The worst ratchet ever...

[shawndp]

I recently watched a YouTube video titled “The Worst Ratchet Ever” where the premise was that the HF long handle flex head is terrible. So terrible that it earns that title. Thing is I have purchased one and it wasn’t bad. My colleague liked it so much I gave it to him and he uses it every day happily. I’m no master tech and only have 14 years of experience in the industry but I’ve used some really miserable ratchets - the sort that swing direction or unlock and have your fist crash into hard metallic surfaces or just lock up and not ratchet at all. Most of us here enjoy nicer tools, but is the bar really that high industry-wide? Do the vast majority of technicians have FLH80’s or Eighty8 locking heads they whip out and do oil changes with, thereby setting the bar so high that HF has the worst ratchet in America / the universe?

 

[potato]

its just his opinion.

 

[KWtech90]

Craftsman raised panel ratchets are the worst ratchets I've personally used. I don't see how you could think the flex head fine tooth ratchets from harbor freight are anywhere near as awful.

 

[Tallpilot]

I like that guy, he's mildly entertaining and puts out decent non-shill reviews of tools he actually uses. He does tend toward hyperbole although I am seeing Pittsburgh Pro extra long flex ratchets being replaced by Carlyle. When they are on sale the quality increase is worth the additional cost. At list price they are quite frankly insane.

 

[hefnerconstructionlc]

I agree with above. Sears has some gems, but the raised panel is not one. As to worlds worst, well there are a lot of crappy ratchets floating around but that HF is not it.

 

[vssjim]

The MAC ratchets from the 70s through the 90s. Very stiff, the cover screws fell out daily, clunky, weak teeth, very low tooth count and fairly pricey, flex head styles would break at the head joints other than that they were fine.

 

[48548]

I would vote raised panel as well... i give them away....

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[Lassen Forge]

Raised Panels? I like them for throwing at the dog, stirring coffee, and keeping my band-aid supply fresh...

Actually I have a couple that I do use, and once I cleaned them up and relubed them, work fine. One I had to dress up the ratchet wheel, but still, for what they were, they weren't worst. Sure, they're not a 60 tooth top end... more like 30 tooth, I think... but as long as they're not totally hosed internally, they work.

The MAC screw-throwing ever-slipping auto-reversing - I like MAC generally, but THAT damned thing went thru bandaids. I ended up locktiting the screws in - ALMOST worked... it's now sitting in the bottom of a boat channel next to a facility we did mobile work for... someone, 1000 years from now, will recover that POS out of the solidified dirt under what used to be the channel... and go "What crappy tools they had way back in the stone age"...

What I paid for that POS... well, I didn't want anyone picking it up to use and hurting themselves.

 

[dogdog]

Channel Lock Uni-Fit Socket Set POS wrench and POS services. TOTAL POS.

 

[Snakebyt]

i have the HF long ratchet, and i use it daily, far from the worst around

 

[PJNJ]

The HF ratchet is definitely not "the worst" (actually pretty good except for the floppy head action after a while) and the Cman raised panel is rightfully looked down on (but usable for at least a little while) BUT the worst ratchet I have ever used came in one of those dirt cheap socket sets that were sold in supermarkets, etc. from the '80's and '90's. My father bought one - it came in a red metal box. I stopped over to help him around '92 and didn't have any tools with me. He got the set out and I promptly stripped out the guts out of the ratchet just putting a little pressure on it. I think the set was made out of a mixture of pot metal, plastic and silly putty.

 

[Lassen Forge]

... the worst ratchet I have ever used came in one of those dirt cheap socket sets that were sold in supermarkets, etc. from the '80's and '90's. My father bought one - it came in a red metal box. I stopped over to help him around '92 and didn't have any tools with me. He got the set out and I promptly stripped out the guts out of the ratchet just putting a little pressure on it. I think the set was made out of a mixture of pot metal, plastic and silly putty.

Genuine Chinesium.

I got a 3/8" set - ratchet, one extension, and sockets - at a Kragens for $29.99, broken down on the side of the road, to change out a belt on the side of a freeway... it was a typical "Red Box Special"... it worked just long enough to loosen the tensioner bolt, get the new belt on, and as I was tightening it, the head stripped out the same time as the socket split.

