Disassemble a J.H. Williams Co. Adjustable Wrench

[damon18]

I've got an adjustable that was rusted/gunked up and wouldn't adjust at all, frozen shut.

So I cleaned in degreaser and then soaked in Evaporust to get it free'd up. Now the screw drive will turn the jaws in and out.

Wanted to take it apart to further clean up but the set screw that holds the main screw in place won't come out. I got it to unscrew a lot but it reaches the end and simply keeps spinning without coming out.

Should I just pull harder? Or is there a technique I don't know?

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Or is there a technique I don't know?

No. Nothing tricky. The set screw turns in and out on a Williams just like on every other adjustable wrench with a set screw. If it's turning and not moving it sounds like it's stripped.

 

[damon18]

It screws in and out smoothly and will tighten down, but as it's screwed out it gets to a point where it will just turn.

Should it normally just fall out when screwed all the way out?

Wrench may not be worth the bother but at least I'll learn something new.

Sent from my SM-G973U using Tapatalk

 

[Provincial]

Probably just got past the internal threads. Can you grab the protruding end of the screw and pull without damaging it?

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Should it normally just fall out when screwed all the way out?

Yes. There are adjustables with pins, not meant to be extracted. All the adjustables I have ever taken apart - including Williams, have just screw all the way out. There is something wrong. The last 1/8" of an inch (that inserts into the other inner wall of the wrench...) is not threaded, but that set screw is not that far out. There are still threads engaged I would guess. Again, the spinning without movement suggests stripped threads to me. If you try force it out, as Provincial suggests as a possibility, you may not be able to screw it back in. But I would probably try it at this point, too. EDIT: Or just screw it back in again if you can.

 

[RTM]

Ive taken apart a Crescent and a Peck Stow and Wilcox in the past month, and both protruded maybe 1/4”, then stopped moving. I took a small rubber jawed pliers to pull one out, the other came out with my fingers. Beware, one had a spring.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

I have to take back what I said. Badly misremembering. Here is a Williams disassembled. Yours is almost out. Pull harder!