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What is this wrench type for?

noahwins

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Dec 24, 2018
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NorCal
Seen these a few times and never knew what application they're designed for.
 

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r_olson_06

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Seen these a few times and never knew what application they're designed for.
There a sort of ratcheting open end. It will only grab one direction and the slip the other so you don't have to pull it off of the bolt/nut.

Looking for the following Plomb Pebbles Wrenches 3061, 3070,
 

CJM8515

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Speed wrenches. The idea is good in theory, but they **** in use.
 

FSrepair&fabrication

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maryland
its a speed wrench. you can “ratchet” back and get another bite on the fitting without lifting the wrench. theyre used for hydraulic fittings sometimes. Or plumbing. any kind of line fitting really
 

DFB

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Speed wrench or open end ratchet wrench



The design has been around a long time...I have two Craftsman sets.

Most people don't seem to use them often though
 
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neophyte

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Speed wrenches. The idea is good in theory, but they **** in use.


That's one of those hex rounders.

Speed wrench or open end ratchet wrench



The design has been around a long time...I have two Craftsman sets.

Most people don't seem to use them often though

Looks like it. Might as well grind away a brake or fuel line fitting with a file.



These are probably made by Craftsman, only to have Wurth stamp their logo on them and quadruple the price...

The open end ratcheting wrench concept has been around for a very long time, possibly close to a hundred years at this point, but It’s been a while since I’ve looked thru some Patents on them.
Every once in a while, some company comes out with a new variation on the design.
Snap-On, Facom, Armstrong, Gray-Canada, Craftsman, and a bunch of other manufacturers have all made them over the decades.

In a past thread about them, one GJ member said he used a torque wrench version, in one of the automotive assembly plants as part of the production line, when each station had to do several assembly steps in a minute or two.
I’ve never seen a version of the Open speed wrench made for a torque wrench, but apparently the one on the assembly line might have been made by Snap-On.

The wrenches are also really convenient sometimes, although I usially don’t use them to break fasteners free.
 

bob15

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Northeasten, CT
Speed wrenches are useful for items brake line fittings where the nut/fitting is just hard enough that you cannot spin it with you fingers, but inserting a "regular" wrench is an annoyance but needed. These wrenches have enough "bite" to turn the fitting and don't need to be pulled out to get "another bite".....hence the speed part of the name.
 

Jazz1

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Jan 3, 2016
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Thunder Bay On.
Specialty wrenches are clutter for the tool box IMO I would only buy them if I were using them frequently.
I did not own "shorty" wrenches until 10 years ago.
 

eschoendorff

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Michigan
I have a whole set of these USA satin Husky wrenches. Never used them though. They just hang on an old Proto tool board lol.
 

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Tuc04

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AZ
They also work good for a nut on a threaded rod. I’ve used them when adjusting the tension on a garage door opener chain.
 

CAF51

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Apr 13, 2019
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OK
A fun novelty until you realize you need to turn the nut an entire flat for it to catch again.
 

ChevyEFI

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Phoenix, AZ
They are handy for when there is zero access to using a box, and
there is no way to get a ratcheting tube wrench (Cam-Lok) in the right size on it, and
you can save time and effort in spinning a fastener, and
the fastener doesn't lend itself to being spun by hand quickly, and
it also helps if gravity helps you run the fastener down by quick movement without gripping firmly.

I was glad to have one for a door hinge spring compressor tool.

A quality set can be handy for a variety of open-end wrench tasks, if you're not a ham-fist who has to tighten the piss out of everything due to early childhood maternal conflict.

The external ring protruding from the 12pt box end on the SO SRXM10-19 version can come in handy; I think it's probably the same as their regular combo wrenches. It will reach into a slightly recessed hex on a stud that is not able to be accessed by a Craftsman combo, or a socket due to length.
 
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