a completely irrelevant factor that literally nobody who works on cars has ever considered when shopping for tools. you tend to see that a lot when poorgays flood a hobby and start coping.
Gearwrench 90T is better than the 120XP. The extra 30t makes the head a lot fatter for not much better clearance. They round the corners on the 120XP to make it appear less fat than it is, they’re not giant but it’s not worth the size and weight and the size is super noticeable on 1/2” drive 120s
The locking flex head is all up to your preference. I’m not a huge fan of them, I like the Gearwrench with the detents. Even the models without a detent or lock at all are straight, but you may need to tighten the bolt on the neck from time to time, especially after really stomping on a stuck bolt, otherwise the head gets floppy.
The Milwaukee ratchets are kind of expensive and nothing that special about them, the Gearwrench 84T or 90T models are so good and affordable that there’s no reason to buy another Taiwan ratchet over those.
https://i.imgur.com/FjMpssw.png
a completely irrelevant factor that literally nobody who works on cars has ever considered when shopping for tools. you tend to see that a lot when poorgays flood a hobby and start coping.
Yes, strength and compactness and the tightness of the ratcheting mechanism and degrees of turn you get on a ratchet in a tight spot are totally irrelevant for a tool that should be strong and compact and have a precise ratcheting mechanism that will actually turn a bolt in a tight spot.
Their ratcheting box wrenches are fricking gold when working on front wheel drive cars or anything else of similar hardware density.
That's not "free" because the purchase price bought the eventual replacement tool. I got to do all the math on that shit while equipping F-16 Inspection Section tool rooms (that was the toolgasm of a lifetime). Of course for aircraft maintenance where shit ever breaking is bad it was worth it because the Snap-on rep (who vary from great to shitbags) won't be on deployment to swap tools.
Yes, in many professional environments breaking a bolt or thread is worse than breaking a tool. If you strip a bolt and it costs 20 minutes to fix that’s $50 easily, plus the customer doesn’t like to see stuff break on their expensive new machine
But that wasn’t really the point, making a tool bigger/stronger always requires sacrifice of something else (price/quality/weight) and is pointless in this case. Graphs like these are only meaningful to tool hoarders
I'd rather have a ratchet which will not break as I'm comfortable with my skill at not breaking bolts, and I may want the option to break a fastener to free the part it retains.
>muuuuh breaking strength
yes, i regularly use 2ft long cheater pipes with my 1/4 ratchet!
breaking strength DOES NOT MATTER unless it's so low you could break it by hand.
Depends very much on what you work on since restricted areas (like fighter engine bays, or cars that got salt water vapor baths from being near the ocean) may make overloading a small ratchet that fits the only practical option vs. a large ratchet which does not.
I've used thin, tough slender stainless hydraulic tubing as cheater bars for decades.
I'd really like to have a set of splined instead of square drive tools with the socket end broached clocked to permit maximum fine adjustment so I could use them with a breaker bar thinner than an inline ratchet, but that's probably too niche even for niche makers.
The failure load for an M12 8.8 bolt is 73.3 lbft. You don’t want to strip the M12 so it makes no sense designing the ratchet to go way beyond that.
The chart shows you that the Wera, Husky and Stahlwille engineers got it spot on, whereas the burger brands over dimensioned it again like they always do for no reason
Yes, in many professional environments breaking a bolt or thread is worse than breaking a tool. If you strip a bolt and it costs 20 minutes to fix that’s $50 easily, plus the customer doesn’t like to see stuff break on their expensive new machine
But that wasn’t really the point, making a tool bigger/stronger always requires sacrifice of something else (price/quality/weight) and is pointless in this case. Graphs like these are only meaningful to tool hoarders
that's how my job is (Forklift Mechanic). we have broke 3 Milwaukee Electric Ratchets in six months because we use them for literally everything including as breaker bars (I used to fear my coworkers knowledge, now I know they are mostly morons). You strip one bolt head or break a fastener and you will never hear the end of it from management but tool breakage is considered an acceptable expense.
