CRAFTSMAN 83-piece, 72-tooth review

What you are getting

An 83-piece set on 1/4 and 3/8-inch drives, with 72-tooth ratchets delivering a 5-degree arc swing and a head “up to 25% thinner”, 6-point sockets, a full polish chrome finish, a blow-molded case with metal hinges that fits Craftsman metal storage boxes, and a full lifetime warranty. $59.98.

It publishes a tooth count, which five of the eight American sets do not

The shelf’s introduction makes this the thing you notice every day: “The ratchet is the part you feel: tooth count sets the swing arc, and a 72-tooth head needs five degrees to catch where a 36-tooth head needs ten.”

Set	Tooth count	Arc
CRAFTSMAN 262 pcs · CRAFTSMAN 159 pcs	90	5°
This set	72	5°
QualiapeX 21 pcs, published	72	—
WETT · Amazon Basics · Hi-Spec ×2 · Sundpey	not published	—

Three of the eight American sets publish one, and all three are Craftsman; the published QualiapeX 1/2-inch set states 72 as well. The need card on this shelf ranks sets on Ratchet, highest first, with the reason spelled out: “A thirty-six-tooth ratchet needs ten degrees of swing, a seventy-two-tooth one needs five. The stated tooth count decides what can be undone in an engine bay.”

On a shelf where five sets are silent, 72 teeth is a figure. Against the two 90-tooth Craftsman sets it is the coarser of the family — though Craftsman states 5 degrees for both 72 and 90, which is the figure that actually matters and is the same.

And the thin head is a second access figure, with its own footnote

“LOW PROFILE RATCHET: Up to 25% thinner head for access in tight spaces (as compared to CMMT81747 and CMMT81748).”

The comparison is named. That is unusual and it is the right way to publish a relative figure — 25 per cent thinner than two specific older Craftsman ratchets, not 25 per cent thinner than nothing.

Head thickness and swing arc are two different access problems. The arc is how much room the handle needs to sweep; the thickness is whether the head fits over the bolt at all once there is a bracket above it. A set can solve one and not the other.

Eighty-three pieces, uncounted, and the best price per piece of the three

There is no breakdown: “Contains a full assortment of sockets, ratchets, and specialty bits.”

“Specialty bits” is the word the shelf’s buying advice warns about: “A 216-piece set is often a 40-piece set plus screwdriver bits, and the bits are the part you already own.”

Of the three Craftsman sets here, only the 262-piece one counts out its contents — and its ratio is 118 sockets in 262 pieces, with 66 specialty bits. If this 83-piece set holds a similar proportion it is about 37 sockets, which is an inference and not a figure.

What is comparable is the money:

CRAFTSMAN set	Pieces	Price	Per piece	Teeth
This set	83	$59.98	$0.72	72
CMMT12125	159	$149.00	$0.94	90
CMMT45309	262	$249.90	$0.95	90

The cheapest set has the best price per piece and the coarsest ratchet. Going up the range buys drives, a 90-tooth head and a drawer box, and costs about 30 per cent more per piece.

Two drives, which is the first thing the shelf asks about

“Includes most popular 1/4, 3/8 inch sockets” — the shelf’s introduction: “Drive size comes first: 1/4 inch for interior and engine-bay fasteners, 3/8 for most of the car, 1/2 for suspension and wheels.”

So this set stops before suspension and wheels. The need card is direct about the consequence: “The drive square decides the torque that can be transmitted. A small drive fits everywhere and breaks on a seized bolt.”

A wheel nut at 110 Nm on a 3/8 drive is possible and unpleasant; a seized suspension bolt is not. Three of the American sets here carry 1/2 inch — the Craftsman 159 and 262 and the Amazon Basics 201 — as do the published Amazon Basics 108-piece and QualiapeX 21-piece sets. This is the one that does not.

Six-point sockets, and a case with metal hinges

“Packed with a broad assortment of 6-point sockets and drive tools in a durable blow mold case. The case is constructed with metal hinges and designed to fit into CRAFTSMAN metal storage boxes.”

Six-point is what the shelf recommends for a tired fastener: “Six-point grips the flats and does not slip; twelve-point engages faster in a confined space and rounds off tired bolts.”

Metal hinges is the detail that decides whether the case is still a case in five years. It is published by this set and by none of the other seven, and a blow-molded case with plastic hinges is a box that eventually only closes with a strap.

A full lifetime warranty, which is what stands in for a steel grade

“FULL LIFETIME WARRANTY.”

All three Craftsman sets here carry it, and none of the three publishes a steel grade — “full polish chrome” is a finish. The WETT, Amazon Basics and Hi-Spec DT06003 sets name chrome vanadium and offer no warranty term.

Those are two different kinds of assurance and the shelf’s introduction asks for the first: it compares “stated steel grade”. A warranty is a promise about replacement; an alloy is a statement about the tool in your hand. Craftsman gives the stronger version of one and nothing of the other.

What is not published

No steel grade. No socket count inside the 83. No bit count. No weight, where the two bigger Craftsman sets publish 10,569 g and 12,474 g. No case dimensions. No metric or SAE range, so which sizes are in it is unknown from the listing. No torque figures.

At $59.98 it is the cheapest set on this shelf with a published tooth count, and it stops at 3/8 inch.

Availability

On sale at around $60 on the American Amazon store at the time of checking.

Prices and availability are what Keepa reported on the date this page was updated; both move.