Hot rod magazine ratchet test

Fedwrench · Aug 9, 2013

The mailman dropped off my battered new issue of Hot Rod today. They've got a nice spread with hot babes and cool garages too include Jack olsen's 12 gauge with a blonde but, I digress.

On page 116 they printed the results of their bargain ratchet torture test. they took a few $20 or so 1/2 drive ratchets and placed them in a jig to see who was strongest.

Now, there weren't any truck brands since they using $20 or so ratchets. There was craftsman duralast, kobalt (current), husky, powerbuilt, pittsburgh pro, gearhead, and an old Proto 5449 from a swap meet.

The ratchets failed at between 333 ftlbs and 890 ftlbs.

The results were interesting. Pick up the October issue of Hot Rod when it comes out to find out more.

John316 · Aug 9, 2013

My guess would be that the Proto won the day, with the duralast in 2nd place. Suprised the CM made it to 333 or better!

SlowAl · Aug 9, 2013

What's with the tease? Just post the results!

01. Craftsman - Vintage USA - 333 lb-ft
02. Craftsman - China - 808 lb-ft
03. Duralast - China - 649 lb-ft
04. Duralast - Taiwan - 890 lb-ft
05. Gearhead - Taiwan - 828 lb-ft
06. Husky - China - 781 lb-ft
07. Kobalt - Taiwan - 828 lb-ft
08. Pittsburgh Pro - China - 794 lb-ft
09.Powerbuilt - China - 632 lb-ft
10. Powerbuilt - Taiwan - 818 lb-ft
11. Proto - Vintage USA - 659 lb-ft

http://www.hotrod.com/feature_stories/1310_ratchet_handles_torture_test/

Fedwrench · Aug 9, 2013

John316 said:
My guess would be that the Proto won the day, with the duralast in 2nd place. Suprised the CM made it to 333 or better!

In fairness the 333ftlb craftsman was from the 1950's, while a current PRC made Craftsman lasted until 808 ftlbs. The Duralast actually came in the highest at 890ftlbs before failing. The Proto made it to 659 ftlbs but, only skipped a tooth it's reported as being unscathed.

Would like to see a 3/8 test done with an sk and gearwrench version thrown in.

4BT · Aug 9, 2013

I recall hot rod running the same test about 10 years ago with all the big name ratchets at the time. Interesting results

Mohawk Dave · Aug 9, 2013

I think it's fair to say the Duralast, as we all know, is a lot of bang for the buck. Feels, good, looks good, priced good, and works good.

Good, cheap, fast....only 2 you say....maybe all 3 with Duralast....

Rico. · Aug 9, 2013

So.... Who is going to be brave enough to start a thread suggesting the best thing everyone
can do is warranty out their old puny USA made Craftsman ratchet for a nice new shiny
Chinese one that's more than twice as strong.... :ninja:

reptilezs · Aug 9, 2013

Rico. said:
So.... Who is going to be brave enough to start a thread suggesting the best thing everyone
can do is warranty out their old puny USA made Craftsman ratchet for a nice new shiny
Chinese one that's more than twice as strong....

for what its worth the new chinese raised panel ratchets have a better action than the late production usa stuff.

Strouty · Aug 9, 2013

You saw all this, but not Jack's 12 Gauge Garage!!!

cburnscrx · Aug 9, 2013

Interesting read...

What did find interesting was the fact they used the Kobalt flex head for the test vs. the fixed head. The fixed head is cheaper so the torque per dollar would be skewed as well, though not by much. Also they didn't mention the tooth count of each ratchet. The Duralast has a 10 degree swing, vs. a 5 degree swing for the Kobalt. I guess if I were making a decison, those things would be worth noting...890 vs 828 isn't that different, and both are excellent.

sberry · Aug 9, 2013

reptilezs said:
for what its worth the new chinese raised panel ratchets have a better action than the late production usa stuff.

This isn't news, There is no way the new China ratchet isn't an improvement over the POS they had for last 30 + years. Says it all, on sheer scale that has to be about the worst tool in the world for the longest time if you don't count a rock as a hammer.

FWIW that Napa ******* is the same thing with a polish on it, I quit taking them back. Should sell them to some "collector" thinks he will be a wise *** and trade it at a sears for a "new" one. Joke is on him.

I have defended Sears just due to stupid low pricing and you can get new if it breaks, ok but its junk. A Stanley from Walmart is 1o times the tool and I wouldn't be surprised that's who makes the new one.

Now,,, I might round up the old ones and trade, good idea, I hadn't considered that the new one might be a different model.