>The failure load for an M12 8.8 bolt is 73.3 lbft. You don’t want to strip the M12 so it makes no sense designing the ratchet to go way beyond that. >The chart shows you that the Wera, Husky and Stahlwille engineers got it spot on,
This is so full of stupid. Bolts don't break at the "failure load" point moron, and nobody designs a wrench "spot on" to break at that specific value, especially when it's a ratchet that fits many sizes.
That's cool but I prefer vintage stuff, or the shit I already own.
How come you didn’t buy Gearwrench years ago?
I have an old Indestro 1/2” that’s a fricking champ when the cheater bar or hammer needs to come out, but goddamn if you have been using the short Craftsman 36t ratchets forever like I was along with my boomer buddies, it’s so fricking nice moving to ratchets with better mechanisms that aren’t 2/3 length like the gay Craftsmans.
The only thing it won was the space it took to ratchet. The Husky is a 144T ratchet, also the Husky and SATA and Crescent are all Apex tools, look at the bodies of them. The Gearwrench 90s are a super nice balance of everything.
that's how my job is (Forklift Mechanic). we have broke 3 Milwaukee Electric Ratchets in six months because we use them for literally everything including as breaker bars (I used to fear my coworkers knowledge, now I know they are mostly morons). You strip one bolt head or break a fastener and you will never hear the end of it from management but tool breakage is considered an acceptable expense.
Yes, in many professional environments breaking a bolt or thread is worse than breaking a tool. If you strip a bolt and it costs 20 minutes to fix that’s $50 easily, plus the customer doesn’t like to see stuff break on their expensive new machine
But that wasn’t really the point, making a tool bigger/stronger always requires sacrifice of something else (price/quality/weight) and is pointless in this case. Graphs like these are only meaningful to tool hoarders
How often are you breaking that specific new bolt at 73.3ft-lbs? And a predictable break where a poorly designed ratchet would blow out and bust your knuckles but for some reason the cheater bar on the Gearwrench breaks the bolt instead?
>muuuuh breaking strength
yes, i regularly use 2ft long cheater pipes with my 1/4 ratchet!
breaking strength DOES NOT MATTER unless it's so low you could break it by hand.
they invested their money into product development instead of corporate naming consultants
Nah bro, “120XP” they def paid some high dollar consultants to come up with that name.
what are they testing here? ratchets?
a completely irrelevant factor that literally nobody who works on cars has ever considered when shopping for tools. you tend to see that a lot when poorgays flood a hobby and start coping.
What a better purchase? The flex head milwaukee ratchets that can have the angle locked with 90 teeth, or the flex head gearwrench 120xp?
Gearwrench 90T is better than the 120XP. The extra 30t makes the head a lot fatter for not much better clearance. They round the corners on the 120XP to make it appear less fat than it is, they’re not giant but it’s not worth the size and weight and the size is super noticeable on 1/2” drive 120s
The locking flex head is all up to your preference. I’m not a huge fan of them, I like the Gearwrench with the detents. Even the models without a detent or lock at all are straight, but you may need to tighten the bolt on the neck from time to time, especially after really stomping on a stuck bolt, otherwise the head gets floppy.
The Milwaukee ratchets are kind of expensive and nothing that special about them, the Gearwrench 84T or 90T models are so good and affordable that there’s no reason to buy another Taiwan ratchet over those.
Yes, strength and compactness and the tightness of the ratcheting mechanism and degrees of turn you get on a ratchet in a tight spot are totally irrelevant for a tool that should be strong and compact and have a precise ratcheting mechanism that will actually turn a bolt in a tight spot.
Here’s a better pic of the fatness of the XP vs the 90T.
When the snapon ratchet fails the snap on guy puts new guts in it for free.
Their ratcheting box wrenches are fricking gold when working on front wheel drive cars or anything else of similar hardware density.
