Ratchet testing

[ram12375]

Ready for the strange question of the day? I have a Mac m2r 1/4" (New Britain) ratchet that is many years old. Over the years this ratchet has become the smoothest ratchet i have ever held. I'm talking 15 grams of back drag smooth. But I think this smoothness is at the expense of wear. So im going to test whether this ratchet is at the end of its life or the best ratchet I own.

I'll finally get to use a 8 point socket! Put that on the torque wrench and start low and work my way up to see if it skips. But the question is how much torque to put on the ratchet? I dont want to intentionally over torque it and ruin it, but want to put a good working load on it to see if it is good to go. Im thinking somewhere between 30 and 50 ft lb. What say you?

 

[four.cycle]

That's a Kilness patent design. I wouldn't push it too much - it's only 1/4" drive.
If you break it, you might be able to source a repair kit for it. The same unit was also branded "Proto", "Challenger", "Tru-Test", and "Blackhawk" (among others.)

 

[Snaparxon]

Don't test it. The ratchet will let you know when it's worn out. If your lucky the teeth or a piece of the ratcheting mechanism will fail and a new kit will fix it, if the teeth on the ratchet body fail then the ratchet is not repairable.

 

[ram12375]

I think the ratchet is telling me it's worn out. And the ratchet body threads do look a bit flat. I should have mentioned that. If I put 10 ft lb of torque on it and it slips, did i break it? Or was It was already broken? 50 ft lb is too much but is 25 ft lb too much to ask out of this ratchet? Do I want a ratchet in my box that can't handle 25 or 20 or 15 ft lb? Just trying to funnel down that number.

 

[four.cycle]

^ I don't have answers to any of those questions.
This is the ratchet shown above - disassembled - with a view of the "teeth" on the ratchet body.
The repair kit was installed. This unit was sold months ago - so long ago I can't remember for sure - and I got zero complaints from the buyer.

 

[whateg01]

If in doubt just replace the ratchet with one that you know won't busy your knuckles when it slips. Rebuild this one or put it on the mantle. Seems like a lot of thought for a 1/4 drive ratchet.

 

[four.cycle]

^ It's a good ratchet, which is why he's concerned about it. Has an amazingly smooth action. I had half a dozen of them here in different brands - all good. All now sold, so there's obviously still a demand for them.

 

[ram12375]

Well I did it. It handled 25 ft lb without any signs of giving up. I must admit, I'm surprised. The back drag averages 13.1 grams @ 1 inch. My only complaint is it has 0.04" of slop between the handle and mechanism. Found a washer to slip under the snap ring but I'll have to hand fit a couple of hundreds to get it just right. Four.cycle, you ever notice that much slop in the ones you had?

 

[johninct]

Clean it out and re-lube it.

 

[four.cycle]

Four.cycle, you ever notice that much slop in the ones you had?

No. They were all in great shape.