A short ratchet tutorial. Dissembling, lubing, and spring clipping

[Kirbot]

When I rebuild the raised panels at work, if they slip real bad when I try em out I sand down the pawl with the dremel. It seems to get rid of the slippage pretty good.

Details?
What exactly do you sand?

 

[jrodc455]

I sand the pocket where the ball bearing sits. On the sides of the pointed middle part. If u dig what I'm saying.

 

[Simplespeed]

Less resistance = less having un-screw stiff nuts/bolts that are to lose to use a ratchet on.

AAAhhhhhh now theres a reason i can live with. I might give it a try with a craftsman and see how i like it.

 

[db130]

thanks for the raised panel tutorial, just clipped and lubed 3 that had recently been demoted to junkyard duty. they feel like totally different beasts now.

 

[trainwreck]

Thanks for taking the time to write this up, Kirbot. Something I missed in the write up is what size snap ring pliers you used to remove the retaining clip on the Craftsman RP? I could just try different sizes until I found one that fits, but that presupposes that I own any snap ring pliers. I'm buying one, but I want to make sure I get the right size. Thanks.

 

[Kirbot]

Thanks for taking the time to write this up, Kirbot. Something I missed in the write up is what size snap ring pliers you used to remove the retaining clip on the Craftsman RP? I could just try different sizes until I found one that fits, but that presupposes that I own any snap ring pliers. I'm buying one, but I want to make sure I get the right size. Thanks.

I'm not really sure what size to call it.
These are what I used.


There's no need to get fancy, any smallish pair would probably work.
You could even do what I did at first, take a cheap pair of needlenose pliers, and grind or file the tip down smaller to fit.

Anyway, I'm glad the info is being put to use.
I know it made a huge difference in my ratchets.

 

[trainwreck]

Just googled Proto 389, and found out that they're .038in tips. I'll keep an eye out once I dig out from all of this snow and ice. Thanks, Kirbot.

 

[ajchien]

Of course.
Less tension = less resistance.

There no less reliable or weaker however.

If anything, I think the Craftsman is less likely to auto reverse after clipping.

What is the cause of "auto reversing"? I personally dont think Ive had a ratchet do that. I have had ratchets bind and get stuck...

 

[Kirbot]

Just googled Proto 389, and found out that they're .038in tips. I'll keep an eye out once I dig out from all of this snow and ice. Thanks, Kirbot.

The tips could probably be a little bigger as there was quite a bit of room around them. But like I said, there's no need to get fancy.

What is the cause of "auto reversing"? I personally dont think Ive had a ratchet do that. I have had ratchets bind and get stuck...

I think it has something to do with the poor finish and the amount of play around the pawl. Everything inside is quite loose.

I only say it's less likely to do it now because, I managed to break two sockets trying to get it to reverse.

 

[Simplespeed]

Well, i did it. I dont like it. Maybe i cut too much spring but i was careful to cut a very small amount. I can turn a bolt and when i begin to ratchet, sometimes it will reverse or the pawl will get stuck in the middle position and ratchet freely both ways. Im gonna get a couple more springs together from old ratchets and try it a couple different ways.

 

[leod]

nice writeup, now i have reason to open my ratchets

 

[v7guy]

Thank you for this thread.
I've never spent any money on ratchets and I break them routinely. After seeing the internals I understand the difference.
After seeing this I took the time to disassemble one of my ratchets... I have two back ups lol
The retaining ring is a spiral ring as opposed to a clip ring. The rest of the parts are obviously inferior and basically junk. This thread really opened my eyes. Here are a bunch of pics of the disassembly. I hope this may encourage more to spend some money.

 

[dirtrider]

I tried this on a 1/2 Cman raised panel ratchet cut the spring down to about level with the hole you can't really compress the spring to shorten it with pliers because the spring easily decompresses fully and rebounds right back to the same height. I was a little worried initially because Cman ratchets already feel kinda of loose when ratcheting like the teeth arn't biting. But overall I must say this made my ratchet feel a little smoother or less clunky in other words and it seems the gear and pawl still get a tight grip when turning the only part that worries me is the lever auto reversing or what's worse for me is when your grabbing the ratchet at the top by the lever and you barely tap it and it comes out of gear while turning something. It seems it might do this slightly easier now as the pawl has less tension on the spring.

 

[bchee]

I see a round head disassembly above.

Does the spring clipping work on round heads? I don't think it works the same as for pearheads.

 

[bonneyman]

When I rebuild the raised panels at work, if they slip real bad when I try em out I sand down the pawl with the dremel. It seems to get rid of the slippage pretty good.

And I thought I was the only one who did that kind of MacGuyver-ing!
I've been known to take a pawl with smashed/no teeth, melt a little metal onto it with the oxy-acetylene torch, and then file or dremel the tooth back into shape.

 

[bonneyman]

I see a round head disassembly above.

Does the spring clipping work on round heads? I don't think it works the same as for pearheads.