Duct Tape Man · Aug 9, 2013

I say the test was skewed in favor of the companies that make their ratchets in China/Taiwan at the present, and paid the Hot Rod boys to say nice things about them, bump up the results, etc. My opinion and two cents, I can spend it as I wish.

I'll still buy American tools, regardless of age and Hot Rod's so-called test results. At least my tool dollars are supporting jobs here. I also choose not to spend my money on any stuff make in countries that are Communist and use near-slave labor. I'm weird like that.

Spudland_Dave · Aug 9, 2013

sberry said:
This isn't news, There is no way the new China ratchet isn't an improvement over the POS they had for last 30 + years. Says it all, on sheer scale that has to be about the worst tool in the world for the longest time if you don't count a rock as a hammer.

Truer words have not been spoken here...I agree 100% Had the CMan rats been made overseas the whole time, they would have been flamed here so bad it would be funny....
Moral of the story is over here on GJ, a goat turd with crappy chrome plating, a junk mechanism, coming from a store with crappy service (recently) is some how superior to an imported ratchet such as the Kobalt with nice chrome/nice finish work, etc..

I gave all my CMan Rats to my son...I actually kinda feel bad I gave such crappy tools to my 3 year old to use as his tools/toys. I suppose in time, he will learn what a real rat feels like and appreciate the difference.

sberry · Aug 9, 2013

reptilezs said:
for what its worth the new chinese raised panel ratchets have a better action than the late production usa stuff.

This isn't news, There is no way the new China ratchet isn't an improvement over the POS they had for last 30 + years. Says it all, on sheer scale that has to be about the worst tool in the world for the longest time if you don't count a rock as a hammer.
I wonder what the score is at Napa, different model there too? I got 2 of those without a scratch on them that don't work.

cburnscrx · Aug 9, 2013

sberry said:
This isn't news, There is no way the new China ratchet isn't an improvement over the POS they had for last 30 + years. Says it all, on sheer scale that has to be about the worst tool in the world for the longest time if you don't count a rock as a hammer.

FWIW that Napa ******* is the same thing with a polish on it, I quit taking them back. Should sell them to some "collector" thinks he will be a wise *** and trade it at a sears for a "new" one. Joke is on him.

I have defended Sears just due to stupid low pricing and you can get new if it breaks, ok but its junk. A Stanley from Walmart is 1o times the tool and I wouldn't be surprised that's who makes the new one.

Now,,, I might round up the old ones and trade, good idea, I hadn't considered that the new one might be a different model.

I wouldn't be so quick to jump on the Stanley ratchet bandwagon. I'm on my 3rd, and I have no delusions this will be much better though it is a different design. I just sent an old one in for a warranty replacement, and what they sent back was disappointing at best. It works, at least for now, but the thing sounds like a baby rattle. No joke. I was annoyed enough with the quality I sent Stanley an email that they sent me a junk replacement. Little did I know they're ALL like that. I went to the store to compare my warranty replacement vs. New and indeed they all rattle. Wow.

Stanley themselves has been GREAT, and that will keep me buying their products (that and the sockets and wrenches I have that are great too). They sent me a free rotator ratchet since I was disappointed with the replacement ratchet. Now, I am not really sure what I am going to DO with it...but it appears very well built and possibly useful. I'll let you know what I think.

justanengineer · Aug 9, 2013

Duct Tape Man said:
I say the test was skewed in favor of the companies that make their ratchets in China/Taiwan at the present, and paid the Hot Rod boys to say nice things about them, bump up the results, etc. My opinion and two cents, I can spend it as I wish.

I'll still buy American tools, regardless of age and Hot Rod's so-called test results. At least my tool dollars are supporting jobs here.

I agree that it was skewed. What folks here are missing is the obvious - that its not about yield strength when new, its about durability. Who gives two rats asses what torque a ratchet breaks at when new? Youre not going to be tightening fasteners to anything close to 800 ft-lb with a 1/2" ratchet, and even at half that w/a 4 foot pipe most of the fellas here would be on their asses after 20 bolts.

Chuck122 · Aug 9, 2013

Duct Tape Man said:
I say the test was skewed in favor of the companies that make their ratchets in China/Taiwan at the present, and paid the Hot Rod boys to say nice things about them, bump up the results, etc. My opinion and two cents, I can spend it as I wish.

No offense but i think you are over thinking this. The USA craftsman was outperformed by new, better designs, and so was the proto.
Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that they were used?

getbent4x4 · Aug 9, 2013

Can't say I've ever put more than 300+ lbs on a ratchet, so looks like I'm safe. Sometimes "good enough", is good enough.

