Plumber's Strap Wrench?

Never heard of a "plumbers" strapwrench. But a strap wrench is an every day tool for removing the oil filter from your auto. Try your auto bits dealer.

I bought a couple from Harbor Freight last year. I seem to recall them around $8.00 but check their site.

technomaNge

There seem to be several different types. There are plastic ones (probably not what I need), and several styles of metal ones. Automotive suppliers like Snapon have ones with a metal link attached to the strap. The smallest ones are rated for up to 5" OD, and I'm assuming this is the kind designed primarily for oil filters and large diameter stuff. The ones for plumbing come in different sizes, and there are a bunch that are rated up to 3 1/2" OD, which is closer to what I'm dealing with. These have the strap attached to an internal pin, with no link. Reed, Wheeler & Rigid make these, and they have a polyurathane coated strap to give traction on smooth surfaces like chrome drain pipes. It looks like the plumbing ones are all pretty similar in design. The all have roughly a

If the plumbing ones are all basically the same, I'll probably just pick up a Rigid at the local Home Despot.

While digging, I also came across several refernces to "parmalee wrenches", which would work, but don't appear to be made any more, and require a jaw set for a specific size of pipe. It looks like a neat idea, but I can see why strap wrenches are prefered.

Doug White

Hi Doug

Sears sells decent (Craftsman) strap wrenches. 35 foot pounds is so low that it would allow you to make your own wrench. Plactic or even wood will work as the handle. There is no need to "guess at how much torque". A FishScale and foot long handle will allow you to measure the torque quickly and accurately. A 3/8th drive torque wrench could be calibrated to give Very accurate torque readings if there is a 3/8th square hole in the strap wrench handle.

Jerry

Indeed, YES, there's such a thing as a plumber's strap wrench. Rigid makes one. Has a nice cloth strap and will be found in the pumbing department of any REAL hardware store. I've busted too many rubber ones, they may be OK for oil filters but not for plumbing bits.

Stan

Why not just do the job right and buy a barrel wrench made for that barrel. I don't recall them being that expensive. It will not mar up the barrel and the ones I've worked with had a 1/2 inch square hole where you would insert a torque wrench. Because the moment arm would change, you need to enter in a "fudge factor".

I built my own barrel wrench, I took a steel plate, milled a slot so it would fit over the barrel. I drilled three holes, pressed in three dowel pins, and bingo, a spanner wrench. I even machined in a square hole for a torque wrench. I loaned it out, never came back.

Don't waste your time with the wrong tool, you may as well use vise grips or a pipe wrench.

Jim

Just now going through week-old posts are we? The O.P. is talking about one of the free-float forearm/barrel nut combos. There's no real standards there. Your solution is for somebody using a standard barrel nut and I agree with you. I've made spanners for those nuts, it's not hard, and the proper wrench is readily availlable for those type of barrel nuts these days. But the free-float tubes have no real standards. Seems like the the manufacturer should have had a little more fore-thought about installation than just grab a strap wrench and torque it down as hard as possible, though. Needs spanner holes, flats or some way of positively providing mechanical drive to the nut. You can damage the threads on the upper with too much torque(not likely with the average strap wrench,though), and insufficient torque can affect functioning and accuracy. Kind of hard looking at the design before buying off some of these web sites, though.

Stan