M12 3/8 ratchet

[Gurp]

I scored a used one off the bay and it seems weak. doesnt want break alot of bolts loose on my car that i can quickly with a hand ratchet. are these just not that strong or is there sometype of rebuild kit for these?

 

[Locker537]

Use it like a normal ratchet when breaking a fastener loose or for final tightening. Use the power to quickly thread fasteners on and off.

 

[RKA]

Yeah, it’s not meant to work like an impact driver/wrench. It’s more of a nut/bolt runner, but as mentioned above, you can use it to manually crack a bolt loose (within reason) just like you would with a wrench. Bear in mind the first gen ratchets are not as stout as the gen 2 (fuel) ratchets. The plastic part of the housing is your weak spot. So I would use it to loosen and remove calipers bolts torqued to 25 ft-lbs, but I would grab a manual ratchet to break carrier bolts loose before using the M12 to remove the bolts.

 

[Professional Tool User]

The M12 non fuel ratchet isn't that powerful. Even the fuel ratchets are only as powerful as your average air ratchet.

 

[Zexx]

Yeah M12 non fuel is ~35 ft/bs iirc. I break my fasteners loose manually and spin them off powered.

 

[BolognaBlake]

As everyone has said, break it loose manually and then zip it off.

What I will add, don't go yanking on the battery. I've broke loose things I had no business breaking loose with mine, the only issue I've ever had was cracking a battery case.

 

[Chevy-SS]

Yep, yep, yep, same as everyone is saying. I have one. They work good for spinning things on and off. No good for loosening or tightening, you gotta do that by hand, just be careful not to break the battery off, haha!

 

[Gurp]

Thx everyone

 

[Skin]

Just to add to this cordless and pneumatic ratchets need a running start to reach max torque. Basically you want to feel a little backlash in the gear before you push the paddle. If you're tight on the gear tooth and don't have the backlash they tend to lock up and, in the case of cordless, time-out.

 

[timboy]

I returned a non fuel 3/8ths for just that reason,the Fuel version does have a bit more power.

 

[M635_Guy]

I returned a non fuel 3/8ths for just that reason,the Fuel version does have a bit more power.

The reason I bought the FUEL version was mainly the beefier pawls that allow it to be more reasonably used as a ratchet. I'm not talking brake caliper bolts, but for a lot of stuff it's fine to crack and spin or bring it all the way to near-tight and finish manually.

Great tool.

 

[Tonyuk]

I only use my electric ratchet in the cab. Hate it otherwise, far too bulky.

I'd choose the small astro impact ratchet over it any day.