this could be the worlds largest wrench (overall , actually used ,not home made etc...)
IDK help me out guys
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1466548516926762.1073741833.1376521989262749&type=1

Hmm... I dunno... I live in Minnesota, right in the region 80% of domestic iron comes from. We've got some of the biggest machinery in the country... I feel like, if there's a bigger wrench, it exists within 100 miles of me. But, that's the biggest damn wrench I've ever seen :P

I'm not sure how they measure the biggest, but I know Herb Page used to have the only known example of the 6 foot Coes Key style adjustable wrench. Don Ervin now has it in his collection in Maine.

I suppose I wrongly assumed this post was spam, and refused to follow the link through.  The security guy in me doesn't want to click a Facebook media link left by a first time poster.

We used larger wrenches on old submarine propeller nuts..  Had to use a Crain to lift & hold it in place & another crane to hold the steel hammer we swung to strike it. (sounds like those large Japanese temple bells that they swing the big log to ring it)  the whole sub vibrated... the prop shaft was ~24"+

Quote from: OilyRascal on July 25, 2014, 05:01:49 AM
I suppose I wrongly assumed this post was spam, and refused to follow the link through.  The security guy in me doesn't want to click a Facebook media link left by a first time poster.

I can vouch for him, he's my dear friend who owns the local hardware store here......  In fact, I'm the one in the picture!  Great person, I love him dearly!!!!
He's got a big wrench collection started long ago..... runs in the family, I think.
cheers to all,
bird

here are some pics of the williams 22b and infamos tool trader jenny "Bird" schmitz

22b williams

Can't speak on the subject of open end wrenches, but I've seen bigger pipe wrenches; I watched a couple of fire sprinkler fitters assemble a sprinkler system once, using six-foot pipe wrenches.  No idea of the weight, but they did take turns: one guy would stand on the "holding" wrench, the other would operate the "turning" wrench, switching off every ten minutes or so.

here are the criteria i would expect from " worlds largest wrench"
1. not home made
2. made by a tool company
3. actually used at some point or currently
4. actually exist where people can see and touch it , not in a photo
5. largest , referring to overall size .    for example, michael jordan is 6'7" and lou ferrigno  is 6'5". who would you say is bigger/larger?

Quote from: Bill Houghton on July 26, 2014, 03:42:57 PM
Can't speak on the subject of open end wrenches, but I've seen bigger pipe wrenches; I watched a couple of fire sprinkler fitters assemble a sprinkler system once, using six-foot pipe wrenches.  No idea of the weight, but they did take turns: one guy would stand on the "holding" wrench, the other would operate the "turning" wrench, switching off every ten minutes or so.

Their boss sent them with the wrong tools.  We had combination pipe wrenches for the big pipe.  They're Ridgid, but the handle & head have a joint between them, and a clamp attached at that joint. Clamp on the pipe, wrench on the fitting and no hold back wrench needed.

I had two different "old hands" tell me that I couldn't make pipe tight enough - Once was at a Hilton on 2" threaded. I couldn't get into position so I reached my arms out, pulling like I was clapping with arms outstretched. The second time I was making up a drop with a 10 inch pipe wrench. Both times the "old hands" went in to show me how to do it.  Both times they didn't budge the pipe, and both said exactly the same thing "Well, you are a pretty big boy."

Tony is a fitter I've known since he was a cub 25 yrs ago.  He was constantly breaking 10" Channellock's.  He made up pipe with those so tight everyone else needed either an 18" or cheated 10".

So biggest wrench? Depends on the horsepower.



Capacity of the Williams is only 7-3/4".  So what constitutes big - length? Weight? Capacity?

Mechanical advantage would be my criteria - The biggest wrench is the one that delivers the most work, consistently. Based on the same input force.

The winner would be, unless compounded, would be the longest one that was sturdy enough to do a job without failing.

Chilly

The Ridgid 60" is a beast at 50lbs and with an 8" opening, but it is only 5' in length.   Ridgid made a 72" long pipe wrench, although I don't own one.  I do have pipe tongs in excess of 60" in length that will most certainly get past an 8" opening.  And there are specialty NSCO pumping unit wrenches in the shop that, while the opening is only 3", well surpass any 6' in length.

I'm unable to find it, but somewhere here there is a thread showing a set of pipe tongs larger than those I own (72"?).  I wanted to say it was "Wrenchmensch" at the back of his van with the photo, but again can't find it.

Here are a couple photos of the Queen Mary propeller Wrench:

In the 70s, when I was selling tools, there was a photo in the MAC Newsletter of a Mac truck in the L.A. area.  The Mac Tools dist. had found a single open end wrench in a shipyard, made in WWII, and if i recall,  torched out of two inch plate.   Had a ten inch opening or so, about six foot in length.   The Mac guy had it polished up, chromeplated, and bolted it to the front of his truck for a bumper.  Probably hanging on someones shop wall now.

Found this in my files titled "Wrench, large, New York and New Jersey Tunnel Commission"