This is the new Dewalt 8″ adjustable wrench, DWHT80267, one of several new adjustable wrenches the brand will be coming out with.
Dewalt first came out with adjustable wrenches a few years ago, and they’re okay. They’re overbuilt for strength and durability, but this also makes them larger and heavier than competing wrenches.
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These new models of Dewalt adjustable wrenches feature an I-beam design, similar to what you’ll find on other adjustable wrenches, to save weight.
Dewalt says shedding some weight gives the wrenches better balance compared to their original adjustable wrenches, and that the new wrenches will also have more comfortable handles.
It’s not very clear in the product image, but it looks like there are 4 engagement teeth, which would mean greater jaw strength and resistance to slop, wobble, and unintended adjustment.
There will be a range of sizes, from 4″ to 24″, including a spud wrench.
Features
- Precision jaws
- Solid steel I-beam handle
- Laser-etched markings
- Extra wide jaw capacity
- Flared end to help prevent hand slipping
- Extended jaw length for added reach
8″ Wrench Specs
- 0.51″ head thickness
- 1.14″ jaw max opening width
- 2.44″ head width
- 8.11″ overall length
Sizes and Model Numbers
- 6″ DWHT80266
- 8″ DWHT80267
- 10″ DWHT80268
- 12″ DWHT80269
We’ve found model numbers for 4 sizes listed on Dewalt’s website, and according to Dewalt’s product descriptions there will be a total of 9 different sizes and styles.
Buy Now(2-pack via Home Depot)
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Update: It looks like these new wrenches are a bare version of yellow-handled Dewalt wrenches that appeared in a 2-pack last winter during the holiday shopping season.
First Thoughts
This new design definitely looks better. There are no weight specs I could find, and so comparisons to older Dewalt wrenches and other brands’ designs won’t be possible until the new wrench starts shipping.
I bought a couple of Dewalt adjustable wrenches when they first came out, but I can’t remember the last time I used them. I don’t even know where they are right now, something I don’t regret in the least. I’m sure I have one or two review samples somewhere too.
There was never anything special about them. Yes, they’re strong, tough, and overbuilt, but I can’t remember the last time I broke an adjustable wrench.
To me, reduced slop, high precision, and comfortable handles are most important. Bulkier handles do nothing to contribute to any of this.
One of these new 8″ wrenches might find its way to my toolbox, for times I might need a heavy duty adjustable wrench that can shrug off some abuse with ease.
If its handle is as lighter in weight and more comfortable as Dewalt claims, maybe it’ll become my go-to, but that doesn’t seem likely. I’m so enamored with my Channellock adjustables that it’s almost inconceivable for any wrench to be better.
Big Adam
I’ll stick with my Irwin Record Vice-Grips.
The yeti
Channel lock 6 ,8 and 12 for me plus several odd ones blue point 8 inch etc..
I got a bunch of proto sockets used a few weeks back . Really like them. Not sure how dewalt fits into hand tools
Nathan
not enough yellow on them
Otherwise look OK but I’d probably buy some other brand’s model for cheaper. I mean my channel lock ones are some 20 years old – they don’t get used much though
fred
These probably make sense to some marketing gurus at SBD – but from a tool buyer/user perspective these look ho-hum and Dewalt should probably ‘stick to their knitting” concentrating on power tools. SBD’s Craftsman, Facom, Irwin, Proto and Stanley brands should be an adequate number of brands under which to release wrenches – so marketing ones under the Dewalt and Bostitch – when they don’t really offer anything new – IMO is just a distraction.
Stuart
These are second generation adjustable wrenches. To me that suggests that Dewalt is either motivated by strong sales of the original designs, or looking to improve sales with better designs.
Despite my lack of love towards the original design. I still appreciate how strong and durable they are. If I had to pound on an adjustable wrench to loosen up a fastener, these look better for that than other wrenches I’ve seen and used. And the new design even better, since it moves more towards a “user comfort” direction.
It might also be worth pointing out that Dewalt doesn’t sell tools to end users; retailers and suppliers are their direct customers. It’s impossible to know how that might factor into tool releases or redesigns.
The yeti
Why would u be hammering on an adjustable wrench
fred
I think Stuart was probably trying to make a point that some folks tend to abuse their tools – maybe this one in particular. Some might say that just using an adjustable wrench at all is “an abuse” – but lots of them are sold – to avoid having/carrying an assortment of single size wrenches. They can work well enough – but I’ve seen them being used in reverse orientation, used with cheater bars and they probably get hammered (possibly with the cheek) of a claw hammer.
I stick with my earlier comments – but to Stuart’s point – I agree that Dewalt would not be coming out with a Mark-II design if their first batch had not sold.
