# 1/4" ratchets and me



## allpurpose (Mar 24, 2016)

For some g-darned reason I can't hang on to a decent 1/4" ratchet..the old crappy one that sometimes works and sometimes slips every time won't disappear, but I JUST bought a new one yesterday and it's already gone. The original that came with the set I bought quite a long time ago vanished and did another I bought to replace it. I bought a junk crapman and like a bad penny it just keeps coming back..
I'm gonna have to do like I do with pencils and buy them by the carton full and stash one in every nook and cranny in the shop..
I know! I'll go buy another and the other one will show up right where I left it! Nahh.I'm not that lucky..I'll just lose it too..


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## Rebelwork (Jan 15, 2012)

Got plenty 1/4 and 3/8. I just keep breaking 1/2.. I gotta stop using them for breaker bars...


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## allpurpose (Mar 24, 2016)

I went on a HF spending spree.. the ratchet, a torque wrench and a cheapo dial indicator.. Any bets on how soon I'll lose it again?


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## Bob Bengal (Jan 2, 2021)

Are you losing them in the shop or away from the shop? If in the shop seems like you'd reach a saturation point, that you'd be finding old ones about as fast as you lose new.

Maybe you are like a surgeon that leaves forceps inside the patient.


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## epicfail48 (Mar 27, 2014)

Bob Bengal said:


> Maybe you are like a surgeon that leaves forceps inside the patient


Did that with a 10mm socket one time. So far as i know its still bouncing around the engine bay of that truck. Luckily, not my truck anymore


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## NoThankyou (Mar 21, 2018)

About 1963 I bought a socket set of 1/4, 3/8, 1/2 drive from Montgomery Ward. (Power Craft) Occasionally I've had to take them apart and clean the ratchet before re-lubricating them with 30 weight.


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## Tool Agnostic (Aug 13, 2017)

NoThankyou said:


> About 1963 I bought a socket set of 1/4, 3/8, 1/2 drive from Montgomery Ward. (Power Craft) Occasionally I've had to take them apart and clean the ratchet before re-lubricating them with 30 weight.


... and I still have and use a K-mart socket set that was given to me for my ninth birthday. My father was very very smart, but not in a mechanical way. I think he was planting the seeds to grow his future handyman. The socket set has a lifetime warranty, but I doubt that whatever is left of K-mart would honor it now. It came in a painted steel box, but the flimsy plastic tray inside that sorts the sockets is cracking apart. I haven't tried to get the tray replaced under the warranty. I wouldn't know where to start. 

- - - - -

I have been following this thread, and I am still trying to understand the problem. Are the ratchets disappearing because they fall into dark places in the vehicles, or simply because they don't have a home or don't get put away?

For me, if I don't put something away immediately, it was cause a search later when I need it again. I am human, but I try to put everything away as soon as I am done with it. That's easy to write, huh?

The only tool I lost in recent memory was a Starrett 4 inch square. I am pretty sure it was "borrowed" without my permission when I brought it with me to use in a public place. I hope whoever has it is getting good use from it.


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## Tree Hugger (Sep 1, 2011)

Thanks for reminding me OP , I need another carton of pencils. 
My problem is part of my woodworking shop is in the basement and the other is in the garage.
Everything is on wheels and there is no real home for anything as they get moved about so much.
Now where is my favorite tape measure ...must have about 6 of them but I want my favorite one.


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## NoThankyou (Mar 21, 2018)

Reminds me of a 3/8 by 24 inch drive for sockets. I had the car in for a warranty problem at the worst GMC/Buick dealer service department. The best thing about the dealer is that they are long gone today. The problem was a heater and A/C issue. I had brought it back 3 or 4 times, got into a shouting match with the almost technician over how it works. Prior to the final visit I had rented the same year and model from Avis and the system worked expected, hence the shouting match. As I was leaving the lack of service advisor told me, "If you ever get it working the way you say, let me know how." 

The following weekend I discovered the cause and instituted a temporary fix. After that worked well, I removed the A/C control head and removed some mold flashing from a plastic vacuum switch. A couple of scrapes from my electricians pocket knife and a rub with fingers to remove any chad. It was during this exercise that my tool box gained a 3/8 by 24 inch drive for sockets. 

Then the beauty of this whole thing, I produced a 3 or 4 page report along with copies of pages from the official shop manual for the Buick. I sent the report to the Buick dealer with an invoice for 8 hours of 'Automotive' Consulting time at $25 per hour. I also noted that my normal rates for computer and network consulting was $200 per hour. (Which was what my company, GTE, sold my body for.) Then I sent copies to the Buick zone manager. 

