Icon 1/4” general service kit (socket and ratchet set)

[mv213]

I picked up the 1/4” socket & ratchet set yesterday. It comes with 3 removable foam organizers and a blow-molded case.

The sockets, extensions, and organizers all seem to be good quality. The bad news was the ratchet. The selector lever was super difficult to switch, and had no “feel” at all. Other ratchets you can kind of feel when the selector clicks into place. Back drag is also not very good. My Taiwanese Blackhawk 1/4” feels ten times better than the Icon.

I took it apart and treated it to some SuperLube which improved things some. I’m hoping a little use will make it more pleasant.

Does anybody have a smoother example of the 1/4” Icon non-flex? Also this ratchet still Gen 1?

 

[Fedwrench]

Is your 1/4 ratchet part number 56188? I don't know if they used a different supplier for that kit. I believe the ratchet in your kit is a gen one Icon ratchet. Icon hasn't released any normal Gen 2 ratchets yet. hopefully, it will smooth out with use. Good luck!!

 

[mv213]

Is your 1/4 ratchet part number 56188? I don't know if they used a different supplier for that kit. I believe the ratchet in your kit is a gen one Icon ratchet. Icon hasn't released any normal Gen 2 ratchets yet. hopefully, it will smooth out with use. Good luck!!

Not sure, I'll have to take a look later this morning. Thanks for your help!

 

[stonesfan68]

I have that kit as well and have the same problem with the ratchet. It is a great kit for the price. I’ll have to try the SuperLube in the ratchet and see if it helps.

 

[mv213]

@Fedwrench The ratchet is stamped R1QR. The SKU is 56188.

 

[Fedwrench]

So much for the possibility of a different supplier, You could try warrantying it to see if you get a better one. .

 

[ecotec]

They need to sell these foam inserts separately, and design them to fit Snap-on tools perfectly.

The prices for Snap-on foam is ridiculous. They should take the Snap-on foam designs, get rid of the wasted space… basically, make the storage more dense and efficient.

Start with metric combination wrenches, sockets, ratchets, extensions, adapters…

Basically, do an aggregate of every auto tech school tool list… and make the foam trays for the most common tools.

If they could sell these for 1/10th of what Snap-on does… you would be seeing them in mechanic tool box tours the second they came out.

They could slowly move towards having a place for everything that a kid in tech school has on his list… and then room to grow. A foam tray for a standard Snap-on punch and chisel set… they could sell it with an ICON chisel set, and then the kid can upgrade as he finds deals on Snap-on.

It could be an unacknowleged symbiosis. The kids would have boxes where they could see what was missing with a quick glance… and the Snap-on drivers could upsell the completist/OCD kids. “I see that you have upgraded everything except for 3 tools in this particular tray”. “I have those three tools on my truck…”.

 

[ecotec]

I think that well designed foam tool trays could also be marketed to other industries. Aircraft mechanics that are expected to shadow their tools and shared company owned toolboxes would be good examples.

If they designed the foam to fit perfectly in their single bank roll cart, they could make that roll cart the industry standard for entry level techs and tech school students.

 

[mv213]

So much for the possibility of a different supplier, You could try warrantying it to see if you get a better one. .

I'm considering my options. I think I'll just use it and see what happens. I might see if the BluePoint 1/4" fits in the foam insert!