Giant Ratchets….Who Makes ‘Em?

[oscarsnapkin]

I’m only asking a strictly out of curiousity. Are there any manufacturers that make (or made) giant ratchets? I know lots of companies have a 1” ratchet, but what about something bigger? Snap-On made the L-78 1 1/2” ratchet, but I’ve never seen one made anyone else. I tried doing a google and eBay search to see if I could find anything, but it’s not an easy thing to search for as I just keep getting results for 1/2” ratchets.

 

[cvairwerks]

About the biggest I've ever seen, are the pipe threader ones...

 

[J.A.F.E.]

Lowell made (or maybe still does) some really large ratchets.

 

[jabberwoki]

Yep look up the Lowel thread you`ll see some fine examples.

 

[mikey03]

The real benefit of 1 1/2” drive sockets is it makes it alot harder to lose the 10mm

 

[B_Bimmer]

I love unnecessarily large tools but have never felt the need for more than 1" drive.

 

[oscarsnapkin]

I love unnecessarily large tools but have never felt the need for more than 1" drive.

Working on trucks we used mostly 1/2 and 3/4. 1” we only used for wheels. Anything larger than 1” I would imagine is more for construction, can’t imagine it in any automotive use. They sure are cool though. Gonna go check out those ratchets mentioned above.

 

[Roert42]

I figure once you get over 1” drive the expectation is you will not apply enough force to break the driver. Under a reasonable circumstance.

IR sells a 2 1/2” drive impact gun rated at 20k ft/lbs. msrp is also $28k.

More of a piece of equipment at that point vs a tool.

 

[Firebrick43]

Most of the really large bolts are tensioned via a porta power and hollow cylinder nowadays. The foot at the bottom has a notch cut out to run down the nut.

Even 30 years ago the one inch and bigger ratchets generally fell out of favor as using a torque multiplier with a smaller 1/2 or 3/4” ratchet was much safer

 

[woody 73]

I have no idea if the following link is a joke or not? I was hoping they would list the drive size, and they did not, but they did list the price so don't ask, (I was thinking railroad size in the $40,00 price range) At $5000.00 per socket the ratchet must be large

Most Expensive Snap On Socket - Equity Atlas

Title: The Most Expensive Snap-On Socket: A Marvel of Precision and Craftsmanship

equityatlas.org

 

[reader2580]

I saw an online listing for an 8” socket with 2.5” drive. Cost was over $5,000.

 

[cvairwerks]

Here's what you use when you need a little more torque:

SWE8111

SWE8111, High Capacity Torque Multiplier, 83000 ft.lbs. Torque, Internal Spline

www.enerpac.com

 

[L.Cheapo]

I saw an online listing for an 8” socket with 2.5” drive. Cost was over $5,000.

Wright Tool makes 10" or larger sockets...I believe they are 3.5" drive.

 

[mikey03]

I saw an online listing for an 8” socket with 2.5” drive. Cost was over $5,000.

Use a 20% off zoro coupon and save $1k

 

[mikey03]

Wright Tool makes 10" or larger sockets...I believe they are 3.5" drive.

Damn what kind of fasteners use a 10” socket? At that point don’t fo connecting something that big I figure you just unload a dump truck of steel shot in a hole and drop some thermite in until it melts down and hardens in place

 

[kctgb]

About the biggest I've ever seen, are the pipe threader ones...

I have a pipe ratchet and dies that go up to 2 inch. I tried treading 2 inch pipe with it, you have to be the hulk to thread big pipe. I’m not small and couldn’t do 2 inch and I lubricated the die and pipe a lot.

 

[Tim in Indiana]

Damn what kind of fasteners use a 10” socket? At that point don’t fo connecting something that big I figure you just unload a dump truck of steel shot in a hole and drop some thermite in until it melts down and hardens in place

About 20 years ago I made 14 double ended threaded studs and matching nuts for a large gravel processor. They were 6" diameter, around 24" long and I can't remember the thread pitch but it was a fairly fine thread. The nuts were close to the 10" hex mentioned above.

Big, heavy and very expensive.