I didn't include it, as I don't consider it a tool... more like ballast for a sailboat. I'm not even sure, if submerged in water, it would rust...

 

[whtbaron]

I'm a little surprised to see the comments about the MAC ratchet... I have a 1/4" in the drawer of my toolbox that has been a favorite since I bought it in the late 70's. It has the directional lever on it, so maybe it's a different style than the previous post mentioned. As for 1/2" stuff, I've had some winners too... S-K was strong enough, but very clumsy to work with. Gray was a worthless POS that slipped as did it's replacement, and a Canadian Tire ratchet with the round knob was a PIA to change directions and was bad for getting stuck in neutral. On a more positive note, I recently purchased a Jet 1/2" ratchet and I'm really happy with it. For the money (around $58 Cdn) it's not far behind SnapOn in quality. My only complaint is the locking button needs to be depressed to get a socket on as well as off, and sometimes slows me down.

 

[6PTsocket]

I recently watched a YouTube video titled “The Worst Ratchet Ever” where the premise was that the HF long handle flex head is terrible. So terrible that it earns that title. Thing is I have purchased one and it wasn’t bad. My colleague liked it so much I gave it to him and he uses it every day happily. I’m no master tech and only have 14 years of experience in the industry but I’ve used some really miserable ratchets - the sort that swing direction or unlock and have your fist crash into hard metallic surfaces or just lock up and not ratchet at all. Most of us here enjoy nicer tools, but is the bar really that high industry-wide? Do the vast majority of technicians have FLH80’s or Eighty8 locking heads they whip out and do oil changes with, thereby setting the bar so high that HF has the worst ratchet in America / the universe?

The problem with HF is ZERO quality control. Even when the design is decent, there is a good chance of getting a defective product. If it is a basically good product and you get a good one, it should work fine and last a long time. That is the fallacy of the HF pass/fail thread. It is based on a single purchase review. It is hard to get a handle on the initial and longer term reject rates. There are the HF reviews but I don't completely trust them. HF finds it cheaper to not pay for production QC and just exchange the bad ones. They must have a threshold. If they get too many back, they probably do something about it....maybe.
In response to your other question. There are plenty of options between HF and SO. There is good quality and or great product support from a number of companies.

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[bob15]

Not sure about all the distaste with the C-man raised handle ratchets. They aren't my favorite, but I use one everyday at work and have yet to have it fail me.....

I could name other brands I wouldn't buy, including US made ones, before I would say that about the C-man ratchet.

 

[Fedwrench]

"Worst" and "Best" are in the eye of the beholder

He's not the only one to complain about the Harbor Freight head flop, there have been other comments here before.

As always, use what you like to use and buy what you want to buy but, just because someone else uses & buys something different than you, doesn't make him automatically wrong.

I know the Craftsman Raised panel ratchet seems to have become the ratchet everyone loves to hate but remember, there were several versions and suppliers over the years and not all of them sucked. Hell, Sears probably sold more raised panel ratchets than MacDonalds has sold big macs

Besides, the star of the video was the over priced Proto long handled 3//8 drive ratchet with the two bands of knurled goodness on the handle.

 

[mv213]

The HF ratchet is definitely not "the worst" (actually pretty good except for the floppy head action after a while) and the Cman raised panel is rightfully looked down on (but usable for at least a little while) BUT the worst ratchet I have ever used came in one of those dirt cheap socket sets that were sold in supermarkets, etc. from the '80's and '90's. My father bought one - it came in a red metal box. I stopped over to help him around '92 and didn't have any tools with me. He got the set out and I promptly stripped out the guts out of the ratchet just putting a little pressure on it. I think the set was made out of a mixture of pot metal, plastic and silly putty.

Yes, those were definitely the worst. They had a round head with a straight reversing thing on the back, and the handles look like they were finished on a bench grinder with 80-grit....I haven’t seen sets like this for a while so maybe they are all gone now that HF has pretty good market penetration.

 

[snapmom]

Snap on had a few "what were they thinking" rats. One was the L-71, had to have special made only by SO sockets and drivers. Has this ring that the SO only socket would fit in, and then you had to turn the ring to lock the socket into place. They never made it in the regular cats, I suppose very few were purchased.

There are a few other SO rats that you could add to this list.

