Thinking about purchasing Gearwrench 90T Locking Flex?

[ElusiveKandyDC]

... worth noting, the flex head tension is loosey goosy to say the least


Coming from the non locking 120xp flex set, I was hoping for similar tension while being able to utilize the lock in specific applications. To my disappointment, the 90T could barely support the weight of its own head without flopping down. The 1/2" being by far the worst

This may not be a problem to some, but it can be a deal breaker to others.



Remedy for the problem was adding tiny shims under the spring that pushes up on the head to create tension. High tech solution was a water bottle cap and a hole punch. This doesn't come without a drawback. The added tension makes the locking switch a bit more difficult to swing into place. Too many shims and the lock becomes unusable.

Eventually found a medium I can live with. 1/2" drive can now hold a 19mm deep without collapsing


Hope someone finds this info helpful, because Gearwrench will not respond to your concern. I know that from experience




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[Mr_B]

current gearwrench really is a load of garbage .
Sad as original socketry and early 84T ratchets all fairly decent design/features/value .
Only plus is the new color and logo matches the current junk they pushing perfectly .

 

[blairjw]

I have the 1/4" Flex... holds up under it's own weight... I think it's a pretty good 1/4" flex ratchet.

 

[Fedwrench]

I have the Gearwrench 90 tooth 1/4 drive comfort grip flex head ratchet and like it for the most part
I think there's too large of a gap between the handle fork and the bottom edge of the ratchet head which makes for some lateral movement but, that's just me.

I'm probably too set in my ways but, I don't think I should have to customize a ratchet with shims, spring modifications, or anything else aside from maybe a few drops of oil to enhance its performance. I want it to work straight out of the packaging.

 

[RoundedNut]

I have a couple of 1/4" slim head 72 tooth ones and the problem I had was that the head was way too loose in the fork, and likely causing too much strain on the pin as well. I don't like that locking mechanism as well, prefer the push button style.

Solution was some shim washers and they are okay now, but the ratchet should have never gone past the design phase with that much gap. Gearwrench used to be a great innovative company but I'm now thinking Apex has ruined it.

 

[Fedwrench]

I don't like that locking mechanism as well, prefer the push button style.

Gearwrench used to be a great innovative company but I'm now thinking Apex has ruined it.

The problem I have with the push button locking ratchet design, is that there isn't an unlocked mode

I agree that the Apex tool group has the midas touch in reverse, everything they touch seems to turn to ****.

 

[boom10ful]

Their 24" flex head ratchet has a very thin handle and flexes a lot even at low torque. The Matco one is better.

 

[HomeTheaterMan]

This doesn't surprise me.

I love the first Gearwrench ratchet I bought. I've used it hard for years, and still use it on a regular basis. It's held up great. I was so impressed that I bought more. The quality seems very inconsistent. I've had a high failure rate with the others I bought. I gave up and went back to Snap On.

 

[Yarpo]

I just grabbed mine from my toolbox and the head tension is great. Need to apply force to move it any direction, and it clicks into the grooves/next position easily and it supports itself all the way through. That said I just noticed yours are locking flex head, so disregard. Obviously extra pieces. I've went to matco exclusively for my locking flex head ratchets. 10/10

 

[ElusiveKandyDC]

To be fair, I've had good experience with Gearwrench stuff. Loved the 120xp flex ratchets particularly.

And I don't know if the complaint about this specific locking flex is necessarily a quality issue. Perhaps more of a personal gripe of the design. Of all the good reviews of these locking ratchets, the loose flex was never mentioned so I thought it would be worth mentioning. Time will tell how these ratchets hold up

I'm probably too set in my ways but, I don't think I should have to customize a ratchet with shims, spring modifications, or anything else aside from maybe a few drops of oil to enhance its performance. I want it to work straight out of the packaging.

I completely agree. Problem lies with having no choice but to purchase online without handling the tool before hand. Chances we all take from time to time. These ratchets would be returned if the complaint couldn't be remedied free of charge using plastic pulled from the recycle bin

 

[javyLSU]

...I've went to matco exclusively for my locking flex head ratchets. 10/10

Agree 100%. Have not found a locking flex head ratchet I like more than Matco.

 

[lardy1]

I have two Gearwrench locking flex (not 90 tooth) and two Carlyle locking flex. In my unprofessional opinion based on personal use, the Carlyle is a superior mechanism.

 

[M6erfan]

More well marketed flashy garbage from Gearwrench. Who woulda thought?

