What is a Plier Used For? And How to Use It?

In the world of heavy machinery repair, large wrenches, sockets, and hydraulic presses often receive the most attention. But when you’re dealing with stubborn cotter pins, delicate electrical connectors, or retaining rings buried deep within a component, the humble pair of pliers becomes one of the most valuable tools in your arsenal. The right pliers can quickly solve tough tasks. This guide will explore common uses for pliers in off-road equipment repair and introduce the main types of pliers essential for your toolbox.

What is a Plier Used For?

In essence, pliers constitute a category of manual instruments, the principal intention of which is to magnify the grasping capability. It resembles, in a rudimentary manner, the operation of a first-class lever, thereby permitting the accomplishment of undertakings unattainable by the unaided hand. When one is occupied with the preservation of excavators, tractors, loaders, and other off-road apparatus, the pliers manifest predominantly fourfold functions:

• Gripping: This may be regarded as the most elementary application. Pliers enable the operator to grasp objects firmly, whether it be a small nut resistant to a wrench, a bolt with a rounded head, or a metallic piece requiring fixation for welding or severance. 
• Bending and Shaping: Pliers exhibit suitability in the manipulation of cotter pins, the formation of pliant metallic brackets, or the fashioning of circles upon electrical wire. The concentration of force within the jaws allows operations of a most precise character. 
• Cutting: Numerous variations of pliers are endowed with integrated cutting edges, by which wires, cable ties, safety cords, as well as bolts or pins of minor diameter, may be severed. 
• Positioning: In circumstances where the engine compartment or transmission housing presents constricted space, pliers may serve as an extension of the fingers, permitting the meticulous placement or retrieval of washers, gaskets, or connectors of modest dimension. 

Different Types of Pliers and Their Uses

Not all pliers are equal. The key to success is in choosing the pliers that match the very specific task you are doing on the machinery. To be in possession of a diversified set of pliers is the cornerstone for any hand tools of good quality. Below are the kinds of pliers that any heavy-duty equipment mechanic must have.

Combination Pliers

This one is the all-purpose within the plier family. It has the serrated flat jaws for gripping the flat objects, the round serrated section for gripping the pipes or the large nuts, and also the cutting edge, which is near the pivot. Even though it is not excelling in any single task, its multifunctional nature is making it become the first-choice tool for many people.

• Use on Machinery: general gripping works, cutting of the thin wires, and making quick adjustments in situations where a special tool is not available. 

Needle-Nose Pliers

The needle-nose pliers are characterized by their jaws in the form of a slender and tapering cone, which are designed for precise operation in narrow spaces.

• Use on Machinery: to extend the hand into the narrow engine compartment for taking back the dropped bolts, to connect or disconnect the precise electric connectors, to position the small washers or gaskets, and to bend the split pins upon the control rods. 

Tongue-and-Groove Pliers (Channel Locks)

This type of firm and long-lasting plier, being in a large size, is configured with an adjustable pivot, so that the jaws are capable of being opened until exceedingly wide. The slanted and serrated jaws are capable of holding tightly many kinds of objects in different shapes.

• Use on Machinery: For the purpose of holding and turning those not-high-pressure but large hydraulic fittings, for fixing the sensor body and then loosening its fastening nut, and also for adjusting the big-diameter nuts which are located upon the rod parts and similar assemblies. 

Locking Pliers

Locking pliers are making use of an adjustable mechanism, by which the jaws may be locked upon the object with very great pressure; therefore, the user’s two hands become liberated.

• Use on Machinery: This tool is considered very practical. They are very suitable to clamp those bolt heads already worn into roundness, to hold the metal pieces together for carrying out point welding, and even to serve temporarily as the gear lever or handle at the time when such a lever or handle on site has broken down. 

Diagonal Pliers (Side Cutters)

These pliers are being designed only for cutting purposes. Its jaws are sharp and with a slant angle, so they can make the cutting of many kinds of material very neat and very quick.

• Use on Machinery: to cut the wire to the length needed, to cut off the end part of the cable tie, to cut broken cotter pins, and also for removing the old safety wire. 

Circlip or Snap Ring Pliers

This is one tool that cannot be missing in heavy equipment repair. Circlip (or retaining ring) has many kinds of uses, from gearbox and hydraulic cylinder to wheel hub and PTO shaft. The jaws of these pliers have small pins at the end, which can be put into the hole on the circlip. They are mainly of two types:

• Internal Pliers: When pressing the handle, the jaws will open. It is for taking the circlip from inside the hole (for example, a hydraulic cylinder). 
• External Pliers: When pressing the handle, the jaws will be closing; it is for taking the circlip from outside of the shaft. 

Hose Clamp Pliers

These special pliers are used for the opening and closing of spring-type clamps on coolant, intake, and low-pressure hydraulic hoses. Using the normal pliers to handle these clamps may be troublesome and may also damage the clamp.

• Use on Machinery: During engine repairing, to remove fast and safely or to install radiator hose, fuel pipeline, and other flexible pipeline. 

Crimping Pliers

Inside the high-vibration environment of heavy-duty machinery, line failure is very common. The crimping pliers are used to connect the new terminal or connector to the electric wire, making sure the electrical connection is safe and reliable.

• Use on Machinery: To repair the damaged wire harness, to install the new lamps or accessories, and also to make a custom wire harness. The good crimping for a 24-volt system is most important, as it can prevent the voltage drop and also future failure. 

Equip Yourself for Success

Within any chamber of heavy machinery maintenance, the pliers of humble appearance manifest themselves as veritable assistants of efficacy. To acquire comprehension of diverse categories of pliers and their particular employments shall render one’s labor more efficient, more secure, and more precise. To possess within the coffer of tools the fitting circlip plier, the hose clamp plier, or the locking plier, is to conserve innumerable moments and to avert the grievous expense of ruin. When the hour arrives that the arsenal of implements must be enlarged, or the worn-out instrument exchanged, let it be borne in mind that the remittance of extravagant dealer’s sums is not requisite. The trustworthy purveyor of the aftermarket is capable of bestowing, at modest cost, tools and components of enduring sturdiness and exalted quality, to ensure one’s readiness to confront whatsoever labor lies at hand.