 

[Richard Cranium]

I had a stubby handle H.F that broke the first time I used it.

 

[BDT/NWMN]

Four of the eight late model USA Craftsman raised panel 3/8" drive, and a 1/4" drive that I bought for Christmas stocking stuffers and backup sets proved to be garbage.

The 1/4" drive I purchased in the early 70's has never given a problem. Other than the hinge pin falling out of a later USA 1/2" drive flex head raised panel, I have had good luck with the 1/2" drive raised panels. The one I got used in the early 60's lasted till 2005..

The absolute worse rat-**** I ever owned was a 3/4" drive HF gem.. I couldn't get it to unlock, so I disassembled it. The gear ring in the housing was stamped off center. The teeth on one side were as sharp as a razor, while the opposite side resembled bumps. The replacement seems ok, and is kept for a spare.

 

[shawndp]

Thanks for all the replies - it is not my intention to bash on a brand or the opinions of an individual. I am just trying to get a point of reference for what a “bad” ratchet is because I was surprised that something I thought works adequately was deemed to be the worst. There are so many ratchets that barely ratchet that it seemed frivolous to complain about that unit. Of equal mention that if I tried to return a ratchet at Canadian Tire or Princess Auto (Canadian equivalent of HF) for a similar condition, I would almost certainly get tossed out of the store, sans replacement...

 

[potato]

these knuckle busting pos.

 

[6PTsocket]

these knuckle busting pos.

The brand name isn't exactly a winner, either.

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[Musicinabottle]

No deep wells in that kit. That's surprising!

 

[jd_1138]

I like the HF composite ratchets and the roto head ratchets. I only have a 1/4 HF roto ratchet -- that's the only HF ratchet I have. I definitely like it.

I think the ones that come with their standard non-pro socket sets are pretty bad. My DD ratchets are SK in my main set and Powr-Kraft as my secondary set.

 

[Druder]

I have raised panel Cman ratchets that I have dealt with for over a decade because I didn't want to pay money to replace them. In the last few weeks I got a Cman 72 tooth 50% off and a HF pro flex head 72 tooth both 3/8 and they're night and day better than my originals. I plan on replacing my 1/4 with a HF composite or flex head as well. I keep a Stanley ratchet set in my car that my father gave me when I turned 16 and even those are better than the Cman...

 

[unslow1]

Not sure about all the distaste with the C-man raised handle ratchets. They aren't my favorite, but I use one everyday at work and have yet to have it fail me.....

I could name other brands I wouldn't buy, including US made ones, before I would say that about the C-man ratchet.

I would agree. I've been using raised panel Craftsman for decades. I have since spent money on higher priced tools Still I wouldn't hesitate to use one or call them junk. The junk ones I give to the neighbors and nephews as loaner/give away.

 

[Ole Slewfoot]

About '93 I was working in a shop on an island with only one hardware store. I broke my trusty old RP, and they gave me another...almost once a week from that day forward. I did have air tools, and pretty much only used it where they would not fit.

those plastic sets with the plastic selector are really bad too.

 

[sberry]

I vote Cman. One expects the 5$ set to be junk but considering how many Sears has had returned they got to be the worst. They continued to make it. Must be the most warranted tool in the world, I just got 2, was a waste of steel.

 

[madison069]

these knuckle busting pos.

Looks very similar to the kit I bought at Walmart to change a starter out on the side of the road. The ratchet wasn't able to break the bolt loose before the square part that the socket fit on, sheared off.

I bought a PM set after taking the first set back and still use the PM tools today.

 

[Shehzada]

Looks very similar to the kit I bought at Walmart to change a starter out on the side of the road. The ratchet wasn't able to break the bolt loose before the square part that the socket fit on, sheared off.

I bought a PM set after taking the first set back and still use the PM tools today.

PM tools? What does that stand for?

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[potato]

PM tools? What does that stand for?

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popular mechanics.

 

[Shehzada]

Thanks. Didn't know PM manufactured automotive tools. I only thought of the magazine.

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[BDT/NWMN]

Raised Panels? I like them for throwing at the dog, stirring coffee, and keeping my band-aid supply fresh...

Please be nice to the puppy, stop polluting Your coffee, and refrain from using ratchets that may damage the only two hands You have.. Those ratchets are better used as markers for the radish rows in the garden.
There is no benefit in punishing Yourself for buying such a thing.

