Vintage Craftsman Speed Ratchet

Posted by Ryan Nov 5, 2021 at 11:47 AM and filed under News & Editorial

I’ve been so busy lately that I haven’t had much time to be out in the shop. When times like this call, I often find myself yearning to work with tools… But, when that time finally comes I just sort of sit around in a daze wondering where to start and what to do.

This morning, I decided to do something… anything… and quickly started on a small maintenance job on old Porsche that needed attention. In doing so, I used my vintage Craftsman Speed Ratchet quite a bit and that got me to thinking – what’s the one vintage tool in your arsenal that gets the most use?

Not the old tool that you enjoy using or use out of novelty, but the tool that is actually practical and more convenient than anything else ya have?

For me, it is without question the Craftsman Speed Ratchet…

View thread (28 replies)

Marvin Berry

Well-known member

Nov 5, 2021

For me it's a set of battery terminal pliers. I picked up these vintage Herbrand pliers for one of our vehicles with chewed up terminal nuts, and now I use them constantly. The jaws are just the perfect shape for medium sized nuts and bolts.

SHOOTIST357

Well-known member

Nov 5, 2021

I have the same speed ratchet -- use it all the time, even though it is a highly sought and expensive collector piece.

Marvin Berry

Well-known member

Nov 5, 2021

I've been watching auctions for one, just to use!

Bears Fan

Well-known member

Nov 6, 2021

This is the first time I have ever seen one of these ratchets!

Damn! thanks Ryan, now I'm on the hunt for yet another tool

59ctd

Well-known member

Nov 6, 2021

My most used vintage tool would be my old Snap-On ratchet and 3" extension. It predates me by ~20 years but still works perfectly.

The Craftsman ratchet with the handle extension does look interesting but seems like the handle end might often get in the way. Is there a Craftsman part number on that?

Zeus36

Well-known member

Nov 6, 2021

1/4" speed wrench/handle. Snap On TMS4EK. Great for Harley's outer primary cover, inspection cover and derby cover fasteners. Good for my VMAX clutch cover too.

Glemon

Well-known member

Nov 7, 2021

That is an awesome tool, I initially thought it was photoshopped or cludged together. I could see how it would come in useful, and on an old Porsche seems fitting.

EMD710

Active member

Nov 7, 2021

Never seen that speed ratchet before. Holy moly that's cool

Tynee

Well-known member

Nov 8, 2021

I’ve got a Snap-On FV71 from the ‘70’s that is usually the first ratchet I grab for the widest array of jobs. Handy length, great grip, strong but smooth. Favorite ratchet for sure.

danski0224

Well-known member

Nov 8, 2021

My dad had one.

It, and many other things, disappeared before his death.

RTM

Well-known member

Nov 8, 2021

My old, but works better than new, tool of choice is usually a wooden skewed rabbet plane, vs the newer Stanley #78. I have several, most made in the 184-1930 timeframe I’d imagine. 1830-42 for this one.

Melvin Copeland worked with one brother Daniel in D.&M. Copeland (-1822-25) and another brother Alfred in M.&A. Copeland (1826-30) before working under his own name only. In 1842, he moved from CT to MA and some time between then and 1855 became M. Copeland & Co., apparently after being rejoined by one or both of his brothers.

But WW tools are a different beast, 95+% of mine are intended to be users.

RTM

Well-known member

Nov 8, 2021

Argh, duplicate post

Al Borland

Well-known member

Nov 8, 2021

Craftsman "Circle H" 1/2" sockets and speeder. Pre-WW2, unchromed. Found in a junkyard in a car trunk 40 years ago. They work great, and I see no reason to replace them.

IndyGarage

Well-known member

Nov 9, 2021

I have one of those speed ratchets. Sitting in a drawer somewhere - never had an idea how to use it.

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1cargarage

Well-known member

Nov 16, 2021

Ryan said:
Continue reading...

I see those Craftsman speeder ratchets every once in a while. Cool idea made possible by having the room to turn it. I know they're not twelve for 10¢, but I never gave a thought as to how collectible/desirable they are.

Snap On makes their interpretation of a "speeder" ratchet - the FRSLF80

The flex-head allows the handle to be oriented thusly

Also - and a much better design IMHO - their F80MP facilitates "speedy" turnage of a fastener via popping the handle up (along the axis of the bolt/nut) so it disengages from the spline that mates/fixes it to the ratchet head and permits spinnage via oscillating input. Think of a piston pushing and pulling a crankshaft to create rotation. Very clever and useful in tight quarters.

I still reach for old faithful most of the time. The FBF80A

Which can be used as a speedy spinner with one hand (crusty/rusty threads permitting) by turning the handle up.

The first time I used one was working at a motorcycle shop when I was ~16 and the owner had a few in his massive ratchet drawer. It quickly became the only one I ever reached for. I bought one the first time I ever got on a Snap On truck and it's still the most favoritest of the bunch (for me).

Zeus36

Well-known member

Dec 2, 2021

You can see his Craftsman Speed Ratchet in use in this video around the 8:00 mark -

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rpcraft

Well-known member

Dec 13, 2021

Zeus36 said:
1/4" speed wrench/handle. Snap On TMS4EK. Great for Harley's outer primary cover, inspection cover and derby cover fasteners. Good for my VMAX clutch cover too.

