Boss walked by and said "holy ****, didn't know they made them that big!"
And of course I replied with a "that's what she said"
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Come along on two pipe wrenches
- Thread starter NH575E
- Start date
Boss walked by and said "holy ****, didn't know they made them that big!"
And of course I replied with a "that's what she said"
BC Placer gold
Senior Member
My dad worked the oil rigs for many years. Spent a lot of time in the 1980’s on Loffland Brothers 93. A real nice diesel/ electric triple, capable of really deep holes. I was a teenager when he toured us & I still remember the rather impressive pipe wrench ‘display’….some real ‘big boys’. Ridgid of course lol!
Later on during my university years he got me the odd job and I learned (rather poorly) to break connections using the tongs; that is a really impressive ‘giant pipe wrench’ lol! Takes good teamwork & timing to do right….
Later on during my university years he got me the odd job and I learned (rather poorly) to break connections using the tongs; that is a really impressive ‘giant pipe wrench’ lol! Takes good teamwork & timing to do right….
Welder Dave
Senior Member
I think it was at an auction I saw a Ridged 60" but the handle was cut off with a torch so a 2" pipe fit snuggly on the stub. A couple things crossed my mind. The wrenches are made of some kind of cast steel and who would cut the handle off a 60" Ridged pipe wrench?
cfherrman
Senior Member
It was probably broken off
Birken Vogt
Charter Member
I once used two fork lifts on two pipe wrenches to unscrew a fitting from a propane tank that had been on since the 40s. One fork lift as the anchor and the other one travelling on the ground to turn the wrench. Nothing broke, pipe came undone.
cfherrman
Senior Member
Regular pipe wrenches bend, when you use incorrect cheaters or just put way too much load on them or put side load on them, and I've bent them back several times with a press. I imagine the body of a pipe wrench actually breaks it's from being bent back and work hard and made it brittle. I've seen a few broken pipe wrenches around 48-in size that people weld a cheater pipes on to them to fix them but those things are never safe anymore
Mehhhh "safe". If you squint, it's mint!
OzDozer
Senior Member
Under extreme loads, good alloy tool steel will bend, but cheap-a*** Chinese steel that is just carbon steel, will snap.
Seen more than one guy go a***-up on the ground, when a Chinese tool snapped or fractured under heavy pressure!
Seen more than one guy go a***-up on the ground, when a Chinese tool snapped or fractured under heavy pressure!
Welder Dave
Senior Member
Ridged are warranteed against bending but it would be obvious a snipe was used. I don't think you could break one. The one that was cut off was more likely because it bent rather than it broke. The hook jaw might break though. I had an old National pipe wrench snap the handle off because it was some kind of cast iron. I beveled it and welded it with 7018 and it seems fine. It's only a 14" so I won't use a snipe on it. It broke because I didn't have a bigger pipe wrench and I pushed on it with the loader on the tractor. I welded a piece of channel iron on a steel saw horse and then welded a 3" pipe to the channel hoping to get a 3" pipe fitting off. Nope it was rusted as tight as if it were welded.
Birken Vogt
Charter Member
I'm sure we all know this, but when whatever was tight comes loose, it can have the same effect as having the tool break, everything falls to the ground including you. So wrench with that in mind.
Also never smile or grimace when pulling/pushing hard, lips can heal, teeth don't.
cfherrman
Senior Member
I had a hook snap and fly off on a 36" and clip a shoulder of a guy. It just brushed him.
It was breaking a collar of a joint with hydraulic power tongs with the 36 backed up to the tongs. I make sure to use a non a used wrench and people are clear of the danger zone.
It was breaking a collar of a joint with hydraulic power tongs with the 36 backed up to the tongs. I make sure to use a non a used wrench and people are clear of the danger zone.
I have told this story before i was trying to unscrew some part of a cylinder. The shop had a BIG vice mounted to a loader rim. I was using a 966 and 955 with a big pipe wrench . One was push down or holding the vice the other was pushing down on the pipe wrench not very smart but it worked. That vice is about the only thing i would have like to have from that shop.
