Choosing yours
More than any different tool, a ratchet will last you a lifetime. Quality ratchets could be serviced inexpensively and so should never degrade. Sockets are interchangeable because they’re all standard. Buy the finest ratchet you can afford, even if you buy inexpensive sockets to start with.
Socket release
Sockets are held onto the ratchet using a small spring-loaded ball privately of the square travel. After applying a lot of power, I’ve sometimes found sockets get trapped on the drive and the only way to get them off is to hammer the ratchet on to the floor or even grasp it in a vice. Top quality ratchets include a button on the back which smoothly pushes off the socket if you are ready to release it.
1/4 inches – Used for smaller sockets and 
precision work. Beneficial for dismantling individual components on the bench.
3/8 inch – The middle sized, and for me, most useful size for general use on a car. A 3/8″ travel can drive sockets of all sizes. It is big enough to use quite a lot of force, but certainly not too big to match into tight spaces
1/2 in . – 1/2″ sockets are usually utilized for nuts and bolts from around 10mm and up. A 1/2″ drive socket can apply enough power to undo all nuts on a car.
There are also 3/4″ and 1″ ratchets but these are used on trucks, tanks and commercial machinery.
Tooth count
Inside a ratchet there exists a toothed wheel which enables it Ratchets Wheel freely rotate as you tighten the nut. Each simply click you hear is normally a tooth moving the ratchet. The more the teeth there are, the a lesser amount of movement is needed on the go back stroke. A ratchet with 75 teeth will continue to work considerably faster when compared to a 32-tooth ratchet. Making great tooth-counts requires quality engineering and manufacturing, so as an over-all guide the better top quality tools will have a higher tooth count.
Drive sizes
socket-drive-sizes
All ratchets accept sockets using a square drive and mostly there are three sizes of drive. All around the world these sizes receive in inches – even though the sockets happen to be metric.