Extremely Lightweight Hand Tools

[JradM]

I can't believe the love for pliers wrench. I finally broke down and bought one about six months ago. I always pull it out and put it on the tray for every job ever since. I still have not found a use for the damn thing. It is always way too awkward to fit anywhere. Even adjustable wrenches are more useful and I never use that unless in a real bind.

What have you tried it on?

Besides just using it to turn bolts, I find it useful for:

• straightening/flattening small parts and bending,
• purposefully lightly crushing a fastener frozen with rust,
• holding small parts at the bench grinder,
• pressing things together, and
• crimping.

If you're mostly turning fasteners, a wrench is obviously better.

 

[seber]

What have you tried it on?

Besides just using it to turn bolts, I find it useful for:

• straightening/flattening small parts and bending,
• purposefully lightly crushing a fastener frozen with rust,
• holding small parts at the bench grinder,
• pressing things together, and
• crimping.

If you're mostly turning fasteners, a wrench is obviously better.

For all of those things there are better tools. A bench vise, heat, locking pliers, small press, crimper. Not everyone has a press but a bench vise will apply more force than the pliers wrench.

 

[Steel_Rain]

Agreed that it really is situation dependent. In many cases, there just isn't enough swing to make it practical.

This little guy helps though (5-inch):

 

[teagueo]

I know this goes way back to the 2022 OP, but thoughts on the Asahi light tool ratchets? I have a few of the “light tool” products, but these are just wrenches and not ratchets.

Good quality? Obviously light, but strength compromises felt? Not much about these online.

Asahi's Lightool wrenches are nice and are actually some of the tightest fitting wrenches I have.

Not a huge fan of their ratchets to be honest. They are "lighter" but not really compared to other options. Their ratchets feel a bit sloppy (quick release ball detent is very loose on the 3/8" drive) and the switch makes the whole thing look cheap imo...could be done a bit better.

The design is cool, and I like that they offer something different but it's not an all-out light tool. Strength wise, there are some Project Farm videos where they were tested and were in the ballpark with the others.

Napa NS66: 626g
Asahi 4252: 412g
Koken 3726Z: 310g *(3/8" drive)
TRO Titanium: 260g








The TRO Titanium 1/2" drive ratchet is actually lighter than quite a few 3/8" drive ratchets:





I do like their wrenches though:

 

[KnurledNut]

@teagueo
That bit ratchet...

 

[Steel_Rain]

Asahi's Lightool wrenches are nice and are actually some of the tightest fitting wrenches I have.

Not a huge fan of their ratchets to be honest. They are "lighter" but not really compared to other options. Their ratchets feel a bit sloppy (quick release ball detent is very loose on the 3/8" drive) and the switch makes the whole thing look cheap imo...could be done a bit better.

The design is cool, and I like that they offer something different but it's not an all-out light tool. Strength wise, there are some Project Farm videos where they were tested and were in the ballpark with the others.

Napa NS66: 626g
Asahi 4252: 412g
Koken 3726Z: 310g *(3/8" drive)
TRO Titanium: 260g

Good to know.

Are the Asahi "light tool" and "Revowave" ratchets made in Japan? They are certainty inexpensive ratchets and not offered in many sizes.

 

[teagueo]

@teagueo
That bit ratchet...

Crazy you saw that lol. It is nice to use...

Good to know.

Are the Asahi "light tool" and "Revowave" ratchets made in Japan? They are certainty inexpensive ratchets and not offered in many sizes.

Not certain about the Revowave, but parts of the Lightool ratchet are made in Taiwan for sure.

 

[Steel_Rain]

Not certain about the Revowave, but parts of the Lightool ratchet are made in Taiwan for sure.

Good to know. I think pass on the lightool, but I might order one of the Revowave to inspect/check it out.

 

[slim_grim]

Very nice! Beats out the 3/8" HF composite ratchet by about 60g.

I've been carrying the 1/4" HF composite ratchet (~100g) on the bike for years and it's been unbelievably good. I use my moto kit for almost all maintenance to build some confidence that I have what I need. This is the first ratchet that I've seen that makes me want to change things up.

 

[tez929rr]

I was looking for something on the Motion Pro website and came across these. They also sell them individually.

 

[CJM8515]

I have yet to figure out a true way to cut enough weight to make it practical without either sacrificing: quality, usefulness or size. you dump the combination wrenches in favor of double open end-DOE slip in some cases and you dont want that,pliers wrench is nice but bulky, a skeleton TI or similar 3/8 ratchet is awesome and weighs say 1/8 what a standard ratchet weighs but costs you 120 bucks when then regular ratchet was 10 bucks at home depot, etc

I ride offroad sport atv A LOT so there is little room to carry even small tool box or rool of some kind. Im stuck putting it in my pack. by the time you add the following it gets a bit bulky and heavy: 3/8 ratchet, 8-14mm shallow sockets, combination screwdriver, 8-14mm combination wrenches, a pair of 6 or 10" channel lock style pliers, some sort of knife/leatherman type tool, zip ties of assorted sizes, self bonding tape (radiator hose repair), electrial tape, safety wire, tire plug kit (cheap one too), maybe a 1/4 ratchet and 8-12mm.

Ive found that I can pack most of that into a small tool roll that my mountain bike style pack came with. but the weight is a bit. The bike is moving around so violently that i cant find a case that 1 can fit somewhere on it, 2 that would fit those items and 3 that would be able to be mounted somewhere and stand up to the abuse

guys who have the side by sizes love the pack out style boxes for a reason-they have room lol

 

[APEowner]

I only ride on roads and have paired my took kit down to the cheap kit that came with the bike and a tire plug kit with a CO2 inflator. My thinking is that if I need to fix anything of any significance I'll need parts and anyplace that has parts also has tools.

 

[PMD1966]

Any recommendations for super light tools, or motorcycle tool kits in general?

I've been piecing together lightweight tools for a motorcycle tool kit over the years. When off-roading, I usually pack super minimally, plus the rear subframe weight limit for my Honda CRF250L is around 25-30lbs. With camping gear, that only leaves room for the bare essential tools.

I know Koken makes a Titanium ratchet and socket set, but they're pentagonal drive and ~$4K. Motion Pro makes some pretty awesome Ti wrenches too.

Here are the lightest ratchets I've found, 3 are Aluminum:



Some really skeletonized Wrenches from Asahi, Japan:




A tiny adjustable wrench from Lobtex, another Japanese company.

Intercon has a complete line of titanium tools. Said to be 50% lighter than steel.