Original “Safety Wrench” for bands

[Chris Paulsen]

Neither my father nor I had ever seen one of these, so I thought I’d share a few photos. Similar to the ones available today.

[RajoRacer]

Well, that's cool ! I have an original one that the repros were copied off of - they are handy !

[dobro1956]

That's nice.....

[Kaiser]

Do i see it right, is this a wrench that securely holds the nut when mounting the bands and prevents it from dropping in the dark unfathomable depths of the transmission...
Cool ! i want one !

[Chris Paulsen]

Kaiser- that’s exactly what it is.

[DanTreace]

Chris

Really like that design on the "Safety Wrench" band nut/washer holding wrench. The flat style is more practical in use IMO, and the clip like Church Key lock would be simple to open and close in the tight space of the hogshead opening. Works by rotating that collar to spin the washer and nut on or off the shaft. And that side-action fork is a neater idea!

Have used the modern repop of another style, but it is clumsy with the convex handle, and the spring fork to clamp behind the lock washer and nut, fitting on the end of a bare pedal shaft isn't easy as the maybe the one you pictured!

The only time the repop is handy for me is when removing a washer and nut, can be assured they stay captive, but takes a lot of fiddling to remove the assembly due to the clumsy handle and lock fork, the angle of the handle isn't really helpful. That removal takes a screwdriver to force the band lug and spring back to get the fork behind the lock washer, can be done, but tough. For install, don't use this tool, but use double loop of Dental Floss tied to the washer and nut to keep them from falling away, and the floss still allows threading on the nut.

Someone should make that flat style you have!!!

Clumsy and bulky handle of the repop lock washer and band nut insertion and removal tool.

IMG_0044.JPG (77.54 KiB) Viewed 1867 times

[John kuehn]

I was going to ask if the repos that’s made these days is actually a copy of an original. I wonder who came up with the repos idea. When I saw this it sure looked like this was a better idea! And it wasn’t from Ford but an original old time accessory!

[Steve Jelf]

For those who may not know about it, here's the Z tool for adjusting bands. It's not tedious like the #1917 wrench that came with every car, and not terribly scarce. I see it often among the Model T tools at swap meets.