Archived from the Tools In Action forum (Hand Tools). This thread is read-only.
Few things in life bring me more joy than starting a project with a smooth as silk, American made ratchet. If you’re anything like me and can’t sleep at night knowing your ratchets aren’t in tip top shape then I have a couple of products to suggest. Super Lube 21030 Grease is perfect for ratchet lubrication. It does a fantastic job and doesn’t leak out of the ratchet and make a mess in your box like 3 in 1 or the “Red lube of love”. At less than $5 a tube it’s definitely worth giving it a try.
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Certain types of ratchets feature a bearing at the bottom of the gear head that allows the pawl to pivot when reversing directions. These are especially annoying and almost impossible to effectively compress when servicing. Snap-On has you covered! The SPP744 is a little tool designed especially for this purpose. It is available on their website (linked above) for under $1. Other than having the distinction of being possibly the only tool marked Snap-On that doesn’t require a loan to purchase, it makes life WAY easier when trying to service these types of ratchets. At $ .89 even the most budget conscious among us can justify ordering an extra.
How else can you make your life this much easier for $6 ?
I’m a big fan of Hondas moly grease for use in my ratchets, bit pricey but it makes them so much smoother. Krytox is a true super lube and they do have a grease that works well in ratchets but is is very hard to come by and has a pretty steep price tag, and in my opinion is not noticably better than Hondas grease in a hand tool application, that is unless you plan on using your tools in an extreme environment like outer space, or under water where the Krytoxs thermal stability and solvent resistance will have a distinct advantage.
I may give the Molly grease a shot.
It seriously does provide a noticable difference over regular grease.
I’ve been very happy with the Super Lube, but I’m open to giving the other a shot.
The Permatex Ultra Slick Engine Assembly Lube (Part # 81950) otherwise known as “Red lube of love” seems to work better in most of my finer tooth ratchets. My 24T pear heads seem to like the super lube while the 72T round heads work much better with the Permatex. It’s available from many sources for around $5.
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Mac Ratchets,30 weight oil only and I use regular engine oil for them.I have read this in the instructions of the ratchet repair kits for Mac’s hand ratchets.Have fixed a couple Mac ratchets myself getting the kits for free from Mac tools after calling them
I’ve used motor oil before in a pinch. It works good, just doesn’t have the staying power of the RLL.