Guess it's about time I review some of my Toptul stuff to add some more meaning to these pictures.
I'll start with the several flex-head ratchets I own tonite (Kicking off with the CJHM series.) I have two of these bad boys in the 1/4in and 3/8in variants. My initial impressions were quite positive, the satin chrome was superb however near the recessed area surrounding the selector switch the metal seemed a bit rough towards the corners. The roughness does not affect the functionality of the ratchet or reverse lever so I didn't look twice. The grips contour nicely to my hands, and feel much like Toptul's screwdriver grips in terms of material. The grips are nicely rounded with a sharp looking Toptul logo embedded in plastic projecting a cool two tone color combo with Toptul's signature colors. The grips also do not have any finger indentations as well which I'd say is a pro (my hands are smaller than the norm so finding a comfortable grip is not always easy.) The flex joints on both drives are very stable and do not flop around what so ever. Though between the two drives there is a noticeable difference between the pin holding the head to the ratchet handle. The 1/4in drive has a torx screw so you can adjust the stiffness of the joint while the 3/8in drive has a traditional non-threaded pin. I kind of wished that both of the ratchets had this torx screw, just in case if the flex head became sloppy after extended periods of time so it could be adjusted to my likeing. For now though both are still just as sound as day one.
The ratcheting mechanism is incredible. The CJHM series seem to be the bread and butter of Toptul's ratchet lineup, and certainly blow some of my other fine/high tooth count ratchets out of the tool chest! Right out of the package, my 3/8in drive was noticeably smoother than my GF80! And much to my surprise, when I Moly coated my Toptul ratchet and lubed it up with chain and sprocket grease the margin between the Love stained GF80 and CJHM was even greater! These ratchets are without doubt the smoothest and most crisp ratchets I have used or owned.
Ok time to dissect these guys are see what makes them tick...............
As you can see from the photos above, the CJHM ratchets use dual independent pawls much some of the other high quality ratchets out there. Each pawl has five points of contact with the ratchet's teeth. The GF80 mentioned before has 7 teeth on each pawl. Its hard to say what affect if any would result between the two different ratchets, as Snap-On's 80 tooth count is greater than the 72 count Toptul. Naturally I'd assume that the smaller teeth on the dual 80 would probably need more points of contact than a lower tooth count for mechanical integrity.
Another feature I'd like to mention is the quick release. The quick release button is nice and wide roughly the size of a button found on a polo shirt. The button also does not protrude out of the ratchet head as far as most ratchets I own as well. It's a nice feature that has helped me get these ratchets in odd places when clearance is at a minimum. The drive head also fits all the various sockets I have nicely as well. The sockets are firmly held with no play or wobble when attached to the ratchet, and still freely falls off when the quick release is used. Another pleasant feature is the cover plate. Unlike other ratchets I've used, the cover plates on the CJHM series tend seal out foreign particles and contaminates very well. In my initial lubing of the ratchet, I notices that seepage was minute leaking only slightly from the selector switch.
Overall I was really impressed with the CJHM series from Toptul. There were a very tiny finite areas I would like to see changed (or improved) like the flex joint pin stated earlier, but any which way the ratchets are up there in terms of quality and performance with the notorious tool brands.
Traditionally, ratchet handle is made with one pawl, is quite unique to have two of them on one ratchet.
For fine teeth count ratchet they certainly come with splendid ratcheting sound when your reverse and backwards, our newest 90Teeth ratchet is much better at torque performance and make the sensation sound.
