Proto 5450PBL rebuild kit?

Hip2u77 · Mar 27, 2018

Anyone have an extra rebuild kit, or know a part#, for a Proto 5450PBL? (One of the industrial finish 15" 1/2" drives) My brother thought it would be a good idea to use it as a hammer and broke off the selector lever. It was my 'go to' 1/2" ratchet.

I see rebuild kits for the chrome 5450 with the selector that is peened on but not these black ones with the flat style lever that goes in from the back.

I've got an email into Stanley now.

Sure wish I'd of bought a few more ratchets back when they were all over ebay for $10-$20.

mikebaker1129 · Mar 27, 2018

Is that a 24 tooth ratchet ?
If so the standard 5449 ratchet kit should fit and work. Available at Zoro for about $11. j5449rk is the kit #.

davethorik · Mar 27, 2018

mikebaker1129 said:
Is that a 24 tooth ratchet ?
If so the standard 5449 ratchet kit should fit and work. Available at Zoro for about $11. j5449rk is the kit #.

I believe the ratchet he is talking about is a Proto Big Dawg that was the precursor to the Proto XL ratchets. As far as I know, those are discontinued and repair kits are NLA.

OP, if SBD offers to replace it for you, they will most likely give you a newer Proto 5450XLBL. I know the Big Dawgs have a following, but the XL ratchets are very nice. Sealed head and 45 teeth. Similar to your old one, but a few less teeth and held together with snap ring vs screws.

Just make sure your brother doesn't use it as a hammer any more, the selectors are kind of exposed and made out of what appears to be MIM steel, and will break just like your old one. Good luck!

Hip2u77 · Mar 27, 2018

davethorik said:
I believe the ratchet he is talking about is a Proto Big Dawg that was the precursor to the Proto XL ratchets. As far as I know, those are discontinued and repair kits are NLA.

OP, if SBD offers to replace it for you, they will most likely give you a newer Proto 5450XLBL. I know the Big Dawgs have a following, but the XL ratchets are very nice. Sealed head and 45 teeth. Similar to your old one, but a few less teeth and held together with snap ring vs screws.

Just make sure your brother doesn't use it as a hammer any more, the selectors are kind of exposed and made out of what appears to be MIM steel, and will break just like your old one. Good luck!

OK, thanks. That's why I was asking as I thought they quit making them.

As for my brother. . . he won't using any of my tools again. His "can I borrow. . . " turned into me having to do 98% of the work to replace the drivers side rotor, caliper, bearings, etc., on his 1992 F250 with the Dana 50 front axle. "It started making a noise last week and leaking fluid." The whole backside of the rotor was gone and the caliper pushed the piston out, blew the seal and ruined everything. I tried to let him help put the new caliper on and that's when he broke the ratchet. There was literally a 32oz ball pein and 3lb drilling hammer sitting within 2 feet of him. :/ I thought over the last 15 years he learned something, but I guess not.

davethorik · Mar 27, 2018

Hip2u77 said:
OK, thanks. That's why I was asking as I thought they quit making them.

As for my brother. . . he won't using any of my tools again. His "can I borrow. . . " turned into me having to do 98% of the work to replace the drivers side rotor, caliper, bearings, etc., on his 1992 F250 with the Dana 50 front axle. "It started making a noise last week and leaking fluid." The whole backside of the rotor was gone and the caliper pushed the piston out, blew the seal and ruined everything. I tried to let him help put the new caliper on and that's when he broke the ratchet. There was literally a 32oz ball pein and 3lb drilling hammer sitting within 2 feet of him. :/ I thought over the last 15 years he learned something, but I guess not.

Sorry about your luck. I read on here those ratchets like to break the screws holding the head together, did that ever happen to you? I believe that is why the XL ratchets are the same basic ratchet except they have a snap ring vs screws.

There are some differences, you could get a hard handle on the Big Dawgs iirc. The XL are available with QR, idk if Big Dawgs ever had that.

And some people...well, to them everything is a hammer. My neighbor is one of those types of ppl. Great worker, smart, but he rushes jobs and will grab whatever is in arms reach to do something, even if it is damaging. I caught him tamping concrete in post holes with my 4' level and had to tear him a new ***, especially since a suitable 2x4 cutoff was literally RIGHT NEXT to the level.

I also have special loner tools for these types of people, all the cheap stuff I don't care about.

