Smallest cordless ratchet?

[MechanicMindset]

In my constant search for new tools to spend my money on, I stumbled upon this AC Delco 8v ratchet. It claims to be 9 1/2 inches tall which is I’m pretty sure the shortest cordless ratchet I’ve ever read about, the 12v husky is 12.7in. However there’s pretty much 0 information or reviews about it. Some for sale online and such but nothing consistent.



Has anyone tried one of these? Or has suggestions on similarly sized ones?

I want it because smaller size is a bigger deal than torque when working on aircraft. I have the husky 12v which is a tad shorter than the m12 and it gets in many places the Milwaukee just won’t. But a smaller cordless ratchet to add to my box would definitely be welcomed.

Todays sample place where the husky barely was able to snug into, m12 wouldn’t and that ac delco would probably go easy into:

 

[JradM]

Neat! Thanks for sharing.

 

[Snapped-off]

Could a long neck ratchet get in there?

 

[Fly YX]

In my constant search for new tools to spend my money on, I stumbled upon this AC Delco 8v ratchet. It claims to be 9 1/2 inches tall which is I’m pretty sure the shortest cordless ratchet I’ve ever read about, the 12v husky is 12.7in. However there’s pretty much 0 information or reviews about it. Some for sale online and such but nothing consistent.



Has anyone tried one of these? Or has suggestions on similarly sized ones?

I want it because smaller size is a bigger deal than torque when working on aircraft. I have the husky 12v which is a tad shorter than the m12 and it gets in many places the Milwaukee just won’t. But a smaller cordless ratchet to add to my box would definitely be welcomed.

Todays sample place where the husky barely was able to snug into, m12 wouldn’t and that ac delco would probably go easy into:

Cessna?

 

[MechanicMindset]

Cessna?

This is a 737-700. Trailing edge of the wing right

 

[MechanicMindset]

Could a long neck ratchet get in there?

Probably a really long neck one. But I would find those to be really awkward to use iust about everywhere other than this spot

 

[Firebrick43]

This is a 737-700. Trailing edge of the wing right

So they will let you use cordless ratchets(due to FOD concerns)?

 

[MechanicMindset]

So they will let you use cordless ratchets(due to FOD concerns)?

They let us use cordless or an air one it doesn’t really matter I have both types. We do heavy maintenance so the chances of anything getting left in an area like this are slim to none since an inspector always doubles checks the work and the area

 

[p00p]

I like to use the right angle adapters with my Drexel. It has just enough umph to remove or install hardware, then I use hand tools to finalize the install.

 

[Fly YX]

Found a ball peen hammer in a jet engine once. The handle was burnt a little.

 

[WWheeler]

Probably a really long neck one. But I would find those to be really awkward to use just about everywhere other than this spot

I used to think so also BUT in so many cases the longest cordless works where the shorter won't. It's sort of the opposite situation to a hand ratchet since you don't have to account for turning it. All you have to do is be able to snake the ratchet head down to the fastener to get a socket on it and a lot of the time you can get the longer neck down into the tightest spots without having to snake your hand down into there too. After a while now with several shorties it's my one extended that gets used more than all of them.

 

[dnschmidt]

That looks nice but the SPAir pneumatic impacting ratchet is really small and might be the ideal solution. On the other hand counterintuitively the long neck ratchet gets into places the shorter ones don't. It's a fact but sort of hard to comprehend.

 

[assassin10000]

All I'm reading in this thread boils down to the normal GJ rule of thumb:

Get both.

 

[wantedabiggergarage]

The shortest is a finger or thumbwheel ratchet.

 

[MechanicMindset]

Thinking it through, it would indeed be easier to have used a long neck ratchet, husky doesn’t make one of those so I guess time to choose and spend on another tool for a rather specific situation lol.

