Electric ratchet: worth it?

[shoggoth80]

We've got Snap On 3/8 cordless ratchets at work, and they get used all the time. I think they're definitely useful. You can get by without them, but there's a convenience factor that's hard to ignore. I would like to add a cordless ratchet to my personal tools to go with my driver and impact gun. The driver does a great job on anything that's open enough for it to get to though, so I haven't yet. If you can afford one, it can save you a lot of repetition.

 

[dnschmidt]

The cars you work on figure into this choice as well. Modern cars, particularly Japanese, use fifty 10mm headed bolts instead of five 9/16" headed bolts to hold things together. Examples: timing chain covers and oil pans along with all of the plastic covers underneath modern cars. This is where the high speed shines. If you're working on tractors with big bolts use the higher torque models. There sadly is no one size fits all tools out there.

 

[Skellyii]

What ratchet did you go with? Like you (when you made your purchase decision); I'm looking at the cheap alternatives as I'm not sure how much I'll use it, and I just want to get my hands on one to try out. I've been eyeballing the AC Delco ratchets,confusing because there are so many variations.

The brand is Kimo, but it's probably the same as a bunch of the other chinese brands. I'm not about to say it's the best out there, but I use it quite a bit.

 

[micromind]

Electrical switchgear, cabinets are usually 90" high, 24, 30 or 36" wide and anywhere from 2 - 20 sections total width.

The majority of them use 1/4-20 self-tapping bolts to hold the covers on. The heads are usually 3/8" (not 7/16) and there can be quite a few of them that need to be removed and later, re-installed.

Not very high torque but since they are self-tapping, they don't come out or go back in easily. Maybe you could get them in with a nut driver, maybe not. Even it you could, your wrist would be wrecked fairly soon.......

Years ago, I used a pneumatic ratchet (I'm likely the only electrician who has an air compressor in his van.....lol) and it worked well. Way faster than any hand method and your arms and wrists didn't get sore.

When battery ones came out, I bought a Milwaukee model, M12. For what I use it for, it's every bit as good as the pneumatic one and about the same speed.

On the plus side, I don't need to drag out air hoses anymore, on the bad side, I have to remember to charge the batteries.

 

[engineer2]

My Makita electric ratchet is my least used battery powered tool. Last used it on my snowblower because it could get at nuts inside the chute. Come to think of it, I haven't used my MAC Tools air ratchet in a few years either. My battery impact driver works for 99% of my needs and has over 3x the torque.

 

[dnschmidt]

My Makita electric ratchet is my least used battery powered tool. Last used it on my snowblower because it could get at nuts inside the chute. Come to think of it, I haven't used my MAC Tools air ratchet in a few years either. My battery impact driver works for 99% of my needs and has over 3x the torque.

It's a matter of access. If you can use an impact (I have the Milwaukee 1/4" drive impact + the Stubby and if they can reach the bolt they are without a doubt the way to go. But, on modern cars there isn't always the room to use these tools. That's where the cordless ratchets come into play. One thing the cordless ratchet is great for is removing and installing spark plugs. Modern cars, for reasons unknown to me, seem to have two inches of threads on them. For spinning them out and spinning them in you can't beat the high speed Milwaukee. Finish up with a torque wrench of course.

 

[u2slow]

Manual ratchets and wrenches seem plenty convenient to me for the rare instances the little impact gun can't fit.