Coaching/criticisms/advice for Wilton vise

[G-ManBart]

Embarrased to show my paltry amount of vises , but what I have remaining is now together . Starrett 925 , Wilton 6" with the copper soft jaws , Wilton 4500 , Unknown USA vise and my Dads little Littlestown vise . I've sold so many vises out on the road at yard sales I couldn't count them .

The 6" Wilton is a Tradesman 1760. The unknown USA vise looks like a Wilton 744 Mechanic's vise....it might have casting codes on the side that will help ID it.

 

[G-ManBart]

The 4” Rock Island vise I bought with it, was mounted same day, and been in service ever since. It’s a great vise at a great size!

I'm a big fan of Rock Island vises! I have a Craftsman made by Rock Island on one of my benches and use it all the time...I can never remember if it's dated 1-40 or 1-41 but you would never know it's over 80 years old!

 

[Firstram]

I've had a pile of bigger vises up to 8" jaws and 250lbs...sold all but the C3 as they were simply impractical, even when I owned a bull dozer, backhoe, dump truck, etc. The big problem is that the 6" and bigger vises are too tall to use on a normal workbench unless you're a really tall person. They put the work around my armpits, so they really have to be mounted on a stand at the right height to be useful. I have the material to make a stand for the C3, I just haven't needed it for anything and it's been on the dolly for years now. The only reason I have a vise this big is to work on other vises. I actually have a picture of the C0 from above in the C3 above doing a repair to the dust cap assembly (pins were loose)...this is about the only time I use the C3. I forgot, but this shows the factory grease Wilton uses...it's thick like cosmoline.

View attachment 454572

To put it in perspective, the Army uses Wilton C2s (5" jaw, 100lbs) on the trailers they use to repair M1 tanks. If you're working on stuff bigger than an M1 tank, maybe a C3 is helpful...lol. The folks on Garage Journal would have you believe you can't do anything with a vise smaller than 6" and 150lbs or so. In reality, the most common vise size in welding and fabrication shops is 4.5" and 75lbs give or take.

I think the OP's C0 is a great size for hobby shop use....doesn't take up a bunch of space on the bench, will hold most anything needed, and doesn't cost $1,500. One of my most uses Wiltons is a little 300 with 3" jaws...use it a hundred times more than the big vises.

I’m pretty happy using my Reed 406 but it is on stand with the jaws at about 38” high. Rock solid and stable with 360* access.

 

[jwmay]

Here’s something that I’d like to know more about. Aren’t there supposed to be smooth pins here?

 

[G-ManBart]

Here’s something that I’d like to know more about. Aren’t there supposed to be smooth pins here?

Yes, it's supposed to have one smooth pin per side that goes through the body of the vise, the tail cap assembly and then the nut itself. I've seen that exact damage many times. If you go to open a Wilton and the tail cap moves backwards, it means the pins are broken/missing or the tail cap has that damage. The pins only do anything when you're opening the vise. When you're closing it the screw pulls on the nut which pulls on the tail cap which is recessed into the body, so nothing can move.

What I do is shorten the tail cap slightly by grinding it down even with the top (front really) of the holes. I then make a washer that is slightly smaller in both OD and ID than the section the pins go through and TIG weld that washer to the tail cap assembly. TIG brazing works as well. At that point, I put the tail cap back on the body of the vise, put the nut in place and get the holes lined up as best I can with a tapered drift, put a large socket over the end of the nut, and a flat plate on the front opening of the body of the vise and put that whole sandwich in a bigger vise. I then drill the holes one size larger and install new pins. The pictures above of the C0 in the C3 are an example of this exact repair. The good thing the repair only has to hold up to the force of opening the jaws....pretty minimal. If you don't grind down the tail cap the holes would have to be way too big.