Play in Brace

[Joel Goodman]

How much play is acceptable in a Stanley 923 brace? The chuck/ratchet assembly has some wobble in it where it connects to the body of the brace. Is there a way to fix it? The connection has a cotter pin but I haven't tried to disassemble the connection. Any advice on disassembly? The ratchet works fine and I don't want to mess with it. Or is this better left alone? -- I don't want to end up with a bucket full of parts. Help -- it's a 12" and I like the extra throw.

[James Owen]

How much play is acceptable in a Stanley 923 brace? The chuck/ratchet assembly has some wobble in it where it connects to the body of the brace. Is there a way to fix it? The connection has a cotter pin but I haven't tried to disassemble the connection. Any advice on disassembly? The ratchet works fine and I don't want to mess with it. Or is this better left alone? -- I don't want to end up with a bucket full of parts. Help -- it's a 12" and I like the extra throw.

Joel,

Your post sparked my curiosity, so I went and checked my braces.

What I found was that the ratcheting mechanism/jaw assemblies all had a slight amount of play (if you try to move the outer jaw and ratchet assembly from side to side, it jiggles a very slight bit, probably no more than 1/64 inch or so), but the lower housing that actually contains and connects the ratcheting mechanism/jaw assembly to the brace shaft (where it is pinned) is very tight, with no play at all.

Mike Dunbar's book on restoring tools has only about a page on braces and doesn't really cover that question.

On most of my braces, that pin looks more like a rivet. One possibility is that the head of the rivet has become loose or worn, with a (small) gap between the under side of the rivet and the rachet housing; if that's the case, peening the rivet may solve the problem.

If that is not the problem, you might look at pushing/drilling that pin/rivet out and examining the hole, the brace shaft, and the pin/rivet shaft. Based on your post, a couple of other possibilities are a loose/worn pin/rivet or an enlarged pin/rivet hole in the brace shaft; a slightly larger diameter pin/rivet would remedy that problem.

Another thought is that the shaft going into the ratchet housing has somehow (through rust or wear maybe???) become smaller in diameter or that the inside of the ratchet housing has become slightly larger (again through rust or wear???). If that's that case, it might be possible to shim and re-pin it. Resizing the ratchet housing hole to its original diameter or building-up (brazing or welding) and re-machining the shaft to the original diameter would be a lot of work, and potentially more expensive than the brace is worth.

Don't know if any of this will solve the problem, but hope that it is of some use to you.

[Joel Goodman]

The 923 has what appears to be a screw secured by a cotter pin -- I have a brace with a rivet at the back of the ratchet assembly but this is different. If anyone has experience taking this apart please let me know if there are any gotchas. Thanks.

[Bill Houghton]

the question is whether yours is excessive, and I don't know how to suggest you can tell except by comparison to other braces.

Does your area have any flea markets open? If so, you could go to one this weekend, find the tool tables, and mess around with the braces visible to compare to yours.

Keep in mind that the rotations of a brace are slow, so, if the play is within normal parameters, you'll find you can adapt to it without much issue.

I'd test to see if you have a problem before getting involved in taking it apart.

[Gary Herrmann]

I just checked my 923. My findings echo James' post. I can make mine shift back and forth with pressure from my fingers. No impact on the brace's functionality. Mine has what appears to be a cotter pin.

If the ratchet works fine, I wouldn't mess with it - unless you want to tear it down to see how it all works.

I actually prefer the ratchet button on 2100s and 2101s over than the collar type on 923s, but you gotta love a tool with a cocobolo handle and pad.