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Seized Vise- Please Help

jgwentworth96

Plastic
Joined
Nov 2, 2017
Just spent the whole day cleaning and rebuilding a kurt vise from an auction. Went to reassemble after oiling the screw and it was a little hard to thread in... so I went to back it out... will now not move at all in either direction. I tried bolting it to my mill and using a breaker bar on it to the point that the handle started to bend and it wont budge. I removed the retaining clip that holds the screw into the vise body and it wont come out. I can still wiggle the nut by hand so its not like its somehow stuck so my issue must be in the thrust bearing. Any ideas?
 
Just spent the whole day cleaning and rebuilding a kurt vise from an auction. Went to reassemble after oiling the screw and it was a little hard to thread in... so I went to back it out... will now not move at all in either direction. I tried bolting it to my mill and using a breaker bar on it to the point that the handle started to bend and it wont budge. I removed the retaining clip that holds the screw into the vise body and it wont come out. I can still wiggle the nut by hand so its not like its somehow stuck so my issue must be in the thrust bearing. Any ideas?

Not to diss your cleaning job but my first thought is that some debris got jammed between the male and female threads. If you are tugging so hard things bend the vise may already be ruined.

First rule: Never be in a hurry when things don't go right. Sometimes putting it aside for a while makes sense. I do some of my best work in an arm chair in front of the TV because most times I'm only half watching and I have plenty of time to think and plan before picking up tools again the next day or whenever.

Edit: Just re-read your post about the nut being loose so perhaps seized at the thrust bearing, again perhaps by some debris? It's amazing what even a tiny chip can do in the wrong spot.
 
I was going to suggest paying your back taxes, but.................

That sounds REALLY stuck, I am surprised that a thrust bearing can get that bad. They are just washer-type items (D 40 types, anyway), and seem as if they would never cause that.

If the thing will not come apart with the clip off, the screw must be stuck in the journal it goes into, or else it IS stuck in the nut.

When you say wiggle, do you mean you can move it relative to the screw? Or just that it moves around inside the vise body?

What type is the vise?
 
Not the thrust bearing.
Can't remember if these are single or multi-start threads.
If multi-start that is the problem as the threads are mis-matched due to wear.
Large Kurt on one of the CNC's got tight, very tight. Finally got it apart and after cleaning everything
cut and filed grooves in the male thread parallel to the shaft. These grooves helped clean out and dress
the female threads.
Or it could be ........"back taxes":D
John
 
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I can actually move the nut in the vise and rotate it slightly due the place between the nut and the vice which is why i dont think the bind is between the screw and the nut. After taking off the retention ring not even hitting the exposed end of the thrust bearing with a mallet will move it so the problem is somehow there. As JST said I realize that all the components in the thrust bearing are pretty much washers so i dont know how it jammed this badly. Im going to try to arbor press the screw/nut out of the thrust bearing tomorrow and ill probably just get the rebuild kit and replace the thrust bearing. Ill keep you guys updated.
 
I can actually move the nut in the vise and rotate it slightly due the place between the nut and the vice which is why i dont think the bind is between the screw and the nut. ......

You may be moving both the nut and the screw, together when you wiggle it. Could still be stuck in the nut.
 
Correct but i wouldnt be able to rorate it relative to the screw which i can.




You can turn the nut a bit without the screw moving? And the screw is locked?

Must be jammed in the section between the thrust bearings. I have trouble understanding how the thrust bearings could lock it, so that's the only part left.
 








 
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