Oil for ratchet mechanism?

[marlinspike]

I have an older ratchet that has started to get gritty, so I took it apart to clean and lubricate. I figured the 75w-80 LT2 gear oil BMW makes for their manual transmissions would be sufficient, but the mechanism got a bit louder. Now, is that a good loud meaning I'm getting nice positive engagement of the teeth, or is it a bad loud meaning I need a thicker lube?

 

[kiatech]

permatex ultra slick assembly lube or super lube synthetic grease.

 

[shoturtle]

the purple super lube, or i fine gun oil works well as well.

 

[marlinspike]

the purple super lube, or i fine gun oil works well as well.

The gun oil I use is Militec-1, which is about a 10 weight. I'm thinking that wouldn't work.

 

[refried]

your supposed to use a light oil (3 in 1 is good), but I use a good waterproof grease because mine see lots of use around and in salt water.

 

[Fedwrench]

Many choices available for ratchet lube. Some people here are as passionate about their ratchet lube as their favorite car brand or hair color on women.
However, I prefer a slightly thicker lube like engine assembly lube for ratchets with less than 45 teeth and a thinner oil such as air tool oil, 3 in one, or Brake Free CLP for finer toothed ratchets but, that's just me. Use what you have on hand and what you can live with leaking out.