Noisy bench vise

[jmarkwolf]

I have a 20-year-old 5in Craftsman bench vise, the screw for which is "growling" or resonating when turned.

The vise serves my purposes, but the noisy screw makes me crazy.

What's the fix? Tacky grease on the screw?

 

[Maui]

Liberally grease the lead screw and the main nut. Also grease behind the meatball where it contacts the dynamic jaw tower as you tighten the vise.

 

[RTM]

might suggest checking for built up grease before you do so. My growler had a ton of crud on the screw, nut and slides. at 20 yrs old, you'd think not, but worth a check

 

[Shiftless]

In my experience, that noisy rattling is caused by looseness in the front where the spindle goes through the moveable jaw support. Can you shake the nosepiece side to side in the hole? Is there a lot of axial (front to back) free play? If so, I’d say your vise is worn and needs perhaps a spacer, washer, thrust bearing, whatever to compensate for wear. If that’s too much to deal with, heavy grease might help. Lots of wear is at least partially the result of not enough lubrication at that point in the past.

 

[JradM]

I'd take it apart, clean it out, grease it - look for wear. Shiftless suggestion seems like a good one if your fit on the dynamic jaw has a lot of play.

 

[Jacobs976]

Put some oil on the screw. Had the same issue on my Wilton I finally put on a mobile mount and some 3 in 1 took care of it. Grease would work too but oil is quick and not too messy. Drench the threads and open it all the way up then close it all the way to get it worked into the housing.

 

[1982fxr]

Sometimes a shim on the inside part of the dynamic jaw works on those craftsman vises, like Shiftless mentioned. And lots of heavy grease.

I had an nos one that I could not quiet up for nothing though. Sometimes it just goes with the territory on those.

 

[Shiftless]

I bet there is a C clip and maybe maybe not a washer just behind the jaw tower on that one. You could probably cure the shakes by replacing that budget set up with a collar that has a threaded set screw to hold it tight against the jaw tower.

And of course like Jacobs976 said, make sure that the screw and all moving parts are well lubricated.

Of course, the best idea is to start looking on CL and FB for a vintage made in USA machinist grade bench vise. After all this IS Garage Journal.