The lowly Ford Wrench. What can I say? It's heavy, awkward, loud, and often rusty. It sits on the bottom of your Line Bag or Toolbox waiting for that one time that it is needed a year. It's not the sexiest looking tool around and won't win any beauty contests. But that one time, oh that one time, when nothing else will work that Ford Wrench will be your savior. Let's start with a little background.
The Ford Wrench as we know it was the original Monkey Wrench. Where the term Monkey Wrench came from I do not know but the wrench is a Ford Motor Company original. This wrench was supplied in the 1929(?) Ford Model A tool kit. Of course people soon figured out that it could be used for any number of jobs on the car or anywhere for that matter. Fast forward 80 years and the wrench we all know is still known as a Ford Wrench.
As far as Line Maintenance the Ford Wrench is a must have. I have seen them long, short, even tiny but they all had one thing in common: they are built to last. My Ford Wrench is a little shy of 10" long with a maximum jaw opening of 2 1/2". My wrench looks like its about 50 years old and I have no idea how old it is. I think I got it from a guy at Delta Airlines but I can't remember. My wrench has no company insignia on it, in fact it has no markings at all on it except a tiny M in a circle. I have no idea who makes it or where it came from. Here is what I do know:
My Ford Wrench has helped me out of quite a few tight spots. When you need a large wrench 1 plus inch, there are times when a typical open end wrench won't fit. The nut or more typically hydraulic, fuel, oil, pneumatic, fitting is in a spot that the open end or even angle wrench can not get a good bite on it. We out on the Line call this the "angle of the dangle". There are just some times when the angle of the dangle is such that the Ford Wrench seems to be the only tool that will work. The Ford Wrench has no fancy angles associated with it, 90 degrees and that's it.
When you first start out you may not have all the wrenches that you may need. Now a days who has the money to go out and buy every open end wrench and angle wrench and stubby wrench on the market. A Ford Wrench will work on everything from 0"-2 1/2" (in my case) and I have seen some that open way wider than that.
Remember the MagLite post? It seems that we all need to beat something at some time and no one carries a hammer. Line guys do not carry hammers in their bags. They may have one in their toolbox in the shop or carry one one their golf carts like I do but they do not carry hammers in their Line bags. As I mentioned earlier these Ford Wrenches are heavy metal and often stand in for that missing hammer. I would bet that guys use them more for hitting tools than as a wrench.
Working the Line is all about thinking on your feet. The truly good Line Mechanics do not run back and forth from the airplane to their toolbox in the shop. They use what they have and some common sense to fix the problem. The Ford Wrench is one of those tools that allow you to do just that. Sure it's not the first tool people think of as a must have and often times it won't cross our minds at all until that one moment when you look at a job and the thought goes through your mind, "I bet I can get my Ford Wrench on that".
Now that's a good post!
ReplyDeleteyou know, I went to buy a ford wrench not too long ago, and the kids in the stores didn't know what I was looking for. I had to call it a 90 degree spanner wrench for them to understand. I wonder how much longer the name will last?
ReplyDeleteCT
Lol not sure
DeleteI have one I got from another diesel mechanic when I used to work on Navy Diesels engines the Cults and OP engines when I was in the shipyard and that thing is a must have I was changing the oil on my friends car actually i was showing him how to do it and by his car being so compact I couldnt get a regular oil filter wrench around it and all my pipe wrenches were too big to fit I got my medium size ford wrench and put it up there and that filter came right off no problem.....
ReplyDeleteI know I might be a little late for the party here, seeing that the post is almost ten years old. However, for anyone who wondered what the tiny M in a circle means, http://alloy-artifacts.org/trademarks-and-logos.html provides the answer: it"s The Moore Drop Forging Company of Springfield, Massachusetts.
ReplyDeleteMoore was one of the suppliers for toolkit wrenches for Ford cars and tractors. (There's even a National Ford Tool Collectors group online!) In 1908, they began marking their tools with their M in a circle logo.
ReplyDeleteSource: http://progress-is-fine.blogspot.com/2017/03/vanished-tool-makers-moore-drop-forging.html.