Off camber ratchet crunching

[Fender1325]

I notice on my ratchets, which are all cheaper models, if I'm in a situation that causes the extension or socket to be less than 90 degrees to the ratchet, it crunches. Especially on my HF fine tooth comfort grip (no surprise), but also my gearwrench 120xp. I did the test with my buddies snap on and of course it did not do that.

The question is, do you own a ratchet that doesn't do this? What is it?

It's hardly a big deal, but it annoys me enough that I might pony up for an FH80 snap on.

 

[crf450x]

What do you mean by "crunches"?

 

[Fender1325]

The ratchet action isn't as smooth. I guess the gear is misaligning with the pawl(s). If there were tighter tolerances like I suspect the snap on has, it probably wouldn't allow itself to do this. It's basically labored. Gear grinds.

 

[LXCam]

I own a **** load of ratchets. Some higher end, some not and some mid grade. No SO and no HF and ya know what. Not a single one of them crunches. But for whatever this means, just cause you got an HF that does doesn't mean you need to go full extreme to the other side of the price range.

Just saying

 

[PJNJ]

No crunching in any of mine which include SK, Gearwrench, Wright, Cman, Carlyle, Armstrong, Proto, Williams, Husky, etc.

 

[L.Cheapo]

I have used Snap On ratchets exclusively for 20+ years and have never heard anything other than smooth ratcheting action and angels singing whenever I use them.

 

[sk farmer]

crunching....... a new disease that can "only" be cured by a dual 80 ratchet.


people should really quit making up excuses for wanting a snap-on ratchet. if you want one, get one but i am so sick of the flippin excuses people come up with to justify their fetish.

forget ***** envy. it's now dual 80 ratchet envy. get out the astroglide and stroke that *****. (insert ************ emojee here-->......)

 

[Fender1325]

Ok then. Take a long extension and hook it to your ratchet. Hold the socket end of the extension in one hand, and the end of the ratchet handle in the other hand. Now push them toward one another lightly like you're folding the two ends together. Turn your ratchet a few times. Tell me it's the same as when its not under that load, at 90 degrees. All of my ratchets feel labored and "crunchy".

Before the next know it all comments to "use the ratchet correctly", if you wrench on cars enough, you will find yourself in a situation where it's off 90 degrees because somethings in the way.

I was hoping others would chime in that have experienced this and maybe the ratchets they own that do not do this. I was hoping to not spend $100 on a 3/8 ratchet but that little situation has begun to bother me with my current cheaper ratchets.

 

[jumbojak]

I picked up a Dewalt pretty cheap a while ago that doesn't bind like you describe. It's a nice ratchet but has a heavy, uncomfortable handle.

 

[Tonyuk]

The extension will be putting a fair bit of sideways pressure onto the anvil i'm guessing which is forcing it closer to the pawl, leading to it working less smoothly, not a fault really and i wouldn't worry about it.

The snap-on may well have (and probably will tbh) tighter tolerances which means the body of the ratchet holds the anvil a bit more securely, preventing it from moving as much, but i wouldn't go and spend money on one just because of this. My sealed facom ratchets hold the anvil in the centre rock solid compared to my cheaper ones but they all work nicely.

 

[dan.brown]

The extension will be putting a fair bit of sideways pressure onto the anvil i'm guessing which is forcing it closer to the pawl, leading to it working less smoothly, not a fault really and i wouldn't worry about it.

The snap-on may well have (and probably will tbh) tighter tolerances which means the body of the ratchet holds the anvil a bit more securely, preventing it from moving as much, but i wouldn't go and spend money on one just because of this. My sealed facom ratchets hold the anvil in the centre rock solid compared to my cheaper ones but they all work nicely.

Get some of the extensions with the small wobble end. That way you can put the socket off of the 90° and I would think that it will not "crunch". By the way, I have many, many 3/8 ratchets and not 1 crunches.

Sent from my SM-N910V using Tapatalk

 

[Tonyuk]

Get some of the extensions with the small wobble end. That way you can put the socket off of the 90° and I would think that it will not "crunch". By the way, I have many, many 3/8 ratchets and not 1 crunches.

Sent from my SM-N910V using Tapatalk

I do use them and mine don't crunch either, but i still wouldn't bother about it until (if) they actually break.

 

[redwrench60]

crunching....... a new disease that can "only" be cured by a dual 80 ratchet.


people should really quit making up excuses for wanting a snap-on ratchet. if you want one, get one but i am so sick of the flippin excuses people come up with to justify their fetish.

forget ***** envy. it's now dual 80 ratchet envy. get out the astroglide and stroke that *****. (insert ************ emojee here-->......)

Kinda grumpy considering you're posting on a tool and garage forum. I'm only just ribbing you a little here so don't take me too seriously but if you're tired of hearing about it maybe switch to the electrical forum for a while?

