Great looking vise. I’m looking to buy a 975. How much does this vise weigh? What are the specs on this vise? How large is the nut on the bottom swivel, does it take a 1 1/2″ socket? Thanks
Thanks for the kind words Emilio! According to an old Parker ad, the 975 weighs 104 pounds, has 5″ wide jaws and opens 8″. I’m not sure about the size of the bolt through the swivel base, but I have another 975 I just finished restoring and haven’t reassembled yet, so it will be easy to measure it and let you know. I used a socket with an impact wrench to remove the bolt on this one, but that was really more than it needed and I’m sure it would have come off easily with a breaker bar or ratchet if you kept it from moving while you turned the wrench.
Hey Chris, I found exactly the same vise on Craigslist down here in Alabama and I got it for $100. It even came with the original wrench for the base. I plan to restore it myself and if it turns out anywhere near as good as yours I’ll be happy. My question is, how the heck did you get the jaw pins out? Also, did you use new ones when you reinstalled the jaws? If so, how did you source them? Thanks for the pictures and the motivation!
Thanks for the kind words! Getting the pins out is really nothing more than making sure the part you’re working on doesn’t move, and using the right size punch and a big hammer (so you don’t have to swing hard) and driving them out from below. I reused the factory pins on this vise, but had another that was missing pins and I bought the same size dowel rod at a local store that sells fasteners. I trimmed them a bit, left them a bit on the long side and them smoothed them down with a flap disc to match the jaw profile before final polish. Good luck getting yours looking like new again…they are a very stout vise!
Sorry for the delay….I just saw this for some reason and it was hidden in a “pending” status. The jaw pins came out pretty easily on that vise. I simply turned everything upside down and drove them out from the bottom with a drift. I don’t recall if I reused them or not, but I’m pretty sure they’re a standard size dowel pin/rod that you can get at fastener stores.
Great looking vise. I’m looking to buy a 975. How much does this vise weigh? What are the specs on this vise? How large is the nut on the bottom swivel, does it take a 1 1/2″ socket? Thanks
Thanks for the kind words Emilio! According to an old Parker ad, the 975 weighs 104 pounds, has 5″ wide jaws and opens 8″. I’m not sure about the size of the bolt through the swivel base, but I have another 975 I just finished restoring and haven’t reassembled yet, so it will be easy to measure it and let you know. I used a socket with an impact wrench to remove the bolt on this one, but that was really more than it needed and I’m sure it would have come off easily with a breaker bar or ratchet if you kept it from moving while you turned the wrench.
Hey Chris, I found exactly the same vise on Craigslist down here in Alabama and I got it for $100. It even came with the original wrench for the base. I plan to restore it myself and if it turns out anywhere near as good as yours I’ll be happy. My question is, how the heck did you get the jaw pins out? Also, did you use new ones when you reinstalled the jaws? If so, how did you source them? Thanks for the pictures and the motivation!
Hi Amos,
Thanks for the kind words! Getting the pins out is really nothing more than making sure the part you’re working on doesn’t move, and using the right size punch and a big hammer (so you don’t have to swing hard) and driving them out from below. I reused the factory pins on this vise, but had another that was missing pins and I bought the same size dowel rod at a local store that sells fasteners. I trimmed them a bit, left them a bit on the long side and them smoothed them down with a flap disc to match the jaw profile before final polish. Good luck getting yours looking like new again…they are a very stout vise!
Hi Amos,
Sorry for the delay….I just saw this for some reason and it was hidden in a “pending” status. The jaw pins came out pretty easily on that vise. I simply turned everything upside down and drove them out from the bottom with a drift. I don’t recall if I reused them or not, but I’m pretty sure they’re a standard size dowel pin/rod that you can get at fastener stores.