 

[rick carpenter]

... worth noting, the flex head tension is loosey goosy to say the least


Coming from the non locking 120xp flex set, I was hoping for similar tension while being able to utilize the lock in specific applications. To my disappointment, the 90T could barely support the weight of its own head without flopping down. The 1/2" being by far the worst

This may not be a problem to some, but it can be a deal breaker to others.



Remedy for the problem was adding tiny shims under the spring that pushes up on the head to create tension. High tech solution was a water bottle cap and a hole punch. This doesn't come without a drawback. The added tension makes the locking switch a bit more difficult to swing into place. Too many shims and the lock becomes unusable.

Eventually found a medium I can live with. 1/2" drive can now hold a 19mm deep without collapsing


Hope someone finds this info helpful, because Gearwrench will not respond to your concern. I know that from experience




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ElusiveKandy, I hope you'll take a few questions from me. I have the same GW locking flex ratchets in 1/4 & 3/8. I could live with them as is, but you seem to have found the fix for some of the flop. As I think I understand the pics (I haven't taken mine apart yet), the spring with a bullet-shaped cap is inserted in the lock, and the lock is held in place in the saddle by the tongue. You have inserted plastic shims in the lock under the spring, right? How many? And if you tried one too many, how did you get them out to start over? Why did you choose plastic over thin metal stock?

The little hex cap on the pin must be lock-tited in. After removing that did you have to punch the pin out? What lock-tite did you use to reassemble?

As far as GW not being responsive, you must have hit them at a bad time perhaps. I submitted questions about the above through the GW web site and got an answer back from Apex the next day. The response was that if the wrenches are holding and not slipping then they are working properly.

 

[ElusiveKandyDC]

You have inserted plastic shims in the lock under the spring, right? How many?

Yes, insert shim(s) under the spring. I cannot recall exact amount used but it was only a few. Too many shims resulted in the lock unable to swing over to the locked position. You'll have to play around to find the happy medium

And if you tried one too many, how did you get them out to start over?

Cut a shim circumference that can freely fall into the pocket. It would ruin your day removing the shim if it were jammed into place

Why did you choose plastic over thin metal stock?

No reason other than the plastic water bottle cap was within reach at the moment. It was also easy to cut using a hand held punch

The little hex cap on the pin must be lock-tited in. After removing that did you have to punch the pin out? What lock-tite did you use to reassemble?

I did not reassemble using lock-tite. Has not become an issue. Not sure what pin you're referencing. My ratchets just used a bolt to hold the head in place. Although the design may have changed?

As far as GW not being responsive, you must have hit them at a bad time perhaps. I submitted questions about the above through the GW web site and got an answer back from Apex the next day. The response was that if the wrenches are holding and not slipping then they are working properly.

The ratchets may have worked just as GW intended. I have no clue

I just didn't want a floppy head that couldn't hold the weight of a socket. Now the ratchets stay in place in the unlocked position. And the lock is still functional when needed



Hope this helps. Would love to hear how this works for you

 

[bubinga]

current gearwrench really is a load of garbage .
Sad as original socketry and early 84T ratchets all fairly decent design/features/value .
Only plus is the new color and logo matches the current junk they pushing perfectly .

Takes forever to warranty anything too.

 

[rick carpenter]

Thanks!

rick carpenter said:
You have inserted plastic shims in the lock under the spring, right? How many?

Yes, insert shim(s) under the spring. I cannot recall exact amount used but it was only a few. Too many shims resulted in the lock unable to swing over to the locked position. You'll have to play around to find the happy medium

rick carpenter said:
And if you tried one too many, how did you get them out to start over?

Cut a shim circumference that can freely fall into the pocket. It would ruin your day removing the shim if it were jammed into place

rick carpenter said:
Why did you choose plastic over thin metal stock?

No reason other than the plastic water bottle cap was within reach at the moment. It was also easy to cut using a hand held punch

Classic! I do the same. I might have to use beer caps for shims though, they seem to be rather plentiful.

rick carpenter said:
The little hex cap on the pin must be lock-tited in. After removing that did you have to punch the pin out? What lock-tite did you use to reassemble?

I did not reassemble using lock-tite. Has not become an issue. Not sure what pin you're referencing. My ratchets just used a bolt to hold the head in place. Although the design may have changed?

Looks like I need to take mine apart and follow your lead before I spout off more nonsense. Does it disassemble nicely or does the spring want to explode?

rick carpenter said:
As far as GW not being responsive, you must have hit them at a bad time perhaps. I submitted questions about the above through the GW web site and got an answer back from Apex the next day. The response was that if the wrenches are holding and not slipping then they are working properly.

