ICON Ratchet Torture Test 3/8 Flex Head Destroyed 

I would say they nailed it for a pro tool so far so good I'm eager to the other stuff they come out with in the Icon line up some of the pits pro is ok but the Icon seems to have really stepped up to the plate of making a quality tool and reliable tool at a lower price so again I'm on the Icon hook so far. I'm not a pro mechanic I just turn wrenches on my own classic hot rod truck but I do want my tools to hold up and last but be affordabe as well. Most of my tools are Craftsman and the China stuff before Stanley bought them out. But they do still hold up so far. But ide love to expand into the Icon line if all is right. And so far ide say they are doing a great Job I like how it performed for sure

I actually was hoping for more. But not to bad I guess. atleast it can handle 200lbs.

As a H F employee,I am loving the testing that everyone is giving these tools. As we get them on our shelves,they are surely proving their value,but time will tell.

Hipsters & Hippies I’ve broken extensions with the Pittsburgh pro and it’s still working fine to this day I weigh 250 and I’ve stood on this ratchet to try to break things loose I’d expect that the icons should be better but yet that could be deviations within individual tools

I’m not as interested in break off point as I am longevity

I buy a little of everything, I’m considering one of these

I iust bought 3. Next ill get a 1/2" and a long handle 1/2"

towboatjeff You sir are totally correct. Thank you for watching and commenting ✌️

I wish half the stuff I work on i could get a 1/2" in.

@@jaybo3687 I put a cheater bar on a Mac 3/8 ratchet and broke it breaking caliper bolts loose.

@@jaybo3687 I have an impact just not access to 220 for my compressor.

I agree 100%

Inverse Universe haha exactly. That is why nothing beats HF if you live close to one.

yes do that cheap Garbage one of those ratches i need to take 400nm atlets.... kines shit

@@PBstx1100 home depot and autozone and oreilys super convinient lol

megadethGUY M yea but HF has cheap tools and if you break it they exchange it for a brand new one. I wouldn’t recommend doing any heavy work with them but for wrenching on stuff during the weekend they are the best

@@PBstx1100 those icon tools really are good. I would consider them professional grade without question. I am a mechanic professionally and have been using some of them for a while now they hold up just as good if not better then my snap_-on.

It’s the little things like the internals and knowing how it works. Those are the goodies!

So old but works so well🤣🤣

Thanks buddy!

The snap on would break also. It's only a 3/8 ratchet. Torque like that should be with a 1/2" or 3/4" drive. Lots of torque on thin anvil. Yet what do I know I'm just a HVAC hacker.

@@thehvachacker what's hvac hacker?!

Gregory Lum it’ll make a good video

Here are the fixed head 3/8” and there is 8 total ratchets in this test ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-DAGvL66fghg.html

Super Lube has been around long before harbor freight, totally irrelevant to say that snap on uses the lube. Harbor freight is reselling, they also sell wd40, and rustoleum ect..

@@stv-gq4vi I was merely stating that people can buy it there and that it's what is used by Snap-on in their ratchets.

Dirt_Road_Nation The point of using the pipe that close to the head is to take the flex joint and handle out of the equation. This test in the video is just for the ratchet failure point.

Yeah it's just for the mechanism noth the whole tool

I personally use the SuperLube oil in most of my finer tooth ratchets

Michael Cross why not, hes just gonna return it for a refund when its cooked.. he’s not losing out on anything.. amazing video and great presenter none the less. Thumbs up

That’s an interesting thought. I personally would have thought they should have done 250+ ft-lbs even thought what it hit was still respectable. However, the lockup demo recall video I did was more then enough for me. Patiently awaiting the replacements.

michael penna Fork looks decent after probably doing around 60 pulls at 200 ft-lbs. The ICON uses a similar tension ring like on the Pittsburgh pro flex head for the friction but it’s slightly larger and has a larger tension screw.

Well said!!!!!

Def put it right brother. I own the whole icon set and it def can be used as a professional mechanics set. My stepdad just retired from 40 yrs mechanic work. I showed him Icon yesterday and he was super impressed. Said “ dam this feels and works just like my snap on that I used my whole life” like he says no sense in buying all the snap on stuff if you can get this and not be broke.

