Craftsman Ratchet Repair Kit 43424 for 1/4" Drive Quick Release Ratchet 44807, 44812 - (Non-Retail Packaging, Bulk Packaged)

After reading other reviews I was prepared for a somewhat difficult time installing the repair kit. However everything went together on the second try. Having a little strip of sheet metal to make a tool to compress the little spring and ball bearing made the process go smoothly. I would recommend performing the installation on top of a cloth to catch the little spring and ball bearing from rolling too far if they should escape as mine did on the first try.

FIRST OFF - not the original style Craftsman ratchet anvil - this has a push rod that goes through the anvil when you depress the bearing/socket release button. Pretty saddened about that.I see many people had trouble with this. What you want to do:Put the wrench in a ziploc bag then into a bench vice, or you can unga bunga and use your belly to keep the wrench from sliding around. The ziploc bag will help prevent the ball bearing from disappearing in your home if you make a mistake. I used the unga bunga method. -grunt-Get a paperclip and bend it into a very tight loop on one end that will hold the small ball bearing for you since this does not have the special tool.You then want to grease the inside of your wrench, the ball, and the end of your paperclip tool. This helps prevent the ball bearing from launching at the speed of light into the unknown.The instructions show the tool being used on the open-face of the wrench - DO NOT DO THIS.Use the paperclip from the back side hole where the lever goes and hold the ball bearing down with the spring - this gives you room to slide the selector gear in.Slide the selector gear in the slot - as you push it in, your paperclip should slide away at the same time. The selector gear will slide over the ball bearing.The biggest problem I had was fishing the selector switch back in - you will have to ease the selector gear forward to fish the selector arm in. MAKE SURE YOU APPLY PRESSURE ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE SELECTOR GEAR. You do not want the gear to pop out and the ball bearing to go flying.

The repair kit is a nice little kit. It came with all the necessary replacement parts needed to swap all the old parts out. You'll definitely need snap ring pliers to get the snap ring off/on for disassembly/reassembly.The only thing it didn't come with was the spring/ball bearing compressor tool (flat angled piece of thin steel) that was supposed to be included. With the help of my gracious and patient wife and several greased toothpicks, we were able to reassemble the ratchet.This is definitely a 2 person (4 hands required) job without that tool. The ratchet works great now so mechanically I can't complain.Thankful for a wife who understands the value of rebuilding an old reliable Craftsman ratchet and was willing to do so.

This kit allowed me to rebuild my USA Craftsman ratchet very quickly and easily. The original and replacement internals will never live up to my father's and grandfather's Craftsman ratchet internals, but it's far better to rebuild mine than to replace them, in my opinion. The "tool" not included for compressing the ball bearing and spring is easily made. It is made quickly by trimming off a thin slice of sheet metal from any thin gauge scrap you have lying around and bending one end at 90 degrees.

Hard to rebuild without tool but I did it only to find out that the ball that retains the socket is frozen in position. It won't allow a socket to be attached. Contacted seller, no replacement.Don't buy from this person. DEFECTIVE PRODUCT.

Probably should have returned the item when I opened the bag and noticed that the pawl and reverse switch arm were not the same as the original. After making my own tool to hold the ball/spring in place, as suggested by almost everyone, I was unable to get the switch arm to fit the pawl. I removed the spring and ball to see if that was my issue, but even without those, the switch arm could not be inserted into the pawl through the access hole. When I compared the new to the old, not only were the holes in the pawl different (old one was a diamond-shaped recess with a sort of rounded triangular hole, new one is rectangular recess with triangular hole), but the bigger issue was that with the pawl in the housing, the access hole in the housing where you insert the switch arm didn't allow any opening for the arm. No matter how I positioned the pawl in the housing, the hole to insert the arm was blocked by the housing. When I dropped the original pawl into the housing, the hole for the arm was plainly visible. Unfortunately, as stated previously, I cannot use the old pawl with the new switch arm, since they are different shapes on the pin of the arm. BTW- the old switch arm broke which is what necessitated the repair. It appears that the kit I received was intended for a 1/4" drive with a larger hole in the housing, not the 44807 like I have. Or maybe the wrong parts were dropped in the bag? Regardless, I am going to see if I can re-engineer this to make it work.Just wanted to give my thoughts on what I received, in case someone else has this issue.Update...I am returning this kit as I could never get it to install correctly. Also, including a pic of the pawls from the kit and the original. The other noticeable difference besides the hole (mentioned in my initial post) for the reverse switch arm, is the "tooth" or cam where the pawl is moved from left to right over the ball bearing. If you look at the pic, you can see that the original point is much less pronounced that the new one. I think that is why the new pawl sits too high in the housing to let the arm fit from the back side. Also, it isn't due to wear on the old one, it is made that way. I compared it to pictures from another 43424 kit and the pawl in that kit looks identical to my original.

Nothing wrong, decent repair kit and did what it needed to do.