SAE sockets - what to get?

I've had this set for years. Abused them plenty, (breaker bar with cheater pipes), and never broke or damaged one. If you're not comfortable without paying more, their ICON brand costs more, and basically gives you the same thing, but with a slightly better warranty. They come in both 1/2" as well as 3/8" drive.


Not really interested in HF/Chinese stuff.

I know I linked to a capri tools set, because it has shallow, mid (which I’ve often found to be useful) and deep.

The top HF set is Cr-V. Not an alloy intended for impact use if I understand correctly.

The Icon set is expensive enough that I’d buy Williams or something.

Thanks though!
 
Not really interested in HF/Chinese stuff.

I know I linked to a capri tools set, because it has shallow, mid (which I’ve often found to be useful) and deep.

The top HF set is Cr-V. Not an alloy intended for impact use if I understand correctly.


The Icon set is expensive enough that I’d buy Williams or something.

Thanks though!

That is a myth, many of the highest quality impact sockets from Hazet are Cr-V, Stahlwille used to label the socket as Cr-V now just Chrome Alloy.
This is one example, its is 1" drive 32mm long impact socket so you know some sort of wild ass impact gun is hammering on that one yet it is Cr-V.
These tools are all alloys so I would not get hung up on that. The Capri, Williams (Taiwan), Blue Point, Tekton, Icon, etc are all coming out of Taiwan so if I didn't need them often I would buy one of those and forget it.

The Icon gets my vote only because if you break it just go to the store and change it, no taking pictures and mailing it.

Use the magnify feature on the drive end.

 
I have all those small ones in 3/8 shallow. I think my Craftsman set may have them in 1/4” drive too.

So it’s really what larger fasteners that I may encounter on my Ram trucks and my S-10 ZR2, that might need an SAE impact… your list is good but if didn’t include my 11/16 bumper nuts that I loosened today ;)
I said socket sizes 7/16" through 3/4" will cover most bolts 1/4" through 1/2"

11/16" falls within the specified range

I was suggesting you don't hardly ever need 1/4 or 3/8" and 5/16" is 8mm

Your troublesome bumper fastener was likely a 7/16" as a 7/16" is one of the few oddball fasteners that uses DIFFERENT wrench sizes: 5/8" for the head of a bolt and 11/16" for the nut (specialty, flange head and heavy hex etc exempted)

Good luck in your search!!
 
That is a myth, many of the highest quality impact sockets from Hazet are Cr-V, Stahlwille used to label the socket as Cr-V now just Chrome Alloy.
This is one example, its is 1" drive 32mm long impact socket so you know some sort of wild *** impact gun is hammering on that one yet it is Cr-V.
These tools are all alloys so I would not get hung up on that. The Capri, Williams (Taiwan), Blue Point, Tekton, Icon, etc are all coming out of Taiwan so if I didn't need them often I would buy one of those and forget it.

The Icon gets my vote only because if you break it just go to the store and change it, no taking pictures and mailing it.

Use the magnify feature on the drive end.

Interesting that others use Cr-V for impact. I thought there were differences relative to cracking and shattering of Cr-V that drives the use of Cr-Mo.

Otherwise why not just make them all one alloy? Why are impacts typically Cr-Mo? I figured it was cost saving at HF. Surely the base model Pittsburgh impact sockets don’t get some special alloy variant when the rest of their impact line is Cr-Mo….

And I don’t think I can in good conscience spend money on Icon. HF is good for latex gloves and throwaway LED flashlights… not sure I want their “fancy” sockets.
 
I said socket sizes 7/16" through 3/4" will cover most bolts 1/4" through 1/2"

11/16" falls within the specified range

I was suggesting you don't hardly ever need 1/4 or 3/8" and 5/16" is 8mm

Your troublesome bumper fastener was likely a 7/16" as a 7/16" is one of the few oddball fasteners that uses DIFFERENT wrench sizes: 5/8" for the head of a bolt and 11/16" for the nut (specialty, flange head and heavy hex etc exempted)

Good luck in your search!!
I noticed that the head and nut were different. Thanks for the insight!
 
That is a myth, many of the highest quality impact sockets from Hazet are Cr-V, Stahlwille used to label the socket as Cr-V now just Chrome Alloy.
This is one example, its is 1" drive 32mm long impact socket so you know some sort of wild *** impact gun is hammering on that one yet it is Cr-V.
These tools are all alloys so I would not get hung up on that. The Capri, Williams (Taiwan), Blue Point, Tekton, Icon, etc are all coming out of Taiwan so if I didn't need them often I would buy one of those and forget it.

The Icon gets my vote only because if you break it just go to the store and change it, no taking pictures and mailing it.

Use the magnify feature on the drive end.

Tekton has a good discussion on Cr-V vs. Cr-Mo.


Something tells me the low end Cr-V “impact” sockets that @billt460 linked to don’t have the care, treating and metallurgy that Tekton, Hazet, etc. are claiming though.
 
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I would go to the local pawn shop and dig around through their boxes of sockets till I found a few good ones. I don't car if they are the same brand. Do you?

Probably get out of there with some good name brand stuff for $10.
Yeah that and eBay are good sources. I don’t think I really need small stuff. Power and impact tools save time, but the smaller stuff doesn’t need impact and so I don’t need much special.
 
