, and buffing paint.
If I had one criticism, it would be a wish for a slightly lower profile head. There's the odd time when I just can't get a gearwrench head inside a space, but a regular wrench can juuuust barely fit. But in around 6 years of use, I've never had one break, so I guess the size is there for a reason.

Gear Wrenches are not something you need everyday but when you need them nothing else will do. For that reason alone I have full sets of metric and standard.
If you buy more try to find the ones that only require 2 degrees of rotation to ratchet. They work better.

Originally Posted by MateoFeo
Gear Wrenches are not something you need everyday but when you need them nothing else will do. For that reason alone I have full sets of metric and standard.
If you buy more try to find the ones that only require 2 degrees of rotation to ratchet. They work better.

Thanks for your comments. I'll hang onto them and see how they work for me. I have a heavy duty dremel-like tool with a flexible shaft. It is also one of those tools that you do not use very often, but when you need it, it's the best tool for the job.
A Harbor Freight retail store opened a few miles from my house. I'll have to go check out the new toy store.
Jessidog

Originally Posted by MateoFeo
...If you buy more try to find the ones that only require 2 degrees of rotation to ratchet. They work better.

Where do you find those?

I'm not sure where these came from. My Dad bought them for me. But they are GearWrench brand not the Craftsman branded ones.

That set tempted me, but I realized only the 10mm amp; 12mm are really useful.  Does not have the essential 14mm, and the 17 amp; 19 are best served by proper sockets.

Originally Posted by jessidog
At Sears, they are regularly $99, but I bought them last night for $71 as part of a special sale. Is this a good price? If not, where can I get similar quality for less.

~$60 @ Lowe's.
I bought swiveling GearWrench wrenches at Lowe's in 10, 12, and 14mm sizes.  I have too many other metric wrenches that a set didn't make sense.  The combination of the precision ratchet, swivel, and beautifully finished slim shank make feel these like surgical instruments.  Truly a pleasure to use - I don't think I could be happier even with a Snap-On or Matco.

^x2, I love my Gearwrenches

Do Gearwrenches also come with a lifetime warranty or is that only the Craftman brand?

Originally Posted by jay dub
Do Gearwrenches also come with a lifetime warranty or is that only the Craftman brand?

They do come with a lifetime warranty.
+1 for loving my gearwrenches.  I just have the stubby set, as I have different brands for other sizes/shapes of ratchet wrenches, and sometimes I find myself reaching for the stubbies even when I have plenty of room for a full size.

Whatever you do make sure you get the ones that are reversible. If you get the kind that only go one direction you can end up with a trapped wrench and have to cut it off.

Originally Posted by shifterdriver13
Whatever you do make sure you get the ones that are reversible. If you get the kind that only go one direction you can end up with a trapped wrench and have to cut it off.

That is pretty hard to do though......I have some that only go one direction and it's fine.

Originally Posted by shifterdriver13
Whatever you do make sure you get the ones that are reversible. If you get the kind that only go one direction you can end up with a trapped wrench and have to cut it off.

BTDT.
Dave

How would you trap it? I suppose if you could only slip the box end on at one position in the rotation, and then you ratcheted it tight to a position where you couldn't slip the box end off?

Originally Posted by jessidog
Last night I was looking through the tool department at Sears while my wife was shopping. I saw a set of seven Gearwrench wrenches. They are standard length; open end on one end and the box end has the Gearwrench mechanism. The packaging says that you only need 5 degrees of movement to loosen or tighten. The box end pivots up to 180 degrees, which looks like it could be very helpful. They appear to be professional grade, similar to what I bought from SnapOn many years ago in my days at a Honda motorcycle dealer. I think the sizes are 9mm, 10mm, 12mm, 13mm, 15mm, 17mm and 19mm.
I have read about these types of wrenches, but have not used them. Are they as useful as they look? At Sears, they are regularly $99, but I bought them last night for $71 as part of a special sale. Is this a good price? If not, where can I get similar quality for less. I can return them if I can buy at a significantly better price. I checked Harbor Freight, but only found the stubby version. I've had my 2002 5-speed for about a month and I find myself getting back in the mood to do my own work.
Thanks,
Jessidog

You're just talking about ratcheting wrenches, right? Or am I misunderstanding you. If it's ratching wrenches...they're among the most useful things in the world.
Clint

Originally Posted by mgeoffriau
How would you trap it? I suppose if you could only slip the box end on at one position in the rotation, and then you ratcheted it tight to a position where you couldn't slip the box end off?

So you would have to be tightening, you would have had to have already made it too tight for you to be able to tighten any more, and you'd have to ratchet it back to a point where you trap the wrench behind something.  That something has to be less than the thickness of the wrench away, otherwise you could just slip the wrench off.  Also, that something has to be big enough that you can't angle the wrench off.
It seems really hard to do to me, and definitely if you're aware of the possibility it should be easy to avoid.

I have both metric and standard gearwrenches in both fixed head and swivel head types. I find that the swivel heads are rather clumsy to use, as whatever angle you set them at, it always seems to be wrong.  I always opt for the fixed head wrenches.

Just worked on a '96 with a cold side SC yesterday. The new plate/reroute on the EGR pipe is hard up against the rear of the fuel rail. One of the bolts for the fixture is  too long to remove without hitting the fuel inlet boss on the new rail. And it all is hidden among other parts.
The flexhead gear wrench is about the Only tool that accesses the two bolts and their nuts, a straight one wouldn't fit the heads as it's about a 35/40º angle. I'd still be there swapping sides with an open end with the 10º or so access of the inner bolt. We got to remove it TWICE as the work was to replace a leaking injector O-ring and another felt 'funny'. My first try with the Second injector leaked worse than the original injector O-ring!
The Flex head is quite difficult to keep centered on a high bolt head, so a screwdriver against the bolt head gave a 'wall' to press the flexhead against so it quit slipping off.
Not an ideal tool, and a 25MM bolt there instead of a 35mm would have just come out and freed the fuel rail, instead of having to remove the whole EGR piece. But a less than perfect tool saved at least an hour and maybe the afternoon. A locking swivel for the flexing Gearwrenchs would fix much of the hassle. A thinner head wouldn't hurt either. Still, Very glad the car owner had the tools!!
These things go near the top of my Christmas family news letter gift list. Right after the turbo kit and a set of new Penskes.

Today in the local Ace hardware, I saw two new designs of GearWrenches. One has an internal spring tensioning the flex head so it doesn't flop and droop when working at an angle. Nice. And the flex head turns to a full 90º, so it works much like a flare nut wrench where access is very narrow.
Another has a collar on one side of the internal hex, so it Can't slip down over a partially removed nut. Even nicer. Unfortunately, these new features are exclusive of each other, the collar being on non-flex head wrenches with a selector arm for direction of fastener movement.

Originally Posted by gtxhawaii
These things go near the top of my Christmas family news letter gift list. Right after the turbo kit and a set of new Penskes.

Can I be a part of your family?

Originally Posted by IntegraR0064
Can I be a part of your family?

You want to give him a turbo, Penske's, and some Gearwrenches? You can be part of my family.

hahahahaha
I was more referring to the fact that people are getting turbos and penskes.......but I guess I would have to give equal caliber gifts wouldn't I?  Hmmmm