Just a little rant about my least favorite tool

[jimbob200521]

So I wake up today, bright eyes and bushy-tailed ready to take on the world. I have the day off work and finally, we get some sunshine. I take hold of the day and load up the "old" LT1042 (after scavenging some parts off of it, of course) and take it to the scrap yard. After that, I head home and get the garage winter ready; dethatcher, lawn sweep, disc, tiller, push mower, and other things go out to the shed to make room for vehicles during the winter cause, ya know, they don't need shelter during the summer. Anywho, I get that done and decide it's a great day to tare into the new 1450 and do a little trunion work. I get the fenders off no problem, remove the old snap rings (break them off because they're so brittle) and get things ready for the new parts. I hop in the truck again and off to the hardware store I go. I get some new snap rings, washers for spacers, some tin, and then go aaallllll the way to the other end of town to Farm & Fleet for snap ring pliers because True Value was out of them. I get my first shiny new set of snap ring pliers home and and ready to knock this thing out before the girlfriend gets home from work. Then it starts.

It has 4 assorted ends for different sizes and of course, the only size that fits the snap rings I got are straight and I need the 90° ends. Ok, so I use a set of pliers to make the straight into 90° and riiiggghhhttt as I get them set, SNAP! The stupid nipple on the end breaks off. Doh!! Ok, keep calm. My next thought is simple drill out the holes on the snap rings 1/1000000th of an inch to make the other snap ring heads fit but oh wait! My drill took a crap on me a couple weeks ago and I haven't gotten a new one yet! Ok, so maybe I can round the nipples of the pliers a bit to make them fit but oh wait! I don't have anything abrasive to do that either All this because of a cheap pair of snap ring pliers, my most hated of tools. I've always had bad luck with them, why oh why couldn't they just use something else. So, totally frustrated, I closed the freshly cleaned garage up (which, btw, isn't so clean because I have tools, fenders, and Cub parts laying everywhere ) and went inside. At least the meatloaf I made in the crock pot smells delicious

So that's it, thanks for listening to my rant, carry on everyone!

[J-Mech]

Sorry about your day man! Snap ring pliers are truly one of those tools you "get what you pay for" Lol! I have these..... and they have yet to let me down! But, obviously, I paid out the nose for them!
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[jimbob200521]

Originally Posted by J-Mech

Sorry about your day man! Snap ring pliers are truly one of those tools you "get what you pay for" Lol! I have these..... and they have yet to let me down! But, obviously, I paid out the nose for them!
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QFT

I took the set back that I got from F&F and went right across the street to Menards. They had a $3.99 set and a $19.99 set. Let's just say I didn't make the same mistake again

[EricR]

Not to worry jimbob200521 we all have those days, lol.

[Cubcrazy]

Originally Posted by EricR

Not to worry jimbob200521 we all have those days, lol.

Yep! you can say that again!

[Sam Mac]

Originally Posted by J-Mech

Sorry about your day man! Snap ring pliers are truly one of those tools you "get what you pay for" Lol! I have these..... and they have yet to let me down! But, obviously, I paid out the nose for them!
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I don't need them often but when I do the good stuff is worth the $$$.

[rweaver]

the way I approach tools is if we use it hard its snapon the dealer stops Mondays and if we need him in between he lives 2 miles away if we don't use it hard then I am not as fussy but snap ring pliers those are the good ones prolly replaced them 3 times already when the tips break off I think as often as we replace a broken tool it pays to have a good warrenty

[ACecil]

Some days it doesn't pay to get out of bed...lol.

[zippy1]

Your day sucked, but it will get better, and it will be worst.
Jonathan, I've got a similar set to yours, got tiered of buying the cheap stuff and having them break. I also don't use them much, but when I do need them I know they will perform the job. Our guy stops by every Monday 11:00 am and he also lives about three miles down the road, even went to his house on a Sunday needing tools.
I've got a lot of Matco tools, but they aren't around much anymore. I've got some Harbor Freight wrenches I've been trying to break, but the darn things are pretty good for being so cheap. I bought one complete set of open ends up to, I think 1" and it was cheaper than one of my Snap On's. Craftman is a pretty good tool, but pricy for the quality, their screw drivers suck, weak tips. Snap on has an excellent screwdriver.
Sorry to hijack your thread, just sayin'

[Leadslingingdaddy]

What Sam said x2!