Why people don't buy craftsman anymore

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Princess Valiant

Princess Valiant

A.K.A. Rainy Day Auto
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They sure don't make them like they used to.

First off I'm a craftsman fan, I don't care where they are made or how shitty the quality control is, I'm staying with them. However, I'm seeing exactly why they are not what they used to be.

On black Friday i went to lowes and bought a 33 gallon compressor. My old craftsman compressor was bought on black Friday in 2003 so all those years out of a compressor was excellent but the old thing is tired and it's time for a new one.

So they load up the new one on Friday and I get it home and unpack it and run it and I hear a pretty mean air leak. Turns out there is a 1 and quarter inch plug on the bottom that houses the drain plug. The plug lug is supposed to have an O ring. The o ring was broke and only pieces of the o ring remained. I couldn't find an o ring and didn't have time for it so back to lowes it went to get another compressor.

So I get another one, get it home and unpacked, start running it and huge air leak again but this time the leak sounds like it's coming from near the motor. So I look around and find a loose fitting . All I had to do was tighten the fitting and problem solved. All ended well but gee whiz is it so hard for them to take care of the issues like they are supposed to.

There's no more plug and play, there's only buy, quality check it yourself, service it, and maybe play.

Once I pulled teeth and got it going, it's beautiful.... much quieter and faster than the old one.

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You get what you pay for and what you're paying for with Crapsman now is china junk.
 
Here's the deal with lower level compressors. They have aluminum pumps. They don't hold up well at all to anything more than occasional hobby use. That one you bought looks like it even has an oil less compressor. That's a double no no. Good luck with it. I do hope it lasts for you. There's nothing wrong with being loyal. That's admirable. You don't have to be loyal to a POS. lol
 
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Both my compressors were made in the 1980's and my wife's was made in the 90's.

I'm a hobby user but my big one (32 CFM) came from a body shop and the little one (10 CFM) came from a diesel shop.

My wife bought hers (4.5 CFM) to do professional finish carpentry and cabinetry work 40+ hours per week, which she did for over a decade.
 
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FWIW, I bought an oil less 220V Craftsman compressor for my Dad's place around the turn of century and it too had a minor air leak upon initial fire up so it isn't anything new in my view. When I bought my own place in 2006, I bought a smaller 120V Kobalt and that was ok out of the box.
 
Bought my first Craftsman mechanic set at 15 in 1985 (one of my best purchases ever) and I still buy Craftsman at Lowes and Napa, but there's so many choices nowadays (HD, Lowes, Amazon, wHorror Freight, etc) there's really no point in being loyal to one particular brand. I was at HD this AM and they had a special ($25) on a 1/2 ratchet breaker bar (chinesium) that ended up in my cart along with a $8 tow strap. Neither of which I need.
 
I used to buy Horror Freight for the rock farm for jobs I knew the possibility of it disappearing for eternity existed. Into a rock crusher, a load of asphalt, a settling pond, etc. :rofl:
 
Ron_M said:
FWIW, I bought an oil less 220V Craftsman compressor for my Dad's place around the turn of century and it too had a minor air leak upon initial fire up so it isn't anything new in my view. When I bought my own place in 2006, I bought a smaller 120V Kobalt and that was ok out of the box.
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You know how I know that I'm old? When I read "the turn of century" I thought of the year 1900. :(
 
I still have and occasionally buy some Craftsman stuff. I also had that same compressor you have. It lasted about somewhere around 7 years before I had to put a new sleeve and piston in it. It was never the same after that. It puddered along for a couple years after then I bought a 60 gallon 2 stage Kobalt. They are made by Cambell Hausfeld. It works good and so far has been problem free. Since I paint cars I needed the extra air capacity.

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It just occured to me the other day that I bought my 50 Gal stand up in 1988.
Knock on wood ....
 
I cant remember who built our compressor but it died a few years ago and we replaced the pump with one from HF. It will not die.

I think pops is actively trying to kill it. He NEVER lets is catch up. He will run the big DA all day while the pump trys to keep up...

It is such a great pump we bought another and it sits under the bench for the day this one dies.
 
Craftsman vs Craftsman Professional vs Harbor Freight vs Matco vs Mac vs Snap-on -ETCG1


Not about compressors, but this guy is good....i think.

