Midget Ratchet Gets Into Tight Spaces
By Benjamen Johnson
You might not need a small ratchet like the Midget every day, but there are times when they’re indispensable — like when you’re lying on the floor of your vehicle trying to remove the fan speed resistor or another part that’s tucked up under the dash.
At only 3-3/4″ long, the stainless steel Chapman Midget Ratchet has twenty teeth, giving it a short 18° arc for working in close quarters. There’s no switch for changing ratcheting direction on the simple tool — you just turn the ratchet over if you need to go the other direction.
Depending on which set you buy, you can drive slotted, square, Phillips, hex, Reed and Prince, Bristol, and Torx heads — or with a 1/4″ square drive adapter you can use 1/4″ sockets. Additional accessories include a stackable extension and a screwdriver handle.
Prices for Chapman Midget Ratchet sets run from $12 to $35 depending on what’s included.
Midget Ratchet [Chapman Tools]
Midget Ratchet [Xcelite]
Street Pricing [Google]
Via Amazon [What’s This?]
June 16th, 2009 at 11:28 am
… Or when you’re laying on the floor in the laundry room trying for an hour+ trying to disconnect and replace a temperature sensor on the heating element in your dryer, which the service manual said to ENTIRELY disassemble the whole machine to get to and replace….
…
Pain in the butt, but pulled it off with the help of one of these little guys =)
June 16th, 2009 at 12:53 pm
While working on an exhibit a few years back, the Chapman version quickly became one of my favorite tools after I discovered that a railing we needed to breakdown and install on a regular basis had nearly zero clearance for the “blind” mounting hardware (thanks to the designers that had never thought out how we’d actually assemble it). I can vouch for it’s build quality and durability having traveled through much of the US with it in regular use.
June 17th, 2009 at 10:23 am
I have (and use) my father’s. He bought it in the 1950’s and it is going strong.
June 18th, 2009 at 10:32 am
I have one of these, but if I wanted something really plush, I would get this.
http://www.amazon.com/Wadsworth-Mini-Ratchet-Set-Tools/dp/B0000WTWZ2
June 18th, 2009 at 10:48 am
I remember seeing a wrench like this with such a tiny arc that it’ll pretty much turn if you shiver while holding it. Instead of a ratchet, it uses a one-way bearing. This probably means you can’t torque it as hard, but that shouldn’t be a big problem for most small fasteners.
I’m damned if I can remember where I saw one, though.
June 18th, 2009 at 6:08 pm
I have the 35 piece GearWrench Micro-Driver set. I use it regularly and it’s one of my go-to tools
http://toolmonger.com/2007/01/02/reader-find-gear-wrenchs-35-pc-microdriver-set/#more-2925
June 19th, 2009 at 10:45 am
[...] Midget Ratchet Gets Into Tight Spaces You might not need a small ratchet like the Midget every day, but there are times when they’re indispensable — like when you’re lying on the floor of your vehicle trying to remove the fan speed resistor or another part that’s tucked up under the dash. [...]