HarleyHappy
Senior Member
We all do what we have to do in order to get a job done.
Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t.
It’s the ones that don’t learn from their mistakes that keep doing the really dumb stuff.
Ones profitabile ones lucky or not.
Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t.
It’s the ones that don’t learn from their mistakes that keep doing the really dumb stuff.
Ones profitabile ones lucky or not.
NH575E
Senior Member
One of my scariest tool mishaps dates back to my early twenties.
I had a business partner and we worked out of a Texaco station repairing Volvos mainly. We were removing a brake drum from the rear of a 122 Volvo. They fit on a tapered, keyed shaft. We had a massive puller that bolted onto 3 of the lug studs and has a large threaded shaft that would tighten against the axle shaft. We would tighten pressure on the axle then hit the head of the puller shaft with a hammer and eventually the drum would POP! off. this drum was being particularly ornery and I had tightened down on the puller using a half inch pull handle with the floor jack handle on it. I reared back and hit the puller head with a 5 lb sledge and the drum finally let go. It flew straight across the empty bay beside us and stuck into the wall. We're talking about 40 lbs worth of brake drum and puller flying straight for at least 15 feet with no drop and sticking into a sheetrock wall. Greg was standing in front of the axle with me to the rear. We both just looked at each other in shock but glad neither of us were in front of it when it let go. That was the last time we ever pulled one of those drums without having the axle nut loosely threaded back on the axle.
I still have that puller, pull handle, and hammer. I can't count the number of times I have used it and adapted it for other uses.
I recently bent the handle on that pull handle trying to get one of the lug nuts off my truck. I ended up having to order a 3/4' drive socket to fit the lug so I could get them off with my 1" impact. That's another story.
I had a business partner and we worked out of a Texaco station repairing Volvos mainly. We were removing a brake drum from the rear of a 122 Volvo. They fit on a tapered, keyed shaft. We had a massive puller that bolted onto 3 of the lug studs and has a large threaded shaft that would tighten against the axle shaft. We would tighten pressure on the axle then hit the head of the puller shaft with a hammer and eventually the drum would POP! off. this drum was being particularly ornery and I had tightened down on the puller using a half inch pull handle with the floor jack handle on it. I reared back and hit the puller head with a 5 lb sledge and the drum finally let go. It flew straight across the empty bay beside us and stuck into the wall. We're talking about 40 lbs worth of brake drum and puller flying straight for at least 15 feet with no drop and sticking into a sheetrock wall. Greg was standing in front of the axle with me to the rear. We both just looked at each other in shock but glad neither of us were in front of it when it let go. That was the last time we ever pulled one of those drums without having the axle nut loosely threaded back on the axle.
I still have that puller, pull handle, and hammer. I can't count the number of times I have used it and adapted it for other uses.
I recently bent the handle on that pull handle trying to get one of the lug nuts off my truck. I ended up having to order a 3/4' drive socket to fit the lug so I could get them off with my 1" impact. That's another story.
HarleyHappy
Senior Member
I had this brilliant idea about 40 years ago.
I was too cheap to buy an angle grinder so had this genius idea to weld a bolt in a socket so I could use an impact gun to grind with.
Whelp worked great till I let off the trigger and lift it off the work. Went all the way across the garage, about 30 feet.
Socket, bolt and grinding wheel are still in the wall.
Dad painted right around it after trying to pry it out of a stud it’s buried in.
I was too cheap to buy an angle grinder so had this genius idea to weld a bolt in a socket so I could use an impact gun to grind with.
Whelp worked great till I let off the trigger and lift it off the work. Went all the way across the garage, about 30 feet.
Socket, bolt and grinding wheel are still in the wall.
Dad painted right around it after trying to pry it out of a stud it’s buried in.
cfherrman
Senior Member
Haha, I use a worn out death wheel on a drill for small jobs away from the shop