Why do you think Craftsman ratchets fail so often?

[Ponchoguy]

Yeah, they were good deals in those sets. I'm sure a lot of us got our first ratchets in those Craftsman sets.

My first set was bought in August 1990 for about $65 and was a 70+ piece 1/4, 3/8, 1/2 drive set with the now rare Tri-Wing ratchet. I still have the receipt in my files. I actually bought another model kit according to my bill and must have returned it as the one I have had more pieces and was cheaper. I think my mother had a 10% coupon that day or something.

Around that same time, I bought a set of metric combination wrenches and I still have every one of them. I remember having to buy the 18mm one separately as it did not come in the set (it now does).

I remember buying them to do a water pump on my '79 Olds Cutlass and needing good metric and SAE tools with variety. I had all my dad's tools, but I wanted to expand a bit.

I also remember buying a fair amount when the Craftsman Club first came around in 1991 or so. I can still recall going to the mailbox near my neighbor's shop to drop in the application in the mail box and us getting our cards about 2 weeks later. I still have my card.

 

[BDT/NWMN]

Myself and my family haven't broken a Craftsman RP ratchet (all there was, or all we knew of, anyway) ever, in, oh, 5 decades or more of use. This includes dealer professional mechanics, machinists, engineers with a serious DIY bent, etc. To say the word Craftsman was held in high regard is an understatement.

I have a 1/2" I thought might be messed up inside after 25 years of occasional but hard use, a quick clean and lube and it's good to go again. It was literally gummed up inside, that's all. I still use my Grandfather's 3/8.

I can only conclude it might be one of two things. One, people abuse their ratchets when they should be using a breaker bar or wrench, or Two, there have been a few bad batches, perhaps more so towards the present. I don't know so much about the newer Craftsman RP ratchets because I am still using ones from the 60's, 70's and 80's.

The old ratchets are from a different world than the batch of late model 3/8" drive ratchets I sadly own... Bind or skip are what mine do best.... I DON'T use a ratchet to loosen a stuck fastener, either.. I have breaker bars that get used on the hard pulls. They were made to sell cheap: a ratchet and 9 or ten sockets in a blow molded case with a sale price of $10.. Well, I got exactly what I paid for: not much...

The old ones are keepers.. I have a 1/4" that I bought in the early 70's that I enjoy using.. The old 1/2" drive RP that I got used back in the early 60's lasted till 2005.. A second older !/2" drive with a metal directional lever is still used regularly... I bought the last 1/2" drive USA made flex handle the local ACE sold.. This one has a plastic directional lever, but it has held up well for three years so far.. I actually like these ratchets......

 

[sonvolt]

i think craftsman ratchets are the most popular to fail - since they are probably the most popular ratchets almosts anyone that owes tools, has. also - if you have a cheap craftsman with a lifetime warranty that will be replaced or rebuilt at any location they are sold at, and a more expensive one that may or may not need to be mailed out - which one do you think people are gonna smash with a hammer or put a 3 foot pipe on..

I agree 100% there are a lot of craftsman ratchets out there

 

[BDT/NWMN]

As far as the newer rp ratchets go; I recall someone coming up with a fix for the unreliable issue.. It involved some grinding and a cleaning and lube... Worth a forum search or Google..

 

[Vigo]

After i really started reading here, i started taking apart pretty much every ratchet i could get my hands on. What i found with the Craftsman raised panels is that the tolerances inside seem to vary widely (along with everything else but their overall shape/style and tooth count), probably by era and who was manufacturing them at that time. Some are definitely better than others. None of them are my 'main' ratchet at this point (although the only 'normal-length' 1/2" ratchet in my box is a Cman RP) but i sorted through everything i had based on how tightly built it seemed to be and put the worst ones where i thought i would use them the least, such as at my parents' houses, and the best ones where i needed them not to break, like my 'travel box'. I still have a full set in my big home box but mostly because they fill the spaces in my Cman organizers from the big ~250pc set i got as a teenager. I think i'm going to chop the 3/8 to make a stubby.

I bet the better made ones RARELY break. I used to put all kinds of cheater pipe action on my original 1/2" Cman ratchet and i don't recall ever breaking it! I do think i've broken the 1/4 and 3/8 models before, though.

