Toptul Gearless Ratchet

[amishman]

Anyone here own and use the Toptul Gearless ratchets?

As found here.

http://www.toptul.com/manufacturer/16445/16445.html

I may be buying one and curious what your thoughts on it are.

Thanks

tj

 

[wrenchr]

Not a fan of gearless, I like to hear my ratchets click.

 

[vssjim]

Yes I have a 1/4 and a 3/8 like them alot but you must get used to the direction changer is a little different and the head is alittle thick but the gearless part does work really good and is just overall neat.

 

[MachineTech]

In the inviroment I work in, a person would never be able to "hear" a ratchet click. "feel" maybe??? I have never seen a gearless ratchet. It would be interesting to see how one works.

 

[wrenchr]

In the inviroment I work in, a person would never be able to "hear" a ratchet click. "feel" maybe??? I have never seen a gearless ratchet. It would be interesting to see how one works.

I'm not saying that I constantly listen to it click but I just do not like gearless for that reason.

 

[bchee]

that's interesting. I have Titan brand gearless stubby "ratchets" but they don't have a direction change lever. You have to push the square drive through the other side.

I agree that it's nice to hear or feel the ratcheting. It provides some positive feedback depending on what you're working on. However the gearless has zero, or almost zero, ratcheting torque, which is nice for some loose bolts. I think it's called backlash.

I use my geared ratchets much more, but the "feel" of the gearless is nice once in a while.

 

[vssjim]

These have a wheel type of reverser on the top with the quick release button in the center. It is a scaloped type of wheel alittle bigger the the ratchet body.

 

[wrenhandtools]

I have one customer that is in love with the gearless. His testimonial is on my site. He is a member here as well and sent the testimonial to this site on on of the older threads regarding Toptul. If you look you will find it for sure. I have given some of these to a couple local diesel mechanics. None have broke...yet. he only comment is that it doesn;t take much to accidentally touch the reverse disk just enough to get it to change direction on you...without you noticing. AT the tool shows, they are far and away the biggest hits.

 

[vssjim]

That is why I said you have to get use to it, alittle different but neat.

 

[Danglerb]

HF had a push thru 1/4 for $10 last time I looked, did not appear to reek of quality though.

 

[vssjim]

I have used the two I got about two months ago and they are some times are a life saver because of the ratchet swing and over all very much worth the month which was was a good value.

 

[PurdueSD]

Where on the wrenchhandtools site can i find the pricelist for ratchets? I spent some time looking, but found every price list except the ratchet one.

 

[SpiderGearsMan]

eastwood used to sell a 'radian' ratchet in the day

 

[garfunkle24]

I cannot comment on the quality of the toptul gearless ratchets as I have never seen one.

The only gearless ratchets I have tried were the Mac ones and they were garbage. This is what I said about the in another thread:

I had the Mac gearless ratchets. Went through three 3/8" and three 1/4", none lasted longer than a couple of weeks before slipping and/or reversing themselves. Good idea, poor execution.

Any gearless ratchet that truly offered the functionality the design promises would be invaluable. A short 'lash' before further rotation is obviously something we all want as shown by the debates over ratchet teeth numbers. This design should be the ultimate extrapolation of that.

The Macs weren't.

The toptul could be, but I honestly don't know.

 

[autoace]

I took a look at the ratchet page, I noticed the indexable ratchet looks just like my Harbor Freight 3/8 indexable right down to the release button, the hardware,lever and handle shape, The Pittsburgh is not green that's about it. Some of the others look just like Genius tools,if this is the case, the tools are fine,but proves Toptul is doing some relabeling for HF and.........If that's the case they will have a fighting chance of keeping afloat, maybe thats why some of the newer HF hand tools look so much better than before. Keep in mind the above statement may be totally false, but they look like the same thing.

 

[vssjim]

The Radian ratchets both air and hand ratchets worked very well, I don't know why they didn't make it because I know some people that sold lots of them and never had one fail or get returned for repair.

 

[wrenhandtools]

Purdue, check again somtime tomorrow.....( 11th ) and see if you have better luck, if not call me if convenient.

