How strong are ratcheting wrenches???

[toolaholic]

Hi all, I recently used my uber long SK G PRO 17x19 to lkoosen the swaybarlinks on my 07 toyota yaris so i could replace struts. Replaced OEM links w/ Moogs. They were so rusty that even pretreating them w/kroil days in advance,they gave me a hard time. I pulled so har that the wrench flexed. After more kroil was applied the nut slowly turned off. I used alot of force to get a little movement. Should of just cut them off. The wrench is long and I figured should be robust for its length. But if I break it,no warranty as G Pro are no longer made.

 

[toolaholic]

 

[WhiffySpark]

Heat the piss out of that nut and it comes right off. But to answer your question I've never broke one. But I have split a 19mm box end on one. Mine are gear wrench xl

 

[rednotch]

My brother broke the same wrench working in a body shop the 19mm end broke.... local sk truck said buy another one, no warranty, this was right after ideal bought them and while the truck had them in stock they would not honor it since ideal would not reimburse them for the tool since they no longer offered it. I don't think he has tried contacting Ideal owned sk to see if they would do anything. He also stopped buying off the sk truck.

Best bet is to use a box end to break it free first but in the flat rate world most people don't and stuff breaks. I've locked up a few gearwrench versions myself over the years.

 

[toddoky]

Heat the piss out of that nut and it comes right off. But to answer your question I've never broke one. But I have split a 19mm box end on one. Mine are gear wrench xl

^+1...heat is your best friend in such situations if you have access to a torch/source.

 

[sha]

Don't know who made my USA Craftsman ratcheting wrenches but they are stronger than most 3/8 drive socket ratchets I own. I would exhaust other avenues before beating on them but I have...

 

[PartsGuy27]

I'm a big guy (6'7" 270lbs) and i've pulled with all my might on some of my GearWrench ratcheting wrenches and they still keep on ticking like nothing ever happened.

 

[rockinacummins]

Dang. I pushed kinda hard on a 10mm gear wrench and it locked up. Talk about a major disappointment.

I hit it on the table and it resumed working though.

 

[toolaholic]

My brother broke the same wrench working in a body shop the 19mm end broke.... local sk truck said buy another one, no warranty, this was right after ideal bought them and while the truck had them in stock they would not honor it since ideal would not reimburse them for the tool since they no longer offered it. I don't think he has tried contacting Ideal owned sk to see if they would do anything. He also stopped buying off the sk truck.

Best bet is to use a box end to break it free first but in the flat rate world most people don't and stuff breaks. I've locked up a few gearwrench versions myself over the years.

I would of broke it free w/ my proto 17x19 but the thing is the sk is longer. After it flexed I got the kroil out again. Then it budged.

 

[oldldh]

Dang. I pushed kinda hard on a 10mm gear wrench and it locked up. Talk about a major disappointment.

I hit it on the table and it resumed working though.

You're using the British "Give it a good BASH method..."

Nothing works like a good bash to loosen things up...

My GearWrenches just won't quit...although I usually use a 6 pt Combination wrench to break things loose, and then the ratcheting wrench...

 

[ng8264723]

They are not made for breaking rusted fasteners use a box wrench

 

[sometoyotaguy]

They seem to hold up well, but I wouldn't use them for a breaker bar.

 

[wolf_from_wv]

Looks like you need a few pass-through sockets.....

 

[Charles (in GA)]

They are not made for breaking rusted fasteners use a box wrench

This^^^^ or a breaker bar and socket. cannot see using a ratcheting box end on something tight, too easy to damage the wrench.

Personally, I would have thown an impact on it and got it going first.

 

[Finky198]

I have yet to break a ratcheting wrench

but on the note of heat and torches I tend to find that most people I've worked with in the past whimp out a little bit when it comes to applying heat. they always seem to under do it. In situations like this where you have plenty of room for a flame use it as long as ur not heating a critical component get that thing glowing hot let it cool for a second and it should slip right off

heat+penatrating oil= takes nuts right off their bolts
( acetone and trans fluid work very well) and wear safety gear of course

 

[defektes]

The new SK X frame should handle that bolt with no issue.

I have broken my fair share of USA cman ratchet wrenches, but I abuse them, double wrench, pipes etc.. I am looking into the SK SAE set but I want to wait to see if they release a expanded set.

 

[jn50308401]

Don't know who made my USA Craftsman ratcheting wrenches but they are stronger than most 3/8 drive socket ratchets I own. I would exhaust other avenues before beating on them but I have...

I have Craftman USA's too, they are reversible and I prefer them over the Gearwrenches I have. If they were slightly longer they would be perfect. I would have used a torch/ cut off wheel to get those links off. Ain't nobody got time for breaking wrenches!

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[kunkernator]

My favorite wrenches are my Snap On reversible ratcheting. They are long pattern, and fairly slim head. With that said, i have NEVER broken one with using hand force on it (no doubling up, just pulling with all my might), so they are 100% in my book. Now, i will say, never use a ratcheting end to hold a nut that you are loosing (the bolt) with an impact. The second that impact hits, it grenades the internals of the wrench. Ask me how i know.

