Found this old Williams wrench

[rust buster]

I was cleaning out the cab of a 40's Dodge Power Wagon I bought and found this under the seat. I cleaned up the stamp a bit and it's a Williams. Any idea how old it is and what it is used for?
I don't know much about them.

 

[JSBriggs]

If you found it under the seat, it was used for 'protection'

-Jeff

 

[rust buster]

That may be so and I sure wouldn't want to mess with the guy who had it! The thing is a solid weapon

 

[78fordf150ranager]

That's an old "spud" wrench for ironworking,I would love to have that on my wall....

 

[NHBandit]

Don't remember the correct name but I believe they were mostly used by steel workers for bolting together the large girders. You would use the long tapered end to line up the holes in the 2 girders and the open end fits the head of the bolt while you tighten the nut with a huge impact wrench. Well there ya go. 78 Ford was replying as I was typing. A "spud" wrench it is.

 

[FJ 432]

The wrench is interesting but the Power Wagon is a must tell story. I love those trucks.

 

[rust buster]

I have a "problem" regarding the Power Wagons. I am addicted to them. I have two complete trucks, a rolling chassis with drivetrain, and now three separate cabs along with a ton of parts. One of the trucks is super rare as it has a dual PTO, one to the front winch and one to the rear to run accessories like a sawmill off a big belt. My goal is to build two trucks, the rare one back to 100% showroom condition, and the other a daily driver with a Cummins QSB4.5 in it...now I just need lots of time and lots of money. I'd like to save every Power Wagon there is out there!

 

[lowbucktruck]

Very cool. Man that is one BIG wrench!

 

[nine4gmc]

If you found it under the seat, it was used for 'protection'

-Jeff

you took the words outta my mouth

 

[justanengineer]

+1 on Power Wagons...a beautiful, unrestored, and cheap one slipped through my fingers a few years ago before I learned too much about them...never again will that happen to me.

On the wrench Im not convinced its a spud wrench, reason being my father collects railroad tools and has a few very similar wrenches that came out of RR yards.

 

[2oolhound]

I have a "problem" regarding the Power Wagons. I am addicted to them. I have two complete trucks, a rolling chassis with drivetrain, and now three separate cabs along with a ton of parts. One of the trucks is super rare as it has a dual PTO, one to the front winch and one to the rear to run accessories like a sawmill off a big belt. My goal is to build two trucks, the rare one back to 100% showroom condition, and the other a daily driver with a Cummins QSB4.5 in it...now I just need lots of time and lots of money. I'd like to save every Power Wagon there is out there!

+1 on the Power Wagons, although me and mine have been separated for 30 years (it's on my brother's farm 600 miles away) I'm still in love with it. I'm waiting to win the lotto so I can retire and go up there and restore it. I put a military flywheel, clutch and ****** in mine and was able to turn the pto inner shaft around so it came out the back to run a big winch and A-frame set up. I had to fashion a new control lever mount as the original was cast onto on the old end plate which was now located on the front side of the pto. It worked great.

Also +1 on the more photos of your PW! and I agree the wrench is likely a railroad wrench as a spud wrench has a long taper and point at the end like an alignment bar.

 

[Gort the giant robot]

Not to steal your thread, but you said you are restoring a 1940 Dodge. I have a friend who loves 1939 to 1947 Dodge, Plymouth and Fargo trucks. He has 2 1940 Dodges he has drivin daily since he late 1950s. His trucks go from 1/2 tons up to 5 tons. He buys everyone he can get his hands on.

Gort.

 

[andywander]

If it was used on the railroad, i would bet it was for the same purpose-to line up holes before bolting.

I think that would still make it a spud wrench.

 

[2oolhound]

Seems to me if you could get the end of that wrench into two adjacent holes they would have to be already aligned (so just put the bolt through).

I've always known spud wrenches to have the long pointed taper needed for steel erecting etc. A look on the web however turned up this, a "spud" was the short piece of pipe that joined toilet bowls to the tank and around the early 1900's plumbers used a "spud wrench" to tighten this piece down.

http://www.ehow.com/facts_5009918_what-spud-wrench.html

This would explain why Ridgid calls their pipe wrenches spud wrenches

http://www.ridgid.com/Tools/Spud-Wrench/EN/index.htm

The name "spud wrench" has an even wider range:

http://www.google.ca/imgres?imgurl=...=en&client=safari&sa=X&rls=en&tbm=isch&itbs=1

http://www.google.ca/imgres?imgurl=...=en&client=safari&sa=X&rls=en&tbm=isch&itbs=1

Perhaps at a junction where 2 tracks meet at a switch there is a situation where a long spiked spud would be too long and hit the other merging track so a short round end was all you could use to align holes. Regardless it does seem conceivable the wrench could be called a spud wrench in view of all these other blasphemous abortions of wrenches sharing the handle.