The ratchets may have worked just as GW intended. I have no clue

I just didn't want a floppy head that couldn't hold the weight of a socket. Now the ratchets stay in place in the unlocked position. And the lock is still functional when needed

Hope this helps. Would love to hear how this works for you

Thanks again, that should help tremendously. I figured it was something to do with spring tension. Now I just need to get me a hole punch.

EDIT: I unscrewed the screw on the 3/8 around which the head rotates today. I'm such a dope for assuming it was somehow two pieces when taking it apart first would have been so easy.

 

[rick carpenter]

I applied ElusiveKandyDC's shim fix to my 1/4 and 3/8 tonight. I used three thin clamshell plastic shims in the 1/4 and it seems a lot nicer. Two of the thicker bottle cap shims in the 3/8 are still little too loose but three are too much for the lock to work properly. I want it to be just a little bit tighter so I'll try adding a clamshell shim later. They both hold deep sockets in place unlocked nicely as is (unless you shake them). The fix works well.

 

[qqzj]

You should not have to work so hard. If it doesn't work out of the box, get a replacement to try. Otherwise, get another brand.

 

[ElusiveKandyDC]

You should not have to work so hard. If it doesn't work out of the box, get a replacement to try. Otherwise, get another brand.

Is that how things work in life?

Noted!

 

[KnurledNut]

@ElusiveKandyDC
Creative remedy to a nuisance issue!
Good write-up and pics.
Bonus points for the Knipex punch.

 

[Mr_B]

Agree 100%. Have not found a locking flex head ratchet I like more than Matco.

Yes I not biggest Matco fan but I like a proper nice tool and these are indeed proper nice, heads pretty slim, levers nicely recessed, grip one of better comfort styles and the locking mechanism great in all use scenarios .

 

[VolvoRyan]

Wish I found this thread before buying the 90T locking flex in all three drive sizes. I opened them up today, and was really disappointed. They feel *really* cheesy. Not only is the "fork" too wide for the head, so it's got jiggly side to side, but the spring mechanism for the flex detents makes the whole handle vibrate when you flex the head. Just a bad design. All three ratchets are like this. The 120XP's are *much* nicer than these. Ew.

-Ryan

 

[lardy1]

Sounds about like my GW 1/2" drive locking flex. The most disappointing (and the last Gearwrench) ratchet I ever bought. I truly don't understand the affection but to each their own.

 

[Mr_B]

Wish I found this thread before buying the 90T locking flex in all three drive sizes. I opened them up today, and was really disappointed. They feel *really* cheesy. Not only is the "fork" too wide for the head, so it's got jiggly side to side, but the spring mechanism for the flex detents makes the whole handle vibrate when you flex the head. Just a bad design. All three ratchets are like this. The 120XP's are *much* nicer than these. Ew.

-Ryan

Cheesy pretty much sums up current gearwrench perfectly.
It a complete waste of money these days as warranty piss poor and product quality dropped in usual penny pinching to make more profits.
Plenty better options and plenty better taiwan options at less cost and warranty would be just same (aka no likely real warranty so self warranty)
I gave up on gearwrench after socket redesign and later made 120xp ratchets that sloppy and jammy, ealy production 84T ratchets ratchet wrenches and sockets with full shouldering design held up good and worked good and absolute steal at times with half price and BOGO deals a plenty .

 

[Mr_B]

Sounds about like my GW 1/2" drive locking flex. The most disappointing (and the last Gearwrench) ratchet I ever bought. I truly don't understand the affection but to each their own.

The affection comes if you lucky enough bought some of the early produced socketry and 84T ratchets and ratchet wrenches when quality and design proper good and half price and BOGO deals almost a weakly thing .
Like most of these brands they gradually cheap out for shareholder greed and screw the consumer until the good brand reputation is totally blown and no longer marketable .
gearwrench is best forgotten these days ...
Only plus is the newer logo and colors match the current wanky low effort products perfectly .

 

[VolvoRyan]

The affection comes if you lucky enough bought some of the early produced socketry and 84T ratchets and ratchet wrenches when quality and design proper good and half price and BOGO deals almost a weakly thing .
Like most of these brands they gradually cheap out for shareholder greed and screw the consumer until the good brand reputation is totally blown and no longer marketable .
gearwrench is best forgotten these days ...
Only plus is the newer logo and colors match the current wanky low effort products perfectly .

GearWrench affection came from them being a decent bang for the buck. Even the 120XP's weren't bad. Not sure what they were smoking with the 90T's. All they had to do was keep making Matco clones.