Duct Tape Man · Aug 9, 2013

justanengineer said:
I agree that it was skewed. What folks here are missing is the obvious - that its not about yield strength when new, its about durability. Who gives two rats asses what torque a ratchet breaks at when new? Youre not going to be tightening fasteners to anything close to 800 ft-lb with a 1/2" ratchet, and even at half that w/a 4 foot pipe most of the fellas here would be on their asses after 20 bolts.

Agreed. The USA ratchets have stood the test of time. Guess we'll have to wait 30 years to see how the foreign ones do. Well, you guys test the ChiCom ones. I'll keep using my USA stuff. :beer:

sberry · Aug 9, 2013

Like I said,, not every cheap product is stellar, could be so with the Stanley ratchet but a guy aint out much if it doesn't work out, about what the sales tax would be on a top of the line vended tool at MSRP.

Its why Sears still drags on, it aint very good but you aint out much. Their vending has nearly been passed by the chain auto store certainly for service. Some of those are branded dealers. As box stores started in to hard line tools they have taken Sears old place.

Jack Olsen · Aug 9, 2013

I haven't read the article yet -- although, oddly, I've got that issue on its way to my house.

But are they only testing one of each model? It would seem that manufacturing variations would probably give you different breaking points for ten different versions of even the same model. And it does seem odd that the test is for ultimate breaking strength, which isn't what you usually need from a ratchet. If it was a breaker bar (or pry bar) test, then sure. But a ratchet designer might put ultimate shear strength (or whatever they're testing) pretty low on his list of essential design specs.

Still, I'll admit that I might look for one of the old-version Duralast models the next time I'm at the parts store. If I remember right, the distinguishing characteristic is the style of knurling?

Stuart in MN · Aug 9, 2013

Jack Olsen said:
But are they only testing one of each model? It would seem that manufacturing variations would probably give you different breaking points for ten different versions of even the same model. And it does seem odd that the test is for ultimate breaking strength, which isn't what you usually need from a ratchet. If it was a breaker bar (or pry bar) test, then sure. But a ratchet designer might put ultimate shear strength (or whatever they're testing) pretty low on his list.

It was a pretty unscientific test. They just gathered up a bunch of ratchets and tested each one to the point of failure. The premise of the story was you're at the junkyard, you find a part you need, and all you have with you to attack the rusty bolts holding it on is the cheap ratchet in your junkyard toolbag.

sk farmer · Aug 9, 2013

while that is an interesting test it seems to be rather incomplete. i can't say that i have ever purchased a ratchet on a torque per dollar basis ( i am sure the author thought he was real cute inventing that new term). it seems that all of the ratchets survived more torque than what could normally be applied with a short handle. sure some ham fisted 300 lb behemoth may be able to destroy when without a pipe but most of us can't. of note on the old cman and proto. how can you test them against a new unused ratchet when you have no idea of age, care and type of usage they have had.

i have made purchases based on tooth count, handle comfort and the ratcheting action or feel and none of those seemed to be of any real concern.

oddly the author said he would not dare to take a snap-on ratchet to a salvage yard. what is he afraid of other than theft which can't be blamed on the ratchet, that would be the users fault.

ganymede · Aug 9, 2013

Fedwrench said:
In fairness the 333ftlb craftsman was from the 1950's...

Right. Who knows how worn the thing was and that's a major factor in how much a ratchet will take before skipping. Same thing with the Proto.
As has been said to make the test valid you'd need a large sampling of un-used vintage ratchets from a large timeframe.
All that said its still interesting to me.

cburnscrx · Aug 9, 2013

Here's what I think the pro USA crowd is missing...where do you go buy one for under $30 in most towns in America off the shelf? Menards is the only place I know of where that can happen and that's a midwest franchise. I am not talking about the specialty tool place that your wife doesn't know exists, but where the average Joe fixing his car or lawnmower would shop.

The ratchets they tested were from Home Depot, Lowes, Sears, Autozone, Pep Boys, Harbor Freight and Carquest. That's a pretty good selection of where most of America buys their tools. I guess they could have included Ace, TruValue, Menards, Walmart and Advanced Auto, but some of those are regional distributors. Let's face reality, people generally follow the path of least resistance, and walking in and picking up a ratchet off the shelf is much easier than hunting for a USA ratchet online or in town at a significant price increase. I don't think they tried to skew it, I think that's just how it works these days.

kc-steve · Aug 9, 2013

Yeah and Motor Trend's (Car and Driver) 1971 Car of the Year award was the Chevy Vega. I have always wondered how much these articles are swayed by their own advertisers.

http://www.caranddriver.com/feature...arrassing-award-winners-in-automotive-history

Steve

iroc409 · Aug 9, 2013

cburnscrx said:
Here's what I think the pro USA crowd is missing...where do you go buy one for under $30 in most towns in America off the shelf? Menards is the only place I know of where that can happen and that's a midwest franchise. I am not talking about the specialty tool place that your wife doesn't know exists, but where the average Joe fixing his car or lawnmower would shop.

