Ideas on How to Enlarge Spoke Wrench?

You want the wrench to fit tightly around the nipple. Otherwise youll round it out.

Youre only going to widen it by using a mill.

You sure the corrosion isnt making the nipple measure wider than it is?

Alternatively, you can take the tire off and use an allen socket to turn them.

Acidreamer wrote:

You want the wrench to fit tightly around the nipple. Otherwise youll round it out.

Youre only going to widen it by using a ...more

Acidreamer wrote:

You want the wrench to fit tightly around the nipple. Otherwise youll round it out.

Youre only going to widen it by using a mill.

You sure the corrosion isnt making the nipple measure wider than it is?

Alternatively, you can take the tire off and use an allen socket to turn them.

...more

I do want it to fit snugly. It is too small to fit right now, so I need to make one side deeper.

I am looking for an option besides a mill.

There is no corrosion on the outside of the nipples. I am wanting to make sure there is none inside the nipples on the threads of the nipples or spokes. I am not looking to disassemble the wheel just make sure they all turn freely.

The insides of the nipples have a flat head fitting. One generally can not get a good enough grip on a flat head nipple to turn a stuck nipple free. Thus, the need for a spoke wrench (and penetrating oil).

I am currently thinking very small flat file and lots of elbow grease or the Harbor Freight air file. I don't know how well it will do on steel, though.

Acidreamer wrote:

You want the wrench to fit tightly around the nipple. Otherwise youll round it out.

Youre only going to widen it by using a ...more

Acidreamer wrote:

You want the wrench to fit tightly around the nipple. Otherwise youll round it out.

Youre only going to widen it by using a mill.

You sure the corrosion isnt making the nipple measure wider than it is?

Alternatively, you can take the tire off and use an allen socket to turn them.

...more

KDXGarage wrote:

I do want it to fit snugly. It is too small to fit right now, so I need to make one side deeper.

I am looking for an option ...more

KDXGarage wrote:

I do want it to fit snugly. It is too small to fit right now, so I need to make one side deeper.

I am looking for an option besides a mill.

There is no corrosion on the outside of the nipples. I am wanting to make sure there is none inside the nipples on the threads of the nipples or spokes. I am not looking to disassemble the wheel just make sure they all turn freely.

The insides of the nipples have a flat head fitting. One generally can not get a good enough grip on a flat head nipple to turn a stuck nipple free. Thus, the need for a spoke wrench (and penetrating oil).

I am currently thinking very small flat file and lots of elbow grease or the Harbor Freight air file. I don't know how well it will do on steel, though.

...more

Rocky mountain carries a spoke wrench thats like 6 sizes in 1. Its made by tusk. Order that and use the one that fits. I think it costs like $5 or something like that.

https://www.rockymountainatvmc.com/p/841/2936/Tusk-6-Way-Spoke-Wrench

Can you just use a small hand file?

go buy a tiny adjustable wrench any kind will do they have fairly wide jaws and you can adjust it to fit any nipple it works good

Tusk - Fits: 6.5 mm, 6 mm, 5.7 mm, 5.5 mm, 5 mm and 4.4 mm.

I have already had a 4.3 mm on it... too big.

I am going to try a small hand file.

I am leery of trying a two sided wrench. Yamaha does not sell just one nipple, just like on other Yamahas, one has to buy a whole set of spokes and nipples. YAH, KAWASAKI for not being that shitty.

I have a set of old Easco midget wrenches. Has a nice six point 4mm wrench in the set, as well as many half sizes up to 12mm. As Pete said, a small ,quality crescent wrench that holds it setting will work perfectly.

I have done similar by carefully using a die grinder with a cutoff wheel to resize the wrench......

I would be surprised a 83 would have any spokes nipples that would turn at all. Even with the proper or modded spoke wrench. Good luck. I normally file or dremel. You can pinch in a vice if you went to far, but this weakens the open end obviously.

BikeMaster makes the correct spoke wrench and it's only about $5.00.

Paw Paw

This??

https://bikemaster.com/tools/tire-tools-irons/spoke-wrench.html

You can use a file to take away material from an old, smaller dimensional spoke wrench. I needed to do this recently. Had an old spoke wrench that was a bit too small to fit on my new wheel I had just laced up. I used a flat file and in less than two minutes, I had the perfect size. Just take your time and file away tenths of MM at a time until it fits.

I found some long midget wrenches at I think harbor freight that I like to use. They are 7 or 8 inches long so its effort less.

Motion Pro makes spoke wrenches in many sizes.

Thanks, but I don't think they make one that size.

Ask yourself, what would Burt Munro do, Burt would use a MF nail file if that's all he had. I have a bicycle spoke wrench that I filed 40 years ago for spokes on my SL70 that still works to this day.

Follow up:

Hand filing / sanding the Park Tool wrench was useless. Too hard.

I was able to get the wrench to fit well enough (two sides, not three) and with the help of a Park Tool truing stand, got the wheel trued well.

How about paying $8 at your local dealer?

None of those six sizes are the correct size for the spoke nipples I am talking about.

https://bikemaster.com/spoke-wrench.html