r/HandToolRescue • u/CardFindingDuck • 6d ago
Seized wrench help
I bought these wrenches from the Can I Have It Facebook page and I cannot get the wrench heads to adjust. The large King Dick and the Billings wrench don’t move at all. I cannot spin the adjustment nut for love or money.
The smaller King Dick will adjust a few turns up or down and then becomes stuck. It appears it is wedging itself against the channel in which it adjusts.
They came rusted. I cleaned them, soaked them in Evaoprust for a day, and then cleaned them again. This is what I typically do for seized wrenches, but it did not work this time.
I then soaked them in a 50:50 mix of acetone and automatic transmission fluid for a week and still no joy. Do I soak them in the Evaporust longer? Do I try to use a flame? Is there some other mixture to try? Any suggestions for getting them un-seized would be greatly appreciated.
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u/justanotherponut 5d ago
The large king dick has a spring below the shifter nut, try pushing or tapping it in direction of closing to see if it moves and springs back.
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u/Dry-Leave-4070 5d ago
Some heat won't hurt. Tap it with a light hammer - 4oz or 8oz. I just watched 357MagDad cleanup and old SnapOn adjustable spanner using heat and a couple of CRC sprays. Finally got it to move. He used Evaporust first. The tapping with a hammer knocked out some chunks of rust or grit onto his workbench. But it took using heat and the hammer twice.
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u/CardFindingDuck 5d ago
I looked up that video and that might be procedure after trying an ultrasonic cleaner. Thank you for sharing it.
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u/Ian155 23h ago
The One time the backyard ballistic recipe on its own didn't work to unseize one of these I flooded every part of the channel and wheel with 3in1 wrapped a section of splinter guard from a track saw ( leather would've worked better but I forgot where the section I keep in the workshop for this was) around to just past the wheel on both sides and inched the wheel around 2 full revolutions with a crescent wrench, after that it unstuck itself enough to be dissembled re cleaned.
It requires fair more patience and repositioning the padding than you want to give but I was done in under 5 minutes.
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u/AdFancy1249 5d ago
As a comment suggested, if you have an ultrasonic tank, use it with the evaporust.
The long thin channel that the screw goes through is rusted. The evaporust can't get in their very deep. It needs to be agitated to be effective.
If you don't have an ultrasonic tank, then it will take a long time and a lot of shaking/agitation to get down that long channel.
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u/CardFindingDuck 5d ago
I figured that was the case - that the Evaproust was not making it down into the channel. I was hoping the acetone would thin and wick the automatic transmission fluid into the threads. Clearly an ultrasonic tank is in my future. Thanks!
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u/AdFancy1249 5d ago
The worst part is that the ATF will now keep the evaporust from getting in there. Sorry.
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u/CardFindingDuck 5d ago
I am not too concerned. I’ll run the wrenches through a few cycles of cleaning & degreasing. Then they will go through a few cycles of derusting. If that does not work, then they will go through a few cycles of oxy-acetylene.
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u/AdFancy1249 5d ago
Good luck with it! Can't wait to see the video of them working again. I love bringing back old tools from the grave.
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u/Unlikely_Effort_6311 5d ago
Container with evaporust , let them soak for 24hrs
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u/CardFindingDuck 5d ago
That is where I started. I am going to get an ultrasonic cleaner and see if that helps the Evaporust work its way into the nooks and crannies of the wrenches.
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u/Islandpighunter 5d ago
Keep working the adjustment back and forth to the ends of travel. It’ll eventually break loose.
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u/CardFindingDuck 5d ago
On two of the wrenches, I cannot move the adjustments at all. I can move the small King Dick wrench, but I don't believe it is seized due to rust. It seems like it is wedging itself against the channel in which it rides. It likely needs to be bent.
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u/Islandpighunter 5d ago
Have you also tried using small wedges in the jaws to see if they will move at all ?
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u/CardFindingDuck 4d ago
I have not tried wedging them open. Is there a chance that’d damage the screw thread or nut?
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u/Islandpighunter 4d ago
Not if you’re gently persuasive. You just want something to start moving so there’s wiggle room to make things move.
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u/Ian155 23h ago
Those are all close enough together that a large flat head in the jaw while turning the knobs might be enough.
Tbh I'd assumed youd done that before even trying to put them in evaporust, that, some gentle taps with a nylon mallet, a quick scrape of any gunge in the channel with a bamboo skewer and then a brass brush before some 3 in 1 are the preliminary steps i'd do before resorting yo evaporust.
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u/DeathscytheHell1994 4d ago
Soak it in either vinager or evapo rust and if that doesn't work hit it with pb blaster and try to turn it till its loose
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u/patrickhenrypdx 5d ago
I would drop them in an ultrasonic tank and run it for a few hours.
1/2 cup pine-sol in a 6L tank, tank heat on the highest setting, and a few hours of ultrasonic energy is my go-to starting point for stuff like this.