Stuck wrench

rosenkranswa

rosenkranswa

Senior Member
Really stupid question guys - I was adjusting the brakes on my 28 Phaeton using the closed end of a 1/2in wrench. Never had any problem before, but the wrench is stuck on the adjuster and I can't get it off. It will wiggle, but simply will not come off. Finally resorted to gentle use of a pry bar to no avail. I can't figure out what's holding it on there.

All ideas greatly appreciated!
 
Stay with it with the pry bar and anything else you can use. Take your time and "Worry" it off. It will come off.
 
I'm guessing you used a 12 point box wrench? The corners of the square adjusting shaft are rounded off, and I bet the wrench rotated on the shaft. I might try putting an adjustable wrench on whatever length of the adjusting shaft that is sticking out beyond the box wrench to hold the shaft still, and rotate the box wrench in the opposite direction of where you were going when it froze up. Kind of "unscrew" it.


The adjusting tool the vendors sell is a handy tool to have as it has a square hole to match the shaft.
 
If all your attempts fail, then, you'll probably need to cut it off. [ the wrench, not the adjuster]. Wrenches still don't cost too much. Then the purchase of the adjuster wrench is probably in order. Ya know, right tool for the job and all that.
 
A 7/16 open end wrench fits the square fitting of the adjuster on my car but I agree with Chap, get the adjuster tool from any vendor. Keep it on the car so you can constantly fiddle with the adjustments....
 
Going to work on it again today using the suggestions above. Have a person coming tomorrow to pick it up and take it back to the purchaser in the mid-west, so really want to get it off of there.

You know how it goes - just want to do a couple little things before the buyer picks it up, like touch up the brake adjustment. Should take all of 10 min. - then wam, bloody thing hangs up...
 
Outcome - time and distance always helps with the infernalness of inanimate objects. Went out this morning with a pair of narrow jaw vicegrips with tapering jaws. Got the narrowest part of the jaw on the adjuster, pried a bit, move the jaws in, pried a bit, repeated until the wrench popped off - 2 min work after spending a frustrating hour yesterday.

I have a neat little antique tool designed for adjusting the brakes on either the A car or AA truck, which I couldn't find. So took the "quick" way out and used the wrong tool. Moral of the story - don't use the wrong tool...
 
Like HDowse, I use the open end of a 7/16" wrench for this job. But it has to be a good-quality wrench – the first one I used was cheap and after a few turns it bent the jaw.
 
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