KD = Kinda Disappointed

[airdale]

I just got a brand new KD 73-1111 round head ratchet tonight. Nice fine tooth action. Opened it up for a lube job since I've seen various ratchets ship from the factory pretty dry, but that was not the case here. Was a bit disappointed when I saw the teeth in the head. Lots of chip/chatter marks in 3/4 of the teeth. Deep enough to easily feel with your finger. Several of the teeth in the photo are missing small sections at the back. I didn't find any metal pieces floating around in there. I flushed out the guts just to be sure. I'll still keep it and use it but dang, you'd think the person that assembled it would have seen that and tossed it.

 

[84bimmer]

Weird. It looks kind of consistent, almost looks intentional. Did you buy it here?

http://www.cripedistributing.com/tools-731111-1012-quickrelease-round-p-5725.html

I'm pretty sure they don't make this stuff anymore. I would say put a cheater bar on and break it. Get yourself a new one. If you do warranty it, you may end up with a gearwrench, chinese at that.

 

[DanCo]

I hate KD tools, bought a 7/16'' Haldex Slack Adjuster, it broke the same day. sent it back for warranty, got it back and it broke by the third truck.

 

[mrholeshot]

That *****

 

[north]

Nice fine tooth action

There you go. Maybe do some controlled pulls with some force to check that it doesn't slip. If it works it works.

I would have wondered myself about QC if I saw that but maybe it doesn't matter for all practical purposes.

 

[Damian]

KD stuff is junk. I'm not sure how they ever got popular. Everything I've ever bought from them failed rather quickly. I plunked down $200 on a KD 1/2" Tq wrench a few years back that didn't last 6 months before the gears in the head were all trashed and the adjuster in the handle broke.

Junk. I'll buy HF over KD any day.

 

[RLYoung]

I used to have a decent set of KD tools in my military shop, I never had any problems with them. Now that 4-5 years have gone by KD seems to be going downhill. This itself is about as much evidence I need not to look any further into buying their stuff.

 

[amolaver]

interesting - i've got a metric sh!tton of KD/gearwrench tools and am impressed with almost all of them. everything from non-ratcheting wrenches to the $88 1/4" drive impact socket set (SAE+M, short/deep/swivel) to ratchets. there are lots of pro wrenches on here using KD/gearwrench tools every day and i think most are pretty happy with them.

as far as the OP's situation - i would just call them and say it slips; i'd expect them to have a replacement in the mail shortly.

ahm

 

[airdale]

Thanks for all the thoughtful suggestions. My first thought was, heck just use the thing, but my confidence in it was shaky (more scars on the knuckles anyone?). If I test it and it doesn't fail today that is no guarantee for tomorrow. So I called Cripe Distributing and they are sending a replacement along with a return label. Can't beat that! They had no way of knowing what it looked like inside.

 

[evintho]

KD has been around since the '20s. Some of the older KD pieces are fairly good quality but the newer stuff is pure junk! We're issued KD tools at work. The HF Pittsburg line is much higher quality! I work for the postal service. Everything they buy is from the lowest bidder. That should give you some idea.

 

[airdale]

I'll post pics of the replacement when it gets here. Hopefully not the same. The guts looked like good quality at least.

 

[lauver]

airdale,

I'm guessing your K-D ratchet is NOS. Is that correct? Given that it is a RHFT design, it could date anywhere from 1970 to 2010, when Danaher discontinued this design.

I have an Allen branded ratchet similar to your K-D and it is a sweet ratchet.

I suggest you use your ratchet for a while before you draw any conclusions or make any decisions about it. You may be pleasantly surprised with your ratchet.

 

[airdale]

Yes, NOS. I actually ordered the Allen version but they called and said out of stock so I let them substitute the K-D. They deleted the Allen version from the website. The action is nice, dual pawl. I counted 88 clicks. The missing material is pretty deep in the teeth. I was gonna call it "Sharky" because it looks like shark teeth in there.

 

[airdale]

airdale,
I have an Allen branded ratchet similar to your K-D and it is a sweet ratchet.

That's the one I really wanted. Wanna trade? - just kidding, unless of course if you need to fill a spot in a K-D collection.

I'd love to see pics inside and out for comparison. I'm interested in differences in fit and finish and wondering if they are produced on the same production line.

 

[north]

Thanks for all the thoughtful suggestions. My first thought was, heck just use the thing, but my confidence in it was shaky (more scars on the knuckles anyone?). If I test it and it doesn't fail today that is no guarantee for tomorrow. So I called Cripe Distributing and they are sending a replacement along with a return label. Can't beat that! They had no way of knowing what it looked like inside.

Wimp!
Great to see Cripe standing behind their products. Good luck on your replacement.

 

[Cheapskate]

you'd think the person that assembled it would have seen that and tossed it.

The workers that assemble those probably aren't instructed to toss any bad ones or even to look for any bad ones. They're probably only instructed to assemble as many as possible in the shortest amount of time as possible.

Also imagine assembling ratchets all day. I'm sure the people that assemble them are running on cruise control and not paying attention to tiny imperfections. Throw it together, quick check in each direction possibly and on to the next one.

 

[airdale]

Yup.^
Funny thing is, before I started hanging around here, I would not have even opened it up when new. I would have used it until it either failed or started getting gritty inside before opening it up. So I wouldn't have known...but now my knuckles are trying to get me to contribute to the 'Save The Knuckles Foundation'.

 

[airdale]

I got the replacement ratchet today. As you'll see in the pictures, it's not perfect, but acceptable at least. The replacement has 5 chipped teeth, but they still have plenty of material intact. This one I will use without reservation. Hardly worth mentioning but I noticed the chrome is whiter and shinier in the first one. Cripe forgot to send me a return label, so now I have to call them again.

I sure like the action though, smooth and low drag.