Self-Adjustable Basin (Un)wrench

[mrbodge]

A poor workman always blames his tools. Well my name is mrbodge so it's definitely the tools fault.

Untitled

• mrbodge
• 4 May 2010
• 1

Here is an object described as a Self-Adjustable Basin Wrench. It's
obvious what you are supposed to do with it because if you turn it one direction it opens up and the other stays shut (therefore hopefully rotating your nut)

Anyhow this tool would not undo a thing for me. It's how I ended up breaking my waste (in another thread). In frustration I took a pair of vice grips and stilsons to it and ended up knocking the overflow causing a large tear and without that rubber sealing tape basically writing it off.

So my question is, just how are you supposed to use one of these babies? It won't even grip the basin nut properly let alone turn it.

Can you help?

 

[Burnerman]

This thing is really for undoing / tightening tap back nuts.....in an ideal situation it does work and can get you out of a pickle. There's nothing to beat undoing the pipe connections and using a box spanner though.
For plastic wastes, use an alligator grip - these avoid crushing the threads and making undoing them impossible without damage.
John

 

[mrbodge]

For plastic wastes, use an alligator grip - these avoid crushing the threads and making undoing them impossible without damage.
John

I didn't know what alligator grips were, so I looked them up and it seems they are what I call soft-jaw waterpump plyers. Well, tried with those, the nut wasnt going anywhere. I'm going to cut it off with a hacksaw in a sec and reeplace the piep section from frustration but first I've tried dousing it with a heavy caustic soda solution to see if it removes all the aged old silicone glue stuff keeping it together...

 

[Burnerman]

My apologies mate - I actually meant a Boa Constrictor strap wrench (wrong reptile) - Machine Mart 040219951 is what you really need.
John

 

[kirkgas]

the version you have is mince, get a monument one, superb

 

[mrbodge]

I had a baby boa and it never undid anything, couldn't get a big enough grip. Are the big boas better?

Edit: Caustic soda did cause old waste to come away from sbend...

 

[Burnerman]

the version you have is mince, get a monument one, superb

Who ya callin' a mince??

I don't have either of these - because I've got a really strong gwip and its all I need tho there!

John