 

[Jaysreal]

I recently watched a YouTube video titled “The Worst Ratchet Ever” where the premise was that the HF long handle flex head is terrible. So terrible that it earns that title.

Is it correct of me to assume you mean my video:

To be completely honest; I feel when one watches a YouTube review video, they should expect that the opinions presented are solely the opinions of the presenter and not representative of an entire group.

With that said I'd like to offer a deeper insight into the specifics of the situation:

My first 62333 was purchased mid-late 2015

4 Ratchets were warranty returned between that period and now. (2018)

All warranty returns were because of the loose flex head.

Every Ratchet's flex joint became as severe as shown in the video.

After returning the first one, I began to select the "tightest" one they had available on the store shelf.

On 3 occasions I attempted to remedy the situation myself before returning for warranty. (Locktite on the flex joint fastener of each, replacement of 2 flex joint fasteners, replacement of 2 wave washers)

On one occasion I simply returned the ratchet for warranty and never attempted to remedy.

Since the initial purchase, every ratchet has lived in my "Periodic Maintenance" bag and only seen use on engine oil drain pan plugs but only in a situation where the pervious tech has installed the plug too tightly.

I am a field tech who works on forklifts, so the full leverage of the long handle was never taken advantage of because I am never able to get the vehicle high enough off the ground to apply much leverage.

There is an additional flaw that plagues the dog/gear design of this ratchet; the Ratchet will sometimes reverse directions or the switch will free swing into neutral after becoming set in a direction, a situation I left out of the video because it is not the only ratchet that suffers from this phenomenon but, it most certainly doesn't inspire a vote of confidence for this ratchet.

I feel anyone who has experienced a situation similar to this with a specific product, they too would consider the product "the worst" I am also a very logical person, so the claim of being the "worst ratchet in existence" is in fact an over exaggeration, I wholeheartedly understand that, as logically, one would need to have used every ratchet in the world; something that's probably an impossibility.

I have used a great veriety of ratchets (From Bahco, Nepros, and westward to Craftsman, snap-on, SK, and Armstrong) but I by no means have used them all.

So with everything I have experienced, I would consider it the worst ratchet I have ever used, considering not a single one of them has lasted past an intial 30 day return period. There have been some murmurings of a redesign, but these are the things I have experienced, someone else may have had better results, I did not.

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[Fedwrench]

Hey, you don't have to explain your opinion or video

You can't please everyone.....

One thing though that people have kind of missed though, was the ease of warranty replacement. Congrats to harbor freight for that. In the end, didn't you opt for the shorter 3/8 drive flex head?

Keep of the great work and ignore the negative Nancys

 

[hangfirew8]

HF still sells a $4.99 40pc socket set with a 3/8 RH ratchet. That is my nominee. I had one 20-some years ago (30?) and the Round Head went oval and locked up the very first time I leaned on it. At least I didn't hurt myself!

Second place nominee is a foot long Danaher/Allen 30-some tooth floppy-head ratchet I got NOS just a few years ago. It is so floppy a floppy-head that it is useless for any purpose. I tried tightening the sides but no go. It did drive me to buy the locking head NAPA equivalent, which is a very fine piece of hardware, that just made a tough job much easier.

Raised panels... don't have any recent Cman Chinesium so can't speak to that, but I've done far too much work with them to complain too much. Most of mine of 60's pre-QR so that probably means something. But I have moved on.

 

[retDAC]

Thanks. Didn't know PM manufactured automotive tools. I only thought of the magazine.

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They didn't. Back in the 90s Walmart licensed the name and had the tools made by seemingly Stanley.

 

[Jaysreal]

They didn't. Back in the 90s Walmart licensed the name and had the tools made by seemingly Stanley.

I believe there is more information floating around here but I thought they were made by Moore drop forge(long time USA Craftsman supplier)

I believe there were also rumors that Popular Mechanics, due to Walmart using their name, would require the manufacturer to send a sample of the finished product to PM's headquarters for testing.

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[Jaysreal]

They didn't. Back in the 90s Walmart licensed the name and had the tools made by seemingly Stanley.

I may have been wrong on that last one, here's a link to the thread on PM Tools: https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=90248

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