Or at least DECENT!!!HA HA!!
 
I used to be able to take my broken craftsman stuff to Sears for free replacement. Sockets and ratchets anyway . Does Lowes warranty those? I had some husky stuff and my Home Depot told me I had to mail it in for exchange. At that rate I might as well just suck it up and buy new
 
The best craftsman stuff is found at garage sales. I always look for the older stuff, like old vice grips. Most of the newer stuff is crap!!!!
 
The saying, "You get what you pay for"... Took a few years for it to sink in for me. Today I'm finding that it might not ring true in every case but it's still the better bet.
Way back when, the textile mill had "fixers' in weave room, spinning room, other. Supply room must have had a contract with Sears. The guy who ran supply room would always refer to Sears Catalog. If you moved up from weaver to loom fixer, they would hook you up with a predetermined group of tools you'll need for this job and deduct weekly from your pay for them. I worked in plant maintenance. There wasn't a predetermined list of tools for this job but the source was the same. Chromed 12-point sockets and chit from Craftsman. We cracked those things like eggs. I had to work with to more seasoned to learn something, Being on the highest hourly paid job in the plant says you can afford better tools. Ten years later, when I moved from the textile mill to other mechanical professions, I already had black impact grade 6-point sockets, ratchets, etc.. from Mac or Snap-on. No cheaper chit for me.
As for home air compressor, I made a good choice. My brother had a Sams club membership. They had a horizontal tank Sanborn black max for about 500. That was over 30 years ago. I changed the crankcase oil only once when the head gasket failed about 12 years ago. I had created an air powered vacuum for our above ground pool and the compressor can't keep up, runs nonstop, up to an hour and that could be what took out the OEM head gasket.
Today, I do wonder about the rust in that tank but... we sure got our moneys worth from it. If had bought Craftsman back then... who knows how many times I might have replaced it?
The Sony smart TV playing now (from Best Buy) that was much higher cost than anything Walmart sells, Its about 7 years old. The Curtis Mathis CRT before the Sony played for more than 12 years but it wasn't cheap either.
 
crvtec90 said:
I used to be able to take my broken craftsman stuff to Sears for free replacement. Sockets and ratchets anyway . Does Lowes warranty those? I had some husky stuff and my Home Depot told me I had to mail it in for exchange. At that rate I might as well just suck it up and buy new
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Take them to the Return desk at Lowes. I've done it many times with ratchets, sockets, or wrenches from the 1980's that are worn out. Never an issue - they say go pick another and come back here and we'll exchange it. Great support!
 
I got lent a tool by a buddy, a rigid vibratory cutting tool. It was awesome for a whole lot of things. I decided we needed one, so I bought a corded craftsman version. It literally wouldn't cut anything. Not a single thing - same discs and tools as the rigid tool, would do nothing. It vibrated, but it just didn't do anything but shake whatever you put the tool to.

I returned it, and swore off the brand forever after that. A company that sells a tool that doesn't even work?
 
To me, Craftsman is middle of the road stuff.
I've good luck overall with their products over the years, but I don't use them every day for a living.
I have nothing against cheap tools, unless it's the $2 socket set from the dollar store.....
 
@RustyRatRod

I once bought tools off the truck. As a young mechanic you think you need the fancy tools like the big boys... now days I by just about all my tools at Orileys/kragen..


You know why? They are every where and when I destroy their stuff I walk in set it on the counter and grab another off the rack.

They scan it and Im back at work. Anywhere in California, where is the nearest sears? I have no idea.. Lowes... yeah thats almost an hour away. Orileys is 5 mineuts away from just about anywhere.

One time I was working on my old Toyota truck. I was doing a clutch and the dang flywheel bolts would not come off.

14 mill socket, half inch breaker bar, meet long pipe.

After snapping like 4 sockets the guy behind the counter walks over grabs a black six point impact socket and says. "Here, try this one" you could tell he knew I was doing something stupid.

No charge, he was just sick of me returning snapped 12 point sockets....

More recently its the 3/8s driver tips in my cordless impact guns. I snap one or two a month. Walk into Orily hand it over and grab a new one.

