lubricating ratchets

[street131]

Is it recommended to lubricate the insides of ratchets? If so, how often and what should i use product wise?

 

[tatra]

search
"red lube of love" ...........seriously........not pulling your leg.........myself, i use light grease like lubriplate.........

 

[Merkava_4]

Just a couple of drops.

 

[Bull]

Permatex engine assembly lube is the so-called "Red Lube of Love." It does work quite well, but if you put in as much as Merk shows above, your ratchet will be weeping the excess for weeks!

 

[mrjsl]

I just put a rebuild kit in a very old snap-on f70 today, and I just used some silicone grease & lube out of a tube because it was what I had. I would have use Lubriplate if I could have found some.

I would definitely use some kind of light grease.

 

[Merkava_4]

You guys with Snap-on ratchets can get the official clear synthetic grease at your happy Harbor Freight store in the form of SuperLube #21030.

 

[chromemoly]

It comes with everything: cover plate, reverse lever, spring, pawl, gear, 2 red o-rings, "pusher", small tube of "Marvel Mystery Oil". The lube is red so I first thought it was permatex.

What?.......... No Marvels Mystery Oil?....... and I thought I smelt mint
Nice pickling job Merk, now you've gone and wasted all of your fun lube

 

[nissan_crawler]

I use amsoil synthetic bearing grease.

 

[Merkava_4]

This is SuperLube #21030 - the official Snap-on ratchet lube.

 

[Rickster]

Yup, the suerlube stuff works really well. I like to do a soak-down in auto trans fluid for several days to clean them up then disassemble and add lube.

 

[Old Donn]

STP, used VERY SPARINGLY. See above entry re:weeping.

 

[The Muffin Man]

On high tooth count ratchets (60+ teeth) I moly coat the internals, then lubricate the with chain and sprocket oil.

 

[MOPARHOUND!]

Some ratchets like the Snap-On air tool oil # IM6, cleans and lubricates. Generally the fine tooth ratchet mechanisms seem to respond to this oil better.

Other ratchets like the Permatex Ultra-Slick red lube, #81950, heavier than the air tool oil.

 

[48548]

I use mobil 1 synthetic grease, red in a tube for a grease gun, works great and doesn't leak out much unless ratchet has a lot of slop in it.

 

[gofastman]

Just a couple of drops.

do not do this with craftsman or matco ratchets, it makes them self reverse during use, instead use a tiny bit of lube on the drive gear teath and backside.

 

[krehmkej]

Outer's Gunslick Graphite Lube:

"Advanced, graphite-based lubricant specifically formulated to keep your firearm’s moving parts working easily and smoothly."

 

[bgott]

I used to use grease until I started breaking ratchets. My Snap- on guy told me that the grease is why they were breaking. Grease can be thick enough to not let the pawl drop all the way into the gear, causing the pawl to ride high up on the thin part of the tooth. I quit greasing the ratchets and I quit breaking them.

 

[06jds377]

I've loosened a few problem children up with some Rotella I had on hand before, otherwise they don't get lubed.

 

[tj90]

That Permatex engine assembly lube sure looks like ATF - a lubricant in its own respects. I would think any light oil would keep wear down while allowing the tooth to fully engage.

 

[Bull]

That Permatex engine assembly lube sure looks like ATF - a lubricant in its own respects. I would think any light oil would keep wear down while allowing the tooth to fully engage.

I have a bucket of old ATF that I drained from a 4L60E. I used to worry about how to get rid of the stuff, but now I realize it is great to keep in a pail with a lid on it. I use it to soak problem tools to free them up again.

I can tell you, though, that ATF and the Permatex aren't very similar except for the color. The consistency is different, and the Permatex is very sticky. It will get "stringy" if pulled between two surfaces, like when you pull the spout of the bottle away from the surface you had it pressed against while pouring.

 

[Merkava_4]

That Permatex engine assembly lube sure looks like ATF -

But it's real thick like 60W oil.......

 

[psychoclaw84]

Tri-Flow is what I use for my ratchets, never had any problems.

 

[Nolan]

I used to use grease until I started breaking ratchets. My Snap- on guy told me that the grease is why they were breaking. Grease can be thick enough to not let the pawl drop all the way into the gear, causing the pawl to ride high up on the thin part of the tooth. I quit greasing the ratchets and I quit breaking them.

This makes sense.

I've always tried to used ATF for the ratchets and the air motors of my air tools. The only place I can think of offhand that I use grease is on the rotating drive shaft and little bearing block for the horse shoe of the air ratchets.

Once I started NOT putting my air ratchets in the parts washers all of the time, they started lasting much much longer.

 

[daveblank]

do not do this with craftsman or matco ratchets, it makes them self reverse during use, instead use a tiny bit of lube on the drive gear teath and backside.

Do not flood it like Merk did for the pic. He did it to be funny. Using the Permatex does not cause self reversing. I've used it for years in all my ratchets & it's what I use for warranty repairs.

 

[gofastman]

Do not flood it like Merk did for the pic. He did it to be funny. Using the Permatex does not cause self reversing. I've used it for years in all my ratchets & it's what I use for warranty repairs.

It did in mine! I think the problem is the lube restricts movement of the metal part that moves the pawl from one side to the other to change the ratchets rotation (dont know the exact name)

 

[Merkava_4]

It did in mine! I think the problem is the lube restricts movement of the metal part that moves the pawl from one side to the other to change the ratchets rotation (dont know the exact name)

Yours was a Craftsman ratchet though, correct?

Matco ratchets have stiffer professional strength pawl springs to prevent the occurrence of self reversing.

 

[JohnFreeman]

I like the "full of Lubriplate" approach... smooottthhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

 

[06wt]

i use a light rub down of the inside and all the parts with moly grease, and then put the ratchet together and add 2 or 3 drops of ultra slick befor i put the cover plate on.

 

[Merkava_4]

I like the "full of Lubriplate" approach... smooottthhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

This stuff here? No. 105 ?

 

[wreckercologist]

This stuff here? No. 105 ?

+1. That's what I've been using. Seems to work well and won't seep out like thinner lubes. Hell, the wrong lube is generally better than none at all.

 

[JohnFreeman]

That's the stuff!

 

[Merkava_4]

That's the stuff!

What color is the grease inside the tube?

 

[wreckercologist]

What color is the grease inside the tube?

Yellowish-off white. Like mayo that's been left out a little too long!

 

[sk farmer]

Yellowish-off white. Like mayo that's been left out a little too long!

did someone say mayo?????? krusty will be along with his .02 worth any minute now.

 

[Snappy]

hell mann ^

 

[sammerdog]

You guys serious?

Lubricant for a ratchet?

Good god Opie. Righty tighty, lefty loosey.

Now go home to Aunt Bea and stay away from these carnival freaks.

 

[Merkava_4]

Yellowish-off white. Like mayo that's been left out a little too long!

That sounds like white lithium, I wonder what the difference is.

 

[sammerdog]

We throw lithium grease in the vinyl tubing leading to the water exposed bearings at work..... .....anyone know why it turns black before it even is exposed to the bearings?

 

[Kev442]

Usually air tool oil when they get so stiff I can't reverse easily. Flush out gunk and dirt, go back to work!

 

[GeorgiaHybrid]

What really surprises me it that Merk doesn't use KY jelly on his ratchets. Then again, he might use RLL on the inside and KY on the ... never mind I don't think I need to go there. And neither does one of Merk's ratchets....