What do you use Vise Grips For

[mobiledynamics]

I've got a old pair from my pops tool box


With the recent talk of the new Eagles, just wondering what styles do you guys use them for/application? I only grab them when I'm in a bind and need a vise grip plier to clamp on and work some leverage on it. It's not -often- though...

 

[richfinn]

Mostly as a decent earth point on rusty old vehicles, the teeth cut through rust and grime pretty good and save you time having to clean a spot up or access a battery hidden under a load of ****

I like the Vice grip 7R, it's the only model I use nowadays

 

[RTM]

Usually extracting something that has sheared the head off. Occasionally as a higher force clamp than my Woodworking clamps, or needing a smaller contact area.

 

[d.mcfarland]

Welding with this style is very common:

 

[2ndGearRubber]

The 11R style posted above also works very well for depressing single piston calipers. I use them to fight rust seized pads on toyota 4-pot calipers so I can wiggle them out.

My regular style get used most for general gripping of things, and extracting broken stuff that isn't rusted in.

 

[Kscardsfan]

Getting a bite on something so rounded off that nothing else will work. Or rounding that fastener off so badly nothin else will work because I was too lazy to get the right tool. They tend to get used for bending and clamping metal stuff as much as anything for me.

 

[Blind1]

Quick clamps. I use a pair of channellock nut busters for rounded things.

 

[Shiftless]

Quick clamps. I use a pair of channellock nut busters for rounded things.

Sounds painful!

 

[Ralf11]

nose rings

 

[Shiftless]

Good for temporary replacement window crank handles.

(Not everybody has power windows)

 

[Jlarson]

Clamps, I've probably got 6-8 dozen different flavors of vise grip floating around, can't have too many different flavors of clamp when you're fabing.

Also twisting, pulling, removing broken, stripped and rounded stuff.

 

[davethorik]

Holding up the door glass in a car when the window regulator takes a ****.

 

[MushCreek]

I will confess to using one as an emergency battery cable terminal.

 

[lardy1]

Clamps. Temporary holding. I try not to use them on fastener heads but who hasn't?

 

[John T]

Years ago I had a 1967 Dodge van with the cable shifter on the dash.

The cable snapped so I put vice grips on the ****** linkage and used a broomstick through the doghouse to shift it.

318 v8
It would roast the tires in a heartbeat
Had a lot of fun with that van…

 

[Robbie B]

I use mine for ****** clamps as God intended.

 

[Wyoming09]

tightly gripping things

 

[purplezr2]

I would look at Malco if you are looking for a good made in the USA looking pliers. I have fondled the Snap on version of them and they are super nice.

Good for temporary replacement window crank handles.

(Not everybody has power windows)

As a Millennial, I can hardly handle the crank windows on my Polaris Ranger. I think the next one will get electric ones.

 

[dffay]

All of those things.....

Vise Grips are known as the wrong tool for every job.

 

[Professional Tool User]

Clamping stuff together and removing damaged screws.

 

[zendriver]

My friend uses the small pairs for inside door handles for his ‘80 Fiat

If he needs them to work on the car he just takes one pair off.


Sent from my iPhone using The Garage Journal mobile app

 

[Forgottonia]

The sheet metal clamps are handy for bending, forming, holding sheet metal.

 

[MushCreek]

My friend uses the small pairs for inside door handles for his ‘80 Fiat

If he needs them to work on the car he just takes one pair off.


Sent from my iPhone using The Garage Journal mobile app

What do you mean 'if'???

 

[seagullplayer]

Pinching off a gas line while you change an inline filter on a mower.
Or add a filter...

Done the same for small airline when working on a machine and we preferred not to shut the air off.

Rounded fastener removal.

 

[Forgottonia]

Another thing Vise-grips are handy for is to hold small items you're drilling with a drill press. Especially short pieces of angle iron or flat iron. This is probably the most common task I use Vice-grips for.

 

[Ralf11]

pot holders on camping trips

 

[steaks&anvils]

Holding onto the rusted nut/bolt that is spinning freely through a hole. Clamp it to the back side to keep it from spinning. This also helps to properly round off both ends of the nut/bolt combination. If lucky, the bolt will snap off and save all that extra effort unscrewing it!

Pulling nails where the head has rusted off.

 

[Kscardsfan]

They make decent shifter knobs in a pinch too.

 

[integerspin]

Strangest use was as a shifter on an old Panther.
I have a few pairs with tape wrapped around the jaws, they are used as hose clamps.

 

[dscheidt]

Strangest use was as a shifter on an old Panther.

I broke the shift lever in a land-rover once. Grabbed the stub with a pair of vise grips, which worked fine until I found a welding shop. Guy just laughed the whole time he was welding the lever back together.

 

[Holt]

Just used a pair to pull a broke screw out of the wall. The head broke off with just a little bit poking out of the wall

 

[jcbrew]

Locking the garage door

 

[jeffmoss26]

I use them daily as a locksmith for making keys (in combination with a very fine round file)

 

[ChevyEFI]

I will confess to using one as an emergency battery cable terminal.

I used mine a week or two ago to crimp new battery cable ends on.

 

[Indexmill]

well,...for... ah, gripping ****...

 

[MushCreek]

Locking the garage door

That's what I do when we take a trip. I unplug the opener, and take a couple swivel pad Vise Grip clamps and clamp them on the tracks.

 

[integerspin]

I broke the shift lever in a land-rover once. Grabbed the stub with a pair of vise grips, which worked fine until I found a welding shop. Guy just laughed the whole time he was welding the lever back together.

I used to drink with someone who's 2A gear lever came out, he would walk in the pub with it over his shoulder. I had to collect the landrover from his house once, to fix the gear lever, crazy thing to drive as the lever obviously rotated freely.


I have just spotted another use of Mole wrenches, they are both Moles, On the bending leaf bit on my sheet metal folder. When I made the folder I put handles on it but had a use for the metal, so I clamped a couple of pairs of moles on it.

 

[mslim]

Anything I can't do with a real tool, a Dremel, or duct tape.

 

[1982fxr]

All 1970s automotive parts catalogs list vise grips as factory direct replacements for window crank handles.

I've deduced that from my time here on earth.

What?

 

[welder4956]

Years ago I had a 1967 Dodge van with the cable shifter on the dash.

The cable snapped so I put vice grips on the ****** linkage and used a broomstick through the doghouse to shift it.

318 v8
It would roast the tires in a heartbeat
Had a lot of fun with that van…

LOL!

A high school buddy and I transplanted a 340 from his wrecked 70 Dart ******* into his 66 Dodge van. It was hell keeping a 3 speed ****** together in that thing, but lots of fun to ride around in.