Stuart
Sometimes that’s what it takes to get the job done.
Nathan
so to be fair I would agree it looks beefy – and that squared off end does look like a decent landing for hammer blows . HOWEVER I’ve never thought of or considered using a adjustable to hammer off something. Socket with breaker bar – sure – socket with ratchet handle – indeed – box end – on occasion.
so if the adjust able mechanism is that tight so as to allow abuse – they should market it as such – with capability in mind because no I wouldn’t do that with my crescent model.
Meanwhile again marketing wise – it doesn’t have enough yellow on it – read that as – I don’t see any. DeWalt tools have yellow on there. It’s a minor thing and not so much about looks as much as it does make it look like they don’t want it associated. Seems hinky to me.
Stuart
Hmm, it looks like these are just “bare” versions of a promo pack that came out during the 2016 holiday shopping season:
https://14cyiuhvcgv.com/dewalt-adjustable-wrench-2-pack/%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
Those have some yellow. =)
Brian
Channellock (made by Irega) are the only adjustable wrench worth using. Knipex Pliers wrench is my go to but the price would definitely scare some people off.
ca
I’m surprised there’s no Bluetooth.
The yeti
Or a smart phone enabled app lol
Yadda
I still like Crescent brand adjustable wrenches. I am also fond of my Armstrong adjustable wrench.
BikerDad
I’ve got a small herd of American made adjustables, aside from needing one of the big one’s for something that I don’t have a fixed wrench for, I don’t use ’em much. I’ll grab my Knipex first.
JoeM
To be perfectly honest… and I mean dead, blunt, in-your-face, honest… I don’t know why any company makes adjustable wrenches at all anymore. The exception being the large plumbing style ones, with the giant adjuster grip, I don’t know why any company makes them.
The big, over-built plumbing ones, for cranking pipes and hoses tight… those I can never see the tool manufacturers being without. But these thumb-tighten ones? Why is anyone making them? I know the intent of them, but no matter who makes them, I have always found them deeply lacking. Cheap ones, the pin holding in the adjuster detaches, and suddenly the wrench falls apart. Expensive ones, you can buy the entire range of set wrenches, in a set no less, for not much more than a single state-of-the-art version of one of these. Go middle of the road and you’re playing roulette with grip, size, and material standards across the board.
Is it solely the convenience of carrying around a single wrench that spans many sizes? I don’t get it. I honestly don’t understand the logic. Don’t we have SIGNIFICANTLY better tool solutions to these things at this point? I could have sworn these things were ready to be phased out of existence by now.
Corey
Between working in theatre and HVAC, I love a good C-wrench. If I’m in some small attic, or on top of a 40′ ladder working on a light, I don’t have the ability to carry a whole bunch of wrenches. My 8″ adjustable can fit in a pocket, be tethered to a belt loop, and then easily adjusted without needing two hands. For HVAC, I’m carrying a fraction of the weight in my toolbag when I go to seven houses in one day. When you’re working in field conditions, universality and weight reduction are huge benefits.
And I’ll admit to carrying my grandfather’s S-curved adjustable for sentimental value.
taras
If you’re in a position where you are going around a jobsite doing deficiencies, then yeah, and adjustable wrench is extremely useful. If you have to carry a whole set of wrenches around to turn a nut and bolt at a time, then you’re wasting time and energy. A good adjustable doesn’t cost as much as a set of wrenches does (at least not good ones, the cheap ones are off on size, break, distort). In fact, have you looked at a decent full set of wrenches lately and compared that set to 2 quality adjustable wrenches? You’ll be way ahead with $$ left in your wallet with the 2 adjustables VS the wrench set. Oh, and you will need two sets of wrenches as well. Why 2, because you need one on the bolt and one on the nut. Still want to carry around 2 full sets of wrenches?
Stuart
I still use an adjustable wrench fairly regularly. Say I’m working on one side of a bolt and nut assembly. What goes on the other? Sometimes an adjustable and a wrench work best. Or a socket and an adjustable wrench.
Even if I have 2 wrenches of the same size, an adjustable sometimes works better on the back side of an assembly because its larger handle is an easier target to find and hold down.
For users on the go, sometimes the need for a wrench comes up unexpectedly. Technicians or general contractors might not have standard wrenches in their bag or truck.
Knipex’s Pliers Wrench is a great tool, but has its own limitations. You have to squeeze the grips to use it effectively, and sometimes that’s not possible.