No questions asked. No waiting, done.
 
I took one "craftsman" older rachet in for exchange after 20 years of use. The replacement didn't last 6 months. That tells me that the newer stuff is crap. So I cruise garage sales and look for older craftsman stuff or buy what I need (older stuff) off of ebay.
 
plymouth67 said:
I still have and occasionally buy some Craftsman stuff. I also had that same compressor you have. It lasted about somewhere around 7 years before I had to put a new sleeve and piston in it. It was never the same after that. It puddered along for a couple years after then I bought a 60 gallon 2 stage Kobalt. They are made by Cambell Hausfeld. It works good and so far has been problem free. Since I paint cars I needed the extra air capacity.

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A lot of fellas even laugh at those style compressors but I got news. If the pump is cast iron like that one is, it's a decent compressor.

Tell you a story about the one I have now. I got it from Lowes probably about 5 years ago. I've always left my compressors on, because I don't like to wait. So I always make sure they are as leak free as possible. Of course, nothing is absolutely leak free. This one will leak down over about a week and kick on and pump back up. Pretty dang leak free. lol

Anyway, its predecessor, a Husky, also with a cast iron pump, had an oil leak that I did not see, because it was on the side facing the wall. Again, I left that one on as well. Went out to the shop one night and the motor was running. Shop full of rubber smoke. The compressor pump had locked slam up from lack of oil.

I disconnected the main air discharge line and sprayed the piss out of it with Sea Foam Deep Creep after it cooled off. Let it sit for about an hour or so. I grabbed the flywheel and much to my surprise I could turn it. It was hard but I kept turning it back and forth and it freed up. I fixed the leak and refilled it with Royal Purple, put a new belt on it and got about another two years out of it. It started getting weak, so I told a friend about it and gave it to him and bought my new one. He put new valves in it and it's still running fine.

That's the testament to cast iron pumps. Had that been an aluminum pump, it would have gone to the scrap yard.
 
Cope said:
@RustyRatRod

I once bought tools off the truck. As a young mechanic you think you need the fancy tools like the big boys... now days I by just about all my tools at Orileys/kragen..


You know why? They are every where and when I destroy their stuff I walk in set it on the counter and grab another off the rack.

They scan it and Im back at work. Anywhere in California, where is the nearest sears? I have no idea.. Lowes... yeah thats almost an hour away. Orileys is 5 mineuts away from just about anywhere.

One time I was working on my old Toyota truck. I was doing a clutch and the dang flywheel bolts would not come off.

14 mill socket, half inch breaker bar, meet long pipe.

After snapping like 4 sockets the guy behind the counter walks over grabs a black six point impact socket and says. "Here, try this one" you could tell he knew I was doing something stupid.

No charge, he was just sick of me returning snapped 12 point sockets....

More recently its the 3/8s driver tips in my cordless impact guns. I snap one or two a month. Walk into Orily hand it over and grab a new one.

No questions asked. No waiting, done.
Click to expand...
The Power Torque tools from Oreilly are actually pretty nice for chinkesium.
 
Cope said:
I once bought tools off the truck. As a young mechanic you think you need the fancy tools like the big boys... now days I by just about all my tools at Orileys/kragen..


You know why? They are every where and when I destroy their stuff I walk in set it on the counter and grab another off the rack.

They scan it and Im back at work. Anywhere in California, where is the nearest sears? I have no idea.. Lowes... yeah thats almost an hour away. Orileys is 5 mineuts away from just about anywhere.

One time I was working on my old Toyota truck. I was doing a clutch and the dang flywheel bolts would not come off.

14 mill socket, half inch breaker bar, meet long pipe.

After snapping like 4 sockets the guy behind the counter walks over grabs a black six point impact socket and says. "Here, try this one" you could tell he knew I was doing something stupid.

No charge, he was just sick of me returning snapped 12 point sockets....

More recently its the 3/8s driver tips in my cordless impact guns. I snap one or two a month. Walk into Orily hand it over and grab a new one.

No questions asked. No waiting, done.
Click to expand...

Except all the time spent going back and forth to the store , and of course it will break when you are in the middle of getting something done. I spend my money on quality tools so I don't have to worry about things breaking at a bad time.
 
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