Craftsman ratchet too tight

[Merkava_4]

Originally Posted By: sunfire
Using anything else other than grease is going to leave a mess. Your ratchet will look like its bleeding RLL,


It only bleeds for a little while until the excess gets worked out. It's well worth the temporary mess in my opinion.

 

[The_Eric]

Originally Posted By: FL-400S
Craftsman stuff? take it back and get a new one!


Why? I've found that the new ones are as bad or worse than the one having problems. Why waste your time, energy and theirs to exchange a ratchet that is otherwise fine and just in need of some tlc?

 

[bigmike]

I had 2 craftsman socket wrenches giving me fits. One wasn't catching correctly and the other was barely turning. I guess it was too tight.

I finally got around to cleaning them up a few days ago and then I put them in a bath of ATF overnight. They work like new again! Thanks to those who suggested it.

 

[Tempest]

Originally Posted By: db130
another trick is to trim the spring underneath the little ball so that it is sitting flush with the ratchet:

link


This. Getting that ball bearing back into the hole during reassembly is a @#%%#^#*.

 

[musicmanbass]

Yup. I "clipped" four of my ratchets yesterday. Two had a marked improvement, the other two didn't. I used a small allen key to hold the bearing down. After getting the flashlight out to find the bearing I dropped in the corner of the garage, I finally got 'em done!

 

[Vikas]

That's when you order the snap-on ratchet repair kit, costs 97 cents shipped by UPS (almost next day delivery!) I have no idea how they can afford to do that but I am not complaining.

I also need to pick up a pick up a better snap ring pliers. The cheap one barely works. One would think how difficult it could be to make a decent snap ring pliers :-(

- Vikas