If you can’t get enough reach with your ratchet you can just add an extension, but what’re you supposed to do with drivers?  A standard-sized blade, about 6″ or so, gets me through most jobs, but recently I was adjusting my headlights, and I needed a longer, thinner blade — GearWrench created their Long-Reach Torx Drivers for jobs just like this.

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The GearWrench Roto Ratchet will help you get that ratchet where you need it — its head rotates a full 180 degrees for access to fasteners in tight locations.  At first I thought this product was unique to GearWrench, but then I saw a Kobalt version at Lowe’s;  either way, it looks like it might be one of those “I should have bought it” tools.

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Straight from Dr. Frankenstein’s lab, these hemostats will help you hold on to smaller parts and keep fluids from spilling out of disconnected hoses.  I’m sure there are other uses for ‘em, too — think legal, folks! Store ‘em with the rubber gloves, dental mirrors and picks, and all the other medical tools that have made it into the shop.

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Alexandria General Supply is selling this Gearwrench Flexible Hex Key Set for $24.41.  Flexible hex wrenches like this will help you access that oddly placed socket head screw — they’re great problem-solvers.

Flexible Hex Key Set [Alexandria General Supply]
Street Pricing [Google Products]
Via Amazon [What’s This?]

GearWrench recently announced the launch of its new tire pressure monitoring system (TPMS) kit. GearWrench says the new kit will help with TPMS sensor maintenance during tire and rim changes.

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GearWrench, well known for their ratcheting wrenches, also offers a nice line of configurable screwdrivers. Instead of just selecting the proper bit for a fastening task, you can choose which shaft and handle to use as well. GearWrench’s screwdriver handles also feature ratcheting mechanisms, which make these drivers even more appealing.

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In a promotion that ends tonight, Sears is selling its GearWrench 10-piece metric box end wrench set for just $30, half off the regular $60 price. With their thin heads and shanks, these wrenches excel in tight spots — the ratcheting mechanism requires only five degrees of movement instead of the usual 30 degrees needed by standard end wrenches.  The set includes sizes 6, 8, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, and 18mm and comes with a lifetime guarantee.

For the same price Sears offers the SAE version of this set which includes sizes 1/4, 5/16, 11/32, 3/8, 7/16, 1/2, 9/16, 5/8, 11/16, and 3/4-inches.

GearWrench Metric Set [Sears]
GearWrench SAE Set [Sears]

At a glance, a zero-offset ratcheting combination wrench (top) looks the same as a standard ratcheting wrench (bottom). But closer examination will reveal a one-way mechanism and a straight box end. These wrenches are still considered reversible — you just have to flip the tool to reverse the ratcheting direction.

What’s the appeal of this tool — the zero offset?  Sure, a perfectly straight wrench has its uses, especially in tight areas and when you have to hold the entire wrench flush against a surface. However, some people probably choose these wrenches because they’re cheaper than traditional reversible ones, or maybe they think the tool’s more durable due to fewer moving parts.

Let’s hear from you - do you find zero-offset wrenches appealing, or are they simply cheap alternatives to standard 15° offset wrenches?

Zero Offset Ratcheting Wrench [Gearwrench]
Standard Reversible Ratcheting Wrench [Gearwrench]

Long-time friend of TM Stuey writes: “I scanned in the June 29th and 30th Craftsman flyer and posted it to the photo pool.  What caught my eye was the ‘50% off all in-stock GearWrench ratcheting wrench sets’ deal.  Items 44003 and 44004 — 8-piece reversible 5-degree ratcheting wrench sets in SAE and metric, respectively – are currently on sale for $35 from $60.  The flyer quotes them at $70, so these sets might remain at the $35 price (as opposed to 50% of $60).”

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Sometimes having the perfect tool is less important than having a tool that’ll work in kit you can easily carry — and that’s small enough to get past the guy at the junkyard front counter, too. That’s when tool like GearWrench’s ratchet adapters kick ass, letting you fit two tools into the space of one. Slide these into your wrench set and you’ve got both a wrench and a ratchet.

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A good tap and die set is an absolute must have for any serious Toolmonger.  They’re necessary for metalworking, but they’re also incredibly useful in more common situations as well — like, for exampel, cleaning out or straightening threads that (somehow) got mangled or making a bolt out of some loose stock when you don’t have the right size handy.

Because these are such simple tools, we haven’t really seen a lot of innovation in tap and die sets — until we came across GearWrench’s unique ratcheting T-handle.  It’s a great idea, and it’s packaged in a set that performed well in the Toolmonger shop.

Read on past the jump for our hands-on experiences and lots of pictures.

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We wrote in detail about the 3/8″ version of this kit in the past, and it’s quickly become one of our favorites around the Toolmonger shop.  Every time we put it away, it ends up back out.  It’s that useful.

Without repeating our raves about the 3/8″, let us just remind you that they also make a 1/4″ version which absolutely rocks for getting at difficult-to-reach screws underneath the dash of an F150.  (You can imagine why we discovered this today.)

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Donnie writes: “I just picked this up to add to my toolkit at work.  It provides 1/4″ and 5/16″ bits and sockets with a micro-drive gear wrench all in a small package — perfect for light duty work.”

We’ve been really impressed with Gear Wrench’s offering this last year, and they’re easy to find now that Sears carries most of the line.  It’s $25 right now (though as of this second Sears is out of stock for online orders).  A Google search turned up a number of other outlets that have them in stock for the same price.

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It looks like Sears is offering up some tools at 50% off again this Wednesday and Thursday for last minute shoppers.  We clicked through the links and found a couple of interesting buys, including:

• A GearWrench 7-pc flex head wrench set in SAE or metric for $44.99 (normally $89.99)
• A Craftsman 5-pc offset metric ratcheting wrench set for $19.99 (normally $39.99)
• And a Craftsman 12-pc nutdriver set in a zippered case for $19.99 (normally $39.99)

Of course, YMMV.

Sale Items [Sears]
The Tool Section [Sears]

Here’s the last of GearWrench’s SEMA releases: some new cushion-grip ratchets.  I don’t know if you can see it clearly on the photo above, but I like the fact that the label on the directon switch says “on” and “off.”  It’ll save you from checking each time you pick it up.

As some readers have commented regarding “soft-grip” tools in general, they do tend to get dirty and stay dirty.  They also tend to prevent you from sticking a pipe on the end of the ratchet, which is a good thing in general, but bad if you need to do it.  Then again, comfort is comfort.

What say y’all?

Remember how we told you GearWrench announced at SEMA that they’re expanding into non-ratcheting tools?  Here’s one of their new screwdrivers.  We don’t know much about them yet, but we thought we’d share the pix.

I guess there’s not much to say about them except that they look like nice screwdrivers.  In fact, they look a lot like the ‘drivers in MAC’s Foose kit.  (Hint: That’s a good thing.)

There’s another photo of the mini screwdrivers after the jump.

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Here’s another of GearWrench’s SEMA releases: a new electronic torque wrench.  Besides the advantages of all electronic torque wrenches — unlike “clickers” they can measure maximum torque applied to install or remove a fastener — GearWrench also brings some of their own “flavor” to the pie in the form of a 60-tooth ratcheting gear and an innovative “traffic-light-like” system to warn you as you approach your target torque.

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