After rebuilding my 80's vintage Craftsman ratchets, I thought I would take apart, clean and lube my Dad's old 1/2" drive ratchet with the "V" shaped selector and oil hole on top. I would guess it's an early 1960's vintage. Got the selector off no problem and the pawl came right out. Short of destroying it, I can't get the snap ring off the front face. With it squeezed together, I can get some play on the faceplate but the snap ring just doesn't seem to **** in tight enough to slip it off. Is there something different about these older ones I'm missing? In the meantime, I have it soaking in some ATF. If it still won't come out I'll just blow it out real good with my air nozzle and re-oil it. All the teeth still look in good shape. Any advice would be appreciated!
Help with 1/2" DRIVE CRAFTSMAN =V=
- Thread starter john8791
- Start date
SMKS
Well-known member
You might try using a pick to see if there's anything you can clean out of the snap ring groove. I've had ratchets where gunk in the groove prevented the snap ring from compressing enough.
You were right about crud in the groove. After a couple days in the ATF and some work I got it apart and all cleaned up. The "oil" inside was like tar. Everything looked pretty good but the ball bearing has a few flat spots on it and the spring could probably stand to be replaced. At any rate it seems functional now. Too bad you can't get rebuild kits for these anymore.
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nathan_454
Well-known member
I have the opposite problem - my old long handle =v= has too much room in the snap-ring groove, and the ring expands too far and doesn't hold the front plate in - anyone have any suggestions on how to fix it?
There's a couple if these on eBay right now but they're a little to pricey to take a chance that parts will be any better than what you have.
Sounds like either your snap ring has gotten weak (these have some pretty hefty snap rings BTW), or you've got some pretty bad wear in the head. Not sure what you'd do to fix that.
Sounds like either your snap ring has gotten weak (these have some pretty hefty snap rings BTW), or you've got some pretty bad wear in the head. Not sure what you'd do to fix that.
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nathan_454
Well-known member
It looks to me like the head is worn - I have tried taking parts from 3 different ratchets to make one work - no dice. its like I need a thicker snap-ring or something.
shocksandstrutz
Well-known member
i've got that same ratchet in 1/4 drive....my selector is also stuck on the face, got the drive part out, just cant seem to get the rest apart, got it soaking since last night, going to give it another whirl after work today......