I snuck by the Harbor Freight just to see what they were still flogging on the last best day of their sidewalk sale and found a useful item I'd not seen before (which is pretty rare, since I probably know their stock at least as well as some of the clerks). At $13.99 (or just about 11 bucks with a
20% Off coupon), it might also be a buy for you other Bulleteers:
It's what they call a
"1/4 in. x 3/8 in. Dual Drive Extendable Ratchet". It extends and locks with a satisfying click at four lengths from 9-1/2 in. to 13-1/2 in., which makes it like a collapsible breaker bar--just the thing for giving an easy heave-ho to those beefy 24mm and 30mm rear wheel castle and stub axle nuts. It
might squeeze into my 2005 Military's side toolbox--diagonally and with copious slatherings of Vaseline--but I kinda doubt it. Still, I expect it may find a spot along with a few select sockets and an extension or two in one of my panniers on any really long trips as my regular ratchet that can also handily attend to chain tensioning or wheel removal. As you'd expect, it's pretty hefty at just shy of a pound (that's about half a kilo or 1/24th of a
sihr or seer for any elderly Chennai or rather "Madras" residents tuning in), but it'll stow a hell of a lot handier than a full-on
breaker bar, still get that wheel job done, and with useful dual-size 1/4" and 3/8" drive ratchets to boot. It seems to be made well enough, though I'd have preferred a metal instead of a plastic drive direction switch (helpfully, if rather oddly, labeled "On" and "Off" for clockwise and counter-clockwise). Still, I don't plan on using it as a hammer...though I might just keep it handy near my sleeping bag in dicey campsites to bash the brains right out of any intruders, furry or otherwise. Besides, it does have a lifetime warranty. So, interlopers beware
!Anyhow, just thought I'd toss this big Honduro out there for your consideration...