Anyone who's replaced Snap-on grips - help me

[jonnymopar]

Hi all! Great forum here. Long time lurker, first time poster.

I finally picked up a used Snap-on FHLF80 after using my brother's so many times and driving away from his house each time saying "man I need one of those". Surprisingly, it didn't need a rebuild when I got it, just a real good cleaning and re-lube and off I went!

However, I'm having a weird problem with the grip. It loosened up on me recently when I was cranking away with it. I picked up a new green grip so this would match most of my other Snap-on stuff. I was able to pull the existing grip off by hand, so I figured maybe it was cracked under the rubber where I couldn't see it. I got the new grip in and it slips on as easily as the other one came off! I've seen people talking about having to heat these puppies up to get them on and off. Definitely not the case here. Take a look:







The shank where the grip installs is .350" diameter, where as both the new and old grips are significantly bigger. I made sure I bought the right grip for a 3/8" comfort ratchet. It certainly looks like it's the right length. There's no evidence of the shank having been machined. Any ideas?? The older flex head ratchets with the hard 4-sided plastic grips... were the shanks smaller on those? Could this be an older one?? Thanks in advance!

 

[NorCalWrenchin]

Not a whole lot of help from me, but this thread might help some

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=259826

 

[Rico.]

I'm really sorry, but no help from me either... What a strange problem.

I'm sure someone will come along soon with the answer.

The only thing I can possibly think of is this.... There was a minor change to
the design of the Dual 80 ratchets. The original ones had the baseplate screwed
in from the bottom, and the later ones with the "a" suffix on the model number
had the baseplate screwed in from the top (I think thats the right way round)

But, I dont know if the 3/8" ratchets were changed, and to be honest even if
they were why would they change the size of the handle... This also doesn't
seem to explain the fact that your original handle also seems too big.

Weird...

 

[hautpot]

Maybe you got a handle for a breaker bar? Breaker bars are suppose to be beefy?

 

[Mohawk Dave]

Yea, I think you simply have the wrong handle grip. They make different ones. I have spares in my drawer I keep around and they are a variety of sizes.

 

[Strouty]

I would think hard handle, because everything else looks correct. I am not sure if they were smaller though. Seems like you would lose strength if you changed the diameter that much.

 

[jonnymopar]

Thanks for the input guys. I triple-checked the part number for the grip and I definitely got the right one. I'm tempted to fart around on ebay now to see if I can find a donor screwdriver with a hard plastic handle. At least then I can choose what size to drill it.

A dealer wouldn't warranty this if I shoved the old grip back on, would they?

 

[kythri]

I thought handles were covered under the warranty.

 

[Murphy4570]

I thought handles were covered under the warranty.

They are. I've had a screwdriver and a ratchet handle replaced before.

 

[cptn_zippy]

I'd call Snap-on and explain the situation. My understanding is that their phone support is quite good.

Jeff

 

[thegroundpounder99]

The soft handles are not covered under warranty, at least according to my SO driver. I didn't use to like them but now have a couple.

 

[canuckian]

The shafts on the newer ratchets seem to be bigger than they used to be. I tried to swap an orange comfort grip into a new 1/4 ratchet. So tight it split the handle, which is new but a year or 2 old. Maybe the handles they're selling now are bigger and you have an older ratchet?

 

[jonnymopar]

The shafts on the newer ratchets seem to be bigger than they used to be. I tried to swap an orange comfort grip into a new 1/4 ratchet. So tight it split the handle, which is new but a year or 2 old. Maybe the handles they're selling now are bigger and you have an older ratchet?

Interesting. This is more or less what I expected. Again, I picked it up used, so I don't have a clue how old it is. I didn't think the comfort grip ratchets had been out for that long.

I decided to just eat the green grip I bought and ordered a SDD6R1RG today. It's the green hard grip. It's nearly the same length as the comfort grip, and the hole is 5/16", so I won't be taking off much material to fit it onto my ratchet.

I'll save the green comfort grip for when I find the 3/8" non-flex head version at a price I like.

 

[Strouty]

I think there are date codes on the tools, maybe you could do a little research, it would be interesting to find out if this is a more common issue than we think.

 

[PFSard]

I think there are date codes on the tools, maybe you could do a little research, it would be interesting to find out if this is a more common issue than we think.

Snap On Date Code Chart up to 2029!
http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=14884

 

[jonnymopar]

Geez, when you think you've seen it all! I never knew that those little marks were date codes!



I guess she's a 2007. Learn something every damn day.