I always wanted an open end & box wrench set over 1 inch but I couldn't justify it based on its use in mostly outdoor plumbing where pipe wrenches and spanners and adjustable wrenches almost always end up working.
I don't think I need metric because I'm in the US where the plumbing is not metric yet, although all my cars are metric (but over an inch isn't all that common on metric sizes in cars, is it?).
Still it would be nice to have a set of open-end/box wrenches over an inch. Can an ok set be gotten for a good price (like thirty or so bucks maybe?). They don't have to be fantastic quality. They just have to be good steel.
If you were to buy a set of larger wrenches, what sizes would you get? And where?
I'd buy larger sizes only when I need them. About 50 years ago I needed a large socket to remove a Harley clutch. Still have the socket, but haven't used it since. Sure glad I didn't buy a set.
I'd probably look on Ebay for used combination wrenches. I used an
1 1/8" occasionally. Our construction crews used 1 5/16" sometimes. That was on center pivot irrigation systems. Maybe buy a set from 3/8" to 1". Then just walk around your place to look for the oversized nuts. (insert bad joke here)
I wouldn't buy anything until I needed it. YOu're not going to be stuck on the highway for lack of one.
I needed a large end wrench to replace a half-axle on my Toyota. I don't remember what I bought or where, but harborfreights cheapest set is $75. I thought I bought it there but I didn't pay anywhere near that much 5 years ago, and at that price I would have asked a friend first, and I didn't.
Homedepot's cheapest is only $40 - how about that - but I don't remember what size I needed and what sizes I got.
I'll go check if you want, and check out what brand it is too,
Harbor Freight Pittsburgh jumbo wrench set. About $60.
I would only get what I need. Think I needed a 1 1/4" one time. Maybe I bought one, but I doubt it. As somebody who has used a lot of wrenches, from tiny ignition wrenches to a 500 pound slugging wrench, I don't think you need any combo wrenches over 7/8" unless you do. Sounds like you don't. For plumbing work, besides pipe wrenches, an 18" channel lock is handy.
I've only bought bigger wrenches as needed. For example I've got a 27mm for an axle nut on one of the bikes. iirc I bought a CRaftsman at Sears when that was still a thing. I have a lot of redundancy in metric and SAE wrenches and sockets in the commonly used sizes but I've never felt a need for wrenches I probably will never use.
I do have an 18" adjustable but I only use it for light stuff like the caps on the Harley's fork tubes. I'm not a fan of adjustables. I have bad memories of a piece of Spanish crap that turned itself into a speed wrench*
a wrench where the adjustable jaw has ripped a path through the worm screw so it slides back and forth freely in one position of the worm. It sort of works but I don't know if anyone ever manufactured anything like that.
For decades I've been saying the same thing. Yet every time I want one, I don't have it because I didn't buy it.
I end up using adjustable wrenches, or channel locks, or pipe wrenches. But I hate using those when there is a hex sided plumbing fixture.
I don't think I'd ever put wrenches that large in the car emergency toolbox. Mostly it's plumbing and often outdoor plumbing that uses larger sizes.
I used to teach wood shop where one rule I harped on was to never use the wrong tool for the wrong job, such as a screwdriver as a chisel.
If I had a dollar for every time I saw a repairman incorrectly using pliers when he should have used a wrench, or for using a screwdriver when he should have used a nut driver, or for using a screwdriver as a pry bar, or for using an adjustable wrench when he should have used a box wrench, I'd be rich.
It's just wrong to use channel locks, pipe wrenches, and pliers when a plumbing fixture has hex sides for a reason. It's like using a Phillips screwdriver instead of an Allen Key. It works. But it's still wrong.
Working on a car is completely different than working on plumbing in so many ways that it's no comparison at all.
For one, the amount of room you have on a car is usually minimal, so you often must use a wrench. Also if you slip and wreck the nuts or bolts, you often can't easily get them out to replace them.
For another, a socket is almost always what you end up using (if you can).
It's not the same thing at all as basic home plumbing tools, where on a car, you buy the tools you need period but for home plumbing, we get away with using the wrong tools all the time.
I don't have a Harbor Freight near me but I'm willing to buy a set if they have a good price and a good set of big wrenches that don't overlap too much with mine. I have one inch and 1-1/8th inch open ended wrenches but no box wrenches of that size.