Sincerely,

 

[judgethis]

Im surprised Garfunkle24, I have the 3/8 and 1/4 ratchets and have no problems yet. Ive had mine since Mac came out with them. I was a line tech at a dealership and now a heavy equipment tech and use mine everyday. I love mine. I would recommend them just took a little time to get used to.

 

[garfunkle24]

Im surprised Garfunkle24, I have the 3/8 and 1/4 ratchets and have no problems yet. Ive had mine since Mac came out with them. I was a line tech at a dealership and now a heavy equipment tech and use mine everyday. I love mine. I would recommend them just took a little time to get used to.

Judge

The worst time for them slipping etc was on loose fasteners (just beyond finger tight, like a locknut etc) when you were really whipping them back and forth. They didn't fail on high torque stuff (I am a diesel tech too) which meant it was more annoying than knuckle-busting. Maybe I had earlier examples than you? I got them when they were fresh out.

Edit: Sorry, just re-read and saw you had them from day 1 as well.

 

[wrenhandtools]

I'll make a trip to HF to see if I can put any 'eyes on target' and tell you if I see any Toptul stuff rebadged. I really don't think I will because they would tend to charge more than what you would find at HF. A field trip if you will...fun...probably.......tax-deductible market research? oh yes indeed!

 

[autoace]

I'll make a trip to HF to see if I can put any 'eyes on target' and tell you if I see any Toptul stuff rebadged. I really don't think I will because they would tend to charge more than what you would find at HF. A field trip if you will...fun...probably.......tax-deductible market research? oh yes indeed!

As I said in the post, it may be completely false. But I have the 3/8 and 1/2 inch drive indexable Pittsburgh ratchets(seconds to my old MAC ones)and noticed when looking at the Toptul ratchet that the shape,and tooling were visually identical. Ampro and Performance tool overlap, Ampro is the better stuff, but they are the same tool in some cases. Anyhow unlike HF tools of the past the Pittsburgh professional indexable ratchets seem to be of good quality for what they are. Going into the holiday season, money situation is questionable, but there were a few things that caught my eye on the Toptul site. I buy USA for the most part and as the staple, but the tool nut part of me will buy imported oddities that I haven't seen before. Last trip to HF I bought 15 inch long "vise grips"because I never saw any before soo...I also bought some of the extensions with a telescoping magnet to keep the bolt in the socket with shallow or deep, again unique and helpful for some applications, I would buy them from Cornwell if they had them, but......they don't. I'll have to get a few Toptul items at least,because of the tool nut "sickness"because I don't have any. Tools are a tax write off for me anyhow, so I have to keep buying different ones to keep my adjusted gross in check.

 

[amishman]

As I said in the post, it may be completely false. But I have the 3/8 and 1/2 inch drive indexable Pittsburgh ratchets(seconds to my old MAC ones)and noticed when looking at the Toptul ratchet that the shape,and tooling were visually identical. Ampro and Performance tool overlap, Ampro is the better stuff, but they are the same tool in some cases. Anyhow unlike HF tools of the past the Pittsburgh professional indexable ratchets seem to be of good quality for what they are. Going into the holiday season, money situation is questionable, but there were a few things that caught my eye on the Toptul site. I buy USA for the most part and as the staple, but the tool nut part of me will buy imported oddities that I haven't seen before. Last trip to HF I bought 15 inch long "vise grips"because I never saw any before soo...I also bought some of the extensions with a telescoping magnet to keep the bolt in the socket with shallow or deep, again unique and helpful for some applications, I would buy them from Cornwell if they had them, but......they don't. I'll have to get a few Toptul items at least,because of the tool nut "sickness"because I don't have any. Tools are a tax write off for me anyhow, so I have to keep buying different ones to keep my adjusted gross in check.

Same goes I think for the reversible swivel head ratchets. I have the HF models and they are nice. They look identical to the Toptul models. In fact, I have seen this same design all over. I paid like $45 for all 3, 1/4", 3/8", and 1/2". The Toptul set in a nice case was $100 per the price list. Other than the case, I wonder if they ratchets themselves are any different?