 

[CJM8515]

Imho the best raised panels made in the last 30 years were the ones with the large chrome selector switches. I used my dads sat for eons and finally broke the 3/8 and it was replaced with the ones with the plastic/metalish selector and broke another time. I traded a 1/4 thumbwheel fine ratchet that the detent was bad-got a RP with plastic selector and it broke and then another one broke and another and another..IDK the same stanley cheapo one I abused the heck out of that lives in my truck box hasnt ever failed in 10 years.

 

[jcfields]

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[Ponchoguy]

When I worked at Sears, I would always get complaints from people about how awful these things were.

When I first started working there, I'd suggest stepping up to one of the better ratchets, but they'd see the prices and scoff. Didn't take me long to learn that I should just agree with them and do the warranty exchange for them. Have a good night, see you again next week!

I always had a baseline amount of respect for them for being made in the USA and for, as others have noted, being "backbone" tools for this country for so long. But there's no question they were built to a price point. Frankly, I don't know if I can blame Sears; they could sell dual 80s for $30 and their customers wouldn't buy them if there's a $15 raised panel right next to it. People buy Craftsman for the warranty first and the price second.

Interestingly, I've seen the newer repair kits for the USA ratchets. They have metal selector switches now. They're shinier and a different color from the metal selector switches on the Chinese ratchets (the Chinese ratchets use different kits because the part that mates the selector switch to the pawl is smaller). The gears look more coarsely cut than before, but who knows, they might hold up better. I assume the new kits are made in China.

I just got one---doesn't have the Made in USA star on it, but doesn't say China either. Yes, metal selector levers now.

 

[jcfields]

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[Mechanical Noise]

Larger sample size = more failures. Everyone and their cousin has a Cman RP ratchet. The ones that get the job done without failure are rarely mentioned.

Why don't Craftsman sockets have a similarly bad reputation?

 

[Mechanical Noise]

I've broken only 3 ratchets in about 40 years. 2 Craftsman RPs and a cheap Asian roundhead. I probably have a couple of dozen ratchets by now. Also have 4 or 5 breaker bars. I like to think I'm easy on my tools. I keep my ratchets clean and lubed.

The RPs, more specifically the pear head RPs, don't feel like they engage as well as my other ratchets, including my other Craftsman ratchets. I very rarely put a pipe on them, mostly because of their tendancy to auto reverse, rather than because I didn't want to break them.

I haven't broken a ratchet in over 20 years. But my Craftsman pear head RPs are just for light duty use now.

 

[Bigblue&Goldie]

Craftsman RP's are just absolute junk. I think it boils down to **** materials and quality control.

Ratchets are one of the most frequently used mechanic's tool. A quality ratchet will last a lifetime and will likely perform better (lower tooth count, higher strength, etc) than a RP. When there are so many good options available for $20-$50, I don't understand why people use RP's? Skip a trip to Red Lobster and go get a tool that you can pass on to your grand children.

 

[Cato]

Why don't Craftsman sockets have a similarly bad reputation?

I think it's pretty hard to f-up a socket. Ratchets have more moving parts.

 

[dadsEH]

I'm not a "power user" of mechanics tools, but I do my fair share of wrenching. The only tool I have consistently broken are Craftsman raised panel 1/4" & 3/8" ratchets (for some reason I've never broken a 1/2"). So it got me thinking, why is that? Clearly I'm not the only one to have this problem.

I think the internal dimensions of the pawls and gear are just overly generous and that leads to premature wear. I also think their springs aren't very good, because I've noticed that CM ratchets often fail to engage.

So what are your thoughts?

It's the 12" cheater bar you are using!

 

[RC_Dave]

I always thought it was a marketing decision. When you take the tool back because of failure, you buy more. The more that fails, the more the customer buys.

 

[morgaj1]

I used Craftsman RP in 1/4, 3/8 and 1/2 for 30+ years without a lick of trouble. These were made in the 80's, so maybe they are better quality than the last batch of US made ones. It wasn't until I joined this forum that I learned these are ****

 

[AceofSpad3s]

I always thought it was a marketing decision. When you take the tool back because of failure, you buy more. The more that fails, the more the customer buys.

That is a pretty dumb strategy since everyone and their dog knows craftsman has a life time warranty.

