Craftsman ratchet 943796

[4 Ever-Fish N]

Does anyone have any idea approximately when this ratchet was made? Just curious. My dad gave it to me along with other tools. Thanks.

 

[bonneyman]

Looks like the Stanley-made ratchet that Craftsman sold. Taiwanese, not the best durability. IIRC the consensus was 80's.

Later Husky ratchets used the same mechanism, and the parts would interchange. P.S. Found the side by side pics. The forgings are undeniably close, too close to be accidental.

 

[wyattstihl]

Does anyone have any idea approximately when this ratchet was made? Just curious. My dad gave it to me along with other tools. Thanks.

I’ll be darn... Just used one yesterday and was wondering the same thing.

It reminds me of a Stanley Professional I have, the mechanism is practically the same it seems.


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[WWheeler]

Commonly known as the Craftsman 'tri-wing' round head ratchet. Yours is a model 43796. If you look close the 9 that precedes it has a line under it which I believe was Sears' code for all hand tools. Stanley produced them for Sears from about 1982 - 1991. Here's an old post that discusses them ...

Gang,

There seems to be some confusion about the Craftsman ratchets that were made by Stanley Works. Here's a couple of photos of the Stanley made Craftsman ratchets from about 1982 - 1991:

Here's a 3/8" stubby flexhead version. Note the Tri-Wing shifter, knurled spinner disk, and the "Snap-on like" handle shape.

Here's a couple more showing the standard length handles.

As you can see, these ratchets look nothing like the traditional raised panel Craftsman ratchets made by MDF/Easco/Danaher. There were some other later variations of these ratchets, but they all have the same handle shape and general bulky round head design.

EDIT: Here's an example of one of the later variations. Note the knurled spinner disk is now the shifter disk and the old tri-wing shifter in now quick release/quick disassembly button.

Even though they were pretty dependable and had a knurled thumbwheel on the back that was actually useful, they were never really very well reviewed for a number of reasons, like a low tooth count and unlike most Craftsman hand tools at the time they were not made in USA (and often had no COO stamp on them - none of mine do, and it doesn't look like yours does either), but apparently what really killed them was the RHFT ratchet.

You can still find them a plenty on ebay. I have 2-3 of each that never really got used much.



Here's some more info about them. :

Lauver and others,

Can you please specify why a majority of Craftsman ratchet owners hated the Stanley made round head ratchets (ex: model# 43795, 1/4" drive ratchet) from the mid-1980s? Were these ratchets not durable?

Some folks indicated these ratchets were too heavy.

Others reported that these ratchets were poorly balanced (i.e. head heavy).

Others reported the ratchet mechanisms were too course (i.e. low tooth count).

Many users reported these ratchets were prone to breakage (i.e. the ratchet mechanism).

And last but not least, many were simply put off by the foreign source of these ratchets. [..]

TP,

If you note my entry for E/EE tools, some were stamped USA, some were stamped Taiwan, and some were not stamped at all. During this time period (1982-1991) Stanley Works was under investigation by the Federal Trade Commision for mislabling their tools. I think this investigation resulted in Stanley's experiments with alternate labeling.

I was led to believe that the tri-wngs were all made overseas. I never liked that particular model of ratchet so I traded up one day for an older ratchet from the 70's.

woody 73,

You and about a 1,000 other former tri-wing owners. I'll tell you what really killed this ratchet. The good old Crafty RHFT ratchet. When word got out about these great little round head ratchets many folks lost all interest in the tri-wing models. If I'm not mistaken, Sears retired the RHFT just this year, after a 40 year run. They may still be available under the KD and Allen brands, but I'm not sure.

 

[4 Ever-Fish N]

I knew I could count on you guys. Thanks to everyone for the info. I thought it would be a little older than that though. Perhaps it didn't come from the box of tools my dad gave me. Still nice to know some history on it.

 

[fasteddie]

I have a set of those ratchets that came with a deep and shallow SAE/Metric socket package also came with a speeder wrench. All the sockets were USA. I guess it was early 80's when I got them. I still use the set. The low tooth count, especially on the 1/2" is annoying but the knurled spinner disk is a nice feature, I always use it.

 

[Jtaoj]

Hi anyone know a source for the repair kits? Thanks.

 

[thesilverone]

^the trash can

 

[Jtaoj]

^the trash can

That’s funny stuff right there ^

First ratchet I ever bought. My youngest broke it using a pipe for leverage. I was glad he decided to fix something but bummed the wrench is dead.