Hey guys,

Can anyone provide me a quick rundown on how to disassemble an air ratchet? Specifically a Snap-On FAR72B.

I bought it used and I want to replace the muffler (S) as its bent to crap, that and perhaps re-grease the internal gears? I bought the tool used so I want to maintain what is left of it.

Btw, I got it for $20usd



She looked like this when new.....



Now it looks like this... but with a dent on the exhaust and some rust on the big locking nut

I took my cheap one apart by just unscrewing the thing in half. Once you do that it is pretty easy to see what is what.

How did you end up supporting the ratchet while turning the locking nut? Did you remove the ratcheting head section first or the lower body section?

The proper way to lubricate those things is with a few drops of Marvel Air Tool oil in the air hose then run it for a couple of seconds. FWIW, buying one of those things used is a cr@# shoot IMHO. They see a lot of very heavy use and generally wear out pretty quick if used day in, day out. I went through about five or six of those in the time I was making a living as a mechanic...yes some were Snap-On.

Vince

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If it works, I would leave it alone.

Taking it apart and cleaning it is probably a good idea since oiling will not remove much of the built up crude but beware that air tools have a lot of tiny parts such as balls, springs, pins etc, that tend to pop out unexpectedly. When this happens, and it will, these small parts tend to run off and hide in places where they will never be found, either that or they are quickly eaten by the gremlins that live in everyone's garage! The point is that some of these parts are spring loaded and others simply fall out when the housing is opened so it is extremely easy to lose parts. Be sure and look out for this and try to disassemble it in an uncluttered area where tiny parts can easily be found, just ask me how I learned this!

Lol, line inside a cardboard box. Make sure you make a note of how the vanes are installed and reassemble them the way they came apart or you may loose the seal and in turn power. there kinda like rings on a piston, they develop a wear pattern and putting them back in the wrong way does the same thing basically as putting new round cylinder rings in worn oval shaped cylinders.

lol @ oldred.. I guess I should clean up my workbench prior to taking it apart.

How did you guys end up taking it apart though? Did you put the lower section in a vise and take a big wrench to the middle nut? or somehow remove the head section first?

So I removed the ratchet head mechanism as I take it this is where the most wear and tear occurs.

Everything looks fine except for the Ratchet Head (Label "N" on above image). The teeth dont seem to be broken however a few are "eaten" for lack of a better word. Since pictures are worth a thousand words take a look at the following and let me know if its a wise idea to replace the ratchet head.

Part: Ratchet Head
P/N: FAR72B-8B
Cost: $20.00

Nice pics man!
Seems like the planetary gears would still work fine with that wear. but I guess they would work even better with a new head.

I just found disassemble instructions! Its a bit of a tough read as it looks like this was cached awhile ago

http://74.125.95.132/search?q=cache...1&hl=en&ct=clnk

Here are my tips on taking it apart.

1. Take it apart inside at the kithen table this way if you drop a part it may be easier to find.

2. Take it apart inside an old cake pan this will catch small loose parts.

3. Keep a strong magnet handy to hold small parts.

4. During disasembly and reassembly keep the schmatic that you posted handy it can be a big help if the mystery part wont come out.

I have one of those magnetic pans from Harbor Freight and that thing is handy as an extra $10 dollar bill! You can drop small metal (steel anyway) parts along with small screws and such into this thing when disassembling something and they will stay right there even if you manage to tip it over. I have also found it to be very helpful when something has to be oriented in a certain way for reassembly or it has to go back in the same orders as disassembled, the parts can be oriented like they came out or arranged in the order they came out and they will stay that way in the pan.

I've had one of those trays for a few years.. got it on sale at my local Canadian Tire (Cdn version of Sears) for $5cdn (about $3usd)

Anyways, over this weekend I ended up sandblasting and painting black the ratchet head mechanism, Clamp nut and air inlet nut. I also sandblasted the handle and polished it on my buffing wheel. I'll post pics when im done It should somewhat look good as new.

On a side note, I was at my local Princess Auto (Harbour Freight equiv) and I was told to do the following after putting my ratchet together (as its re-greased, ect). Is the following true or do they not know what they are talking about?

"All Air Tools are packed in grease to prevent corrosion of internal parts during shipping and storage. We recommend cleaning away grease to obtain optimum performance from your new air tool. SprayWD-40 or similar chemical into air inlet and run tool under no load until exhaust appears clear."

I have never herd of grease being put into air tools and I have seen a few snap-on air tools made on how its made. I have also herd that puting WD-40 in air tools will ruin them