Interesting small haul after returning from a week-long trip to NoVa to prep my rental house for new tenants.
ES pictures showed a fairly complete 1/2" drive Wizard socket set, but I didn't make the first entry group and it was snapped up for only $12. I did find the set's separated (and separately priced) breaker bar on a table and handed it to the guy that had the set, saying it should be included. The agent included it without a fuss.
Small, well worn Snap-on SPP-46 screwdriver
Plomb WF-101R 3/8 obstruction wrench
Long C Craftsman DOE I need for my collection
Hinsdale 3/8 drive H12J ratchet with 13/16 socket
$11 Total

For the novelty, I picked up the Volvo-marked Swedish adjustable/alligator combo, known as The Shark. Several guys here have them, including RTM and Lugz. Mine is identical to Lugz's--minus his unique 90 degree bend. Mine has an unknown code--129 with forged dots at 12:30 and 3:30, while Lugz has 174 with the dots at 12:00 and 1:00.
The real frustration/disappointment came during the clean-up of the Hinsdale.
The selector was a bit sticky and I suspected the usual dried-out grease was hindering movement.
The back requires a pin spanner to remove it and I know I have three of the Williams adjustable types--all of which were probably hiding in another tool box on the other side of the garage--laughing at my inability to find them...
I resorted to two Allen wrenches and a vise. PITA if you only have two hands.
The dried out grease seemed to be the problem and I wanted to remove the selector to clean all the crannies. The selector screws into the front of the head and I was able to back it out only half a turn (180 degrees) before it stopped--and it wouldn't turn back the other way more than a few degrees. After a few minutes of jiggling and gentle persuasion, it slipped back into motion for a single full rotation, stopping again with the pawl grooves up.
Fast-forwarding past a good 90 minutes of effort that included looking up the 1,888,885 patent for a visual reference and then fabricating tools I hoped would slip around the selector and depress the ball catch to allow unhindered rotation/removal.
Utter failures.
Some less-gentle persuasion and more jiggling yielded another full rotation and opened a gap that I foolishly hoped I could slip a wire down to depress the ball. Another 45 minutes of fruitless folly.
Back to yet another session of heavier persuasion and jiggling...
Finally it broke loose--and I was able to see a small piece of broken spring in the dried grease. Well, there's your problem! I spent another 45 minutes cleaning the hard chunks of dried grease--giving special attention to the spring well. I noted the heavy wear on the ratchet wheel teeth and both sides of the selector (pawl and ball side). The steel ball was also heavily faceted.


After my fastidious cleaning, re-greasing and with a now-shorter and less powerful spring, I was pseudo-confident that the reassembly would go smoothly--or at least less frustratingly...
One (1) full turn was all I got before the damn thing stopped again. After another hour of increasingly more persuasion and jiggling, I decided to stop dicking around and use brute force.
I clamped the selector in the vise and after a series of sharp tugs, it came free. And by that, I mean the threads broke, the selector fell out of the ratchet and the steel ball shot out--and is probably now living and laughing with my collection of pin spanners.