Harbor Freight
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=96782

Toptul
http://www.toptul.com/manufacturer/16445/16445.html
scroll down to see the swivel model.

tj

 

[wrenhandtools]

There is a company called Wilmar that is the parent of a few brands....one being the performance brand....stuff that you would find behind the counter at a NAPA store basically. They have stuff made in China and Taiwan. Their sockets etc appear nice, but the ratchets are a step down for sure from Toptul. They just aren't as heavy etc. But from looks in a picture they can and do look close sometimes. To be blunt really...the ratchets aren;t even close in feel and gear action. The finish on the metal is not close at all either. Not even in the same universe.

 

[autoace]

There is a company called Wilmar that is the parent of a few brands....one being the performance brand....stuff that you would find behind the counter at a NAPA store basically. They have stuff made in China and Taiwan. Their sockets etc appear nice, but the ratchets are a step down for sure from Toptul. They just aren't as heavy etc. But from looks in a picture they can and do look close sometimes. To be blunt really...the ratchets aren;t even close in feel and gear action. The finish on the metal is not close at all either. Not even in the same universe.

I'm sure that's possible, Stanley sells tools that are near identical to MAC and Proto, that look the same, but are not the same feel and performance. The head and handle may be the same, but the QC and internals could possibly make the price difference.

 

[wrenhandtools]

Yes. I agree and even the head and the handle are different once you see each of them in person. You can tell 100% that they come from different assembly lines. One of my good friends was VERY suspicious and negative when I got my first shipment in and was eager to show me how I had not made a good decision. And try as he might with all the different tools and brands that he carries in his stores, nothing was the same. He had to admit that it was all different......and higher quality. And belive me, he has a large inventory and is well versed ( more than me in a lot of ways ) in the tool business.

 

[autoace]

Yes. I agree and even the head and the handle are different once you see each of them in person. You can tell 100% that they come from different assembly lines. One of my good friends was VERY suspicious and negative when I got my first shipment in and was eager to show me how I had not made a good decision. And try as he might with all the different tools and brands that he carries in his stores, nothing was the same. He had to admit that it was all different......and higher quality. And belive me, he has a large inventory and is well versed ( more than me in a lot of ways ) in the tool business.

Alot of companies copy anyhow, ever notice almost every ratchet handle looks kinda like the Snap-on handle(the chrome version). My HF breaker bar, looks almost identical to the snap-on one and obviously didn't come from the same place. Bet the company copy-cated it though.

 

[wrenhandtools]

without a doubt they copied it. Just like Nike shoes, snow skis, cars etc. It is the way of the world.

 

[speed bump]

There is a company called Wilmar that is the parent of a few brands....one being the performance brand....stuff that you would find behind the counter at a NAPA store basically. They have stuff made in China and Taiwan. Their sockets etc appear nice, but the ratchets are a step down for sure from Toptul. They just aren't as heavy etc. But from looks in a picture they can and do look close sometimes. To be blunt really...the ratchets aren;t even close in feel and gear action. The finish on the metal is not close at all either. Not even in the same universe.

Actually at a Napa or a Carquest you will find Danaher stuff. Performance tool is like Checker or pep boys or something.

 

[vssjim]

Still a really nice ratchet for daily use and they are a good dollar value to boot

 

[seika7]

Anyone here own and use the Toptul Gearless ratchets? . . . I may be buying one and curious what your thoughts on it are.

I have one in each size and would never go back to traditional geared ratchets. The only times I use my geared ratchets now are when I need some other function like a swivel head or long handle that the TopTul doesn't provide.

The first day or two using one, I accidentally reversed direction by grabbing the head, but it didn't take long to adjust the way I held it for quick turning, and it hasn't happened since.

I know Mike's probably heard enough of my request for other models, but if/when TopTul comes out with gearless versions of their long-handle, swivel-head, and torque wrenches, I'll be buying one of each in each size. Seriously, they're that good that I want to replace all of my other ratchets.

--
Bryan Woodbury
Commuter Cars