Hip2u77 · Mar 28, 2018

davethorik said:
I read on here those ratchets like to break the screws holding the head together, did that ever happen to you? I believe that is why the XL ratchets are the same basic ratchet except they have a snap ring vs screws.

. . .

I also have special loner tools for these types of people, all the cheap stuff I don't care about.

I've never had any problems with mine. I never used it for anything extreme, but I used it on a lot of stuff where I probably should have grabbed a breaker bar to be safe and it never so much as skipped a tooth.

The main reason I like it because it takes the least amount of force to move to the next tooth of any 1/2" ratchet I've ever used. I'm not sure what, if any, lube I used when I first got it but sometimes I wonder if I could use it on a 10-32 nut and not have to hold the socket. Not really, but you get the idea. I might have used 3-in-1 instead of Superlube, or RLL that was (is?) all the talk around here years ago.

davethorik · Mar 28, 2018

I believe it! Seems like those ratchets still have a strong following. I know member skfarmer is someone here who has a bunch of them and has a lot of good things to say about them.

I unfortunately have never tried one, but a few yrs ago I got lucky and snagged a new 5450XLBL on ebay for $15. Probably some of the best money I've ever spent on a ratchet. I filled in all the stamping with a green paint marker instead of etching my name on it, it actually looks sharp that way.
Nice smooth mechanism, low backdrag (maybe not as much as your machine screw turning 1/2 drive over there lol but it isn't bad). Easy to disassemble. I normally would recommend you get one, except for the fact that now Proto offers the old school 20t pear heads, the XL 45t pear heads, the new $$ 90t pearheads, and they still offer the Facom/USAG made in Italy 72t palm control roundheads in Proto branding. Since they deep-sixed the Big Dawg with no factory support, I'd be concerned the XL would be next on the chopping block.

I guess we shall see...

sk farmer · Mar 28, 2018

did someone say my name?

the last real source for rebuild kits was grainger. they clearanced them out several years ago. i put a few in my inventory as did a few other members here. rebuild kits occasionally show up for them on ebay as well as complete ratchets.

i know some people had problems with the screws coming loose and breaking. if you keep the screws tight that does not seem to be an issue. the gear and pawl were never the issue. it was the spring and pin that would break or get lost when that happens. of course you can break the selector when used as a hammer but the big dawg is far from the only ratchet that can have that issue.i really like the 3/8 and 1/2 drive models. for some reason the 1/4 drive versions are not as smooth.

more info up soon......

sk farmer · Mar 28, 2018

the part numbers for proto big dawg ratchet repair kits are as follows.

1/4, j14prk

3/8, j38prk

1/2, j12prk

the kits include lever, pawl, anvil/gear, spring, pin, 2 screws and 2 washers.

first pic is of the rebuild kits and the next two are of my modest collection

model numbers front to back are 4749p, 4749pg, 5249p, 5250p, 5249pg, 5250pg, 5449pg and 5450pg.

the letters stand for p, chrome knurled, pg chrome hard handle and pb is knurled black finish.

sk farmer · Mar 28, 2018

for reference purposes, here is a picture of the contents of a 1/2 drive kit and the assembly instructions. all three kits are identical except for size.

big dawgs love rll............

Hip2u77 · Mar 28, 2018

Thanks for the info SK farmer and nice set of ratchets! I'll setup an alert in case a kit pops up on eBay.

The only other Big Dawg I have is a mostly unused 5249P that's spent it's life sitting in one of my bottom drawers. I got it when I bought the 5450PBL. Around that same time I also picked up an offset flexhead Gearwrench spark plug ratchet and that's been my 'go to' 3/8" ratchet ever since. I've got others like a couple SKs, Craftsman RHFT, etc., but for whatever reason I really like the offset.

Speaking of Gearwrench and repair kits, I intended on buying the Matco 88 tooth guts to have as a backup, but never got around to it. A quick search of the old kit part number (bfr8tk) on Matco's site doesn't turn up anything now. Is there a new part number for that kit or did I miss that also?

mikebaker1129 · Mar 29, 2018

What price does a 1/2 Big dawg repair kit sell for ?

Hip2u77 · Mar 29, 2018

mikebaker1129 said:
What price does a 1/2 Big dawg repair kit all for ?

A month ago 14 kits sold for $23 shipped.

Proto 5450PBL rebuild kit?

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