After doing more research on the incredibly hard to come by AC Delco 8v ratchet, it doesn’t have a variable speed trigger.. also turns out many if not all of the new 12v ones they have also have a switch that’s basically on or off. That’s kinda ridiculous, I would only excuse the lack of that for the tiny one. Also a shame there aren’t any impact ratchets in cordless form.

 

[Marsim]

We should swap "funny ha-ha" stories about the stuff the inspectors miss.

They let us use cordless or an air one it doesn’t really matter I have both types. We do heavy maintenance so the chances of anything getting left in an area like this are slim to none since an inspector always doubles checks the work and the area

 

[MechanicMindset]

We should swap "funny ha-ha" stories about the stuff the inspectors miss.

I just this afternoon had to safety wire all bleed valves in the brakes of a 737 because the brakes were bled and someone signed it off as completed, inspector “missed” the cut or missing safety wire and so did the customer rep. Thing was going to leave like that. But there’s tons of those specially since inspectors can sometimes be lazy to go check stuff over

 

[MechanicMindset]

Thought I’d update this thread with what I ended up getting to fill my need for a small cordless ratchet.

I found a very old Snap On ET 1050 3.6v nicad ratchet on eBay with the charger for extremely cheap. Obviously didn’t work worth a damn but I bought it as a project to convert to lithium ion.

I can go into very extensive detail about the conversion but I essentially used a bms for 8.4v 18650 in series charging with balance capabilities and a couple 18650 cells from an m12 1.5 battery. I picked up a charger that would deliver the necessary 8.4v and light up when charged and adapted it into the charging base.


With two 18650s voltage was more than doubled from the original 3.6v. The motor should last okay as it’s not constantly running. This leads to it being much faster than the original 120rpm. This thing only has one planetary gearset instead of two so it doesn’t particularly have much torque.

However it has some very cool features that modern ratchets don’t have:

The head swivels 360 degrees by loosening the collar, has a quick release push button at the back of the head and it’s much shorter than the average cordless ratchet at 9 3/4 inches. Also it has a very tiny push switch to turn on instead of a bulky paddle.

Here’s an example of a place where it made a job much faster and easier because it was able to fit where others wouldn’t. I’ve used it countless times in tiny holes and spaces. I grab it every day.

The reason it looks like an odd banana is to protect it from Skydrol hydraulic fluid which will absolutely destroy plastic tools and I use it in areas with it sometimes.

 

[Andres26tnt]

So they will let you use cordless ratchets(due to FOD concerns)?

I wondered the exact question lol. A&P mech here, except I am currently in the Air Force, never been allowed to use electric anything inside the aircraft.

 

[MechanicMindset]

I wondered the exact question lol. A&P mech here, except I am currently in the Air Force, never been allowed to use electric anything inside the aircraft.

Every MRO around here let’s you use electric everything. The aircraft is grounded and more often than not the tanks are empty and vented. If we didn’t use power tools we would take twice as long if not more per heavy check

 

[Marsim]

Most of the newer brushless stuff is generally allowed. Removing dozens of panels for a heavy check with air tools or by hand is a pia. I've done top of the wing work in the past where I'd have to pad everything the air hose would touch. Major suckage.

 

[MechanicMindset]

There’s always some guy that’s stuck up in the past refusing to use electric or any power tools entirely and they take forever to do any simple job.

The convenience of just grabbing the tool and going into whatever hole you’re working in without having to lay out the hose and all that is huge.

 

[MechanicMindset]

As luck would have it, our line was switched from Southwest to United and their customer representatives don’t want electric tools being used lol. Not even to remove things, which has lead to us being somewhat behind on the beginning of the D-2 check. Anyway..

Now looking to scoop myself up an air ratchet preferably with rotating head. Not looking for something super tiny but small. Will post what I end up getting here.

So far I like the MAC AR380RH and some sp airs I’ve seen. My ingersoll 1207max-d3 is a bit too much for most things. Any recommendations you have are welcome

 

[javyLSU]

Thought I’d update this thread with what I ended up getting to fill my need for a small cordless ratchet.

