Broke my Craftsman Breaker Bar-Sad Day and story.

Its a Sad, Sad day. I broke a forged 1/2" x 16" breaker bar last night when I was tightening the nuts on my JD 60 flywheel. The 1/2 drive square cracked. Have you ever broke a tool that you have had for a long time and done a lot of things with and feel remorseful? I have to tell this story on how I got that breaker bar. Way back when I was 16, I inherited a 1/2" Japan Made socket set when my grandpa died. The socket set was really old, since it was made in Japan, I thought it was probably just after WWII when Japan started making stuff again, and it was not very good. It had a short 12" round breaker bar with it. My first car was a worn out 71 Chevy half ton that my dad bought used, my brother drove the heck out of, and I bought it from him for $500 back in the 80's. The rear ends on those trucks had a big long lateral control arm that came off the frame to hold the rear end in place because it had coil springs in the rear, unlike most trucks now that have leaf springs. Well years of rust and a lot of tire burnouts leaving the local McDonald's broke that lateral control arm. In order to get the broken control arm off I had to remove a huge nut that was at least an 1-1/4" in size. I put that round Japanese breaker bar on there and a long cheater pipe and it bent the breaker bar like silly putty. I went to the local Sears and stupidly (I was only 16 and didn't know much then) bought another breaker bar just like the Japanese one but it was a Craftsman. Got home and sure enough bent the Craftsman one like silly putty. Went back to Sears, the old guy there replaced it without question with a new one. I went home and again stupidly bent that 2nd one from Sears. This time when I went back to replace it, the old guy said "Hey son, looks like your putting too much coal on the end of this size tool, you need to step up to something with more muscle" So he talked me into buying a forged much larger beefier breaker bar. Sears split the difference in cost. I have used that tool for all sorts of huge teardown adventures over the last 25 years. And it finally died. I guess I got my money's worth, but I think I will see if they will replace it. Just sorry to see it go.-LOL! Did you ever have one of those kinds of tools?

Yep I have had a few of them like that but on most I got lucky they where snap on tools so they got repaired for free and or replaced but then ya may not be as god as they once where depending on where the new one came from or the new parts came from

On my first SK socket set, bought almost 40 years ago, (still have it),the instructions said if you use a cheater, warranty is void.

Hello Fred: I have the Craftsman(Sears) half inch Breaker bar. Bought for myself a large set of tools close to Fathers day about 1963. I had just started a very good job several months before and decided that it was time to attack the memories of always only using a hammer, Crescent wrench and/or screw driver all those years back on the farm. Time for real tools and I got a fairly complete hand tools setup that was on sale for Fathers day in'63. They all served me well fer the last 49 years. I had to add a complete 3/4inch socket set in the early '70's. I hate it when I misplace one item. So far I think I only lost one socket. A half inch. Yep. Easy to get attached to tools that get the job done after that long..

Heck yes they will replace it. Age does not matter as long as it says Craftsman. When you go to sears take a look at the 3/4 drive breaker bar . That one is impossible to break and you can reduce down to use your 1/2" sockets. I lost all sentiment for my tools because I traded in my S-K set for Snap-on over the years.The breaker bar I would break /is /was 3/8 drive Mac. The Mac truck replaced it. I only have a couple things Mac. I have a 1/2 drive Indestro 15 1/2 inch long breaker bar for sale on eBay right now. Forged in USA.

I have a 3/8 drive Indestro socket set. What happened to that brand? is there any place that still honors warranty on them?

I bought 3/4" drive set for those times a 1/2" drive will be over stressed.

On my 3rd breaker bar from Craftsman. They do replace them free.

Years ago, I tried to remove the nut holding my VW Beetle rear brake drum on. I broke the 1/2" square drive nub off my Craftsman breaker bar that I had owned for about 20 years. So I took the broken tool to Sears and got another one. I again tried to remove that nut and again broke the new breaker bar. I would admit that I was using a 6" piece of pipe as a cheater bar. I still own and use the breaker bar that Sears again replaced. I felt sad about breaking my original breaker bar, and a little ashamed of myself for needing to get it replaced twice. Everything is a learning experience, and I learned that it is not that hard to break a 1/2" drive tool.

I learned that there is a special tool made for removing those nuts, that you apply some force to and then hit them with a small sledge. I also suspect that a decent air impact gun would have worked, but I didn"t have one them either. I ended up taking the VW to a shop and they had the proper tool to loosen the nuts in seconds for $10.

I also now have a 3/4" drive socket set that I didn"t have then. I am not sure, but I bet there is a socket that would substitute for the 36mm one I bought to try to get those VW brake drums off. But I quit driving VW Bugs a long time ago.

I have a bunch of Craftsman hand tools and occasionally have broken a few of them. I appreciate Sears policy of free replacement, no questions asked, and hope that Sears is able to stay around for a long time. They are a good company!

Hah! I also broke mine twice on those darn 36 mm nuts!

Got a 1/2 drive SK set for Christmas when I was 16. Have lost only one socket, changing a trailer tire in a gravel lot- still can't figure out why I couldn't find it. Felt bad about losing the socket, but have now replaced it from garage sale, same size and shape but finish is slightly different.

Managed to break a 15mm Chinese socket without even using a cheater- had no idea I was so strong! That didn't bother me at all, except for how crummy the socket set was. Went to Sears and bought a Craftsman metric set- no more problems.

Finally got a 3/4 drive set about 5 years ago- helped a widow with some issues in her husband's estate- she didn't have any money, but he had a lot of tools, and she was happy to give me the set as compensation. They were mostly Proto- old and beat up, but should do the job.