What do you use Vise Grips For

[MarvinBerry]

Basically clamping things... broken screws & bolts... holding rod while I cut with a wheel...

Here's a weird one.

Couple years ago my old man tried opening a bottle of wine. Think it was or thanksgiving. Somehow mangled the cork & corkscrew.

Mom called for help after he tried to attack it with a knife or something. I came back with clampy pliers and yanked the cork.

 

[Ralf11]

as a hammer

 

[ndnchf]

I modified one to use on stubborn brake line fittings. Sometimes those fittings are already deformed from Bubba's previous work. Or are just super tight, resulting in a flare nut wrench slipping and rounding off the fitting. This clamps it really tight, making removal easy.

 

[John T]

 

[bsaint]

The Facom Proto ones J501a

Sent from my SM-N981U using Tapatalk

 

[Kscardsfan]

I’ve got new inspiration in life lol.

 

[m6z]

Good for temporary replacement window crank handles.

(Not everybody has power windows)

Steering wheels too.

 

[Hohn]

I bought a couple of the new Milwaukee locking pliers last weekend when all my old ones seemed to have disappeared. Pretty impressive overall. Nice sharp serrations, and seem to be fairly hard steel where you want it.

 

[Ton ton]

Removing rusty screws.

 

[Rabid Badger]

Any time my hands have to exert force in a direction that isn't perpendicular to the grips of the pliers.

 

[anndel]

Removing overtightened or rusted nuts/bolts, car doors that don't want to stay open and trunk/hood when the struts die.

 

[Jamie V]

As a sheet metal worker (installing commercial Ductwork) a vise grip is one of your everyday tools. The ring welded to the end helps you tighten the grips after clamped to pull the connection together (either by hand or by putting a screwdriver through) But it also works great to tie a rope to for pulling sharp pieces of metal up to another floor or to the roof.

 

[badweatherbiker]

Good for temporary replacement window crank handles.

(Not everybody has power windows)

I have had one on my Jeep for about 10 years now, I guess I need to replace that window crank at some point

 

[Bad Eye Bill]

Clamp them onto the edge of lawn tractor wheels when installing tires to keep the tire from slipping off as you move your bar ahead to the next levering point.

 

[B_Bimmer]

When it's the only decent tool in the tractor toolbox and you're in the middle of nowhere they get used for everything from hydraulic valve overhauls to temporary chain links. In the shop they are mostly for fabrication. An amazing tool, I'm looking forward to testing out those eagle grips. Nothing I've tried competes with peterson long term.

 

[RTM]

Clamp them onto the edge of lawn tractor wheel.....

Geez, reminds me of another usage. Holding the safety bar of the push power lawnmower so you can get better leverage angles when trying to pull start it after a year of non use. The curved jaws work better on the round handle.

 

[RedneckWelder]

Pulling dowel pins (reminds me I need to get a slide hammer and adapter), turning out broken bolts or rounded fasteners (works sometimes). Clamping pieces in place. Holding small work pieces.

it’s not usually the first tool you reach for in any given situation but it’s often a tool you use in a “Sweet Jesus I hope this works because everything else has gone wrong” type situation

 

[isb cornbinder]

I bought a ford Model "T" in pieces. I used nearly 50 pair to clamp the car together for a sale. It worked and the "T" sold.
When I replaced the floor in my 1940 Ford, I used many VG to hold it all in place.
I have nearly 200 pair of Real Vise Grips in many different configurations.
These pictures show only a few of my VG. I have the bottom of a Craftsman roller box filled with VG. I guess I am a collector. I am a retired fabricator with a fun hobby..
Last week I bought another 7 pair of VG. Most are the long reach "C" clamp style. I have my first VG. My Dad gave it to me when I went into trade school in the early 1960s. This VG doe not have the easy release lever.

 

[CS454]

See attached.

 

[bassJAM]

There's an old saying that goes something like: If something is stuck and you want it free, use WD-40. If something is free and you want it stuck, use duct tape.

I'd add that vice grips work for both applications. Personally I probably use them the most to hold small parts to a bent sander or bench grinder.

 

[theoldwizard1]

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

Use needle nose version and add rubber tubbing on the noses !

 

[kody1234]

Clamp them onto the edge of lawn tractor wheels when installing tires to keep the tire from slipping off as you move your bar ahead to the next levering point.

lawn tractor tires are hard to change with out the vice grips

 

[matt_i]

Holding the garage door driveshaft in position with the vertical cables hand-tight while the springs are tensioned.