But they werent designed for this. After making that mistake once, never again.


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[Full Metal Ratchet]

I use 3 older flex head GearWrenches on import cars (10mm, 12mm, 14mm). No problems with new properly torqued bolts. Sometimes they jam up but you just whack them on something hard or just go to the next bolt and it will unjam if pulled the opposite way. I haven't broken one yet, but I don't use them for ultimate torque situations where I know there's going to be trouble (i.e. old rusty). For that I use my Wright wrenches with "Wright Drive". Beefy wrenches with teeth on the open end.

 

[Olafur]

Am I wrong to assume non-reversible rat. wrenches are stronger than the reversible ones?

 

[Marc Benjamin]

This is so timely.

A couple of friends and I had the same thing happen on those stupid hex held stabilizer links just last week. Ours was on a 05 Civic though.

I'll one up you. In addition to the completely rusted nut, the hex ended up completely rounded!

We had to use a standard length regular ratcheting gear-wrench 17 (iirc) on that cause for some reason the regular combination was missing. No torch, grinder nor saw at the time either.

Anyways, that GW ratcheting 17 was strong. I was pulling on that with both hands putting considerable weight on it while my buddy held the bolt with long nose vise grips (we managed to turn it some) to keep the bolt from turning with the nut.

 

[Fender1325]

For anything really stubborn I hook on a regular open end wrench so that its laying horizontal to the ground, then a nice sledge hammer. A couple medium blows and its usually free. Tough on the wrench? Yeah. Never had a failure though.

 

[motofool33]

ive yet to break one and ive done some stupid things doubling up wrenches for more leverage too

 

[retDAC]

Am I wrong to assume non-reversible rat. wrenches are stronger than the reversible ones?

Note from a (former?) member: "The reversibles are often stronger than the non-reversibles."

From here: http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/s...1&postcount=18

He worked for one of the best Taiwanese mfrs. About 6-10 years ago they tested practically every ratcheting wrench available at that time.

 

[Lwel9226]

I have a set of older Craftsman ratchet wrenches that I loaned a fellow worker the 9/16,
he brought it back to me bragging about breaking new 3/8 grade 5 bolts with it.....
I never loaned him any tools after that.....
That was several years ago, I still have the wrench, and it still works OK

Lynn W

 

[camd64]

I have been using gearwrench ones since they where first introduced and haven't had one fail yet. I started my career in heavy equipment which can be fairly brutal on hand tools. Granted I also knew when I should break the fastener loose with a fixed box end first, then move on to the ratcheting wrench.

 

[1950mercury]

For anything really stubborn I hook on a regular open end wrench so that its laying horizontal to the ground, then a nice sledge hammer. A couple medium blows and its usually free. Tough on the wrench? Yeah. Never had a failure though.

Use an open end on a stubborn nut or bolt...unless its a fd+ style that makes no sense to me most spread, I don't care what brand they are.

I have broken my fair share,gearwrench and craftsman usa both reversible. I now use matco or Armstrong's with a fixed box on one end and a ratcheting box on the other. Use the fixed to break loose than use the ratcheting to take it off

 

[toolaholic]

^+1...heat is your best friend in such situations if you have access to a torch/source.

I have a little propane torch I got on close out at ace hardware. Guess I should start using it. Wonder what burning kroil smells like.

 

[snapmom]

I have broken my Snap on 13mm, toolman replaced it for me.

 

[66354dream]

They are not made for breaking rusted fasteners use a box wrench

I agree with this post, use Kroil and or heat and at least a non ratcheting box end wrench. BTW put some kind of penetrating oil on the damn thing man!!! it looks drier than a popcorn fart.

 

[WhiffySpark]

They are not made for breaking rusted fasteners use a box wrench

I've never broke the ratcheting end but I've split the box end. So

 

[pennsylvaniaboy]

An impact will break them.....don't ask how i know that....

 

[Fedwrench]

Ratcheting wrenches are real strong and can take a lot of abuse but, they're not as tough as a fixed boxed end/breaker bar w/ socket/or an impact wrench. They all will fail eventually regardless of whose name is stamped on them. I've broken snap on, matco, and Proto. They don't always fail under load but, may die later after heavy use or might not be as smooth. Anyway, that's why my favorite ratcheting wrench is the Armstrong/Matco proswing. They have a fixed boxed end on one side and a fine toothed ratcheting boxed end on the other side. You can break fasteners loose or do final tightening with the fixed end and use the ratcheting end to speed the fastener off/on. Gearwrench has the concept in the XL Gearbox and Flex Spline wrenches but, they are really long. I wish Gearwrench would make a standard length version.

 

[Ericgst]

I have broke 3 Gearwrench non-reversible wrenches. Two of them locked up and one of them lost is ratchet, would spin easily with no click. these were all from the same set, probably 8 or more years ago.

I should probably see if I still have them somewhere and try to warranty them.