The ratchets they tested were from Home Depot, Lowes, Sears, Autozone, Pep Boys, Harbor Freight and Carquest. That's a pretty good selection of where most of America buys their tools. I guess they could have included Ace, TruValue, Menards, Walmart and Advanced Auto, but some of those are regional distributors. Let's face reality, people generally follow the path of least resistance, and walking in and picking up a ratchet off the shelf is much easier than hunting for a USA ratchet online or in town at a significant price increase. I don't think they tried to skew it, I think that's just how it works these days.

Yep... Seriously, I think a lot of people are way over thinking this. A magazine like Hot Rod, or really anyone other than Garage Journal members, are not going to drag out some long-term, high-dollar scientific test on sub-$30 ratchets. I think it was an interesting test.

For most people who aren't willing to scour eBay and dig through pawn shop bins for good ole USA ratchets, it's good information. People don't want to take their $100 Snap-On ratchet to the junk yard to get lost, so it's good to have some sort of baseline comparison for the cheaper stuff. And for most people at home, this stuff works just fine. How many people fix their own stuff anymore anyway? (Ugh).

It's estimated in 2015 or so the manufacturing costs balance between the US and China will even out. We might see more stuff return to our shores for manufacturing, or they might continue on to Viet Nam. Who knows?!

kc-steve · Aug 9, 2013

iroc409 said:
. . . It's estimated in 2015 or so the manufacturing costs balance between the US and China will even out. We might see more stuff return to our shores for manufacturing, or they might continue on to Viet Nam. Who knows?!

The dollar is falling in value so our labor is getting relatively cheap compared to other countries. But imports are costing us more, . . . like gasoline.

Steve

woody 73 · Aug 9, 2013

Fun reading and all, funny but this morning I went looking at three different garage sales for some nice used ratchets, the first "man cave tool sale" all he had was a plastic bag of rusty Chinese wrenches for 50 cents each; the next yard sale in a rain storm the women refused to even bother bringing out the small hand tools and the last garage sale the guy had old used snap on tools at almost full retail prices. Such as life; but still fun reading about the new and used ratchets. :beer:

ez-duzit · Aug 9, 2013

If that Hot Rod Mag test seemed valuable to anyone here, LEARN TO USE YOUR BREAKER BAR!

03protege · Aug 9, 2013

I was actually eyeballing the new Husky 72 tooth the other day, I think I may pick some up for the junkyard bag. Not paying the $15 they want for it though, It will be on the clearance rack soon enough I'm sure.

ez-duzit said:
If that Hot Rod Mag test seemed valuable to anyone here, LEARN TO USE YOUR BREAKER BAR!

Yeah that would about sum it up.

cheechi · Aug 9, 2013

yes the test itself at face value is silly. but think about it for a minute, all of these were ~$20, which puts most USA made ratchets totally out of the running. the two USA were older rats. So really it could be said

whats the best made gear teeth on inexpensive import ratchets

instead of whatever else the actual title is. So let's compare apples to apples. Most new import ratchets are going to be at least 72 teeth, many 84 teeth. That by itself, better or worse in any other category, would have me replace an older 12-tooth cman with a newer import, all things considered, just for the convenience. So not only are these finer teeth import rats still able to withstand high torque before breaking (or skipping?) a tooth, but it also shows the materials and process used to make it are not severely flawed. For that particular ratchet in that particular batch.

Jack is completely right, nobody is going to believe even most of these ratchets came out of a six sigma facility that they'll all fail under the same load. But look at the spread, realistically, from about on par with the Proto (in the 600s) to 'better than the Proto' without even using numbers you can simply say that the Proto is the baseline and everything is at least as good as that baseline.

the moral of the story is that newer import ratchets are not worse than older USA ratchets. All the rest is simply noise about the details.

03protege · Aug 9, 2013

cheechi said:
the moral of the story is that newer import ratchets are not worse than older USA ratchets. All the rest is simply noise about the details.

I really don't see how you can draw any conclusions from this test.

-Used USA vs New Import
-Sample size of 1
-Unrealistic test methods

Details :lol_hitti

who cares about those?

priceman1414 · Aug 9, 2013

I read this article yesterday, I just thought of it as a simple test - something they just did out of curiosity "I wonder how much force a ratchet can take" - not meant to be a scientific test.

