Does anybody know of any good quality Socket wrenches without the flippy-bar direction thing

Factual Questions
1

I hate the flippy bar so much.

example here:

Every time I try to work in close spaces the stupid bar gets caught by a sticking-out hose and triggered to Neutral so I have to try to cram my other hand into the tight space to try to keep the lever in the right place.

I much prefer a more deliberate engagement like this…

…That can’t be caught and disengaged by a hose or wire hanging in the way.
I have been using ones like that for years, but as expected a wrench in a $12 dollar set just doesn’t last( the gears strip under load) so I have to replace. And I can’t find anything in a 1/2 inch drive like that at all.

Does anybody know of some like that that will last? It doesn’t have to be the Three-lobed wheel design, but something other than a flippy bar that can get accidentally disengaged?

2

Antique tool auctions? The first ratchet wrenches only worked one way, but had drives on both sides. To reverse them, you turned the ratchet handle over and attached the socket or extension bar to the other side. There’s one scene in the movie IMPACT (1949) where Brian Donlevy uses one of these ratchet wrenches.

Or - Buy two wrenches and (epoxy) lock the reversing levers in place - one wrench for assembly, one for disassembly.

3

Search for “round head ratchet.” Snap On, Gearwrench, Husky, Craftsman, Stanley and a bunch of brands I’ve never heard of sell them.

4

I buy tools at garage/estate sales (more accurately, my Dad buys them and asks me if I need them). Lots of Craftsman tools out there.

5

Not a socket type wrench. But ratchets.

A set of good ones usually costs a lot more than a similar quality socket set.

6

If you can find SK ratchets, I believe they all have the ‘dial’ you turn back and forth instead of a the flippy bar.
ETA, like this.

7

I have SK ratchets and they are great. I’m willing them to someone :slight_smile:

8

Wow, I didn’t know Craftsman quit making these. These are the type I have. I guess I’d better take special care of them. I think they’d be what you are looking for, plus, compared to at least their contemporary Craftsman “flippy bar” ones, they have finer ratcheting action. Easier to use in small spaces.

9

About a year ago I got a rebuild kit for one of them, free under warranty, for a ratchet that’s 50ish years old. No questions asked. I sent them an email and it showed up in the mail a few days later.

10

They still make round head ratchets, they’re just a slightly different style https://www.searshometownstores.com/product/Craftsman-43175-38-in-Drive-Full-Polish-Fine-Tooth-Roundhead-Ratchet

11

My 20+ year old Stanley socket set has a dial selector, but it’s 3/8" drive. A ratcheting combination wrench might work, but if you’re stripping the gears on the socket wrench you’ll probably do the same on the combo. Maybe use a breaker bar to loosen first.

12

Thank you. And thanks to everybody else. The “Roundhead Ratchet” was the key term. I had never heard the term before and for whatever reason when you do a search for Socket Ratchet on Amazon, only cheapy roundheads come up in the first 6 pages or so.

Now that I know the term, and am spoiled for choice, I am going to do some measuring to see If hopefully I can find a good brand that will fit in the slots that my socket set case case has for the flippy bar(“Pearhead ratchets” I have also found out thanks to this thread) .