OGgator Trapper Payless went bankrupt

Only americans buy snap on. You dont see snap on on latin countries

@@miguelledezma1379 I believe you.

Agreed they are all decently strong and if you use them correctly they should al last a good amount of time. The Husky black oxide looks nice, but it's such a pain as it does literally chips on everything and is annoying. Ratchets are one thing that it's okay to buy up on and use cheaper sockets as neither complain.

What is the point of failure?

The ICON is also 90 tooth, more tooth means a finer gear ratchet and less durable. SnapOn is 80 tooth.

Thats a very common, and a very incorrect misconception. Generally the more (and finer) teeth, the stronger the mechanism is. Reason being that there's a lot more contact area, and holding strength when you have many smaller teeth making contact vs a few larger teeth. There's 16 teeth on the pawl making contact with the gear, which wedges the pawl into the side of the wall. That is an extremely strong mechanism, the gear will not fail in this situation, it will always be either the anvil, or the fastener that will fail first. Its a stronger design than most of the old school 36-40 tooth ratchets, that had a pawl make contact with 2-4 teeth at a time. You also put less wear on the rest of the mechanism with fine tooth ratchets, like the springs, which have to compress less than a 36 or 40 tooth design, to jump to the next tooth. Yes you can definitely design a fine tooth ratchet, that has a bad design, and some obvious failure points, but that's not the case here. Especially since they updated the design. Only real problem with fine tooth ratchets is they need to stay sealed properly, cause if any crap gets inside the mechanism, or if you pack in too much heavy grease, it'll start messing with the mechanism, and will either start skipping teeth, not locking up, or exhibiting other funky behavior.

Kinda says a lot that it didn't.

some of the reason for the flex joint's survival may have been that he had the cheater bar all the way up over it. I'm guessing that helped support the flex joint. It would be interesting to see the flex joint tested by moving the cheater bar back down the handle a bit.

It didn’t come greased. However, it was fully lubricated when tested and when showing the internals you should be able to see the shine of the premium, synthetic oil with suspended Syncolon (PTFE) particles

It's kind of a stress reliever and a little fun, what can I say I'm pretty well vested in being able to destroy ratchets at this point👍

As long as they have it in stock they will swap it out, easy pessy.

Thanks buddy! Appreciate you watching commenting and subscribing👉🏻🛠👍🏻

Reymon Nolan a 3/8 will not go above 250 That’s BS lmao Try breaking torque on a triple square wheel hub bolt with a 3/8 ain’t gonna happen

@@osvaldo8393 lmao, you don't have to believe it for it to be true. Look up budget tool's channel. He did the exact same test shown here with 3/8 snap on and gearwrench. Using the same snap on digital tourqe meter.

@RCMOTO seriously, it can

maximagmhondafan88 probably only socket applications , Because trying to do that with a bit like a triple square It doesn’t work I’ve used 3/8ths and 1/2 brand name ones and they all wanted to snap on the pin The only breaker bar that did the job was 3/4 drive

@@osvaldo8393 don't go look at the new Client Graphics video. We don't want you to end up in intensive care due to a blown mind lol.

I'm betting you're single.

@@michaelcox3052 what does that have to do with anything?

Done, video was put out on my channel here ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-LOJDpldW-LY.html Enjoy!

Hey which store had the icon. Chula Vista won't have them until next week

Hand tools yes

Yes. Most if not all of the Pittsburgh pro stuff has a lifetime warranty as well. Ive had no issues swapping broken tools at harbor freight. Always in and out in 5 minutes no questions asked.

TMo The bar has been set high, guess what else was tested? Maybe an Icon 1/2” torque wrench and another one that’s like 15yrs old from HF. Maybe do a video one day.

That was the point

Thank you for pointing that out! That break is actually what you would expect with an angled sheer point back to the area with the ball detent having the material removed. There was no bend, twist or flex in the head or parts. Also means I applied a good even constant force to failure 👍🏼

Stuff is in the works for some other comparisons, but we'll see what happens. Not enough time for everything and life at the moment.

Yes please, do a comparison when you get a chance.

