Elusive and unique Snap-on F-7 find...

[KnurledNut]

The "F" Ferret series is well known as 3/8 drive.
This early non-reversing F-7 ratchet design was limited to a handful of years in the mid to late '20s, and replaced with the F-70.

The 9/32 drive is also all too well known to us tool guys.
Model numbers were designated with a "M" for Midget series.

Enter this oddity of a ratchet.
F-7 with a 9/32 drive.
Date code is visible and refers to 1929.
Ratchet mechanism works well, 15t.

From my dead end search, im left thinking this must be a rarity, perhaps even more so than the F-7 itself.

I was curious if the seasoned Snap-on collectors had any thoughts on this.

Thanks,
KNut

 

[snapmom]

I have not seen one like it. not in the cats. I have one similar, has hex drive. It may be a refrigeration rat. they made a F70 like that.

 

[KnurledNut]

I have seen the hex drive version.
My catalog search also came up empty.
I too was thinking refrig. ratchet at first.
However, the inside of the square drive appears to have very light wear on the center of the flats from perhaps a drive plug retention ball at one time.

 

[MShaw]

"However, the inside of the square drive appears to have very light wear on the center of the flats from perhaps a drive plug retention ball at one time."

Or it may be that the pre drilled hole for the broach did not quite "clean up" in the broaching operation. This is fairly common when broaching square holes and is of no consequence as this is not a "working area" of the square.

In the data below for a .375 square broach a .390 drill is used:

Each
ADD TO ORDER
In stock
$144.31 Each
3156A19
Cut Style Square
Material Uncoated High-Speed Steel
Square Size 3/8"
Actual Square Size 0.3760"
Actual Square Size Tolerance -0.0005" to 0.0005"
Overall Length 9 3/8"
Use with Drill Bit Size 25/64"
Broach Type Push
Shank Shape Square
Shank Type Straight

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Is the O.D. of the round drive plug with the 9/32-inch female square drive opening in your oddball the same as the O.D. of the round drive plug with 3/8-inch female square drive opening? And are the plugs readily removable? If so, my bet is on that ratchet frame being forged with a die for a 3/8-inch drive plug, as the model number suggests, then Snap-On - or someone else - replacing the plug with a 3/8-inch square female drive opening for a plug with a 9/32-inch square female drive opening. It's been done before, to include by Snap-On at the factory. Their first production of 1/4-inch square drive ratchets were ALL made that way in 1943, replacing plugs with 9/32-inch square drive male studs for plugs with 1/4-inch square drive male studs. Everything else was the same. Those were removed with two screws.

 

[JSCraftsman]

Yes, nice F-7 ratchet! I believe that your F-7 originally had a captive drive plug. I have one of these guys which I found a year or two ago. To my knowledge, there were three different styles of the F-7 which I have seen. This version is the earliest as it is the pre reversible selector model. The following F-7 used the flat style selector, not the flat style as seen in regards to the F-70N, but rather a peened on attached sheet style selector. There is also this same selector on the rarer early F70 as well. The third style F-7 that I believe remember seeing was the needle style selector F-7, which again this same type of selector is also seen on the F-70 & F70A models. I could possibly be incorrect, as I am not the authority on the late 1920's F series.-JS

 

[Oldtuleguy]

Nice ratchet, but this thread is 8 years old

 

[JSCraftsman]

I'm going to post on this thread again one more time... beings it doesn't go bad like rotten fruit...lol. But yes, there are at least three F-7 variants that I'm aware of... I mentioned them above in my previous post. I just got the needle selector F-7, but still hunting for the flat selector variant... which hopefully someday will find one for sale. Much appreciated guys! Happy evening to all!-JS

 

[snapmom]

Five

 

[JSCraftsman]

Five

As always, very cool snapmom!! I forgot to mention that hex version, because I knew I saw one before. I also figured that somewhere along the line there must of been a 1/4" female version as well!

 

[KnurledNut]

I never followed up on this thread, but I sent the ratchet to Snapmom. I believe it’s the same one pictured in the group of 5 above.

I am not a collector and wanted it to go to a good home. I was more honored to have a contribution to Snapmoms astounding collection, than to have it sitting orphaned in my drawer. Hard to believe that was almost 9 years ago.

To this day, it’s still the only one of that variant I have seen.

 

[snapmom]

Thanks

 

[z28lsc]

I found these recently.