That is a myth, many of the highest quality impact sockets from Hazet are Cr-V, Stahlwille used to label the socket as Cr-V now just Chrome Alloy.
This is one example, its is 1" drive 32mm long impact socket so you know some sort of wild *** impact gun is hammering on that one yet it is Cr-V.
These tools are all alloys so I would not get hung up on that. The Capri, Williams (Taiwan), Blue Point, Tekton, Icon, etc are all coming out of Taiwan so if I didn't need them often I would buy one of those and forget it.

The Icon gets my vote only because if you break it just go to the store and change it, no taking pictures and mailing it.

Use the magnify feature on the drive end.

I don't have any Icon, But I've heard nothing but good about the Icon, plus the warranty is easy!
They are sold as an impact socket, so I'm sure it's the proper alloy.
TBH I've heard good things about the Pittsburgh impacts too, albeit appear somewhat bulkier to me in the smaller sizes.
 
I don't have any Icon, But I've heard nothing but good about the Icon, plus the warranty is easy!
They are sold as an impact socket, so I'm sure it's the proper alloy.
TBH I've heard good things about the Pittsburgh impacts too, albeit appear somewhat bulkier to me in the smaller sizes.
If you see Taiwan made impact sockets at HF get them. The Chinese ones are fair. Stay away from the made in India ones
 

Combine with the 20% off coupon and it is a great deal.

Truthfully, I think most cr-mo impact sockets are about the same. Chrome sockets might be a different story.
 
This situation if what the cheapo harbor freight stuff is meant for. I guess if you don’t want that then just find something you want to spend the money on.
First, I do prefer to support American manufacturing over anything else.


Second, despite having procured 14 garage bays over the last two years, I don’t want more tools than I need. I buy lots of tools…. I use metric all the time, so buying something if I feel like it is a no brainer. But I can’t remember the last time I needed SAE other than nuts and bolts around the house, which my existing stuff works fine for.

Finally, the cross between these makes me kind of want to steer towards buying two or three quality sockets in sizes it seems that I’ll need. It seems dubious that I need to deep impact some tiny fastener. Really what I need is what I have on my Ram CTD.

Ideally that means like three or so decent quality impact sockets I’ll need, and I can use my regular sockets for everything else.
 
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Somebody bumped the front bumper on my 96 ram the other weekend. It wasn’t enough to do anything but leave a slight white mark. But it did shift the bumper backward a bit on one side.

I wanted to get it straight, because the bumper cover was close to an ac line. So I went after it this am.

Came to realize they are SAE (duh). Had to look hard for a 6 point 11/16 deep socket, turned out I had a Craftsman one, but I sure don’t have the collection that I need.

Those bumper bolts are on there right despite hitting with penetrating oil twice over a week. One of the three is completely loose for whatever reason. Probably why it was able to move a bit. But it took a long breaker bar, a lot of force, and then an impact on a Cr-V socket to get it loose to adjust.

Sooooooo….

What to get…??

I rarely use SAE stuff, other than when doing household stuff with nuts and bolts. And that’s almost entirely 7/16, 1/2, and 9/16.

I know I’ll need to work on my Ram trucks in the future.

I don’t want a ton more sockets though, frankly. I don’t use them enough.

Not sure if I’d be better off with an impact rated deep set? Mid depth set? 1/2” drive?

The issue I think I’ll encounter primarily is just old fasteners that have set firmly on each other after decades. My truck is rust free, but fasteners aren’t bright and shiny. Suspension and Whatnot will need bigger sockets, though using 1/2 too much is kind of a pain.

I was almost thinking this:

Capri Tools 3/8 in. Drive Shallow, Semi-Deep and Deep Impact Socket Set, SAE, 5/16 to 1 in, 36-Piece https://a.co/d/eBOvKQi

Do I want/need a set? Especially when I do have some Cr-V SAE quality sockets. Am I better
Off onesie-twosie?


I have a set of Williams SAE 3/8 somewhere though (they would have been too shallow for the job today). But I think for the long run especially in a deep socket I should get something impact rated. I can always turn it with a ratchet.

I don’t know what I’ll encounter but I don’t want to face that again. Going to a quality manufacturer and just buying a 3/8 and 1/2 drive 11/16 impact socket has crossed my mind. Surveying my truck and buying a few other sizes has crossed my mind too, instead of a set. I’m just hesitant to buy a lot of SAE tools I’ll never use.

So what would you do?
If its a true rarely used set of sizes, i would go open stock on the select sizes unless the open stock socket total exceeds 50% of a set with those sizes and same drive size. I am also a big fan of Wright's Wright drive on their sockets and still am happy that they still make sockets in the USA. Given that the fastener that you are looking at also are not in mint condition, I would highly recommend the Rocket Socket set in case you have to deal with rounded or stuck fasteners
 
If its a true rarely used set of sizes, i would go open stock on the select sizes unless the open stock socket total exceeds 50% of a set with those sizes and same drive size. I am also a big fan of Wright's Wright drive on their sockets and still am happy that they still make sockets in the USA. Given that the fastener that you are looking at also are not in mint condition, I would highly recommend the Rocket Socket set in case you have to deal with rounded or stuck fasteners
I have rocket sockets and love them. Ive never had a set of Wright sockets, but love their wrenches!
 
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