RE: Any advice, tips, encouragement would be appreciated!
[b]Fly:
For the most part I have to agree about the Sears/SnapOn thing.
But I have run into places where I absolutely could not use the Craftsman wrench, and the SnapOn worked with ease.
While the warranty from Sears is great, the material used in their tools does not have the quality of SnapOn, Mac, Matco, and so forth. Yes, if it fails they'll give you another to replace it but when it's the tool you have to have right now, and you then have to drive downtown to Sears for a replacement? Granted, if you break a SnapOn right after the tool truck left... But the Sears wrenches break a lot more often than the SnapOn, Mac, Matco tools.
What I said earlier about the SnapOn working where the Craftsman would not? This is because of the weaker metal that Sears uses - their walls are a lot thicker than SnapOn and the others, the thicker walls are needed for the strength they do have. See the two pictures attached. Both are 11mm box wrenches, the Craftsman on the left and SnapOn to the right. The difference in the wall thickness is obvious. In that tight spot with a Sears tool box? Forget it. Go borrow a SnapOn, Mac, or Matco wrench.
Yes, they are more expensive, but sometimes the saved with the cheaper tools is really money wasted.
Bill.