Craftsman ratchet repair?

[chris142]

I have an older craftsman ratchet #943797. My helper did something dumb and broke it. Stripped the teeth or something.

It's no longer made and I can't seem to find any parts for it. Lowe's and ace hardware won't trade it for a different one. They say it has to be the same #'s.

I called craftsman and the recording said to take it to a local distributor but as I said they won't do anything for me .

I don't want to toss it if I can help it. Any ideas?

 

[Komet]

Rebuild kits on ebay.

 

[Etchase]

Try another Lowes. Most let you grab another ratchet. Or another employee at the same store.

 

[The Cobbler]

Rebuild kits on ebay.

I second this

 

[drtyler]

I’m not finding the kit for 43797 on reference lists. Need that number to search ebay better.

 

[WWheeler]

If it's a 1/2" Tri-wing then no, no kits were available for them that I know of. If you are really fond of that style ratchet you can probably find a used one on ebay for under $20 though.

 

[chris142]

Rebuild kits on ebay.

Nothing

 

[bonneyman]

What a load of ****! Man, Ace has gone seriously downhill. We would routinely swap out a broken Craftsman tool with an equivalent one (didn't always have the exact model # as some tools were just too old). However, we wouldn't exchange a tool that we didn't carry. But ratchets? Every store has those.

Wasn't that the series of ratchet that Stanley made in Japan and got busted for? Perhaps an equivalent Husky kit might fit it? I did some experimenting some time ago and the gear assemblies would interchange.

 

[WWheeler]

Wasn't that the series of ratchet that Stanley made in Japan and got busted for?

Yeah, IIRC they were made by Stanley in Taiwan in the 80s/90s at a time when Craftsman and Made in USA were fairly synonymous.

Not much love for the ol' Tri-wings around here but I grew up with them and got super used to using that thumbwheel on the backside. It was waaaaay faster and easier for me to spin the fastener up or down the threads using it than to do so with the socket or the fastener itself. Made me despise all other ratchets that didn't have that for the longest time. I still have a bunch of them in all sizes.

 

[BDT/NWMN]

I ran the Craftsman ratchet numbers 9-43797 and 43797 in a Google search and came up with repair kit #44797, A seller on eBay has that kit for 40 bucks, and the writing pictured on the package lists the kit being for Your #43797 ratchet.

 

[finn]

What a load of ****! Man, Ace has gone seriously downhill. We would routinely swap out a broken Craftsman tool with an equivalent one (didn't always have the exact model # as some tools were just too old). However, we wouldn't exchange a tool that we didn't carry. But ratchets? Every store has those.

Wasn't that the series of ratchet that Stanley made in Japan and got busted for? Perhaps an equivalent Husky kit might fit it? I did some experimenting some time ago and the gear assemblies would interchange.

Ace Hardware stores are locally owned, independent businesses.

 

[d.mcfarland]

What a load of ****! Man, Ace has gone seriously downhill. We would routinely swap out a broken Craftsman tool with an equivalent one (didn't always have the exact model # as some tools were just too old). However, we wouldn't exchange a tool that we didn't carry. But ratchets? Every store has those.

Wasn't that the series of ratchet that Stanley made in Japan and got busted for? Perhaps an equivalent Husky kit might fit it? I did some experimenting some time ago and the gear assemblies would interchange.

Stanley Black and Decker requires the number for number exchange. The retailers have to follow it. It's the same way at Lowes. You may get lucky and find a customer service employee who does not care or know.

In this case the ratchet in question is not overly desirable and any new (non raised panel) equivalent would be an upgrade. The new Craftsman ratchets aren't terrible by any means. Not USA made at this point obviously.

 

[demarpaint]

About a year or so ago I had good luck emailing them. Even on discontinued items I was mailed a replacement item which was similar. It did take a few weeks. I had no luck with ACE or Lowes trying to warranty them.

 

[chris142]

Thanks. I know it's nothing fancy but it did what I needed it to do. Plus my dad bought it for me in happier times. I sure didn't see that one on fleabay when I searched. $40 seems a little steep to me. It will have to wait till payday.

