Flank drive plus/wright grip on brass?

[Jwych]

In my line of work I deal with alot of brass fittings on airlines. Sometimes they have been in place for a long time and get corroded in so im looking to possibly upgrade to the teeth style wrench. Anyone have any experience on brass with these wrenches? Will the brass hold? Or do the teeth just cut and round off?

 

[IFMJohn]

I've never had an issue with the fd+ (or similar systems) on brass fittings. They won't look super pretty after you're done using the fd+ on then but they will not round off.

 

[Ruger_556]

You'll regret it... FD+ will grab and hold like no other. Trouble is it turns the shoulder on the brass (It doesn't round off... Just moves all the points slightly). You get about one turn out of the fitting and then you have to use a hammer to get the wrench on and off the fitting because it's chewed up. Then you have to replace the fitting and you might as well have used a pipe wrench or channel locks. I bought smooth jaw angle wrenches just for brass fittings.

You don't know the meaning of pissed until you spend 10 minutes unthreading one fitting because your FD+ gets stuck on the damned thing.

 

[bonneyman]

There's nothing like the old Bonney Loc-Rite flare wrenches for soft fittings. It's what they were designed for. So long as your fittings are SAE, that's what I'd recommend. But Bonney didn't make them in metric.

There is several styles that were made. Flare/box combos, double flare, single and double ratcheting flare ends. One is bound to work for you.
I'd look on ebay for some NOS ones.

 

[Loscaldazar]

You'll regret it... FD+ will grab and hold like no other. Trouble is it turns the shoulder on the brass (It doesn't round off... Just moves all the points slightly). You get about one turn out of the fitting and then you have to use a hammer to get the wrench on and off the fitting because it's chewed up. Then you have to replace the fitting and you might as well have used a pipe wrench or channel locks. I bought smooth jaw angle wrenches just for brass fittings.

You don't know the meaning of pissed until you spend 10 minutes unthreading one fitting because your FD+ gets stuck on the damned thing.

So how is a regular open end any better? It's just going to round off the brass nut. The FD+ will at least give you more grip and a better chance at removing the nut.

If anything, your post just suggests that you should jump straight to channellocks or a pipe wrench.

 

[outdoorsman310]

fd+ is probably your best bet. williams superrenches might work.

 

[Altmech]

If they are that stuck the fd+ will screw up the fitting but if they are already rounded and a regular wrench is starting to round it a fd+ will grab it and turn it. Also once they grab it can sometimes be a pain to get the wrench off the fitting. I wouldn't use them as your primary wrenches but have them as a backup for when a regular wrench is stripping. It's pretty amazing how well they grab nuts/bolts that are rounding/ already rounded.

 

[Dirty Diesels]

Try flare nut type wrenches first.

 

[Sonny2010]

Definitely try flare nut.

 

[tbaggz]

You'll regret it... FD+ will grab and hold like no other. Trouble is it turns the shoulder on the brass (It doesn't round off... Just moves all the points slightly). You get about one turn out of the fitting and then you have to use a hammer to get the wrench on and off the fitting because it's chewed up. Then you have to replace the fitting and you might as well have used a pipe wrench or channel locks. I bought smooth jaw angle wrenches just for brass fittings.

You don't know the meaning of pissed until you spend 10 minutes unthreading one fitting because your FD+ gets stuck on the damned thing.

not if you use the box end.

 

[tbaggz]

not if you use the box end.

lol jk.

wright-grip does a lot less damage to brass than flank drive plus.
wright works a lot better on brass/copper than flank drive plus.

 

[davethorik]

There's nothing like the old Bonney Loc-Rite flare wrenches for soft fittings. It's what they were designed for. So long as your fittings are SAE, that's what I'd recommend. But Bonney didn't make them in metric.

There is several styles that were made. Flare/box combos, double flare, single and double ratcheting flare ends. One is bound to work for you.
I'd look on ebay for some NOS ones.

B-man, I bought a 7/8 Bonney wrench that looks identical to the 4th wrench down in your picture. 2 box ends, one with cutout. I use it solely on 1/2 stud and clamp kits for my cnc mill, the end with the cutout fits into places an open end won't. Is Loc-Rite Bonney's version of FD or Wright Grip?

 

[Farmall 1066]

Just used my Wright-Grip's on some nasty air compressor fittings yesterday.
Works great, and didn't have any problems, at least none caused by wrenches!

 

[bonneyman]

B-man, I bought a 7/8 Bonney wrench that looks identical to the 4th wrench down in your picture. 2 box ends, one with cutout. I use it solely on 1/2 stud and clamp kits for my cnc mill, the end with the cutout fits into places an open end won't. Is Loc-Rite Bonney's version of FD or Wright Grip?

In a word, yes. But Loc-Rite's patent predated Flank Drive by 2 years (1964 vs. 1966). Don't know about Wright Grip, tho I think it predates that, too.

However, Loc-Rite wasn't really the first. Cam-Loc (the top two wrenches) was patented in 1951, being an attempt to get wrench contacts points away from the corners. It used moveable pins held in place by a spring and steel ramps, which actually allowed it to lock in one direction but let the fastener slip in the other direction. Essentially, a ratcheting action. (Only problem was the head was pretty bulky for the fastener size, though on older aircraft and car brake systems that wasn't a problem). Loc-Rite took this concept, made it in forged alloy, and was thus able to shrink the overall size down.

Here are some of my Cam-Loc's up close so you can better see the moveable pins.

 

[Mohawk Dave]

Flare nut wrench or Knipex Pliers Wrench.