The $1 ratchet revival.

[heelsroll]

So, On July 26, I visited a local pawn shop and bought these items, for $5 out the door:

The ratchet at the bottom was a challenge. It cost me one dollar, and I bought it simply to test my ability to bring it back.

Here are the close-up before shots of the thing rusted solid, handle covered in gooey shrink-tape, and no snap-rings even visible.

For the last 5 weeks I have been soaking it in PB B'laster, periodically taking it out and rapping it on the workbench. Once or twice the pick came out and I scraped away whatever I could.

Today, I scraped and rapped it a little more, and was able to free the selector, snap ring didn't even break!

So I committed to it. I worked and finally got the main gear free. Spent time scraping and filing away rust and gunk, soaked the main handle for a few hours in Evaporust, hit it with steel wool, soaked everything in Marvel Mystery Oil. Put it together once, it wa a little crusty, so took it back aparts, lightly sanded/filed high spots, reassembled, smooth now with the RLL but the spring holding the detent ball wasn't strong enough, it would reverse when free-swinging. So I pulled the spring, stretched it, and reassembled.

SWEET!

Here are pics of the ratchet now, it ain't pretty but it ain't half bad:

And here is how it tested out. It didn't fail on me, but my quick little setup wasn't promising much stability, so I stopped here. For a short handled 3/8" ratchet I'm okay with that.

Was it worth all the time and effort, oh only to prove a point. That a pear head ratchet can suffer a lot of indignity and still come out swingin'.

Hope you enjoyed the tale!

heelsroll
PS I receive no remuneration from PB B'laster, Marvel Mystery Oil, or Permatex Assembly Lube. But I use the hell out of them!

 

[Hiball]

What is the Torque machine in the last pic? And how does it work?

 

[mrholeshot]

Very very cool. Most people would have tossed it. It got a second chance in life

 

[heelsroll]

What is the Torque machine in the last pic? And how does it work?

That's a discontinued Craftsman 44598 Torque Meter. There are several posts here about it. There are 1 or 2 on eBay right now.

The transducer plugs into the main unit and has 1/2" male and female ends, so you put it inline with your ratchet and socket (or, here, vise).

It's only accurate to 4%, similar to most torque wrenches, but I bought it to be able to baseline all my wrenches to one easy to read standard. And it comes in handy for something like this.

It should have its red bumper case on it, I had it off to put a fresh battery in.

 

[heelsroll]

Very very cool. Most people would have tossed it. It got a second chance in life

"Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without."

 

[toolnut]

Nice fix up.

 

[cruiser808]

Very impressive, my friend. Before seeing this thread, I would have tossed it. But, a great lesson learned.

 

[bchee]

Why didn't you use any vinegar?

 

[heelsroll]

Vinegar.

Well, Evaporust has worked well for me. If I wanted to take more time on this, I could have made it prettier or used vinegar. But I got anxious today once the snap rings came free, and a few hours in the Evaporust trumped overnight or longer in vinegar.

I could have thrown the whole thing in evaporust or vinegar when I got it, but it was back-burner, and PB B'laster has always worked well for me. Then, again, today, it jumped up to the front of my mind and I wanted to get it done if I could.

That, and last year when I lived in Miami Beach we used vinegar every day at work to clean salt off of stainless and the smell brings up some bad memories.

 

[Lookin4'67Galaxieconv]

Good job, Heels. Sometimes I've taken the time to respray a box just to see how good a job I could do, so I know the feeling.

 

[tyreguy25]

Spend some time on a wire wheel and get her really shining. Flip it and make a couple bucks.

 

[Flatland Dave]

Nice work!

 

[cowboy73]

Nice work on restoring life to that ratchet. Most people would have tossed that.

 

[whelenfan]

Spend some time on a wire wheel and get her really shining. Flip it and make a couple bucks.

x2 on that. great job on bringing that one back to life!

 

[cglasgow]

Here are pics of the ratchet now, it ain't pretty but it ain't half bad:

Wow -- the soaking made it 30 ft tall as well! ;-)

Seriously, though, nice work!

 

[woody 73]

It breaks my heart to see good tools all broken and rusted,I collect napa,(crying sounds in the background lots of tap music),good job bringing it back to life!

 

[thesilverone]

wow excellent job

 

[Teken]

Wow -- the soaking made it 30 ft tall as well! ;-)

Too funny that was my thoughts as well . . . Heels, between you and Mrholeshot, etc doing all of these little tests and recoveries . . .

This is why I love this site and the members so much!

Rock On Mang . . .

 

[heelsroll]

Wow -- the soaking made it 30 ft tall as well! ;-)
Seriously, though, nice work!

Too funny that was my thoughts as well . . . Heels, between you and Mrholeshot, etc doing all of these little tests and recoveries . . .

This is why I love this site and the members so much!
Rock On Mang . . .

You should see the size of the breaker bar!

Thanks all for the good words. Happy to give back a fraction of what I've gained from the forum.

Now, don't give up on that ratchet!

 

[bazzateer]

I'm amazed a pawn shop would even take that in!

 

[bonneyman]

Wow -- the soaking made it 30 ft tall as well! ;-)

Seriously, though, nice work!

Great job!

 

[heelsroll]

I'm amazed a pawn shop would even take that in!

The loose tools at the pawns around here come from boxes -- guy'll pawn the whole deal.

Every now and then you go by and they've dumped a whole 'nother box in the bins.

The 'local' has had a beat up Snappy box out for sale for at least 3 months, it's really beat up and they want $500 with the tools included. I've been trying for weeks to get them to separate the tools out but they keep saying somebody else needs to approve that.

The place I've been with the most loose tools has them scattered around a 20' x40' sales floor in at least 60 different tool boxes -- they take them in and don't even get to pulling out the Snap-On.

Of course, I'm sure the guy who approved the sale of this ratchet is laughing about the guy who would buy it.