Columbian 604 vise lead screw nut Help.

[clarkkid]

Hello , i am new here and have enjoyed reading thru some of the threads on vintage vises. I build custom furniture and have started to incorporate metal bases into my designs.
Purchased a Columbian 604 vise on FB for use working on my metal base pieces. The lead screw Nut that came with the vise has a 203 number stamped on it and when taking it apart there was no pin holding it in place. There is a hole in the base for a pin but the hole is about 3/16" to a 1/4'' closer to the center bolt that the swivel base is fastened to, thus there is no way to put the pin in to hold the nut in place, without drilling another hole 1/4" further away. Could the lead screw nut be the wrong one for this vise, ?
Possible fix could you also Just grind off about 1/4" of the back of the dovetailed nut? So a pin could be put into place in the hole already drilled there.?
Those of you that have a Columbian 604 how is you pin hole located and what is you nut Number cast with.?
Thanks

 

[nadogail]

Welcome to the Forum from Southwestern California. I have yet to acquire a really good vise, I am still making do with a small Imported vise i bought in 1972.

 

[The Cobbler]

some pictures might help. can you drill a hole to line up so a pin can be inserted?

 

[exmaxima1]

Hello , i am new here and have enjoyed reading thru some of the threads on vintage vises. I build custom furniture and have started to incorporate metal bases into my designs.
Purchased a Columbian 604 vise on FB for use working on my metal base pieces. The lead screw Nut that came with the vise has a 203 number stamped on it and when taking it apart there was no pin holding it in place. There is a hole in the base for a pin but the hole is about 3/16" to a 1/4'' closer to the center bolt that the swivel base is fastened to, thus there is no way to put the pin in to hold the nut in place, without drilling another hole 1/4" further away. Could the lead screw nut be the wrong one for this vise, ?
Possible fix could you also Just grind off about 1/4" of the back of the dovetailed nut? So a pin could be put into place in the hole already drilled there.?
Those of you that have a Columbian 604 how is you pin hole located and what is you nut Number cast with.?
Thanks

Have you tried reversing it?

 

[clarkkid]

been away for a while back now . yes tried reversing it and that did not work. also its the way it should be installed as the nut is angled toward the base on that end so the pin could be bent towards the angled end to hold it in place.. there was a small half round notch on the end of nut so a pin could have been inserted from the bottom up but the hole is so far forward of the nut base that only a sliver of the pin could have contacted the nut at the back.
So i am thinking the nut is the wrong one for the 604 vise.

 

[motorcitykid]

I’m intrigued by your issue, I have a 504 1/2 without a nut. So my plan was to either purchase or fabricate one. From my understanding the nut is a common one do to it being an incredibly popular size offered by Craftsman. The 504 and 604 are the same the 6 designates swivel base. I have several other vises and the pin usually rests at the tail of the nut on the others, so for yours to be longer would lead me to believe that either there is something in the dovetail not allowing it to seat firmly all the way forward or it’s the wrong nut.
I’m going to dig deeper on this but if you could provide a picture it would possibly be beneficial, even though you’ve identified it as a 203.