Gearwrench ratchet locking up.

[Harrison2]

I have a 1/4" GW ratchet that I recently started using, before use I pulled the cover off and put a drop of engine assembly lube, RLL.

I noticed after a while the directional lever would switch direction mid swing, then it began locking up. I tore it all apart and everything looked ok, reassembled with RLL.

still the same problem so cleaned up and tried it with just a squirt of wd40. same problem.

im about ready to toss it.

I havnt checked the T count but its either a 60 or 84. not 120 and not QR.

so any suggestions on wassup with it and what lube works? I do have a small amount of snap on lube but god forbide anyone use that on a non snap on tool.

 

[bigfunwmu]

I had a GW 3/8 stubby that was doing the same thing. I even got a GW rebuild kit for it in hopes it would fix things, but it was worse.

As a last hope, I swapped the guts from one of my Matco 88 ratchets into the 3/8 stubby ratchet body and it worked great. This proved to me the body was ok, but the GW ratchet parts were ****. Next time the truck came by I bought a matco rebuild kit for 10 bucks and things have been great since.

I've got a half dozen GW ratchets now, any others that have troubles get a matco kit and life is good.

 

[Fedwrench]

Next time it locks up, remove the gear cover, look down in the area by the pawl gear to see if the pintle has slipped out to one side of the pawl gear locking it in place. If so, you can try stretching the spring inside the pintle a bit, or get a repair kit from gearwrench.
Rll is a bit too thick for fine toothed ratchets, 3 in one oil works best for me. Hope this helps you.

 

[ChrisPace]

Take it back to Advanced Auto, They swapped one for me no questions asked, It was an older 60tooth and they handed me a new 84t, I asked if I could pay the $5 difference and get the new 120t and he let me upgrade. The 120 is an animal. Good luck! You may have dropped the tiny spring loaded pin they have.

 

[abvw]

All of my GearWrench do the same, especially the 1/4"s, whether it is 60, 72 (wrenches), 84, 88 (Matco) or 120XP, they all exhibit the same problem. I think this is due to the pawl being engaged in an offset manner that causes this problem.

Could have bought myself a few more Dual80s instead of having a bunch of junk wasting my precious drawer space.
https://scontent-a-lga.**.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpf1/v/t1.0-9/10341853_10202417666716615_5582258064620245857_n.jpg?oh=016b27a539335a948be3a035c3c77c32&oe=54FBC31F

 

[Kirbot]

The only time I've had any problem is when I tried greasing them.
They like some machine oil or a REALLY light coating of grease.

 

[Harrison2]

Brilliant!

Ill email GW and hunt the local matco guy down, whilst trying lighter oil.

 

[cheechi]

abvw your collection of so rats is jealousy inducing. Pretty sure i'm going to try out that drawer layout too.

I only use 3 in 1 on my 120xp's. some of my other rats I use super lube but it's too thick i think for them.

 

[SuzukiGS750EZ]

I had that problem with my 1/2" as well. I cleaned it all out with brake clean and filled it with ATF. Haven't had a problem since. It was my 1/2" that was doing it though. Same
Exact thing.

 

[cheechi]

for different drive sizes, obviously the ratchet wheel is the biggest difference, followed by the pawls. The direction lever isn't really drastically different (relative to the larger/smaller parts going from one drive size to another) so it would probably just follow the pattern that thinner lubricant is needed for finer tooth/finer degree rats.

I know these are only 60t rats with the dual pawl design. Considering the price difference you have the 'better' version of the dual pawl in the F80 family but this one is by no means bad. And I do use super lube in my F80 but would not in the 120xp.

 

[ChrisPace]

Weird all the differences in lube on 120XP's I have had just great luck on mine with the Krytox/Mystic/TriFlow mix. They work perfect and have for over a year. I lubed them as soon as I got them.

I sold my Snap On rachets and wrench's a while back when we had a cash crisis here (wife had cancer but all is better) I really loved the rachets I had. I was looking at them again on line last night. Used F80's are going at a reasonable price I thought.

