Grease in ratchet observation

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Originally Posted By: BigD1
Super Lube cheap enough and easy to find is what I use. CDI torque wrench says Super Lube is what to use in their torque wrenches. I do have some Snapper OO grease. Come to think about it. It would be pretty dang good for lubricating ratchets. Probably better than Super Lube. Think heavy duty.


SuperLube is a very light grease. It probably does very well on the 80 tooth ratchets, but for the 36 tooth ratchets with their high tension spring, it's very noisy. I have a couple of tubes of it and have tried it several times, but it doesn't provide the sound I'm looking for in the 936 series Snap-on ratchets.
 
Originally Posted By: LubeLuke
A sticky type gear oil should work in a ratchet.
Find one that is stringy when you dip your finger in it, and doesn't wash off from low pressure boiling water.
For small gear mechanisms such as this that is what I use. After all it was designed for gears.


That stringiness you mention is exactly what I get from Permatex assembly lube; the Sealed Power is the same way. Reminds me of model airplane glue.
 
Originally Posted By: berniedd
I know nothing about the inside mechanism in a ratchet, but why is oil not a good lube idea?


Oils don't lubricate ratchets very well mainly because they walk off the job. Even inside ratchets that use seals, oils still leak out never to return. Oils work great inside engines however because they're constantly being pumped around the engine under pressure and they're not allowed to leave the engine.
 
I have played around with this a little too. Bar and chain oil worked will for my really fine ratchets but as others said it needs to be added more often. I have tried two types of anti seize and like many greases it just gets pushed to the side.

CV boot grease seems to be a good trade off and works well in most of the ratchets. Give this a try if you have any around.
 
Originally Posted By: Merkava_4
Originally Posted By: Ramblejam
Have you tried Deere Corn Head Grease?


No sir, never heard of it.


Get some.

Not only is it inexpensive, but will also provide better actual lubrication within this assembly than any other product mentioned.

Available thru any Deere dealer.
 
That's tackifier. You simply add a small amount to the grease of your choice. This stuff is extremely sticky and prevents grease from being flung off. I use grease with tackifier for example on the gears and cogs of my hand crank drills. The corn head grease looks great, though.

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I use gun oil with PTFE because my Craftsman ratchets have spring loaded oil fittings which are very small and clearly were not designed for a grease gun. PTFE does NOT belong in an engine.
 
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I tried greasing my Stanley 3/8" drive ratchet with Lubriplate (some pretty thin stuff). The ratchet wouldn't work correctly with the grease. I cleaned out the grease and gave it a shot of 3 in One Oil and it works dandy.
 
Originally Posted By: Merkava_4
Originally Posted By: gathermewool
What wear are you concerned about? What's the failure mode you're trying to prevent? I'll admit that I've never considered lubing my ratchets.


My primary concern is the noise. If the ratchet is too loud, then I know it's not getting properly lubricated. If the ratchet is too quiet, then I know the gear is not fully engaging with the pawl because of the grease being too thick. The sound I get from an engine assembly lube like Permatex #91050 or Sealed Power #55-400 is just right.

Noise is a poor way to judge how well a grease is lubricating. I've been using SuperLube grease for many years on both my work and home ratchets and I've never had one wear out on me. If it's good enough for SnapOn then it's good enough for me
grin.gif
 
^^^ Agree ... I'd rather hear the noise from the ratchet than not. When you can't hear it, the lube is too thick (grease) and the teeth don't engage fully, which can lead to slippage and damaged or broken teeth.

You want a good light lube that allows the teeth to engage quickly and at 100% ... and you know that's happening when the ratchet is "noisy".
 
Is there any reason besides rust prevention to lubricate a ratchet's internals?




I kind of went heavy with the chassis grease on some. Then I calmed down and used gun or bicycle chain lubricants on different ratchets.
 
Durability of mechanism in 72 (and more) teeth ratchets?
When you have low or average quality ratchets...

I personally use Nyogel 760G or 779GC in my ratchets (depending on how I want them to feel and/or the ratchet design). A bit on the expensive side, but US made.

760G is nice in sealed equipped ratchets, 779GC in "standard" design with big teeth.

I want to lube my Facom J.360 ratchet but I can't figure out how to open it (and don't want to destry it !).
 
Originally Posted By: ZeeOSix
^^^ Agree ... I'd rather hear the noise from the ratchet than not. When you can't hear it, the lube is too thick (grease) and the teeth don't engage fully, which can lead to slippage and damaged or broken teeth.


That only happened one time when I tried that dark gray high pressure grease. I couldn't get it out of the ratchet fast enough.
 
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