The different types of ratchet heads have different ways of obtaining the clicking. And not all ratchets are the same.
I've actually made springs for ratchets with broken/missing springs in order to get them working again. For 1/4" drive rats that is extremely tedious, but do-able.

 

[TireTracks]

Short clipping??

What do we know that the ratchet designer's don't about spring tension??

Just curious what the tradeoff is??

Seems most people like the Stiff click, while some of us enjoy smooth rapid ratchet action.


I did this on all of my rachets. I love my craftsman now, it feels like it's been worn in for years.

Though I dont clip the spring, I remove the ball and put it in a tin or something incase I want to go back to the old feel.

 

[bmwohio]

I've mentioned a few times that I clip the selector spring in most of my ratchets, and a lot of people here lube there ratchets.
Now, lubing a ratchet is fairly self-explanatory, but clipping the spring makes an even bigger difference, and not many people do it.

So here are 3 ratchets, and how to do the above to them.

First up, is a modern Craftsman Raised panel 3/8" ratchet.

First thing to do, is take some snap-ring pliers, and remove the retaining ring.

Then remove the cover plate and gear...

Then reach in with a pick and remove the pawl, being careful not to let the spring and ball fly out.

Now remove the ball and spring.

Now cut the spring down some. I like to make it about flush with the bottom of the ratchet.
Dab some grease on top of the spring, It helps the ball stick to it, making it easier to reassemble.

Now, place the ball back on top of the spring, and hold down with a pick.

Drop the pawl back in place and put the selector back in place.
Turn the selector upside down, and jiggle it in place while turning it back down.

Add some grease to the gear (I use Super lube), finish reassembling, and your done!


Next up is a Duralast 3/8" ratchet.
I'm a big fan of Duralast ratchets now that I've tried them.
However, they are quite stiff and course before opening them up and doing a little work.

The screws holding the cover plate on look like torx, but none of my torx bits fit very well. Torx plus maybe? I don't know, but I was able to make do with a T10 size torx bit.

This time the pawl and lever are held together with another torx screw. (Size T6)

The rest is done exactly the same as the Craftsman above.
Clip the spring about flush, hold it down with a pick, lube, and reassemble.


And finally, an old -v- series Craftsman Raised panel 3/8" ratchet.
This one is a little different than either of the above ratchets.
You don't actually have to remove the gear to get to the pawl.

Just use a pair of needlenose pliers and remove the the direction lever.

Use the pliers to pull the pawl out, and do everything else the same way as above.

And thats that!
I really can't recommend spring clipping enough.
After clipping, my Duralast actually has slightly less resistance than even my Snap-on Dual 80.

Would one of these write ups be the same for a 3/8" SK 45170?

Thanks!

 

[czgunner]

How do I take apart a Craftsman round head 94378?

 

[laz]

Would one of these write ups be the same for a 3/8" SK 45170?

That one's like any of the round-head ratchets listed here once you have it open.

To get it open, you can use needle nose pliers to remove the retaining clip, kinda like the v series craftsman's lever in the write up you quoted.

 

[czgunner]

That one's like any of the round-head ratchets listed here once you have it open.

To get it open, you can use needle nose pliers to remove the retaining clip, kinda like the v series craftsman's lever in the write up you quoted.

I guess it's not a "round head" then.
I think it's the "tri wing"?

 

[therealwormey]

Less resistance = less having un-screw stiff nuts/bolts that are to lose to use a ratchet on.

i understand why you would do it now,at first i thought your thumb was too lazy to switch directions and wanted to make it easier to switch,i know what you mean with the nut thats too tight to spin off but not tight enuff to work the ratchet,i'm a little slow sometimes but i usually catch on,now i might try it since i understand the advantage of doing it

 

[laz]

I guess it's not a "round head" then.
I think it's the "tri wing"?

That looks like a spiral ring.

On the front, right behind the chrome in the center, is a black metal ring. They usually go 720 degrees. Find the seam where the ring ends on the front, and put some pressure on it to pop it up and flex it out of the groove. You can use a pick or small needle nose pliers. Once you've popped the end of the spiral ring out of the groove, you can grab it with pliers and pull the whole ring out.

Installation is the reverse of removal: get it started and then put pressure on the edge pushing it into the groove all the way around.

 

[north]

Gave my F936 and FLF936 a go. Feels way better now. Less back drag =

Note the state of the art spring ball holder.

 

[Pro-Painter]

I finally got around to giving this trick a try, And WOW I'm glad i did !


This trick is a MUST for Duralast ratchets. Mine feel much better now.

BTW: I did not cut the spring. I replaced it with one from a clear 0.5mm BIC pencil. The spring that is used in the pencil is the same size as the Duralast, except it is far less stiff. Worked perfectly and gave about 70% less drag

 

[e-tek]

I finally got around to giving this trick a try, And WOW I'm glad i did !


This trick is a MUST for Duralast ratchets. Mine feel much better now.