Darrian Robinson Thank you for understanding the right tool for the job! Someone once had to tell me that the long handle is for accessibility not torque🤫

@@ClientGraphics that's what makes this video unique if ppl are paying close attention what you are displaying is showing something other than what the words are being spoken the visual Demonstration is going more into depth than what's being displayed verbally...Real mechanically inclined individuals know that and can see it Great video

Exchange the whole ratchet?

Sure, but what if you were buying new today? Icon is getting rave reviews.

Mr. Berry your comment is spoken with what I feel is real life and work experience behind it and is exactly an example of working smarter instead of harder. It also happens to be safer to grab an impact tool assuming space and access is not an issue. I appreciate you commenting👍🏻

My grandfather thinks the same way as you do (I'm not trying to call you old it's just that grew up with him raising me) and he has told me that if we could afford tools like the Milwaukee battery powered ratchets or their battery powered impact that it would be so much easier to work on our trucks which does motivate me to save up and hopefully one day buy these fancy tools

@@Dunki113 Lol I'm getting old. Been wrenching for 18 years now. Yea Milwaukee and also look at Dewalt impact drivers. I have owned several dewalt impact drivers and never had a problem. My last one lasted 5 years before it finally gave out.

@@danielberry1133 DeWalt has been an option for me but I'm leaning towards Milwaukee because they have a 1/2, 3/4, and 1 inch drive while DeWalt only has the 1/2 inch as the biggest impact, I could be wrong because it has been awhile since I last checked but I'm not gonna stress over which to choose until the day I get the money to afford either one

Another take to consider, if you're a gal, power tools, long wrenches, torque multipliers make ALL the difference. Several years ago had to deal with the flywheel nut on a Mazda Rotary. The nut is 54mm hex with a torque spec of 385ft/lb. This was when that rotary being taken apart was new. Add decades of corrosion, heat cycling and more it will take a LOT more than 385ft/lb of "Nut Busting Torque" to get that nut off the eccentric shaft end. Solution for this gal, 3/4" drive impact wrench with 1600 ft/lb of torque and a BIG air compressor, 1/2 air hose and proper impact socket. This zips that nut off in seconds. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-kmTmI0_9s-I.html Torque that nut to 385 ft/lb using a torque multiplier and a fixture designed and built specifically for this need. Applied torque is 64ft/lb using a 1/2" drive flat bean torque wrench. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-twfutkuf7ho.html ~Much about working "smart" with the proper tools. This discounts and completely mutes the perceived need for the "strongest" hand tool or "best" hand tool available to get the job-work done.... and directly due to the lower stress, high quality hand tools are going to last a very long time with excellent reliability for decades. So much for the need of "lifetime warranty"~ There are SO many videos on RU-vid of dudes expressing their "manhood" by trying to hand wrench that nut off going no where. There are similar RU-vid videos of dudes wrestling with axle nuts, cranks nuts and similar. In contrast, there are youtube videos of industrial folks using torque multipliers, hydraulic nut-bolt tensioners that easily achieve tens of thousands of ft/lb with ease. All a matter of using the proper tool for what is needed. This also folds into why auto wrenchers paper to be allergic to anything over 1/2" square drive or any wrenching implement with BIG tubulars handles or BIG impact tools or torque multipliers that are extremely common in the world of BIG industrial machinery. ~Why is this?~ Having the proper tool for the job to be done is FAR more valuable than any beauty queen-wrenches status symbol hand tool.

Anytime james U 👍

It's a personal preference and I do like quick release as well. ICON sockets on the ratchet are a pretty snug fit. Felt comparable to other tight fitting brands and the 8 or 10mm can be a struggle, but it won't accidentally come off.

Do you think that necessary if he used a torque gauge? Every tool from the same manufacturer will also have a slight variance in strength too. I see this video as demonstrating this ratchet is more than capable if used properly used.

@@N3RF4LIF3 what he's saying os yes we know how much THIS ratchet can handle. But is it comparable or stronger than other brand ratchets? All test should have some type of control to compare off of. That being said still a great video though.

@@scinto23 lucky for us he just posted one with the Pitts Pro. I personally dont think he makes enough to justify purchasing 500 bucks in ratchets just to break😅.

@@N3RF4LIF3 didn't know he did another video. Disregard my comment lol

They are currently on recall. No one knows quite when they will be back in-stock.