 

[Htscheg]

if it has a warranty return it and try another one.... Or just go buy the snap on ratchet, you wont be disappointed with it

 

[Al Borland]

I think the guys saying that the anvil is tilted and misaligning the teeth are correct
.On the old SK ratchets, this would happen when the wear was making the core loose enough to rock. If you put a lot of pressure on the ratchet and the teeth on the core were in the "Right" (wrong) spot, it will slip. Also happened if the hole in the handle got stretched out of round.
But that was a round-head thing, (not just SK, they just gave the least warning) and I hadn't really thought about those possibilities with a pear head.

 

[65k10]

I'm not sure Snap-On ratchets are fully immune to this. I went and tried the extension thing on several of my Dual 80 ratchets and while they seem to do better than other ratchets, they still get less smooth and and the pawls seem a little grabby. This was mostly in my 1/2" drive ones. It didn't seem as pronounced in the 3/8" drive ratchets. I'm not going to lose any sleep over it.

 

[sk farmer]

Kinda grumpy considering you're posting on a tool and garage forum. I'm only just ribbing you a little here so don't take me too seriously but if you're tired of hearing about it maybe switch to the electrical forum for a while?

not really grumpy. i find some humor in it.

i mean really, the lengths that people go to justify needing a dual 80 ratchet are humorous. if not the op then surely others have gone years using what they had with success and now it is found to be vastly inferior.

in reality, the dual 80 is only slightly better than most good ratchets and some that are arguably as good or better than it.

 

[redwrench60]

not really grumpy. i find some humor in it.

i mean really, the lengths that people go to justify needing a dual 80 ratchet are humorous. if not the op then surely others have gone years using what they had with success and now it is found to be vastly inferior.

in reality, the dual 80 is only slightly better than most good ratchets and some that are arguably as good or better than it.

Dual 80’s are certainly among my favorites. SO Dual 80’s, Armstrong/Matco 88’s and S•K/Wright for round heads are very..very good indeed and will spoil a man quick.

One thing is for sure, ratchets have become way better over the last decade or so. I began buying tools as a mechanic when all pear head ratchets were 30-ish tooth and nearly all imported ratchets sucked bad. Now with improved designs from nearly all US companies, great offerings from both Asia and Europe the list of ratchets that are good is now much bigger that the ones that ****. Good times we live in fellas.

 

[barrybeefburger]

Ok then. Take a long extension and hook it to your ratchet. Hold the socket end of the extension in one hand, and the end of the ratchet handle in the other hand. Now push them toward one another lightly like you're folding the two ends together. Turn your ratchet a few times. Tell me it's the same as when its not under that load, at 90 degrees. All of my ratchets feel labored and "crunchy".

Before the next know it all comments to "use the ratchet correctly", if you wrench on cars enough, you will find yourself in a situation where it's off 90 degrees because somethings in the way.

I was hoping others would chime in that have experienced this and maybe the ratchets they own that do not do this. I was hoping to not spend $100 on a 3/8 ratchet but that little situation has begun to bother me with my current cheaper ratchets.

This^
I had this happen on a williams and sent it back, I posted about that experience in another thread

 

[Farleyfan]

Have you taken it apart and cleaned n lubed it ?
May not fix it but you'll get a good look at the internals.

 

[KGB Pilot125]

crunching....... a new disease that can "only" be cured by a dual 80 ratchet.


people should really quit making up excuses for wanting a snap-on ratchet. if you want one, get one but i am so sick of the flippin excuses people come up with to justify their fetish.

forget ***** envy. it's now dual 80 ratchet envy. get out the astroglide and stroke that *****. (insert ************ emojee here-->......)

We had this discussion the other day at work. I have almost exclusively
Snap-on ratchets other than the 120XP I got for free from a drawing. The young guys asked me if snap on was my favorite tool. I told them I really dont have a favorite as long as its the right one for the job and doesnt let me down. They pointed out the Snap-On collection and I thought about it and on the ratchets it comes down to the comfy grip and they say on and off... Thats right I use snap on ratchets because they say on and off!

 

[mudflap]

We had this discussion the other day at work. I have almost exclusively
Snap-on ratchets other than the 120XP I got for free from a drawing. The young guys asked me if snap on was my favorite tool. I told them I really dont have a favorite as long as its the right one for the job and doesnt let me down. They pointed out the Snap-On collection and I thought about it and on the ratchets it comes down to the comfy grip and they say on and off... Thats right I use snap on ratchets because they say on and off!

Yea....the kids coming into the trades now like to make fun of us old timers for spending big $$$$ on what they consider "vanity" tools... What they dont understand is back when we were buying our tools...there were no reasonably priced pro grade tools like Gearwrench, or Carlyle, etc...

 

[mudflap]

Yea....the kids coming into the trades now like to make fun of us old timers for spending big $$$$ on what they consider "vanity" tools... What they dont understand is back when we were buying our tools...there were no reasonably priced pro grade tools like Gearwrench, or Carlyle, etc...

Edit : I guess there was Blue Point... But the tool truck never seemed to have much of it on there..and there was no Bluepoint.com....lol