29AVEE8
Member
Hello. I am looking for some info on a Plomb ratchet. A little background, in 1940 my dad went to work for North American Aviation in Inglewood, CA. He bought quite a few Plomb tools, combination wrenches, offset box wrenches, ½ drive sockets etc. Nearly all of these tools were “blems” and therefore had the Plomb logo ground off and quite often the part number is ground off as well. These tools were sold at a reduced price and of course with no warranty.
His ½ drive ratchet is a female drive and is not a 5449. I can make out the first 3 numbers on the part number and they appear to be 544 and the last number is gone it is a U.S.A. 0A. His ¼ drive ratchet is a female as well and has part number 4748 it also is a U.S.A. 0D. These are not WF or Pebble they have a round shank with knurled handle. So doing a little extrapolation I am assuming that the female drive ratchets carried an 8 last digit. So am I correct in assuming that the ½ female drive is a 5448?
Many years ago before he passed away he tried to rebuild the ½ drive ratchet with the Proto J5449RK repair kit. This kit does not work in this ratchet as the selector lever is wrong and the cam on the 5449 kit swings from about 4 o’clock to 8 o’clock as opposed to the original that swings from about 10 o’clock to 2 o’clock .
So does anyone know if I have identified this ratchet correctly, and if so does anyone know where I can get the correct repair parts for it. The ratchet wheel is fine I just need the pawls, cam, springs and selector lever. I built my first engine with this ratchet and am about to tear into a couple of flatheads, I think they would appreciate it if I used correct era tools on them.
Thanks, Mike.
His ½ drive ratchet is a female drive and is not a 5449. I can make out the first 3 numbers on the part number and they appear to be 544 and the last number is gone it is a U.S.A. 0A. His ¼ drive ratchet is a female as well and has part number 4748 it also is a U.S.A. 0D. These are not WF or Pebble they have a round shank with knurled handle. So doing a little extrapolation I am assuming that the female drive ratchets carried an 8 last digit. So am I correct in assuming that the ½ female drive is a 5448?
Many years ago before he passed away he tried to rebuild the ½ drive ratchet with the Proto J5449RK repair kit. This kit does not work in this ratchet as the selector lever is wrong and the cam on the 5449 kit swings from about 4 o’clock to 8 o’clock as opposed to the original that swings from about 10 o’clock to 2 o’clock .
So does anyone know if I have identified this ratchet correctly, and if so does anyone know where I can get the correct repair parts for it. The ratchet wheel is fine I just need the pawls, cam, springs and selector lever. I built my first engine with this ratchet and am about to tear into a couple of flatheads, I think they would appreciate it if I used correct era tools on them.
Thanks, Mike.