At the end of the article, they said something like "If you need to apply 800 foot pounds to break a bolt loose, forget it!" or something like that.

If they had wanted to do a REALLY scientific test, they'd have to find a machine that can apply the maximum force an average guy can apply, and apply that force over and over again until the ratchet breaks - but that would be a lot more work for a 2 page article in a magazine that isn't primarily about tools!

priceman1414 · Aug 9, 2013

Duct Tape Man said:
I'll still buy American tools, regardless of age and Hot Rod's so-called test results. At least my tool dollars are supporting jobs here. I also choose not to spend my money on any stuff make in countries that are Communist and use near-slave labor. I'm weird like that.

Same here.

cburnscrx said:
They sent me a free rotator ratchet since I was disappointed with the replacement ratchet. Now, I am not really sure what I am going to DO with it...but it appears very well built and possibly useful. I'll let you know what I think.

Funny, I got my dad one of those for christmas. Hasn't had a chance to use it yet. I first found out about the Stanley model while researching the "sidewinder speed wrench," which ironically, I first saw an ad for in a 1990s issue of Hot Rod.

iroc409 said:
It's estimated in 2015 or so the manufacturing costs balance between the US and China will even out. We might see more stuff return to our shores for manufacturing, or they might continue on to Viet Nam. Who knows?!

I've heard this as well. Chinese companies are outsourcing jobs to places like Vietnam and Cambodia.

kc-steve · Aug 9, 2013

After looking at the article, I think they made a huge but common mistake with the vintage Craftsman ratchet. The ratchet shown is from the late 1940s to mid 1950s . . .

01. Craftsman
Model Number: Unknown, it's vintage
Where It Was Made: USA
Where We Bought It: Swap meet
What Broke: It seemed broken but only skipped a tooth internally. The action became coarse and clunky.
Max Torque: 333 lb-ft
Price: $10
Torque Per Dollar: 33 lb-ft

Read more: http://www.hotrod.com/feature_stories/1310_ratchet_handles_torture_test/#ixzz2bUVrk2cg

Skipping teeth is common for vintage Craftsman but it is USUALLY old grease that has dried. Their test is invalid.

Steve

DMAR · Aug 9, 2013

kc-steve said:
Yeah and Motor Trend's (Car and Driver) 1971 Car of the Year award was the Chevy Vega. I have always wondered how much these articles are swayed by their own advertisers.

http://www.caranddriver.com/feature...arrassing-award-winners-in-automotive-history

Steve

Aside from the 3 quarts per week of oil that it would burn, the Vega was great car for the two and a half years before it completely rusted through... :lol_hitti

I worked at a gas station back then (in HS), and often wondered what people were thinking when they bought those POSs... :dunno:

creativecars · Aug 9, 2013

You guys are funny. Not scientific you say? Just because you disagree does not mean it is useless. He asked a question.. How much physical presure will this group of ratchets take before they break? Good question. He did some back ground research to find out what ratchets fall into this price range. Did he construct a hypothesis, no, he left that up to the reader. Do an experiment, yep, even with a fairly accurate piece of equipment which most of us dont own. Did he change a bunch of variables? Nope, your not supposed to do that when setting a baseline. Did he draw a conclusion? No, just that he did not want to take a $100+ ratchet to the salvage yard, when there are much less expensive choices that will get the job done. Report his results? Yep... :thumbup:

This was way more scientific that believing that the only way to remove a stubborn bolt is with a high dollar tool. :lol_hitti

JJThrasher · Aug 9, 2013

justanengineer said:
I agree that it was skewed. What folks here are missing is the obvious - that its not about yield strength when new, its about durability. Who gives two rats asses what torque a ratchet breaks at when new? Youre not going to be tightening fasteners to anything close to 800 ft-lb with a 1/2" ratchet, and even at half that w/a 4 foot pipe most of the fellas here would be on their asses after 20 bolts.

Its not so much tightening as breaking bolts loose. I've put well over 500 ft-lbs through one of my 1/2" drives breaking bolts loose. I've also sheared the drives off of cheap ratchets and broke the gearing in others. I put 1000+ fT-lbs when I use my 3/4" stuff.

If you'd like to check my math, the 1/2" is a 24" handle and the 3/4" is a 40" handle. I've jumped while standing on both handles at times. At one point I weighed over 300 lbs.

2mJps · Aug 9, 2013

Their are some tools that are better than others but i dont think you could come up with a test that could prove what is what. I own alot of diffrent ratchets and the one that has been repair the most,babyed the most,and used the least is a snapon.

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