Craftsman Micro-torque wrench repair

[pickn4him]

Hello all,

I have a Craftsman "Micro-torque" torque wrench (all chrome) from the 1970's that belonged to my late father that I need a ratchet repair on. It does ok on the lower settings but I was torquing something over 100 lbs recently and the ratchet wants to slip and/or kick over to the opposite direction. I put a piece of duct tape on the knob and it held long enough to do the one bolt I needed to torque.

I went to my local Sears (which was almost no help at all) and all they would do is try to sell me a new one, get me on the Craftsman club membership, or point out that it was a 90-day warranty (which I already knew by the papers in the box). I wasn't trying to pull a fast one, I just wanted some assistance with a Craftsman tool.

I'd like to pick the infinite wisdom of the forum membership for a place to repair & calibrate it, or for a web address I can find a repair kit. It hasn't seen anything near constant use in it's almost 40 year life span and I hate to junk it or make it a museum piece.

I live in the East Tennessee/Southwest Virginia area.

Thanks so much in advance!

[krusty the clown]

Angle Repair & Calibration Service, Inc. 175 Angle Drive Beckley, West Virginia 25801 (304) 253-5726

[Charles (in GA)]

It sounds like you have a ratchet problem. Post a pic of the tool. Possibly it uses the same ratchet mechanism as a regular ratchet. Kits you cannot get in the store, are available online for some models.

Charles

[krusty the clown]

It sounds like you have a ratchet problem. Post a pic of the tool. Possibly it uses the same ratchet mechanism as a regular ratchet. Kits you cannot get in the store, are available online for some models.

Charles

yes and it may just need cleaned and lubed, but if he want's it calibrated angle is who i'd use:thumbup:

[Bull]

I asked a question on here within the last month about a place to repair and calibrate torque wrenches. I got a web address for a company that looked pretty good.

It might take me some time to find it again, but I will look for you.

[bmxr4life87]

sounds like its just the gears in the ratcheting head. find a sears repair center they can get you a rebuild kit if your sears store is no help

[Tool Pants]

http://www.craftsmantooltalk.com/BBS/Craftsman_Tool_Collection/4004/4004/flat-page1.html

[krusty the clown]

http://www.craftsmantooltalk.com/BBS/Craftsman_Tool_Collection/4004/4004/flat-page1.html

i think i recognize the OP in that thread :bounce:

[crashbumper]

teamtorque.com/

Calibration and repair services.

[Tool Pants]

If it looks like mine then Utica made it for Sears. But the ratchet part is not a Utica design. Utica uses a round head ratchet. It is a Sears quick-release design. If you look at a page 5 of the link Adam think you might be able to use parts from a Sears rebuild kit.

[pickn4him]

To; Tool Pants
My wrench looks VERY similar with the plastic case. I went to the Craftsman link posted and I think I may just need to disaasemble and lube it. I am hoping against hope that it works. At least I will be able to see what the ratchet gears (and pawl) look like. As I said, the lower the setting the more dependable but if I have to get rough with it on a larger piece of hardware, it pops and reverses the ratchet.
Thanks to all who posted! Much help and "much obliged"!

[billymade]

FIRST, I would take it apart inspect for damage; if everything seems fine; clean all the parts lube and reassemble, many times... this will fix the head. AFAIK, the rebuild kit for that is obsolete... you might ask the PMT @ your local Sears, if they have some "extra" parts laying around and they can swap parts until you have a working ratchet head... we used to do this for fun on old, obsolete ratchets that came in for warranty repair. You might check out eBay or other "sources" for this type of thing... also look for a part # on the wrench.... like this XXX.XXXXXX; check www.searspartsdirect.com for replacement parts. Also, teamtorque.com may have parts as well with NOS parts, you never know!... good luck!

[Tool Pants]

I bought another old Craftsman torque wrench at the flea market today. Took the ratchet part of the torque wrench apart and the teeth on the gear and pawl were not in good shape. So I took those parts out of my older 1/2' drive ratchet, and put them in the torque wrench. Same parts, except for the selector.

