Carlyle Tools

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Does any of yall own and like the Carlyle line sold by Napa? I work at a Napa store and the Carlyle line is on sale till the end of June. I'm specifically talking about the sockets. For ratchets and torque wrenches I buy Snap On, but for the weekend wrenching that I do, I'm starting to realize having all Snap On sockets and other tools isn't necessary. I do have mostly Snap On in regards to metric that I bought years ago when I had the mindset of "Snap On or nothing". I've been needing to buy some 3/8 drive SAE deep and shallow sockets, I always tend to lose them, so I bought a Carlyle deep and shallow set that were on sale. The quality and finish of both the sockets and the socket rail seems very well made. Do any of you have any Carlyle sockets that have held up to use and abuse and haven't broke or let you down? I may buy more in the future.
 
The napa stores in my area don't carry the Carlisle tools. They can order them though. I have never seen any. The stores here are independent owned and don't have the same sales as the company stores.
 
What are you using SAE deep sockets on? I bought my 3/8 SAE deeps at Sears nearly 50 yrs ago Last major SAE car was an '88 Grand Wagoneer. My '77 IH Cadet 80, the Ariens and the Lawnboy mowers. Metric rules these days. I would back fill lost sockets with 6 points and. Harbor Freight sells impact sockets.Used with a ratchet, they'll do fine.
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I have to have real tools to work with. I don't see anything morally wrong with using Snap-on. Some guys get to feeling guilty about it but not me.
 
The solar construction company I worked for bought almost all of their common hand tools from the local Napa in a "support your neighbor" move. I never saw a broken one.
 
I haven't bought at Napa in a long time (so what I have might be made in a different country?) but I have acquired a few of their Carlisle tools over the years like a star socket set and have no complaints about them.
 
I'd say they're comparable to or slightly better than GearWrench, Tekton, and the better HF stuff.

Not worth the extra price unless you can find them on sale, but certainly good enough for my uses.
 
I was looking at their locking head 3/8" locking swivel head ratchet. The reviews seemed OK.
 
I work part time at the local NAPA. The owner of a very busy local shop buys a lot of Carlyle tools, and he said they work well for him.
 
I have the Carlyle long locking head flex fine tooth 3/8 ratchet. It is a quality tool. It was super useful reaching lower radiator bolts from above, on the Honda Pilot with tight clearance.

Carlyle has quite a following on GJ forum. Of many posts about Carlyle, I recall only one unhappy person, where someone got what looked like used, rusty tools on an order. I think everyone else has been happy with them.
 
I agree with Hangfire. They get a hardy thumbs up at GarageJournal forum. They are considered very good quality Taiwan made hand tools in between the tool truck brands and GearWrench, Tekton value wise. Maybe similar to SK??
 
I believe it was Carlyle but I bought some napa tools on clearance a few years back when they were getting rid of the US made tools and replacing with the Chinese made stuff.
 
I have a socket set. It's okay; as has been said, similar in quality to Tekton.
 
I don't own any but I don't think there is anything wrong with Carlyle, people that have them seem satisfied with them. Some of the Japanese sets are also in the same price range and very high quality.
 
I am a service tech mechanic that works on large presses. All my wrenches, ratchets and sockets are carlysle. All metric also. I have never had one become damaged. Typically I carry an aluminum pipe for a cheater when breaking things loose, and again never had an issue.

In 25 years I have never had any situation where I needed anything snap on, carlyle has always worked just fine.

Metric Allen wrenches are ALWAYS PB Swiss though.
 
Originally Posted by Trav
What did you use before carlyle, the brand was not created 25 years ago.



I guess I should clarify...lol. In 25 years I have had only one 13mm wrench wear out from use, but it was a harbor freight wrench. I used craftsman mostly, but again, I found that if you don't use the tool in a manner in which it wasn't designed, it will perform well as intended. I switched to carlyle a while back because of accessibility and the lifetime warranty is nice, and the other service techs using them with great success.
 
There was nothing wrong with old USA made Craftsman, some of the best US companies made tools for them, I still have a set of their pro wrenches that have a small "k" stamped in them, that denoted SK made them. Some of the made in Taiwan tools are also very good and I am sure Carlyle is a decent tool.
The thing is though Craftsman was not really a value line tool, when I bought the set I started which had to be in the mid 70's was $200 for a 200 piece set.

Today that $200 is about $1200 yet today that same set is still $200, it was the quality that took the hit. They went from being a real alternative to the tool truck brands to scrap metal.
 
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