Deepest reach welding vise grips?
- Thread starter volaredon
- Start date
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Look up "deep throated Vice Grips" on Google or whatever search you use. 24" is about the biggest if I remember correctly.
I have 16" ones, but make sure you get real ones as the knock offs roll over
Jeremiah (jd)
Well-Known Member
I have those too.
I got 2 pair of 18 inch ones today at Farm and fleet... ("Milwaukee" brand) not 18" reach/ also just ordered a pair of "24" ones from amazon... again not 24" reach/ only (something like) 15-3/4 I believe they said. I just ground off/ drilled out 66 pop rivets covered by bondo on my truck cab back wall. They overlapped ~1-1/2" - 2" and I'm wanting to "pinch" the overlapped area to squeeze the overhang as tight to the original as possible and skip weld that seam/ I may do the whole overlap on inside and outside of cab.... as well as filling in 87 holes... 66 pop rivets plus 21 "bondo tooth" holes. I know it'll be a "spot" weld at a time. I do have some pretty heavy copper bars I can clamp as a backup bar... if I can get something deep enough to reach the cab floor.... as far as Cleco's
there's 3/4-1" left in the overlapped panel to the outside of the Cleco's... they're not right on the edge. If I had some help holding a dolly on the opposite side of the cab wall I could try to hammer the gap shut. Were not talking much.. 1/16-1/8" or so in spots.... but I dont want to just "Bondo" that as the last guy who worked on this thing, did.
I ground off lots of bondo with a Milwaukee grinder and wire wheel.... and dont want to put it back any more than I absolutely have to.
Honestly I wish I could fill the seam with lead.... but I dont know anyone near me that could give me a "tutorial".... or else braze it in. something that will seal and not absorb moisture as bondo is famous for... I met Gene Winfield once.... unfortunately hes gone now and even if not California is a bit far from me....
It would be nice if the idiot on Marketplace that I was talking to last week, would have called me as he claimed he would.... I'd have a different cab that doesn't have this issue
Problem is most I see are worse than what I have for crazy money, would need more work than my current one does.... this one I found on MP (out of state but not crazily so) is supposed to be nice and not need anything my current one does....
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Jeremiah (jd)
Well-Known Member
I have (5) 24's if you want to borrow them. Shipping FOB : D
that might just have to happen
how far do they actually reach? (don't include handle length) I have 1 "24" coming, supposedly Wed.
I have a retired welding teacher buddy I might have to call....
Jeremiah (jd)
Well-Known Member
It's a darn good thing you had me checj that. Duhhh on my part.
Almost 16"... That's 6" closer to what I have now can we say "splits the difference" between what I bought today and what I need?
My neighbor who's been a body man for years (can't weld no more because of a pacemaker) made the same suggestion about cutting the new ones I got this morning and extending them... If I could get this guy from KY to call me back like he said he would, for his price I'd just go get that and drop it off at the paint place... I was all ready to go straight from work Friday but never got the call he promised me
My neighbor who's been a body man for years (can't weld no more because of a pacemaker) made the same suggestion about cutting the new ones I got this morning and extending them... If I could get this guy from KY to call me back like he said he would, for his price I'd just go get that and drop it off at the paint place... I was all ready to go straight from work Friday but never got the call he promised me
Well I found 1, "24" for a decent price (actual "vise grips") wow do they vary in price...
Should be here tomorrow. There's a guy in Wisconsin that has a pair of 24's I'm watching, wonder if he'd ship them and how long it would take... I don't want to borrow something that I might then have to pay to replace and then pay again for a tool to finish my job...
I then ordered a set of cheap knock off 18's (set = 4 pairs) off of Amazon, they'll be here today. I don't need a crazy lot of pressure fortunately, if I'm gonna cut and modify something especially most likely a "1 time deal" that's where the only time I cheap out on a tool that I need. I have plenty of 1/4x 3/4 and 1/4x1" flat bar, I'm gonna cut up these cheapies and extend those. Hopefully that "u" channel isn't cheap enough that it bends on me... I'm hoping that if I butt the flat bar against the existing flat bar inside that "u" before I weld, that it will keep that from happening.
Plan is to pinch it together with a copper backer that I have, and weld away... I want to "need" the absolute minimum amount of bondo as I don't want something in there that will absorb moisture in that seam.
Should be here tomorrow. There's a guy in Wisconsin that has a pair of 24's I'm watching, wonder if he'd ship them and how long it would take... I don't want to borrow something that I might then have to pay to replace and then pay again for a tool to finish my job...