 

[ez-duzit]

...$40 seems a little steep to me. It will have to wait till payday.

It's expensive, and you can probably buy an entire wrench for that, but you don't have $40? Come on!

 

[chris142]

It's expensive, and you can probably buy an entire wrench for that, but you don't have $40? Come on!

Not right now I don't. House payment,car payment, insurance all came out of last week's check. Plus my well has gone dry and I'm looking at $40k to drill a new well

 

[bonneyman]

Stanley Black and Decker requires the number for number exchange. The retailers have to follow it. It's the same way at Lowes. You may get lucky and find a customer service employee who does not care or know.

In this case the ratchet in question is not overly desirable and any new (non raised panel) equivalent would be an upgrade. The new Craftsman ratchets aren't terrible by any means. Not USA made at this point obviously.

Yeah I know, but our store was a small mom and pop franchise. And as I recall Ace had an exclusive contract with Craftsman - albeit before they got sold to Stanley. Being a small store we didn't have a huge inventory of Craftsman, but we bent over backwards trying to help those customers out. (Because I was into ratchets I really went out on a limb for customers). I guess Stanley came in and put their foot down.

 

[BlakeTheCarGuy]

I’d just email them. That’s how I’ve done all my warranties from them. Don’t even have to send the old one back

 

[roofdweller49]

Did you take it apart to make sure you didn't strip the teeth on the body?

You can try emailing them, but i doubt they still have rebuild kits for them. At best they'll let you swap it for a new Chinese ratchet

 

[drtyler]

@chris142 Were you able to find a kit for this ratchet?

I have an older craftsman ratchet #943797. My helper did something dumb and broke it. Stripped the teeth or something.

It's no longer made and I can't seem to find any parts for it. Lowe's and ace hardware won't trade it for a different one. They say it has to be the same #'s.

I called craftsman and the recording said to take it to a local distributor but as I said they won't do anything for me .

I don't want to toss it if I can help it. Any ideas?

 

[chris142]

@chris142 Were you able to find a kit for this ratchet?

Nope. I threw it into the scrap pile.

 

[man-a-fre]

Try another Lowes. Most let you grab another ratchet. Or another employee at the same store.

Don't do this! get a kit for yours,the new rachets are junk.

 

[Etchase]

Personally, I find todays craftsman ratchets to be a tremendous improvement over the old craftsman ratchets, and light years ahead of a broken ratchet. Repairing his broken old ratchet doesn’t make economic sense when a rebuild kit is at least double the price of the same used ratchet. Why do you find todays craftsman ratchet to be junk?

 

[Houdini5150]

Email Craftsman customer service... See if they send you a new one.... If they suggest other places let them know your experience.

 

[ecotec]

Personally, I find todays craftsman ratchets to be a tremendous improvement over the old craftsman ratchets, and light years ahead of a broken ratchet. Repairing his broken old ratchet doesn’t make economic sense when a rebuild kit is at least double the price of the same used ratchet. Why do you find todays craftsman ratchet to be junk?

I don’t. I have used a few people’s recent Craftsman ratchets on job sites… and they were fine. They are not my thing. I collect USA ratchets and have more than enough.

I could probably get a high tooth count and made in USA Wright ratchet for what a rebuild kit for the OP’s ratchet costs on EBay.

Everybody’s situation is different, but I cannot even imagine paying $40 to fix a Craftsman ratchet.

If I really wanted to repair a tri-wing ratchet that I had nostalgic feelings about… I would throw it in a drawer and keep it there until I found another tri-wing ratchet at a garage sale for a dollar or so. I would use the guts from the donor ratchet, and once I was satisfied that it was working properly, I would throw the rest of the donor ratchet in the scrap bin.

That would get a reasonable result at a reasonable price… but, obviously, not necessarily on a quick timeframe.

I, probably, would not scrap a ratchet that I had those kinds of feelings about.

 

[Schurkey]

I threw it into the scrap pile.

Excellent plan. Those ratchets were junk when they were new. Not worth fixing.