[Bruce Lancaster]

When I bought the toys described above at Sears, I actually bought one straight and one cranked box ratchet to give me some options. I think anything single-piece is going to be somewhat clumsy and inconvenient.
For the babbitt adjustment in the original question, though, I would say remove the plugs, leave it in neutral with proper precautions, and he can likely turn it adequately from down below by hand. No need for extra tools or crawling back upstairs to manipulate them...