[Tool Pants]

I paid a visit to Adam of the Craftsman tool message board fame. His store has not had the repair kits in years. He called the local oldest store and nothing there.

So he took the parts I needed out of ratchets that had been traded in. Those ratchets will not be rebuilt because there are no kits for them. The gear and pawl from the discontinued ratchet fits the old all metal Utica produced torque wrench.

I am back in business.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v45/ToolPants/Craftsman%20torque%20wrench/ratchetgears.jpg

[vssjim]

I agree with the Team Torque address above, they cost alittle more but they really try to fix any wrench they can so when it comes to old they are the people.

[pickn4him]

As Gomer used to say, THANKEE, THANKEE, THANKEE!!!! Lots of great and VERY useful info!

[Tool Pants]

Here are part numbers.

The torque wrench is 44443. The 1/2" ratchet I used for parts is 44985, and the kit for that ratchet is 43447. Both the ratchet and kit are discontinued. But I see plenty of those ratchets at the flea market. Or see if your local Sears will take parts out of that ratchet which was traded in.

The older version of this ratchet, the one with the oil hole, is 44975. But this will not work because the pawl is a bit different, as it has what Adam calls a D-post pawl. But I think the gear might be the same - I did not look when I saw the pawl was different. My older torque wrench which was made in 7/76 has a D-post pawl. My made in 5/78 torque wrench in the above pictures has what Adam calls a tang pawl.

[pickn4him]

Well, I took the ratchet apart and cleaned things out and lubed it but the ratchet and pawl had some flattened or well worn places. Even at 50 lbs it slips in the wrong place on the ratchet. I'm searching for a kit on ebay but to no avail so far. I will look at Team Torque.

Thanks to everyone!

[bmwpower]

Angle Repair & Calibration Service, Inc. 175 Angle Drive Beckley, West Virginia 25801 (304) 253-5726

Krusty, do you have personal experience with these guys? Just wonderin....

[krusty the clown]

Krusty, do you have personal experience with these guys? Just wonderin....

yes they were the authorized repair service for MATCO when i was a dealer.

[danbyers]

And now the rest of the story........

If anyone has a hankering to fix the ratchet end of one of these older style Craftsman torque wrenches, you can still get the repair kit from Fastenal for about two weeks. After the 1st of the year Fastenal will no longer carry Craftsman. I paid $13.53 for the kit and didn't have to pay shipping.

The link to the Fastenal page is:
www.fastenal.com/web/products/detail.ex?sku=0231454&ucst=t

There are two wrench P/Ns displayed on this page. This kit is NOT for 9-44978 as the link claim as this is a round head ratchet.

I just finished repairing my wrench with this kit. I had to reuse the spring, the direction switch handle (on the outside of the ratchet which connects to the pawl inside) and the c-clip which keeps the direction switch handle connected to the ratchet. They were not the correct size for my version of the torque wrench.

The new is on the left and the old on the right.

danB

[Tool Pants]

Interesting that Sears no longer has that kit unless it has been sitting around, but you were able to get it from Fastenal. I see that the pawl in the kit is shaped a bit differently than the original, but I guess it works.

That 43447 kit is for this discontinued 44985 ratchet.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v45/ToolPants/Craftsman%20torque%20wrench/mycraftsmantorque20.jpg

I used the gear and pawl from my discontinued 44985 ratchet to fix the 5/78 torque wrench. Then Adam gave me the gear and pawl from a traded in 44985 ratchet, and I put it in my ratchet.

[danbyers]

I think there must be a few kits sitting around, but finding out how to get them is the trick. I must have made 5 calls to Sears and Sears parts and repair and they were useless.

I was putting up with the wrench and I could get by with holding the direction switch to one side. I keep thinking I should do something but never got around to it. I was surprised to see all the metal chunks when I took it apart. I though maybe a relub would work. Although it's not evident in my pictures, the tops of the teeth on the gear were shaved and the pawl had chips missing, similar to yours.

Yes the pawl shape is a little different, maybe an engineering change, but seems to work fine.

I want to thank all that provided the part numbers and information so I could get my wrench fixed.

danB