Ever worked on something only to discover that you don’t have the access required to swing a wrench or a ratchet?
There are multiple tools, some old, some new, that were invented to offset the point of movement.
Reechet – A tool from the 1950’s that was invented and sold by CD Marshall. It came in three different sizes the Reechet R250G (1/4 drive), R375 (3/8 drive) and the R500 (1/2 drive).
It was a non-ratcheting ratchet, where the head spun relative to the handle spinning. The end of the handle then had a drive attachment at the end of it to which another ratchet could be attached. This allowed for the reechet to stay perfectly still while the head of it spun as the user spun the handle with another ratchet at the handle.
Reechet’s are no longer produced, but can be found from time to time on ebay, craiglist and local antique tool shows.
The closest modern equivalent is the Proxxon NO 23 083 (3/8 drive) and NO 23 082 (1/4 drive). There are many ratcheting ratchets, but this is the only one I know of with a drive attachment in the handle.
In low torque applications this modern equivalent functions well due to a similar drive attachment at the handle. Beware however, for high torque applications, a fixed drive like a reechet will win every time over a ratcheting ratchet.
The other style are extension wrenches, they work by way of a chain driving two sprockets. At one end the extender holds a socket and on the other a ratchet turns the other gear and thus chain and in turn the socket without the extender moving. The main difference with this style is that the offset of the ratchet attached to the extender is in line instead of perpendicular as seen with the Reechet and Proxxon.
Tite reach –
Merry Tool Extender Drive, 3/8 dr. PN YL1A and 1/2 dr. PN YL2 –
I have all 3 versions and have saved me time and grief for many years in aviation and have paid for them selves many times over
Old friend who worked on Volkswagen like I did gave me and my friend one to take out the plugs and it is a fantastic tool. Wish I could find a new one at a decent price also friend said he lost his in his divorce and sure would like to have one again
They come up from time to time on Ebay; tell your friend to keep an eye there.
When using a Reechet with a torque wrench, what is the mechanical advantage ratio for the Reechet? From the photo it appears the shaft gear has roughly half the number of teeth as the male square drive gear, implying that one would set a torque wrench for half the desired torque, but it’s difficult to see. Would that be correct?