I found a very old Snap On ET 1050 3.6v nicad ratchet on eBay with the charger for extremely cheap. Obviously didn’t work worth a damn but I bought it as a project to convert to lithium ion.

I can go into very extensive detail about the conversion but I essentially used a bms for 8.4v 18650 in series charging with balance capabilities and a couple 18650 cells from an m12 1.5 battery. I picked up a charger that would deliver the necessary 8.4v and light up when charged and adapted it into the charging base.


With two 18650s voltage was more than doubled from the original 3.6v. The motor should last okay as it’s not constantly running. This leads to it being much faster than the original 120rpm. This thing only has one planetary gearset instead of two so it doesn’t particularly have much torque.

However it has some very cool features that modern ratchets don’t have:

The head swivels 360 degrees by loosening the collar, has a quick release push button at the back of the head and it’s much shorter than the average cordless ratchet at 9 3/4 inches. Also it has a very tiny push switch to turn on instead of a bulky paddle.

Here’s an example of a place where it made a job much faster and easier because it was able to fit where others wouldn’t. I’ve used it countless times in tiny holes and spaces. I grab it every day.

The reason it looks like an odd banana is to protect it from Skydrol hydraulic fluid which will absolutely destroy plastic tools and I use it in areas with it sometimes.

Well done! Thanks for sharing.

 

[dnschmidt]

The SPAir impacting ratchets are the only way to go unless you love having your wrist twisted. About 50 ft-lb. of torque (small and light) and no snap back. What's not to like.

 

[MechanicMindset]

The SPAir impacting ratchets are the only way to go unless you love having your wrist twisted. About 50 ft-lb. of torque (small and light) and no snap back. What's not to like.

Those sp air impacting ratchets were high up on my list of considerations but I don’t want anything with that much torque as I would break a lot of **** and I was more of looking for something with a rotating head and cheap, hard to do for sp air even used. Also I’ve noticed the impacting ones make more noise due to the hammer.

 

[Lucid Moments]

I picked up an Astro Pneumatic mini wobble air ratchet last year and am pretty happy with it. Having the wobble on the actual tool is nice sometimes to give you just that little bit of flex to get on a fastener.

 

[MechanicMindset]

What I ended up buying was a used Mac AR380RH with the rotating head which has been immensely useful already. However this tool came with some faults which I’m not sure if they’re original to it or because it’s used. Anyway I went on to resolve them.

Of course first step is take it all apart to clean, inspect and lube everything.

First issue was that the trigger was more of an on and off switch than a controllable thing that you could go low rpm and bring it up. This was incredibly annoying so I adapted a thicker spring from an old DeVilBliss ratchet and added yet another spring between the paddle and body at the valve, also swapped the tiny original paddle for the larger one from the DeVilBliss to have more control, the result is with two springs I’m able to properly control the rpm, this is definitely a miss in design by Mac to have such a soft throttle spring. Some air tools I’ve tested have this on/off throttle issue.


Second it didn’t have much power, however I noticed the muffler was just a piece of donut shaped brown scotch brite type thing which was kinda clogged. Cut up a new piece of scotch brite to size and it’s very peppy now and no increase in noise.

 

[MechanicMindset]

I picked up an Astro Pneumatic mini wobble air ratchet last year and am pretty happy with it. Having the wobble on the actual tool is nice sometimes to give you just that little bit of flex to get on a fastener.

Those are very cool, I looked into them and mostly found Mac models doing that with the anvil, i was checking out an ar255 that had that. Does it get annoying when trying to have straight shot at a fastener? I figured it would since the drive doesn’t seem to lock straight

 

[Lucid Moments]

Those are very cool, I looked into them and mostly found Mac models doing that with the anvil, i was checking out an ar255 that had that. Does it get annoying when trying to have straight shot at a fastener? I figured it would since the drive doesn’t seem to lock straight

I haven't had any issues due to that, but I am just a weekender not a professional.