I looked for that set
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They have this for about twice what I was hoping to pay
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and 12-point box box
1-1/16 inch
1-1/8 inch
1-3/16 inch
1-1/4 inch
That brings up the question of how many points is a good amount if you're only going to have one box wrench of that size.
They also have these even bigger ones for the same price as above
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inch
2-1/4 inch
2-3/8 inch
2-1/2 inch
What's the most common sizes for outdoor & indoor plumbing fixtures like big brass ball valves on 3/4 inch galvanized pipe (I have a lot of those).
I have a Home Depot only about five miles away where I checked a few days ago and decided I'd go broke if I bought the wrenches one at a time.
Here is a 1-1/4 inch combination 12-point box & open end for $28 for example
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At thirty dollars each, only one or two at most fit into my budget for a set. I didn't see any sets of the most common sizes though.
I don't even know what the most common sizes are, but I would guess it should be between 1 inch and 2 inches as the most common for plumbing?
You're a big boy, you know this, and I only said it so the others wouldn't dump on me.
Then you need them.
Then you have to live up to your own words. Well. Maybe**
Did you wear a tie when you taught wood shop?
**I've noticed that no matter how many tools i have, I need every one, and no matter how few tools I have, it seems to be enough (generally, not all the time.)
Well, sorry. It's the best I've got.
With 6 point, you have much less chance of rounding off the head, but 12 is quicker to use if bolts are not on so very tight . Maybe initial loosen with the end wrench and do most of the twisting with the box wrench.
This was a set of 4 or 5. The sizes weren't immediately obvious, nor do I know what sizes I needed or you need.
They don't have everything in stock. Walmart too has lots of things that are not in stock, and Amazon too though not as big a percentage.
You should tell that to many generations of professional plumbers, who typically carry monkey and strap wrenches to avoid marring what shouldn't be marred. Otherwise a pipe wrench is their go to wrench.
I understand your logic as I get your logic a lot from repair people who just want to get paid and who don't care about doing a good job, and I get your exact logic a lot from mechanics who tell me the bolts they removed but didn't bother to put back "don't do anything."
They look at me like I'm from Mars, as you do, given they can't understand why I have to tell them the manufacture didn't put them there for no good reason.
I even had GoodYear tell me that one less lug nut was fine (he lost it).
You're using the same logic with these hex sides on plumbing fixtures. The manufacturer didn't put them there for no reason as you seem to suggest.
They are there for a hex-sided tool to be used on them. The fact most of us don't use wrenches is due to their cost.
Which is exactly why I ask this question. To get the tool for you and for me at the best cost possible.
On Fri, 05 Feb 2021 09:16:54 -0600, Vic Smith posted for all of us to digest...
+1 I really have an issue with this poster being a shop teacher. If he want to know the size of his ball valves why does he go measure them? Measure several because different manufacturers can have different size hexes. I don't know where one would use a box wrench on plumbing.
To OP check out
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and Knipex tools.
Otherwise you are getting into truck & heavy equipment tools and you ain't gonna like those prices.
The only time I have seen a plumber use a regular wrench is on the nozzles and oil feed line on a oil fired burner.
On Fri, 05 Feb 2021 11:02:37 -0600, Vic Smith posted for all of us to digest...
I realized the same thing after I posted an addition to one of your posts. It sure does have that smell. He has me blocked so he's the only one missing out.
Your logic makes a lot of sense, but not so much a good fiscal decision for the average homeowner. If I can get the job done with a tool I already own I'm not going to buy a $30 tool for one quick use.
Money aside, if I can get the job done right now it is a benefit over taking 2 hours to find the right tool and get back to the job.
I own quite a few screwdrivers but once or twice in my life a butter knife got the job done quickly.
On Thu, 4 Feb 2021 19:53:09 -0700, rbowman posted for all of us to digest...
Here is a real POS that has satisfied my need to break things.
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My wife got me one - she likes to be good to me - so what could I say?? It's good for rounding nuts of all types, space launches, gravity hold-down, weight in the back of p/u truck for snow or reverse body work of installing dents, taking up space for less stuff, etc. Rated on U Tube one of the worst tools ever...
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