I then ordered a set of cheap knock off 18's (set = 4 pairs) off of Amazon, they'll be here today. I don't need a crazy lot of pressure fortunately, if I'm gonna cut and modify something especially most likely a "1 time deal" that's where the only time I cheap out on a tool that I need. I have plenty of 1/4x 3/4 and 1/4x1" flat bar, I'm gonna cut up these cheapies and extend those. Hopefully that "u" channel isn't cheap enough that it bends on me... I'm hoping that if I butt the flat bar against the existing flat bar inside that "u" before I weld, that it will keep that from happening.
Plan is to pinch it together with a copper backer that I have, and weld away... I want to "need" the absolute minimum amount of bondo as I don't want something in there that will absorb moisture in that seam.
Cuda416
Well-Known Member
Self tapping screws will do the job as well. You can put them in, tap or press the high spots between down and weld away. Same thing when you remove the screws after. Done for floor pans all the time.
Cuda416
Well-Known Member
Fair enough, but 87 is nothing in the grand scheme of things. Next time I'll keep quiet....
That doesn't count the ones in the floor from a set of rube Goldberg seat brackets or the holes in both inner and outer roof panels
Nor does that count welding the seam like should have been done in the first place instead of bondo
Nor does that count welding the seam like should have been done in the first place instead of bondo
Well they worked. I extended 2 pairs of cheapies Amazon vise grips and they reach all the way to the bottom of the cab wall. They did twist occasionally and I had to reset them, but they did the job. Probably a once in a lifetime need, the only reason I went "cheap" on them and took a chance. Pix of how they started out, a set of "vise grip" model "24r" and my modified grips.
With a solid 3/4" thick copper bar clamped to the bed wall it went pretty well. I have to go get more 75/25 gas for the mig to finish the driver side vertical seam
I did have one problem. I noticed right away once I had the Bondo ground off that the bottom and sides didn't touch very well, and I tried to make a go of it but it backfired.
PLEASE GET RID OF TIK TOK ADS. THIS IS BEYOND RIDICULOUS I shouldn't have to stop posting 4 times in the course of 1 sentence to delete the damn ad that COVERS THE SCREEN
I had to backtrack and grind out the welds that were working and put a block of deck board in between the old lip and the replacement panel and between a scraper, bottle torch and a wire wheel I had to get rid of 2 layers of original seam sealer... That which Dodge put on the back cab wall/floor pan junction on both this cab and the one that the "hack" (whoever that was/ half azzedly installed in this cab. Funny once that crap was outta the way how much better things fit up. There was a good 1/8" gap between the overlap between new and old that they tried to compensate with by loading it up with pop rivets. There was a section of Bondo missing along the bottom, where the roughly cut original lip of the cab had a gap about 7" long towards the passenger side of the bottom
No more gap now....
I also skip welded the overlap "flap" on the inside, pass side vertical seam.
The welder did "ball up" on me once, had what they call a "bird nest" by the feed rolls. Once I got that untangled and fed again it mostly went great, although it would occasionally pop and fart instead of the "sizzling bacon" sound you want while MIG welding. Then run fine for a while.
This machine I have is like a "bull in a china shop" as being all the way turned down on power setting 1 and feed barely off the Lowest possible setting sometimes it wanted to burn holes. I thought about finding a 110 powered machine just for this job. Got better with the copper backer in that sense.
With a solid 3/4" thick copper bar clamped to the bed wall it went pretty well. I have to go get more 75/25 gas for the mig to finish the driver side vertical seam
I did have one problem. I noticed right away once I had the Bondo ground off that the bottom and sides didn't touch very well, and I tried to make a go of it but it backfired.
PLEASE GET RID OF TIK TOK ADS. THIS IS BEYOND RIDICULOUS I shouldn't have to stop posting 4 times in the course of 1 sentence to delete the damn ad that COVERS THE SCREEN
I had to backtrack and grind out the welds that were working and put a block of deck board in between the old lip and the replacement panel and between a scraper, bottle torch and a wire wheel I had to get rid of 2 layers of original seam sealer... That which Dodge put on the back cab wall/floor pan junction on both this cab and the one that the "hack" (whoever that was/ half azzedly installed in this cab. Funny once that crap was outta the way how much better things fit up. There was a good 1/8" gap between the overlap between new and old that they tried to compensate with by loading it up with pop rivets. There was a section of Bondo missing along the bottom, where the roughly cut original lip of the cab had a gap about 7" long towards the passenger side of the bottom
No more gap now....
I also skip welded the overlap "flap" on the inside, pass side vertical seam.
The welder did "ball up" on me once, had what they call a "bird nest" by the feed rolls. Once I got that untangled and fed again it mostly went great, although it would occasionally pop and fart instead of the "sizzling bacon" sound you want while MIG welding. Then run fine for a while.
This machine I have is like a "bull in a china shop" as being all the way turned down on power setting 1 and feed barely off the Lowest possible setting sometimes it wanted to burn holes. I thought about finding a 110 powered machine just for this job. Got better with the copper backer in that sense.
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