Milwaukee Fuel M12 Ratchet 1/4” vs 3/8”

[Snagglefoot]

I'm trying to decide between a 1/4 " vs 3/8 for cordless ratchets for my non-professional use. I expect water pump, alternator, and other accessory replacement work. I watched Milwakee's Video on Pro's using the 1/4 inch tool. I understand the 1/4 inch tool allows them to get into tighter spots which I would think is a good thing. I would want want to be able to use it on 15 mm and down nuts. For the backyard mechanic, would you guys recommend the 1/4 inch or go to a 3/8 inch? Thanks.

 

[MrHorspwer]

Personally, I chose the 3/8 as my first cordless ratchet. Unless you have tiny hands that can fit in tiny spaces, the 3/8 (with the small 2Ah battery) will go wherever your hand can.

1/4 is great for 8-10mm bolts, but begins to runs out of grunt once you get to typical torque values for 12-15mm bolts.

My advice: 3/8 is the more versatile of the two.

 

[Astro14]

I have both. They're just plain awesome.

Side by side the only difference is the size of the driver. They're identical in every other way. No torque difference. Just like an air ratchet, if the torque needed is high, you can start loosening or finish tightening by hand, it's still a ratchet. I wouldn't load it up with a ton of torque, but for modest size bolts and loads, it's fine.

Now, my 1/4" drive sockets are smaller, so it may be that the combination of 1/4" socket and same size wrench will fit in a smaller space than the combination of 3/8" wrench and 3/8" socket.

Home Depot has the 3/8" kit (one battery, wrench and charger) on line for $119. Great price. Not certain about price/options up in Canada.

I love this thing.

Just did an oil pan with 30 bolts on my Volvo. So easy with this. And the single battery barely noticed that amount of use. You probably will never need a second battery.

 

[Snagglefoot]

Best deal at Home Depot in Canada for a 3/8 "M12 Fuel is $209 ($157 US) for a bare tool and a "free" battery, but I also need the charger.

 

[Audios]

Try the ebay coupons, just saw it for 239, plus 15% off. PICKUPSALE

 

[maxdustington]

Originally Posted by Snagglefoot
Best deal at Home Depot in Canada for a 3/8 "M12 Fuel is $209 ($157 US) for a bare tool and a "free" battery, but I also need the charger.
M12 chargers are $20 on Kijiji here, often brand new. GTA Kijiji might be a little more competitive than where you are, though.

 

[JohnnyJohnson]

Originally Posted by Snagglefoot
Best deal at Home Depot in Canada for a 3/8 "M12 Fuel is $209 ($157 US) for a bare tool and a "free" battery, but I also need the charger.


Charge and the 5 AH battery this week on special at my Home Depot for $99 US.

 

[Snagglefoot]

Do the Fuel and non-Fuel take the same batteries?

 

[MrHorspwer]

Originally Posted by Snagglefoot
Do the Fuel and non-Fuel take the same batteries?


Same. Any of the M12 batteries will work.

 

[CELICA_XX]

I am in the same boat, but I am seriously considering the 1/2 inch over the 3/8

The 1/2 inch appears to have the same head as the 3/8, so "getting into smaller places" isn't a con for the bigger ratchet.

Just more power and can handle tougher tasks.

 

[ajchien]

I just went through this decision, and chose the Milwaukee 1/4". It's arriving in the mail on Monday,

I think your choice should probably be affected by what other tools you have, for example, I've got a 1/2 cordless impact - for lugnuts, brake and suspension work, if the impact doesn't fit, I'm probably pulling out a 1/2" breaker bar since I dont think I'd subject a cordless 3/8" ratchet to caliper bolts and and the such.

Much of the engine bay work - radiator, fans, alternator, pulleys, valve covers etc ... I've never really worried about the drive size - rather more 1) will it fit and 2) do I have enough handle length for leverage.

Milwaukee lists the 1/4 at 30 and the 3/8 and 35 ft lbs. I don't think that's a significant difference, imo. The biggest worry I have with the 1/4 is possibly breaking the anvil. All my 1/4" ratchets are about 5ish inches in length so I probably don't get more than 20 ftlbs yanking on them, while this tool is 10 inches in length so I could probably pull about 40 ft lbs one handed.

From what I've seen, the head of the 1/4 and 3/8 is the same - folks have shown repair kits for the anvils to be interchangeable between the two. As far as fitting, I personally have run into a number of situations where my 1/4 sockets fit where the 3/8 were too tall. Jeez, we're talking about a few mm of thickness, but it has made a difference for me in the past when dealing with ratchets and sockets.

I guess I'm not too stressed about it. I figure when it comes to tools, it's likely I'll have both the 1/4 and 3/8 eventually.

 

[ajchien]

I got it in the mail Monday, and did a valve adjustment / other maintenance on a Honda Element yesterday,

It loosened all the 8 and 10mm bolts fine. It probably overtightened these bolts past their spec 9 ft lbs for many. But then, I wouldn't have torqued the bolts i did use this on anyway during assembly.

-It did not have enough torque to loosen a 12mm power steering pump bolt

(tightening spec 16 ftlbs - albeit extremely grimy bolt), it did spin it off after loosening with a ratchet.
-The head was too large to fit to try to loosen the second (hidden) 12mm power steering pump bolt. (Frame of car, ac lines, ps hoses in the way).

-I wasn't going to touch my spark plugs, or any valve cover reassembly with a power tool.
-of course, this wasn't going anywhere close to the locknuts

All in all, it did save time. It's not magical though, as it should probably be used with discretion.

