Williams 1/2" Drive Round Head Ratchet, Double Pawl Design, 72-Teeth for 5-Degree Performance Chrome High Polish Finish, 15 Inch Long Handle

I bought this ratchet as an upgrade from my 35 year old Craftsman. I wanted a longer ratchet to make things easier, as I'm not as young as I used to be. I decided on the Williams tool for the price and the reputation. This thing is surprisingly light weight, the knurling feels great, and the mechanism is as smooth as the high end tool truck brands.The head is fairly compact as well. It quickly became my go-to ratchet. It's in my hand a fair portion of the day, and as anyone who services farm machinery knows, this is demanding work. The ratchet hasn't missed a beat. Very pleased with my purchase.

I'm a union ironworker, I work hard and expect the same from my tools. This wrench fits that bill to the T. Get your own and stop eyeing mine it's worth every American red cent and then some.

Williams one of the few mfg that is not ashamed to finish off forged tooling. Not sure new design good as old but completes my set. 90 % finish but tbd sturdyness.

Good long handled smooth ratchet... great price for a high quality ratchet from Williams

excellent!

I don't notice excessive drag, but what i do notice is the lack of slop in the ratchet mechanism. When you ratchet back one tooth, it will grab instantly. Not all fine tooths are equal. A worthy tool when your doing hand work!

Compared to the old Williams ratchets these aren't much. I've broke the selector on several and now know if i need to loosen something that's really tight to get my old S-53 out. Look around and buy a used S-52 or S-53, you'll be much happier. Stay away from any with the A designation.

I own many Williams tools and as long as you get the USA made ones you will virtually always have amazing quality. This ratchet is a total disappointment though. Yes it is extremely strong and you will NOT break it. But the 5 degrees necessary to engage next tooth does no good when there is so much drag on the gears that your nut or bolt just turns instead of the ratchet engaging next tooth. You are much better off buying the Bahco ratchet that has the funny handle as it comes with the Dual 80 Snap On gears and is about the same price as this. That is truly a fine ratchet while this one is only strong. I disliked it so much I gave mine away. Even my Craftsman professional puts this one to shame.

Overall this is a pretty nice ratchet. It is fairly smooth, not quite a snap on dual 80 smooth but definitely acceptable. (It also hasn't been broken in yet!) There is very little anvil play and the ball detent holds sockets on pretty tight. It is very unique looking and sounds great. Very positive ratchet action. The direction switch can be switched without having to hold the socket, whereas with alot of other round head ratchets you do.A couple things I will say though is the finish between the I beam area near the head is not perfectly smoothed out. Also the knurling on the handle, while it is nice and uniform, I feel could be a little deeper/more aggressive. And lastly it is not a dual pawl mechanism as the ad suggests, it is a big single pawl. So the ad is kind of misleading. Those 3 things are why I give 4 stars