I was watching one of my favorite car shows "Full Custom Garage" when Ian grabbed an adjustable wrench to tighten a large nut! I realized that I had seen that on numerous car build shows including some "high end" shops. I, personally never use adjustable wrenches, and go out of the way to get the proper wrench for the job. If I ran a shop, I would be upset if one of my employees used a "knuckle buster" on a customer's car. You could damage the nut or bolt, or at the very least, mar it. Would some of you use adjustable wrenches?
they work well for making little bends in sheet metal I use one on plumbing stuff, the house. But not on cars.
There is nothing wrong with the proper use of an adjustable wrench. As an adult, I have never damaged a fastener or my body with a crescent wrench. I use my 18 incher to remove the fork caps from my bike. As a kid, my dad had a smattering of tools, a bunch of Ford wrenches that fit nothing, chipped and bent screwdrivers, etc. I quickly learned that a pipe wrench was effective though not an ideal tool for working on my bicycle
On the other hand, I do use "vice grips" fairly often (for stuck nuts and bolts etc.) Talk about your "manglers", but I don't plan on reusing those fasteners. And I must admit that I probably have 6 different sizes of adjustable wrenches. Never bought any, inherited a few from various sources...
Adjustable wrenches are always my last choice. Good for emergency tool kits and oddball sizes. A lot of guys don't realize they are directional.
Whenever I use a pair of nuts to temporarily lock a certain position or length on a threaded piece, one or both of the wrenches I use to tighten or loosen usually are an adjustable. Happens with the drill press stop, too. Also, there are times when I have to remove a mystery size nut and I'll grab an ajustable from the toolbox instead of a bouquet of fixed sizes. But on a car or something requiring higher torque? Never! Edit to add: All of my adjustables are possessed by demons. If I ever can only make a partial turn and pull them off to advance a flat or two on the hex, they randomly change to a smaller or larger size.
My friends in Germany call adjustable wrenches "Englishers" for use when their metric tools don't fit.
Every time I see a farmer with an adjustable on his belt, I figure his farm is covered with fasteners with no corners left on them. Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
On a very well known TV house remodeling series the Master Plumbers use channel locks on any hex; took me a while to get over that..
I don’t own an end wrench or a socket over 1 /18” , but I do own a couple of large “Crescent” wrenches. Sent from my iPhone using H.A.M.B.
I still have one on my beater bicycle hanging by a Ty-rap. It's come in handy many times when my wife or daughters need their seat or handlebars adjusted a little. Don't leave home without it. Adjustable wrenches have their place in my shop. If you feel like its gonna round off a fastener, you're using it for the wrong application. I like to take my tiny Crescent wrench out when working on ignition stuff or wiring. It seems like I never pick the right combination wrench; 3/8 - 11/32 - 5/16 - 1/4, I always have the wrong damned one and have to climb out and fetch another. And wrangling a handful of tiny wrenches while cramming myself under the dash...errrr.
Hello, Crescent wrenches come in all sizes. In our desert traveling tool box, it had limited space,so two spare spark plugs, the plug tool, a small crescent and a candy bar. We carried our own canteens on our belts. Those items were good for the 100+ mile races in the Mojave. For any lost or emergency sightings, we wore our Wynn's Friction Proofing, red and yellow jackets. Everything had its own place and they had specific roles to play. The Crescent Wrench worked for most fittings. Besides, who carries a complete set of Whitworth Tools for a Greeves 250cc Motorcycle? We bought an extra tool tube from the Greeves Company and used it on our hot rods for emergencies. At the time, no one carried spare tools in the trunks of cars. But, the ingredients in the motorcycle tool tube gave us ideas for our 65 El Camino and 40 Sedan Deliveries. One had little space for extras and one had too much spare space... But, the small Greeves tool tube carried what each car could use the most. A crescent wrench was the number 1 useful tool. Jnaki I still have the small crescent wrench from a long time ago. For the smaller hands, the crescent is useful around the house for most people. Little girls/women learned to use the small tool to fix everything from tricycles, wagons to bicycles. The "adjustable idea" is very handy for all uses, hot rod, motorcycles to tricycles.
^^^ This is exactly right. There is a time and a place for almost everything. I've used crescent wrenches over the years for many things (mostly not on a car, but occasionally on a car) and do not recall ever regretting it. I don't use them in situations for which they are clearly inappropriate.
Only when i can't find my pipe wrench or channel locks! Lol... i don't use an adjustable wrench to tighten or break stuff loose, but I'll use them for holding a bolt while i use the proper wrench or socket to take a nut off. And like squirrel said, they're great for bending metal
It news to me that your not supposed to use a crescent wrench. I have never had a problem. Had better luck using one than some of the open end wrenches I bought over the yeas. Need to know how to use your tools and the right tool.
I use them quite alot, especially when I just need to tighten (or loosen) just a few nuts/bolts and there's plenty of access. I also keep them in my vehicles. I don't know that I've ever damaged a fastener with an adjustable wrench. If the fastener in question is already marred up or real greasy or crusty, I usually don't attempt with an adjustable.
I used them in machine shops to fasten fixture clamps and things like that. But rarely use one, mine all look like new. I carry one in the trunk of my Ford in case someone else needs to borrow it.
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