Also welding a couple of pieces of round-stock to the jaws (either inline or a T-cross) makes a very handy blocker for an airline in servicing automation.

 

[Chief]

They come in handy when removing shocks

 

[GaryM909]

I bought these at a garage sale for a buck. I used them a couple times and although they worked, they weren't great so I copied it. I used a good 6" C-clamp and Peterson vice grips. If I am not near a vice I use them to hold small pieces of steel so I can use a zip cut.

 

[budget76]

I've had a pair holding up my office chair for a year now. Dead cylinder. clamp it on the shaft in the upright position and now the chair is tall again

 

[didit]

They are likely one of the most versatile hand tools ever invented with a ton of manufactured and home built configurations. I used a pair of the needle nose version today to give me just enough grip to assist the screw driver in the removal of some rusted, rounded large philips screws. I dipped them and the screw driver into some coarse valve compound for extra grip. A different use every day.

 

[Bobdog]

I use them for clamping things together when welding or drilling holes for bolts.

Occasionally to remove a fastener with a rounded or broken off head.

They also come in handy to hold panels open on roof top units if it's a windy day.

 

[Neggy]

over the last 50 years I have used them for everything.... when we had the body shop they were essential for fitting and welding panels.

Back in the late 1980's I had to put an cat back exhaust on a Datsun 210 my Dad gave me.... the bolt broke in the flange on one side..... put the new exhaust in with the one bolt I had, clamped the other side with a pair of knock off vice grips.... ended up selling the car to a friend who put another 100K on it and when he junked it the vice grips were still on the flange...

I have a whole drawer filled with them, at least 20 pairs of different varieties

 

[Neggy]

ooops forgot this one, a friend had a 69 Camaro, the steering wheel broke, we drove the car home with vice grips on the splined shaft where the wheel was supposed to go.....

 

[dwasifar]

I modified one to use on stubborn brake line fittings. Sometimes those fittings are already deformed from Bubba's previous work. Or are just super tight, resulting in a flare nut wrench slipping and rounding off the fitting. This clamps it really tight, making removal easy.

That there is a patent waiting to happen.

 

[didit]

That there is a patent waiting to happen.

I'd be in on that! How about slide in interchangeable inserts? A myriad of possibilities.

 

[Mechanical Noise]

Hammer. Unless the ratchet is closer.

 

[nadogail]

It is impossible to own too many pair of Vise Grips. "Look a likes" are Not Vise Grips, they are counterfeits.

 

[Neggy]

 

[Beerhippie]

Good for temporary replacement window crank handles.

(Not everybody has power windows)

Also:





Inside driver's door handle broke (again) on the Toy yesterday. What to do?

Sorry, y'all, the roach is Drum.

Best use I ever saw was in a previous life and century. I was delivering 12 ton of flagstone in a six-ton IH flatbed (WWII surplus) from the quarry to the buyer in Ashfork, AZ, when I saw an ancient pick-up drive into the lot. Front passenger wheel had no lugnuts, just five pairs of VERY rusty Vise Grips on the stripped-out studs, handles facing towards the hub, with bailing wire binding all the handles together. It don't rain much in north-central AZ, so how long were those on there to get so rusty? Rockworms are a strange sort....

 

[bobg03]

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…

My Brother in Law had one of them w/a 3 on the tree and we stuffed a 360 in it in our younger days, roast tires at will.

 

[Rockable]

I use them for all sorts of things that were mentioned. The last pair I bought was on the way home from the Nashville Triple Crown car show. The ECM in my VintageAir AC lost it's mind and the heat came on full blast. It was a warm day. I bought a pair to clamp the heater hose from the thermostat shut. Worked like a champ and I rode the rest of the way in comfort.

 

[Semi-hole mechanic]

Good for temporary replacement window crank handles.

(Not everybody has power windows)

My brother had a ‘79 Trans Am that had a small vise grip as the driver’s window crank. The shaft was so stripped that the OEM handle wouldn’t catch a spline to operate it.

 

[Ohio Andy]

I've already storing old Rusty things. I often hold those in vice grips while I run them through wire wheels to keep my hands safe, especially when the parts are small


If I need to clamp something onto a table so that I can maybe drill it in my drill press and I don't have a hole down, I might use a large c-clamp vise grip for that.

I was using locking pliers to do some plumbing when I needed to grab a rusted bolt that I couldn't get out and nothing else would hold it a vice grips clamped onto it and allowed me to twist it off.