Tool Time

Tool Time

Here’s a common occurrence: You’re able to get a socket on the head of a nut or bolt in a really tight spot, but there’s not enough room to use a typical ratchet.

A short-handled ratchet might fit in the space, but the area still is too tight to permit the 8 or 10 degrees of handle swing that most ratchets require between engagements of their gear teeth. But that’s not the case if the short-handled ratchet is one of the Mini Roller Drive models from Griot’s Garage (800/345-5789; www.ariotsaaraae.com). The 3/8-inch-drive Mini ($27) is only 4 inches long, and the 1A-inch model ($23) measures a mere 3 inches. And because the ratcheting mechanism on both Minis employs a roller-drive system rather than gear teeth, they only require 1 degree of handle swing before hooking up again.

What this means is that virtually any “backward” movement of the handle, no matter how tiny, allows the mechanism to reengage when you move the handle the other way. As I found when using both of these ratchets, you can literally just wiggle the handle back-and-forth in a tight spot and the nut or bolt will turn; there is no slack in the mechanism, so there is no wasted movement. And for greater simplicity, the Minis do not have any mechanical reversing provisions; to reverse the direction of rotation, you just push the square-drive stud through to the other side of the ratchet’s body and attach the socket there.

These Minis have proven invaluable in my home garage. Their compactness also makes them great additions to any on-the-road toolkit.

Paul Dean