I have a couple of those that are craftsmen versions with the metal handle. One is kind of a funnel shape and the other is a nice knurled piece that is about an inch diameter all the way on the spinning part of the handle and it feels great in the hand. I have another version from Snap-on that is a speedwrench similarly but also has a folding 1/2 drive that allows you to turn it 90 degrees and use it as a breaker bar as well. I had 2 but gave one to a buddy. Not home right now but this is the best photo I could find online with a quick search.

msharley

Well-known member

Dec 14, 2021

1cargarage said:
I see those Craftsman speeder ratchets every once in a while. Cool idea made possible by having the room to turn it. I know they're not twelve for 10¢, but I never gave a thought as to how collectible/desirable they are.

Snap On makes their interpretation of a "speeder" ratchet - the FRSLF80

The flex-head allows the handle to be oriented thusly

Also - and a much better design IMHO - their F80MP facilitates "speedy" turnage of a fastener via popping the handle up (along the axis of the bolt/nut) so it disengages from the spline that mates/fixes it to the ratchet head and permits spinnage via oscillating input. Think of a piston pushing and pulling a crankshaft to create rotation. Very clever and useful in tight quarters.

I still reach for old faithful most of the time. The FBF80A

Which can be used as a speedy spinner with one hand (crusty/rusty threads permitting) by turning the handle up.

The first time I used one was working at a motorcycle shop when I was ~16 and the owner had a few in his massive ratchet drawer. It quickly became the only one I ever reached for. I bought one the first time I ever got on a Snap On truck and it's still the most favoritest of the bunch (for me).

Me too!

Had mine about 40yrs or so? Had it rebuilt at least twice....

Also have a short handle "real fine tooth" Cornwell in 3/8 drive...

Have similar in 1/4" drive.

Have a real "Long Handle" 1/2" drive Cornwell....flex head...

rpcraft

Well-known member

Dec 14, 2021

I think a lot of them have somewhat been replaced by the new battery powered ratchets but I always like to have a unique vintage tool in the box just in case.

930dreamer

Super Moderator

Staff member

Dec 14, 2021

I've never seen one of those in the wild but I want one.

kxxr

Well-known member

Dec 25, 2021

I don't know the Craftsman part number, but they are up around $200 and over these days on eBay, The only similar such took I have seen that I can recall is a Herbrand version, and they sell around $200 also, if any are listed. 10 years ago, we passed them up on eBay because they were asking $50.

genog

Well-known member

Dec 26, 2021

I love my old tools and use them BECAUSE of the novelty.
Been packing up and setting aside my "new" Snap On 1980's stuff for my boys.

So, it looks like every tool that I use lately is Vintage

I love that Speed Wrench
Gotta get me one of those

Stillgottimefor1

Well-known member

Dec 26, 2021

genog said:
I love my old tools and use them BECAUSE of the novelty.
Been packing up and setting aside my "new" Snap On 1980's stuff for my boys.

So, it looks like every tool that I use lately is Vintage

I love that Speed Wrench
Gotta get me one of those. .

The music we heard in High School is now classic rock, Hang on to your speeder, beautiful!….I sure hope it remains valuable. Something That Perfect should only increase in value, but I fear that much of the old tools we value so much will become worthless unless they are pretty and shiny. Nobody will care if some ugly old wrench has a symbol on it that means ‘Bonney’ or whatever.

Khoever

New member

Feb 8, 2022

Bought the bulk of my Craftsman tools back in the 70’s. Pretty much have all of them within reason. Anyway always eyed that
Craftsman Speeder wrench. Like to check the pawn shops, recently picked up a nice vintage 3/8” ratchet for $10. Found it in a barrel of ratchets. The point is they don’t always know what the true value is . With that being said will be on the lookout for that Speeder wrench.

Dieselclunker

Well-known member

Mar 27, 2022

Blackhawk nuggies nice design !

Toolmaker51

Well-known member

May 2, 2022

Cute little wrenches, fellas... Meanwhile, I'M a machinist; using man-sized tools.

Cause I'm also little and old. When building diesets (we're still old school), I have to flip punch holder to tighten strippers and those for the punch itself. Also have to flip the die holder for it's mounts, make sure the part hole is clear, yaddy-yaddy yah.
Well, either plate could be 2" thick, 2' wide and 16" deep; or more. You would not think of getting fingers under to stand it on edge, nor think setting it down is just lowering it.
These do the trick. The upper one is distinct with the 90° jaws, I've seen smaller, but not more than 15". The regular adjustable below is 24".
So one of the plates is on the bench top, hanging over the edge; think of these as C-clamps with a built-in lever. Put the 90° on, sticking straight up. Put the other on, hard jaw down. You can get both hands on it and just lift. A helper (sometimes) is nearby to clamp angle plates on as temporary feet. On opposite side of table, with 90° pointed toward you, or move the 24" to other side. take off one foot.
It's not hard to lay it down with such control to barely make a sound; pretty good with a 300 pound plate! Steel 2" thick is 82 lbs per square foot...

Last edited: May 2, 2022