Not to belabor the point...I think if you can crack something free that's really stuck or tight, that's a big hurdle cleared. Obviously he's gonna need other stuff. So I guess I feel the difference in performance between a crappy Taiwan breaker and a Snap On ratchet of equal size and superior strength is greater than the difference between any normal sized ratchet and any other. Love my 3/8 drive snap On dual 80s, but they haven't really allowed me to do a job I couldn't do before.
What changed my automotive work was my Sears air compressor and impact gun. Now I use a battery gun most of the time. IMHO, that should be his first tool after a decent jack and stands etc.
Ok, IN GENERAL, when you look at ratchets, what I want is long and strong, maybe flex head, for reaching in tight areas and torquing stuff free. If you can get fine teeth, that's good in a long ratchet because it allows you to put the handle where you want. Longer the handle, the better it is to have fine teeth. Short ratchets don't need to be super strong or fine toothed necessarily.....
Once you crack a bolt loose, or when you are installing hardware, you want low back drag, so your ratcheting action makes the ratchet click and doesn't simply turn the bolt the opposite direction. A great ratchet, like the dual 80, is all of these.
What mechanics did in the days of yore is they had multiple ratchets, one coarse head for busting loose, and the fine tooth SK style round heads for removals and installations. You can still do that. Not every ratchet needs to be a fine toothed, low back drag, snap on beauty. Pros like them because it's faster to finish the job with one tool if possible. My advice is to focus on busting stuff loose first.
Modern ratchet makers, especially the Taiwan makers, don't seem to know the relationship between tooth count, strength and back drag. They seem to be blindly ripping off Snap On's ideas without understanding why. "Oh snap On has 80 teeth? We'll make 88! Mwah haha hah!" As if that makes the ratchet better. It's doesn't.
The question the OP should be asking is, "how will I remove a hub bolt, avcrank pulley, brake backer bolts, upper strut mount? " Hell, how will you remove your lug nuts? Can you do a brake job? Can you replace rotors? Start there, and ask someone like M6er how he does it. He and I are kinda in the same boat maintaining our personal or families fleets. Then you'll know what you need. No need for us to debate the subject for you. Might be a good idea to start with the Haynes manual.
What changed my automotive work was my Sears air compressor and impact gun. Now I use a battery gun most of the time. IMHO, that should be his first tool after a decent jack and stands etc.
Ok, IN GENERAL, when you look at ratchets, what I want is long and strong, maybe flex head, for reaching in tight areas and torquing stuff free. If you can get fine teeth, that's good in a long ratchet because it allows you to put the handle where you want. Longer the handle, the better it is to have fine teeth. Short ratchets don't need to be super strong or fine toothed necessarily.....
Once you crack a bolt loose, or when you are installing hardware, you want low back drag, so your ratcheting action makes the ratchet click and doesn't simply turn the bolt the opposite direction. A great ratchet, like the dual 80, is all of these.
What mechanics did in the days of yore is they had multiple ratchets, one coarse head for busting loose, and the fine tooth SK style round heads for removals and installations. You can still do that. Not every ratchet needs to be a fine toothed, low back drag, snap on beauty. Pros like them because it's faster to finish the job with one tool if possible. My advice is to focus on busting stuff loose first.
Modern ratchet makers, especially the Taiwan makers, don't seem to know the relationship between tooth count, strength and back drag. They seem to be blindly ripping off Snap On's ideas without understanding why. "Oh snap On has 80 teeth? We'll make 88! Mwah haha hah!" As if that makes the ratchet better. It's doesn't.
The question the OP should be asking is, "how will I remove a hub bolt, avcrank pulley, brake backer bolts, upper strut mount? " Hell, how will you remove your lug nuts? Can you do a brake job? Can you replace rotors? Start there, and ask someone like M6er how he does it. He and I are kinda in the same boat maintaining our personal or families fleets. Then you'll know what you need. No need for us to debate the subject for you. Might be a good idea to start with the Haynes manual.
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