Adjustable wrenches won’t be obsolete anytime soon.
fred
Despite my earlier deprecations – my plumbing crews used lots of Channellock wide mouth adjustables – and now the short-handle ones are great for tight spots. The Knipex plier wrenches – were not always the tool of choice – great on brass and chrome fittings – not our choice on slip nuts. The need to grip the handles together is indeed what make the Knipex grip – gripping and loosening is also what give them a bit of a ratcheting-like action. Some adjustable wrenches claim to have a ratcheting function – but most that I’ve seen get rather mixed reviews – and seem like the kind of tool that gets promoted at Father’s Day
JoeM
It’s not the adjustability that I question. It’s that thumb-tighten screw mechanism. If you look at a plumber’s “Monkey Wrench”, you could set off a bomb next to it, and it would still function as an adjustable wrench. Adjustability in a wrench is easy to understand… what isn’t… at least to ME it isn’t… is why that flimsy thumb screw is still the dominant form of this wrench?
I have seen a set of 5 or 7 of this style wrench, I think even branded Vice-Grip or Irwin, years ago, for $200. What made them $200 wasn’t just the name brand, or the store being spiking the price up, though those probably contributed. These had some ergonomic soft coating on the handles, and the jaws were tempered steel, had gripping teeth of some sort, and there was some sort of locking button so the thumb screw didn’t move. So, as these adjustable wrenches go… pretty state-of-the-art. But there were only, and I don’t remember much beyond thinking it was way more expensive than it was worth, 5 or 7 wrenches in the pack. A blister pack, I might add. No case, just the wrenches, covering a small 1-3″ one (or something very small like that), all the way up to one I would have needed 2 hands to pick up.
Now… Irwin/Vice-Grip… They’re not a cheap brand… but I could go to Canadian Tire (I am Canadian, so… I don’t know the American equivalent of this store.) and get a Stanley/FatMAX Black-Chrome Wrench set in Metric And Imperial that covered the exact same ranges of head size for $150. Now… I get that carrying around that big set isn’t ideal, none of us wants to do it… but the Irwin/Vice-Grip set was much more money for much fewer wrenches. So it is possible to do without one or the other. Hell, you could even justify it, carrying around the closest Metric wrench to your Imperial wrench, and using THAT on the other side to hold it. (I’ve done it, it does work just fine.) Ideally, carrying around an adjustable wrench would make everything simpler, and I don’t see a world ever existing where one isn’t needed. I did mention the Plumber’s wrench, sometimes called a “Monkey Wrench”… and those I understand far better.
It’s this thumb-screw thing. I could have sworn we had invented something to replace that thumb screw. And I don’t mean the self-adjusting grip pliers, I mean I swear we figured out something other than that thumb screw. And if we haven’t.. why the hell not? It’s so easy to mess that thing up. I don’t know why any tool company is still pursuing THIS method? It’s pretty far from being a flawless design, so it’s not a Robertson screwdriver, or a Monkey Wrench, or even a simple Claw Hammer.
Yes, I’m a DeWALT Fanboy… but… I still wouldn’t buy these things. I have a set of Mastercraft (Canadian Tire house brand, made by Stanley) ones that I have in case need them. I still end up using my Stanley FatMAX socket set more often. (It contains some wrenches, so those are what I mean.)
glenn
Adjustable wrenches?
Bahco 1st, everything else a distant 2nd.
fred
When we first head about wide-mouth adjustable wrenches, we
bought a few Bahcos that we thought might be made in Sweden – but they were actually made in Spain. Following on we bought mostly Channellock wide mouths – also made in Spain. We had the same odd QC problem with at least one of both brands – with sloppy misaligned jaws – almost made you think they might have been made in the same factory on a “bad-hair” day. I know that the Channellocks were made by Irega – wonder if they are also the OEM for the Bahcos. From our experience, they are both very good tools (save a few bad apples) – as good or better than old USA-Made Crescent’s – with better ergonomics and those wide opening jaws.
BTW – Supertool (Japan) makes a stubby wide mouth (MFTN68A) out of aluminum alloy and Engineer make those nice extremely thin jaw adjustables (TWM-03 and TWM-08) – good for jam nuts and electronics. We also had some Ampco bronze adjustables tucked away in the tool room – relics of a few jobs where the potentially explosive environment dictated some special training and non-sparking tools.
glenn
That BTW one looks really nice, in fact most Japanese tools are really nice.
I have tried quite a few different ones over the years but my old 8″ wide-mouth Bahco is the only one that I have kept. It has near zero slop and has held up well. I gave all the others away.
I have looked at some of the newer brands but they just didn’t appeal, certainly not enough to replace the one I have.
mike
I am looking for a 4″ adjustable end wrench preferable crescent or any usa made.
Stuart
4″ is tough, but they’re out there.
The Proto J704 is made in the USA.