 

[1Bad55Chevy]

I have no idea if the following link is a joke or not? I was hoping they would list the drive size, and they did not, but they did list the price so don't ask, (I was thinking railroad size in the $40,00 price range) At $5000.00 per socket the ratchet must be large

Most Expensive Snap On Socket - Equity Atlas

Title: The Most Expensive Snap-On Socket: A Marvel of Precision and Craftsmanship

equityatlas.org

Snap-on Store

shop.snapon.com

It definitely wasn't a joke. Thats crazy!

 

[ecotec]

Is something that big used on mining equipment or building bridges or what?

 

[cvairwerks]

I think the Alcoa 50,000 ton press uses a bunch of 16" nuts on the tie rods.

 

[1Bad55Chevy]

I thought these big bolts were normally tightened up with strike wrenches?

I am an auto mechanic and I use to be in the army.... I tell people all the time that there are rocks on the ground that are smarter then me so please don't flame me for being stupid! Lol

 

[L.Cheapo]

Damn what kind of fasteners use a 10” socket? At that point don’t fo connecting something that big I figure you just unload a dump truck of steel shot in a hole and drop some thermite in until it melts down and hardens in place

No idea, but I'd guess mining, cargo ships, or oil platforms.

 

[four.cycle]

Imperial-Newton / Imperial-Newton Corp., Centennial, CO / https://www.imperial-newton.com/ / large industrial only - 1 " minimum size on sockets and wrenches /

 

[Junkdrawer Dog]

At my last job, for high torque fasteners, we used a device that was essentially an air motor and gearbox that turned the socket. Torque was too much for a human to hold so you had to develop fixtures and brackets to mount it to whatever you were working on. These bolts and studs were approximately 2" shank diameter. We were not very scientific, we just tightened til they wouldn't tighten any more. These were part of set up and tear down for product change overs.

 

[Steve_P]

We had a 6'+ long torque wrench where I used to work. No idea the drive size, but two 200+ pound guys had to pull simultaneously to get it to click.

Big stuff I'm familiar with typically uses a lot of 1-1.5" diameter studs and they're hydraulically tensioned and not torqued manually.

I can't remember the trade name, but we also used a split-type nut fastener where you threaded it onto a stud by hand, and then tightened ~20 smaller SHCS that were in a radial pattern thru the nut. The SHCS tightened against the "base" portion and stretched the stud. This kept the torque levels reasonable so you could do them in a confined space where the 6' wrench wouldn't fit to torque a 1.5" stud. Totally simple idea, but also genius.

Edit:
Ok, it took a few searches, but this is it: superbolt. We used the supernuts, I guess.

From the company that pioneered the only lockwashers that actually work. Again, the first time I saw these all I could think of was, "gee, that's simple....

Superbolt Multi-Jackbolt Tensioners

Replace or retrofit existing bolts to safely achieve accurate preload

www.nord-lock.com

 

[Tim in Indiana]

Used to be that people would take a long pipe and put big guys on it to get big torque. Now, the safety people in most businesses would have a cow if saw something like that happen.

Today you would either use a hydraulic wrench (Enerpac, Hytorc, Rapidtork, etc,) that turns the nut one tooth at a time. But friction still becomes a problem at some point.

Or they use a hydraulic tensioner that stretches the bolt to a desired length then the nut is spun down by hand and the tension released. They can measure the bolt stretch with ultrasonic or physical length. Doing it this way avoids friction issues like thread galling, inconsistent lubricity, etc. You get what you want, consistent clamp load.

 

[J.A.F.E.]

Damn what kind of fasteners use a 10” socket? At that point don’t fo connecting something that big I figure you just unload a dump truck of steel shot in a hole and drop some thermite in until it melts down and hardens in place

There is lots of stuff that use really large fasteners just most of it isn't all that visible most of the time. The nuts holding the steel wheels to the axles on the old PCC street cars look to be about 10 or 12 across the flats, at least on the ones with Westinghouse electrics. There are still a few dozen in service around the US.

 

[PMD1966]

I think the Alcoa 50,000 ton press uses a bunch of 16" nuts on the tie rods.

Worked in a stamping plant for a number of years. When a new press was installed, The base went in first, then the sides, crown was last. Tie rods were pumped with hydraulic fluid to stretch them a few mm. They were tightened to the max, then the hydraulic fluid was drained.