 

[Mechanical Noise]

That is a pretty dumb strategy since everyone and their dog knows craftsman has a life time warranty.

Maybe not. It would depend on how much Sears stuff customers buy when they come to exchange the ratchet.

I'm sure Sears keeps close watch on this sort of thing and the ratchets aren't getting better.

 

[Mechanical Noise]

I think it's pretty hard to f-up a socket. Ratchets have more moving parts.

Seems strange that the same hypothetical cheater pipe which is being blamed for breaking all those poor Craftsman ratchets isn't also splitting the sockets.

 

[RedneckWelder]

Cheap crude **** is what they are

I've broken several craftsman ratchets through normal use- usually for me the mechanism locks up and sometimes it auto reverses

I even prefer the cheap HF round head ratchets (you know the ones that came with the socket sets and are not nearly as nice as the 72 tooth pear heads they sell individually) over the Craftsman ratchets

I think they get away with selling such **** because they were better than the ultra cheap China made **** ratchets found in stores and that most people didn't know there were better ratchets from higher quality brands- Craftsman was considered top of the line in the DIY world

Why don't Craftsman sockets have a similarly bad reputation?

They do in my book- just not to the same degree

I've split several Craftsman sockets again through normal use

 

[valentine]

I think the newest Craftsman Rat I have is no less than 20 years old. Not sure how many I have because I never counted and they are all spread out among many tool boxes, but it's a lot. Know what? I never broke a single Craftsman Ratchet, not one. Over 40 years turning fasteners both to make money and for fun and the only ratchet that ever broke on me was a cheap import that cost me $3 and included a tray full of sockets. I must be doing something wrong if my tools are lasting me so long .

-Valentine

 

[uglyjacko]

The tendency of the ratchet reversing on you is due to the U shape on the bottom of the paw, it comes from the factory shaping like a U, I've file mine down to a V shape and the switching of directions while using it is gone.

 

[Dog Garage]

I think the newest Craftsman Rat I have is no less than 20 years old. Not sure how many I have because I never counted and they are all spread out among many tool boxes, but it's a lot. Know what? I never broke a single Craftsman Ratchet, not one. Over 40 years turning fasteners both to make money and for fun and the only ratchet that ever broke on me was a cheap import that cost me $3 and included a tray full of sockets. I must be doing something wrong if my tools are lasting me so long .

-Valentine

I believe this like giving everyone in the thread a new car, of the same year, same make/model, etc.

Some will wear them out or break them in a couple of years, while others will make them last for decades. IMHO

 

[ATK305]

The only CM ratchet I have ever broken was 1/2" raised panel. That was 2 or 3 years ago. It was well over 20 years old at the time and it was replaced without question with another US made C/M. There is certainly better stuff out there but it took 20+ years for it to fail so I think the older US made stuff was more then adequate for the typical home mechanic or DIY guy. As for the new MIC stuff who knows.

I think the reason they will fail more often now is because they are MIC and the quality will suffer, metal quality will drop and they will made by a depressed 14 year old who lives at the factory, misses their family and will likely entertain thoughts of suicide because they do the same thing over and over for the rest of their lives. This leads to an attitude of I don't give a rip about what they are assembling or machining.

Okay I went on a tangent. So my answer is ... Because they are made in China now.

 

[reader2580]

My Craftsman stuff is 15 years old. No ratchet problems yet. I did have to get the 1/4" ratchet replaced, but it was bad from the start and I didn't use it enough to bother swapping for a long time.

I would really like to get a better ratchet because I often have times when more teeth would make the work a lot faster.

 

[Ponchoguy]

Craftsman RP's are just absolute junk. I think it boils down to **** materials and quality control.

Ratchets are one of the most frequently used mechanic's tool. A quality ratchet will last a lifetime and will likely perform better (lower tooth count, higher strength, etc) than a RP. When there are so many good options available for $20-$50, I don't understand why people use RP's? Skip a trip to Red Lobster and go get a tool that you can pass on to your grand children.

It's all a matter of opinion. Even though I have a lot of them, I've been using the same RP Craftsman since it was found in 1976 and it's all original inside. I've bought used ones that I used as is, who knows how they were treated before I got them.