Archived from the Tools In Action forum (Hand Tools). This thread is read-only.
What is the best lube/oil to use for ratchets? I took apart a couple of ratchets tonight to compare them and a lot of the oil that was in them ran out and I was wondering what to put in its place.
Depends on how many teeth in my opinion. Under 60 tooth and under, SuperLube http://www.amazon.com/Super-Lube-21030-Synthetic-Grease/dp/B000XBH9HI
Over 60 tooth: Permatex 81950 engine assembly lube: www.amazon.com/Permatex-81950-Ultra-Engine-Assembly/dp/B000HBNVSK
Gearwrench 120XP counts as a 60 tooth because of the dual pawl.
BMack37 wrote:
Depends on how many teeth in my opinion. Under 60 tooth and under, SuperLube http://www.amazon.com/Super-Lube-21030-Synthetic-Grease/dp/B000XBH9HI
Over 60 tooth: Permatex 81950 engine assembly lube: www.amazon.com/Permatex-81950-Ultra-Engine-Assembly/dp/B000HBNVSK
Gearwrench 120XP counts as a 60 tooth because of the dual pawl.
Glad you didn’t say wd-40…lol
Super lube has a full full synthetic all purpose’ll lube that i use on my Snap On, Husky[External image (uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com), not copied] ratches and basically all my hand tools. I like to give them a good cleaning and lube every 3 months. Keeps them looking new[External image (uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com), not copied]
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jrsalas wrote:
8 hours ago, jrsalas said:Glad you didn’t say wd-40…lol
Super lube has a full full synthetic all purpose’ll lube that i use on my Snap On, Huskyratches and basically all my hand tools. I like to give them a good cleaning and lube every 3 months. Keeps them looking new
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The only use of WD40 on tools is to clean them and a simple rust preventive, imo. Clean it off of any joint you’re going to oil really well, you don’t want to mix WD40 or oil with any type of grease.
Snap-on uses SuperLube as their standard lube 🙂 Nice looking tools you have there!
BMack37 wrote:
The only use of WD40 on tools is to clean them and a simple rust preventive, imo. Clean it off of any joint you’re going to oil really well, you don’t want to mix WD40 or oil with any type of grease.
Snap-on uses SuperLube as their standard lube [emoji4] Nice looking tools you have there!
100% agree and thanks.
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To clean I’ll spray wd-40 on a rag rather than the tool
Jimbo
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I’ll try and get some of the engine assembly line the next chance I can but I had some synthetic brake grease in my toolbox so I used it for the time being. It smoothed up my Pittsburgh pro ratchet a bunch as it didn’t have any oil in it. Here is the before and after video.
I use either Chevron or Mobil SRI, NLGI 2 grease
Super lube is the best. Plus it won’t leak everywhere like oil based lube will.
jrsalas wrote:
On April 28, 2016 at 1:44 AM, jrsalas said:Glad you didn’t say wd-40…lol
Super lube has a full full synthetic all purpose’ll lube that i use on my Snap On, Husky[External image (uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com), not copied] ratches and basically all my hand tools. I like to give them a good cleaning and lube every 3 months. Keeps them looking new[External image (uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com), not copied]
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Show off. Haha
Mondo1310 wrote:
Show off. Haha
Lol. It didn’t happen over night…
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Superlube is good stuff. Starrett tool and instrument oil is still my favorite ( probably because of its usefulness to precision tools like micrometers and such). The Starrett oil is good ive used it for years on my ratchets,hinge joints of pliers,ratcheting wrenches etc etc.
I also use 3 in 1 oil for some stuff,and i like to use 3 in 1 garage door spray lube on things like my scales,pitch gages and such. WD-40 i use for cleaning off tools just gotta be careful if they have multi material handles WD-40 can eat the adhesives.
I love 3 in 1 for lubrucating drill bits for metal cutting, i also have WD-40 dry lube which works very good as well. For ratchets i use super lube, both oil and grease.
Seriously, this stuff.
http://shop.zebcobrands.com/quantum-accessories-htsce-bp12.html
Freed up, and then smoothed up, an ancient Snap On ratchet I found that would hardly turn. I dripped some of this stuff in the cracks of the head and just twisted it back and forth.
Works pretty well on my Shimano spinning reels, too. LOL
JimboS1ice wrote:
On 4/30/2016 at 6:03 AM, JimboS1ice said:I love 3 in 1 for lubrucating drill bits for metal cutting, i also have WD-40 dry lube which works very good as well. For ratchets i use super lube, both oil and grease.
Yeah i need to get some of the dry lube,I use the Specialist white lithium grease too. I was at HD on saturday but got kinda rushed. they have a good deal on a dual pack of the garage lube and wd-40 I use: http://www.homedepot.com/p/WD-40-12-oz-Multi-Use-Lubricant-and-3-in-One-11-oz-Garage-Door-Lubricant-2-Pack-490293HO/206455242?storeId=10051&langId=-1&catalogId=10053
The lady i usually get helped by there didnt know where they had them,supposedly they had 95 in stock, she just grabbed a couple cans off the shelf and gave me the price The garage door stuff is like nearly 6 bucks by itself usually.
Fazzman wrote:
1 hour ago, Fazzman said:Yeah i need to get some of the dry lube,I use the Specialist white lithium grease too. I was at HD on saturday but got kinda rushed. they have a good deal on a dual pack of the garage lube and wd-40 I use: http://www.homedepot.com/p/WD-40-12-oz-Multi-Use-Lubricant-and-3-in-One-11-oz-Garage-Door-Lubricant-2-Pack-490293HO/206455242?storeId=10051&langId=-1&catalogId=10053
The lady i usually get helped by there didnt know where they had them,supposedly they had 95 in stock, she just grabbed a couple cans off the shelf and gave me the price The garage door stuff is like nearly 6 bucks by itself usually.
Lowe’s has a couple of the Specialists cans with a “Free” trial mail-in-rebate on the can. I was thinking of picking up the lithium grease but it didn’t have the rebate on it and I wasn’t going to steal it from another bottle.
Yeah I wouldnt do that either. Having lithium grease in a spray can is the bees knees thou lol.
Better than having to search for an acid brush,and it lasts a long time. Ive been pretty happy with the WD40 Specialist products ive tried,I wanna try their penetrant next and see how it compares to the CRC I like.
Fazzman wrote:
4 hours ago, Fazzman said:Yeah I wouldnt do that either. Having lithium grease in a spray can is the bees knees thou lol.
Better than having to search for an acid brush,and it lasts a long time. Ive been pretty happy with the WD40 Specialist products ive tried,I wanna try their penetrant next and see how it compares to the CRC I like.
I think the penetrant was what had the coupon. They all seem like they’d be really useful, they have a gel lubricant also.
Yeah that gel one is the newest one. I’ll have to scope out Lowe’s
Best bet for ratchets is a lower viscosity grease. Something with PTFE is preferable. I like something that isn’t a petrol base because it tends to dissolve and run when you drop your wrench in a bucket of oil. Haven’t tried Lithium grease yet. Superlube is nice. The 3-in-one wasn’t viscous enough for me. It liked to make a mess.