Two things happened as a result. One evening the zone manager called and we had a very nice conversation. At one point he told me that he was in tears from laughing so hard. The way that he put it was, "It doesn't take much of an IQ to be an automotive technician." A bit insulting but thinking of my BIL, an automotive technician, who spent a year or so at the guest of the state, the zone manager wasn't that far wrong. 

The other interesting thing that happened was the Buick dealer refused to do any further work on my car and referred me to another near by dealer. As I said, the GMC/Buick dealer has since gone out of business. A real, genuine LOL. 

And, I never got paid. But I didn't expect to, although I did enjoy raising that much H***. The only good thing about that Buick was that my kid totaled it and nobody was injured. And although it was a leased car, the insurance company gave me over $2,000 as a result of the car being totaled. At work my kid acquired the nickname, "Crash".


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## NoThankyou (Mar 21, 2018)

OK, stop beating me up.
My BIL lived next to a state police officer. Maybe 50 or 60 feet between houses. My BIL was selling drugs out of his house. Enough said?


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## Elden Cozort (Oct 30, 2018)

allpurpose said:


> For some g-darned reason I can't hang on to a decent 1/4" ratchet..the old crappy one that sometimes works and sometimes slips every time won't disappear, but I JUST bought a new one yesterday and it's already gone. The original that came with the set I bought quite a long time ago vanished and did another I bought to replace it. I bought a junk crapman and like a bad penny it just keeps coming back..
> I'm gonna have to do like I do with pencils and buy them by the carton full and stash one in every nook and cranny in the shop..
> I know! I'll go buy another and the other one will show up right where I left it! Nahh.I'm not that lucky..I'll just lose it too..


One good thing about that "crapman" ratchet is that it has a lifetime warranty. You should be able to take it to Lowes and get a free replacement. Of course, if you do get a new one, it'll probably disappear and then you won't even have that one


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## allpurpose (Mar 24, 2016)

Hey..I now have 3 1/4" ratchets.. I found it in my...uhmmm...coat pocket.. Now it's phillips head screw drivers.. I still have every single piece except the original 1/4" of the set I bought about 6 years ago.. I don't know what it is about that one particular size..


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## Tool Agnostic (Aug 13, 2017)

Elden Cozort said:


> One good thing about that "crapman" ratchet is that it has a lifetime warranty. You should be able to take it to Lowes and get a free replacement. Of course, if you do get a new one, it'll probably disappear and then you won't even have that one


Most likely Lowe's won't have the exact same Craftsman-brand tool with the exact same Craftsman part number as the broken tool you bring in; the one that you bought at Sears many years ago with the Craftsman lifetime warranty.

Instead, Lowes will send you home to call a customer service number. I don't know what happens after that.


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## Rebelwork (Jan 15, 2012)

Elden Cozort said:


> One good thing about that "crapman" ratchet is that it has a lifetime warranty. You should be able to take it to Lowes and get a free replacement. Of course, if you do get a new one, it'll probably disappear and then you won't even have that one


I wouldn't call Craftsman "crapsman"

Craftsman took care of a lot of hobby woodworkers before the internet.


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## Elden Cozort (Oct 30, 2018)

Tool Agnostic said:


> Most likely Lowe's won't have the exact same Craftsman-brand tool with the exact same Craftsman part number as the broken tool you bring in; the one that you bought at Sears many years ago with the Craftsman lifetime warranty.
> 
> Instead, Lowes will send you home to call a customer service number. I don't know what happens after that.


I had a couple of 3/8 ratchets that I took to Lowes. I walked out with 2 new ones--no questions asked.


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## kiwi_outdoors (Jan 15, 2020)

I'm the same with the tiny Swiss Army knives, so I buy a bunch of DHS-confiscated knives off ebay for about $5-6 each. They are all in good condition.


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## allpurpose (Mar 24, 2016)

Rebelwork said:


> I wouldn't call Craftsman "crapsman"
> 
> Craftsman took care of a lot of hobby woodworkers before the internet.


But you and the rest of us know what's happened since.. A lot of craftsman stuff is barely a touch above HF if that these days..sometimes below.. There was a time when I thought craftsman was the greatest deal anywhere, but then I started buying things with the name that had moving parts.. Game over..


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