BTW: I did not cut the spring. I replaced it with one from a clear 0.5mm BIC pencil. The spring that is used in the pencil is the same size as the Duralast, except it is far less stiff. Worked perfectly and gave about 70% less drag

Hey ProPainter - haven't seen you post for a while - but this one is a doosey! Great idea!

 

[NinetyTwoFifty]

Bump for a great thread!

 

[Pro-Painter]

Bump for a great thread!

Agreed!

This is a MUST do mod for anyone with Duralast ratchets. Its been 5 months since I did mine and Ive had zero issues. It made a world of difference in my Duralast rats. Very smooth. Extremely smooth for 36-teeth.

 

[Lomotil]

Finally got around to doing this to one of my 3/8" Duralast rats. Not bad. Did it on the one I bought used, the difference between it and the one I bought new and only used once or twice - world of difference.

 

[98TJ]

Last night I did this to all of my Craftsman RPs and my 1/2" Craftsman thin profile.

Made each of them much nicer.

As a test I clipped the spring on one of the Craftsman 3/8" ratchets (the worst of the two) and took each ratchet with a socket in the house, handed them to the wife to check out, and she asked why one was so much smoother than the other.

It's simple, free, and it works.

 

[hickmlg09]

Aweome Kbutt! Maybe you should help me! Just posted something about learning how to do this and if the broken ratchet I have is worth fixing.

 

[reddog289]

Glad that this thread popped back up.

 

[AmericanPreferred]

I know this is an old thread, but I have acquired a few of the DuraLast ratchets and was wondering if anyone has tried to put a Snap On kit in one? For the record I did break a 1/4" that had never turned a bolt laying on the couch spinning it like a helicopter to break it in, when the reversing lever flew off. It was replaced with a flex head, for free at the store.

 

[PassnThru]

For a moment there I thought Kirbot was back.

 

[biscuit141]

I know this is an old thread, but I have acquired a few of the DuraLast ratchets and was wondering if anyone has tried to put a Snap On kit in one? For the record I did break a 1/4" that had never turned a bolt laying on the couch spinning it like a helicopter to break it in, when the reversing lever flew off. It was replaced with a flex head, for free at the store.

Was the 1/4" a Great Neck by chance? I had a Great Neck 1/4" that the selector switch broke off of very easily. It was also replaced with a 1/4" Duralast flex head and the selector switch is different and looks to be better quality. Maybe the Duralast 1/4" you had also had the older crappier selector switch. Did it look like this?

 

[rickhigginshtbr]

My question, related to this, is what lube to use for long life and smoothness? I saw the original OP used something I never heard of, someone else is running 15-40... I've been using synthetic bearing grease. Any reason why I shouldn't?

 

[biscuit141]

I think there are a number of options that will serve any ratchet well and in the end it comes down to personal preference and availability. I think the most important thing is just to lube your ratchets. I use SuperLube because I read a number of positive responses about how well it worked in ratchets and Snap On ships it in their rebuild kits, so those are my reasons.

 

[AmericanPreferred]

The ratchet that broke did look similar to that Great Neck, the lever was silver instead of black, made of pot metal. I have taken apart 3 or 4 of em so far, no lube at all in any of them. I am using Lucas red and tacky #2 cause that's what I have, before that marine bearing grease. Both work fine, liked the marine grease a little better. I am also clipping the springs back a little. I found them silky smooth, almost silent afterwards, but if I happened to touch the selector while ratcheting it would either jump out of gear, or reverse too easy. I am thinking about flipping it cause I hit it at least 3 times putting a waterpump on a 5.3 vortec.

 

[KEH]

I have a SO 3/8 pushbutton release ratchet f 741??, and a 3/8 Duralast ratchet. The parts are not the same on that particular ratchet, not going to take apart the other 3/8 SO I have without pushbutton rlease since it's a new rebuild with the sealed gasket and I don't want to take a chance on it.

The Duralasts are nice, not fine tooth, and I may try the spring trick on them.

KEH

 

[Mark8:29]

Instead of clipping the spring, I humbly suggest just putting the spring between a pair of pliers and smashing it a few times. [emoji106] @simplespeed - I've done it to my 3/8 craftsman ratchets and it makes them much smoother. To me, it was a noticeable improvement. I lubed it with 15W-40 motor oil.

Also, to reassemble, I put the ball on the spring, then I take a small strip of thin cardboard (like from a headlight bulb package) and slip it through the hole on the ratchet head and over the little ball. That way, I can hold down on the cardboard, slip the pawl in the ratchet head, put the selector switch in and pull the cardboard back out. Works like a charm!

Hello all, this is my first post here, and I know this is an older thread, but I just wanted to say this did wonders for my 36 tooth Duralast 3/8. I did as suggested above and compressed the spring with a pair of small Channellocks. The spring ended up protruding from the hole about one coil, and I think it is just right. The action is much smother with drastically reduced backdrag, and the pawl engagement is still very positive. Further, the tip above about using a thick cut of paper to help reinstallation of the ball and pawl worked wonderfully.

This was a simple, worthwhile, and enjoyable mod, thank you!

Joe

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