If I had bought the 3/8" fuel version with a higher torque capability, I presume it would have helped getting the one power steering pump bolt out. Still wouldn't fit into the space for the hidden power steering pump bolt. It may or may not have fit into the space of a few bracket bolts that were attached to the valve cover. I may not have used it for many of the random reassembly bolts. I'd be afraid of overtigtening things and breaking plastic casing parts.

 

[Astro14]

Examining mine side by side, the torque is an anvil strength issue. The ratchet head size is identical.

I wouldn't put a ton of torque on either. The ratchet teeth on the anvil inside the head are quite small. Much smaller than the teeth inside a 3/8" ratchet.

The motor on either wrench will stall at about 25-30 ftlbs anyway. It can't handle more.

If big torque is required, I would use a hand tool to break it loose. Spin it off with this.

OP - did you end up buying one?

 

[The Critic]

Originally Posted by Astro14
I have both. They're just plain awesome.

Side by side the only difference is the size of the driver. They're identical in every other way. No torque difference. Just like an air ratchet, if the torque needed is high, you can start loosening or finish tightening by hand, it's still a ratchet. I wouldn't load it up with a ton of torque, but for modest size bolts and loads, it's fine.

Now, my 1/4" drive sockets are smaller, so it may be that the combination of 1/4" socket and same size wrench will fit in a smaller space than the combination of 3/8" wrench and 3/8" socket.

Home Depot has the 3/8" kit (one battery, wrench and charger) on line for $119. Great price. Not certain about price/options up in Canada.

I love this thing.

Just did an oil pan with 30 bolts on my Volvo. So easy with this. And the single battery barely noticed that amount of use. You probably will never need a second battery.

From your description, it sounds like you have the older, non-fuel ratchets. On the newer model (fuel), there is a significant difference between the 1/4 and 3/8" models.

 

[ajchien]

Well, I'm reviving this old thread again, just in case this helps anyone.
Sometimes when I really like a tool, I get the other version too.

So now I have the 1/4" regular and the 3/8" fuel versions.

I used the 3/8 version to rebuild a pool pump motor last week. Worked well, except that I was an idiot and used it to tighten the 1/4" head 10-32 through bolts. Wound up breaking off the welded nuts they screwed on to. Well, sometimes you have to re-learn the hard way,

Today, I needed to change the vtec solenoid / oil pressure switch on the 03 element as well as change a filter screen, which involved taking off the power steering pump (again), and the belt tensioner.

The 3/8 did the solenoid bolts well, except it's much heavier and much more unwieldy than the 1/4 version. It actually did fit into the space to access the power steering pump bolts off, although it took some intermixing of different extensions and sockets heights to make it fit. Unfortunately, it also did NOT spin off the power steering bolts. 12mm at 16 ft lbs (of course,, likely tighter than that). I was diappointed. But then manually turning it like a ratchet did break both bolts loose and then it spun them off fine. As for the belt tensioner, 4 bolts - it could only access two of the bolts. The other two required a ratchet, and a wrench. These also required me manually breaking the bolts loose and then it spun those off fine (also supposedly at 16 ft lbs - lol, not).

In any case, I have both now. In my mind, I think it's going to be psychological which one I'll use.
The 1/4 is easier to hold and maneuver. I'm kind of afraid to find where the limits is of when the anvil breaks.
The 3/8 is heavier (especailly upside down), requires more fiddling with different sized extensions and sockets heights to get it to fit into spots. The 3/8" anvil gave me much more confidence in pulling on the body of the tool to manually break bolts loose before spinning them off.
It's possible the 3/8 becomes the removal tool, and the 1/4 becomes the reassembly tool.

 

[Snagglefoot]

Thanks for the head to head comparison. For my needs I envision the 1/4 " version and breaking fasteners free with a manual ratchet.

 

[HangFire]

Originally Posted by ajchien
It's possible the 3/8 becomes the removal tool, and the 1/4 becomes the reassembly tool.

I once stripped the threads of a 10mm head pan bolt using a wimpy 45 ft/lb air ratchet. I drilled and tapped it out to 1/4-20 and got on with life.

But it got me thinking. There are a zillion pan bolts (OK 20-some) and some automation is welcome or I'll be doing it all day. But I've also stripped out welded nuts with a 12V impact driver using a socket adapter, even when trying to feather it. So for little stuff, anything with Impact (or kinda impact-y like the air ratchet) is out.

For assembly with small bolts I now use a 12V drill/driver with a clutch setting. It stops once it gets to the torque setting on the drill/driver. It was the right tool for the job and I was ignoring it because I had the impact already out. So, now I use the drill/driver for running up small fasteners without stripping them. I suppose an air butterfly impact might be the right tool for the job, but with a small cordless 12V set, I've never felt the need to buy one.

 

[Trav]

+1 I use a little Bosch brushless driver on small bolts where there are a lot of them. On the first clutch setting it is perfect for screws in plastic interior parts, just right not too loose or tight, it is also perfect for running small pan bolts up on a low setting then finish tighten by hand.

 

[JHZR2]

I have the 3/8 version ratchet. It doesn't take much to stop it. Was assembling a playgroud slide with lots of boots, and it would t do much more than snug. Very handy tool, but not for tightening heavily.

 

[The Critic]

I purchased the 3/8" fuel version. For the longest time, I swore that I had zero-use for a cordless ratchet. I was wrong. I have been using the heck out of it. It is a nice tool, but still low on power. Surprisingly, the size has not been an issue.