Mobil 1 probably would have been the better choice. Assembly lubes usually have tackifiers that you don't need and really won't help you and may hurt the tool. I'd take it apart, clean it, and re-assemble with a smear of Mobil 1.
Here's the deal: Just about everything you've read on GJ about ratchet "smoothness" or "quietness" is
wrong. The grease in the ratchet is intended to do 2 things:
1) It "wets" the steel parts and helps reduce corrosion caused by condensation, moisture intrusion etc etc.
2) It provides lubrication on the broad metal to metal interfaces between the back of the gear and the body, and between the top of the gear and the face plate. That's where the grease belongs and kinda no where else.
What you DON'T want is grease in the gear teeth that makes the ratchet feel smoother or quieter. You want a sharp mechanical clicking sound when the tool operates. The pawl needs to snap 100% home to be able to react the torque you apply. Any material you put in the gear that makes the tool quieter, is preventing the pawl from seating 100% and will lead to accelerated wear or premature failure. The more grease and the thicker the grease the more the tool's performance will suffer.
Snap On recommends a light weight grease/heavy oil (NLGI 00) as mentioned correctly above. This flows inside the body and really does both of the 2 things mentioned above. It's such a light grease it doesn't matter too much where you put it, since it won't stay there long term. Trouble is, the SuperLube NLGI 00 that Snap On uses isn't easily purchased in small quantities aside from the tiny single serve tubes.
Another potential solution is to use any light oil, or even light, clean motor oil on all components (for item 1), then just a dab of NLGI 1 or 2 grease on either side of the gear prior to re-installation. Never use "hi pressure" grease or anything with tackifiers. That will just increase your tool's back drag.
EXTRA INFO: I have so much grease in my shop it's ridiculous. I'd really like to narrow down my selection. Right now, I'm trying to concentrate on synthetic greases only. Here are a couple I recommend:
Mobil 1 - This is a red synthetic grease you can buy in a tub at the auto parts store. People complain about it separating under certain conditions. Sometimes red oil is leaking from the can in the store! It's a
GOOD NLGI 2 bearing grease that functions over a WIDE temperature spectrum. All of you should have this grease in your shop.
SuperLube is a range of products but the stuff in the tube that a lot of us have is
NLGI 2 grease. It's not quite as capable as Mobil 1. I wouldn't use it for automotive bearing grease. Superlube was designed as a food safe alternative to other commercial greases.
Mobil 28 aka MIL-G-81322, aka MIL-PRF-81322, aka Aviation Grease, is a highly capable NLGI 1.5 grease. It's been around for a
long time. Mobil 28 is similar to Mobil 1, albeit a little thinner, but much less readily available. But if you have Mobil 28, it's good stuff.
Mobilux EP is a family of general purpose lithium greases available from NLGI 000 to NLGI 3. If you wanted a tube of NLGI 00 grease for tools, (that would be a lot of tools) you could buy Mobilux EP 004. Mobilux is the grease to use for heavy equipment, machinery, stuff that gets re-lubed/re-greased regularly. It's a good performer inexpensive general purpose grease. I used it in my Bridgeport Milling machine's head.