 

[Loscaldazar]

If it's the 84T ratchet, they are rather known for being finicky and difficult. They like to lock up and switch direction (many complaints on this forum, and on sites like amazon). Get it warrantied. Usually if they work out of the box and for the first week, then they won't ever give you problems. If they are going to give you problems, you'll know almost right away. I have a theory that it is either a design flaw or a tolerance error with those ratchets. Both the 84T craftsman (USA made by Danaher) and the 84T gearwrench (Taiwan made by Danaher) have this issue. You can check for yourself on sears, amazon and any other place that posts reviews of those 84T ratchets. They're not bad once you get a working one however.

The 60T and 120XP gearwrench ratchets just don't have anywhere near the same number of complaints. I've seen about 2 or three complaints about 120XP failures on this board since they came out. Well over 60 or 70 for the 84T ratchets.

All of my GearWrench do the same, especially the 1/4"s, whether it is 60, 72 (wrenches), 84, 88 (Matco) or 120XP, they all exhibit the same problem. I think this is due to the pawl being engaged in an offset manner that causes this problem.

I'm going to call BS that they all do that. It's utter BS that every gearwrench ratchet (which looks like quite a few of them from the picture), even with different tooth counts and designs self reverses. Not even the Craftsman raised panel ratchets are that bad (which are probably the worst brand name ratchets on the market)!

Also, only the 120XP have a dual pawl that alternating engages. The rest have a single pawl (you've never taken them apart before obviously).

I swear to god that every time you talk about gearwrench, it's only about how every ratcheting device they make is absolutely terrible and always break and need replacement, and then that you're Snap On has served you better. I think the Dual 80s ARE better (and have quite a few myself), but your insistent ******** about gearwrench is ridiculous. You probably had a few ratcheting wrenches break or a run in with the infamous 84T ratchets, but it's still BS that every ratchet of all designs self reverses.

 

[JUNK-MAN]

I had a Craftsman that did the same thing, put some PB-blaster on it and if worked fine for about a week then it did it again so I gave up and replaced it with a Snap-On. I'd just scrap it and get a new one.

 

[ChrisPace]

When I warrantied my 84T 3/8" (upgraded to 120XP) the sales guy at Advanced said he is just told to throw them away and give customers new ones regardless if they bought them at Sears or from him. He stated he usually takes them home and has a pretty good size collection of Gearwrench that he has repaired. So I guess what we should all take from that is there should be little resistance to taking back a defective ratchet because the guy handling the warranty has some skin in the game too. So no excuse for complaining about a bad tool as it is easily swapped for new.

 

[75ford]

all 3 of my GW ratchet do it... i fixed it by going to the SO guy lol.

 

[OxJaw]

I had the same problem with some 3/8's ones that I tried to lube. I took them apart and cleaned them, reassembled with some oil and spun them on a socket until they quit locking up and reversing. I haven't had any problems since.

 

[azhatchback]

I had same problem with entire set o craftsman premiums. I bought mine when the first came out and were a online buy only item and read somewhere it was a machining flaw. Traded them in and haven't had an issue since. I noticed the switch lever on trade ins don't have as much up and down play.

 

[Harrison2]

after repeatedly trying the GW contact us form I went to Apex,

They replied with a label to ship it back, states on the label if found faulty credit; my details...

Not sure if that means I will be re credited to the market value or equivalent product? We will see.

 

[stonesfan68]

I had that problem with my 1/2" as well. I cleaned it all out with brake clean and filled it with ATF. Haven't had a problem since. It was my 1/2" that was doing it though. Same
Exact thing.

I just cleaned mine out (I had put RLL in there) and put a few drops of ATF in the mechanism. I put it back together and gave it several turns back and forth by hand. The ATF seems to have fixed the issue. Thanks for the post.

 

[toolaholic]

Try replacing the o ring underneath the cover with a thicker one. I had a gearwrench 1/2 flex head and 3/8 ratchet lock up and reverse. Both were 84s that were super lubed. The o ring is really thin. With the thicker o ring installed both are fine even with super lube in them. My craftsman premium 1/2 and gearwrench 1/4 flex head have been fine super lubed.

 

[sk farmer]

biggest issue is lube. do not use super lube, rll or any other type of grease, too sticky. marvel mystery oil is the recommended lube on them

 

[Farmall450]

I have this same problem with a 1/2 60T Gearwrench. Guess I'll try thinning the lube...odd being that my 120XPs have the same super lube.