That's not "free" because the purchase price bought the eventual replacement tool. I got to do all the math on that shit while equipping F-16 Inspection Section tool rooms (that was the toolgasm of a lifetime). Of course for aircraft maintenance where shit ever breaking is bad it was worth it because the Snap-on rep (who vary from great to shitbags) won't be on deployment to swap tools.
I'd rather have a ratchet which will not break as I'm comfortable with my skill at not breaking bolts, and I may want the option to break a fastener to free the part it retains.
Depends very much on what you work on since restricted areas (like fighter engine bays, or cars that got salt water vapor baths from being near the ocean) may make overloading a small ratchet that fits the only practical option vs. a large ratchet which does not.
I've used thin, tough slender stainless hydraulic tubing as cheater bars for decades.
I'd really like to have a set of splined instead of square drive tools with the socket end broached clocked to permit maximum fine adjustment so I could use them with a breaker bar thinner than an inline ratchet, but that's probably too niche even for niche makers.
No Craftsman?
The failure load for an M12 8.8 bolt is 73.3 lbft. You don’t want to strip the M12 so it makes no sense designing the ratchet to go way beyond that.
The chart shows you that the Wera, Husky and Stahlwille engineers got it spot on, whereas the burger brands over dimensioned it again like they always do for no reason
You would rather break a $50+ ratchet than a 10¢ bolt?
Yes, in many professional environments breaking a bolt or thread is worse than breaking a tool. If you strip a bolt and it costs 20 minutes to fix that’s $50 easily, plus the customer doesn’t like to see stuff break on their expensive new machine
But that wasn’t really the point, making a tool bigger/stronger always requires sacrifice of something else (price/quality/weight) and is pointless in this case. Graphs like these are only meaningful to tool hoarders
that's how my job is (Forklift Mechanic). we have broke 3 Milwaukee Electric Ratchets in six months because we use them for literally everything including as breaker bars (I used to fear my coworkers knowledge, now I know they are mostly morons). You strip one bolt head or break a fastener and you will never hear the end of it from management but tool breakage is considered an acceptable expense.
>The failure load for an M12 8.8 bolt is 73.3 lbft. You don’t want to strip the M12 so it makes no sense designing the ratchet to go way beyond that.
>The chart shows you that the Wera, Husky and Stahlwille engineers got it spot on,
This is so full of stupid. Bolts don't break at the "failure load" point moron, and nobody designs a wrench "spot on" to break at that specific value, especially when it's a ratchet that fits many sizes.
+1. Anon is pure copium.
How come you didn’t buy Gearwrench years ago?
I have an old Indestro 1/2” that’s a fricking champ when the cheater bar or hammer needs to come out, but goddamn if you have been using the short Craftsman 36t ratchets forever like I was along with my boomer buddies, it’s so fricking nice moving to ratchets with better mechanisms that aren’t 2/3 length like the gay Craftsmans.
Craftsman ratchets turned to shit long ago. Indestro is excellent along with old J.H. Williams.
Didn’t the Husky 1/4 inch win this??
project farm on YT if anyone’s interested
The only thing it won was the space it took to ratchet. The Husky is a 144T ratchet, also the Husky and SATA and Crescent are all Apex tools, look at the bodies of them. The Gearwrench 90s are a super nice balance of everything.
How often are you breaking that specific new bolt at 73.3ft-lbs? And a predictable break where a poorly designed ratchet would blow out and bust your knuckles but for some reason the cheater bar on the Gearwrench breaks the bolt instead?
That’s a cope
That's cool but I prefer vintage stuff, or the shit I already own.
>muuuuh breaking strength
yes, i regularly use 2ft long cheater pipes with my 1/4 ratchet!
breaking strength DOES NOT MATTER unless it's so low you could break it by hand.
i need to buy a mechanics tool set, should i go with gearwrench?
They’re straight. Amazon has sales a lot. Prime Days is coming up in like a week, I guarantee there will be some Gearwrench sets on sale.