On the Craftsman cut a piece of thin metal like a tin can top into a roughly 3/16" wide X 2" long strip. Bend a 90 on each end about 3/8" long in upposite directions. Kind of like a flat Z. One end hooks over the ball and the other end you can pull down to compress the ball and spring. Drop your directrional pawl in, hold it down and pull out the homemade assembly tool. Works like a charm.
I think it would be so funny,not just you but anyone yell,scream,and cuss and say forget it and just toss it all into the trash. I finally got these things figured out put a little grease on spring to at least hold that then a thin piece of soda can that will hold ball down plus thin enough so the selector switch piece will go over it,and the ball.
what is the purpose of the ball & spring on my 1/4" drive vf-44807 craftsman ratchet I disassembled to clean and see if anything was broke because it was skipping when using after cleaning and re assemble of ratchet it wouldn't move at all or selector lever hard to turn I removed the snap ring and everything seemed to work but the ball bearing came out so I put it back together without the ball bearing and seems to work ok? maybe it needs new parts I'm not sure. it seems like the rebuild kits are pretty expensive on Amazon / Ebay. is the ball supposed to keep the shift lever from moving when ratchet is in use? thanks for your time!
The ball bearing rides on the cam, the lever switch is connected to the cam, you need the ball bearing in there to operate properly, if you want I can make a video and publish it Sunday, I can take one apart and put it back together for you, let me know!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Grease on the tip of a scribe to place the ball. Hold the ball recessed with a small blade screwdriver from the back(selector hole side). Slide the pawl in place to secure the ball as the screwdriver is pushed clear. Push pawl down just enough to drop selector in place. As above work over a cloth.