None of the parts in the flex mechanism seem to "fit" properly. As I was wiggling and jiggling these in frustration, I was asking myself if I'd simply become a tool snob..... so I pulled out a 30-40 year-old generic, "made in China" flex ratchet that lives in the back of my 1/4" drawer. Even this was a more solid tool than the brand new 90T. That's kinda inexcusable.

-Ryan

 

[qqzj]

a 30-40 year-old generic, "made in China" flex ratchet that lives in the back of my 1/4" drawer.

Got a picture of that? Curious how it looks.

 

[VolvoRyan]

Got a picture of that? Curious how it looks.

No pic handy. It's basically a knock off of an SK round head with a flex joint. it came in a box of tools handed down to me by a mentor, so I keep it around.

-Ryan

 

[nicks78camaro]

I have one of the super long GW 1/2" locking flex ratchets, can't say it instills lots of confidence when really reefing on something. Everything seems to deflect a good bit

 

[Mr Ratchet]

I have a 1/4" 90T locking flex at work and like it quite a bit. No problems or complaints so far. It's the closest thing to a Matco 88 locking flex head which I think is the best. I have two GW 84T non locking flex heads in 3/8" at home. I don't see any quality difference between the older 84T and 90T I have experience with.

 

[CGarage]

I bought the set of 3 off of Amazon, locking flex heads. 1/4, 3/8, and 1/2. There is a little slop in the 1/2”, but the 1/4 and 3/8 are tight and right. The little slop in the 1/2” hinge does not upset me.

When I bought them off of Amazon, the price was ~$136 for the set of 3.

In my mind, that was less than $50/ratchet, so very reasonable for Taiwan high quality production with a unique design feature- a locking flex head and comfort grip handles.

 

[CGarage]

 

[qqzj]

I bought the set of 3 off of Amazon, locking flex heads. 1/4, 3/8, and 1/2. There is a little slop in the 1/2”, but the 1/4 and 3/8 are tight and right. The little slop in the 1/2” hinge does not upset me.

When I bought them off of Amazon, the price was ~$136 for the set of 3.

In my mind, that was less than $50/ratchet, so very reasonable for Taiwan high quality production with a unique design feature- a locking flex head and comfort grip handles.

You sure they are made in Taiwan? Most of the new stuff from GW I got is from China.

GW tends to attract a lot of rage these days, probably because it shifted its production from Taiwan to China. But I think it's really due to Eddy Lampert. GW used to make a lot of stuff for Craftsman using their factory in China. But Eddy messed up Sears and sold it to Stanley who doesn't need GW. So GW has to shut down either the Taiwan factory or China ones. Which would you shut down?

All my China made GW tools work great though. I have lots of them shown in the 'Show off your GW tools thread". Check them out!

 

[CGarage]

You sure they are made in Taiwan? Most of the new stuff from GW I got is from China.

GW tends to attract a lot of rage these days, probably because it shifted its production from Taiwan to China. But I think it's really due to Eddy Lampert. GW used to make a lot of stuff for Craftsman using their factory in China. But Eddy messed up Sears and sold it to Stanley who doesn't need GW. So GW has to shut down either the Taiwan factory or China ones. Which would you shut down?

All my China made GW tools work great though. I have lots of them shown in the 'Show off your GW tools thread". Check them out!

Yes. Taiwan. I checked the labels. I ordered the 90T based on recommendations.

 

[rick carpenter]

OK folks, OCD pays off! I gotta thank @ElusiveKandyDC with his under-spring shim trick for putting me on the 'shim path'. I placed a .004" brass shim washer on the thread side of the hinge bolt on my 3/8 which eliminated all lateral slop. This is now one tight unit.

 

[VolvoRyan]

I tightened the screw on my 1/2". That made it better in some ways, worse in others. The 3/8" and 1/4" are just diabolically bad. I'll try the shim washers.

-Ryan

 

[VolvoRyan]

To be fair, I've had good experience with Gearwrench stuff. Loved the 120xp flex ratchets particularly.

And I don't know if the complaint about this specific locking flex is necessarily a quality issue. Perhaps more of a personal gripe of the design. Of all the good reviews of these locking ratchets, the loose flex was never mentioned so I thought it would be worth mentioning.

The 120XP's are really good in flex form. The 90T's are simply dreadful.

I, too, don't understand how or why no review mentions how sloppy these are. This is more concerning to me than basically wasting $130 on these 90T's.

-Ryan

 

[bubinga]

Yes! my 24" locking is sloppy if not locked.

 

[sk farmer]

i have the three drive size set and have no issues with them. i know that 90's are new but i am fan of the single pawl danaher style ratchets and they are very similar to them.

i am not a fan of the 120's larger, thicker head and back drag are no-goes for my liking