1/4 Drive Sets

[slip knot]

Never seen the Firestone tool before. very cool.

[CRTDI]

The black bands are my all time favorite socket and in my mind very desirable. Beautiful set looks completely unused.

I have a 1/4 and 3/8 shallow six point sets and miscellaneous single pieces.

I like these too. I only have this set and a 3/8" swallow set that's part of my "grab and go" metric box.

They don't seem to be very common though. Pretty sure Snap-on was producing way more SAE products versus metric during the time these were manufactured.

Thanks for all the compliments guys. I do try...

[J.A.F.E.]

The black bands were a 70's feature. First show up in the 73 catalog and last appearance was the 78 catalog. In the 79 catalog metric sockets had the double knurled bands they still wear. The black bands were neat but must have been expensive to make. After chroming the band areas were ground down to remove the fresh chrome and then the socket went through the process used to put the black oxide finish on.

The 70's saw a surge of "foreign" (read metric sized) imports. Volkswagen sales went sky high as did all the German marques but VW alone was probably responsable for a huge percentage of the metric stuff sold. I believe metric fasteners started showing up on American vehicles about 78 or 79 but Snap-on still segregated the inch and metric sized tools in the catalog.

I used to take my black bands to the pick a part until one day I dropped a small black band under a car. I kind of panicked and hunted that socket for almost an hour but finally found it. I figured if it was worth an hour of looking getting a set of junk yard sockets made more sense.

[d42jeep]

Thanks for that. I’ll take a look at my metric SO 3/8” drive sockets. It seems to me that I bought them in that time frame. I didn’t know that the black bands were rare. I am really enjoying seeing these great 1/4” drive sets from CRTDI and others. Here is a 1/4” drive partial Kraeuter set probably made by S-K. It is missing the ratchet with the uncomfortable beam handle.
-Don

[J.A.F.E.]

I believe that was SK made. For some reason I am under the impression all the drive stuff branded Kraeuter was SK. I'm not sure how the time line with Brazil worked.

Not sure I'd call the black bands rare but they're not common especially ones in decent shape. The flex sockets though are very hard to find.

[CRTDI]

My lone (Cruiser808 inspired) late 40s to early 50s ? Fleet set. Very tough time finding the pieces for this set. I believe I started out with the driver and maybe four sockets.

The biggest problem with finding the correct pieces, is that none of them are actually marked as Fleet. They are all marked with a P- prefix and model number only. The final pieces (might still be missing a couple) were surprisingly found in a vintage Artcraft (Pepboys) set where the original box and decal were way to far gone to even try to salvage.

The 1/4 x 3/8 adapter is a Proto L.A. piece.

[J.A.F.E.]

That is amazing. Some magnificent sets you guys have.

[CRTDI]

Dunlap box with a no name 1/4" hex set and some pretty decent Dunlap ignition wrenches. Don't really know came in this box originally.

[CRTDI]

Stahlwille metric set.












Couple of pics with a similar styled handle flex magnetic pick-up tool.

[slip knot]

Digging the little Stahlwille ratchet.

[J.A.F.E.]

Nice little set. Quite nice. It's interesting I have what looks like the twin of that ratchet but it's Hazet. The bottom plate is black oxide and the selector switch is different but the resemblance is uncanny.

[CRTDI]

British  B. A. hex set.

[CRTDI]

Williams NM-8 set.

[J.A.F.E.]

Quite a jewel for the collection. Really exemplary example.

[hickory n Steel]

Now that Williams set is mind-blowing, thanks for sharing it.