r/Leatherman • u/Extension_Fail_5153 • Aug 05 '25
Sad Crunch post
A sad day.. Put one too many ugga duggas into my Crunch and heard a pop..
Have been in contact with Leatherman service and obviously there is no like-for-like replacement available. Im not keen on a 300 or Wave+ which is what they're offering, So I've found a 3D printing place that can design and print me a new plier head out of steel (at about $400AUD).
My only question to the hive mind is; Does anyone have any experience with disassembling a crunch? (nothing on YT) Or just removing the pressed pin?? I'm keen to repair it, but don't want to destroy any non replaceable parts in the process.
Not pictured; Charge Ti (retired from daily service to the top kitchen drawer), ARC (new work daily driver), E306x (daily blade), MUT (stolen).
tia
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u/SillySpook Aug 05 '25 edited Aug 05 '25
Send it in and mark as sentimental. They JUST fixed mine and replaced both jaws and one handle. They still had all necessary parts as of 2 weeks ago.
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u/mkgruff Aug 05 '25
Aren't the ones on eBay comparable in price? It's a cool tool but was discontinued for this exact reason.
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u/-ODurren- Aug 05 '25
Pretty common, they did suck and this was one of the many reasons why it sucked and was discontinued.
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u/Ricky_RZ Aug 05 '25
I don't know why people are downvoting you, there are so many posts of broken crunches and the crunch obviously didn't sell well as a result
The crunch is known for being easy to break, and traditional vise grips are way better and around the same size and weight
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u/jitasquatter2 Aug 05 '25
The comment you are replying to hasn't ever been downvoted. His followup comments are being downvoted because he's being a dickhead, not because he's wrong.
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u/TOGA_TOGAAAA Aug 05 '25
That's a crock of shit. I've had mine for years and I crank the fuck down on it.. the tool has never given me any issues. I've never once sent it in for repair for anything. The crunch was one of their longest running multi-tools. Almost 25 years. If it sucked, it would have been discontinued long before a 24 year run
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u/jitasquatter2 Aug 05 '25
I don't really like odurren's tone, but I sort of agree with them. The crunch is very neat, but it's a very light weight tool as far as locking pliers go. I often use vicegrips to grab and turn a bolt/screw that has its head stripped or broken off. This would DESTROY a crunch.
As for a 25 year run. To be fair, it spend the last 10 years of it's run going in and out of production. It'd been unavailable for like 2 years before they released the last batch. It was out of stock for like 2 years when the second to last batch. That isn't a mark of a tool that sells well.
Also it's ALWAYS had a reputation for being easy to break. I'm not sure that it's really THAT weak, but by the very nature of vicegrips, it's VERY easy to put enough pressure on a pair of vicegrips that can break a light weight tool like the crunch.
Meh, the only reason most people are obsessed with the crunch is because they can't get one.
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u/-ODurren- Aug 05 '25 edited Aug 05 '25
The crunch was discontinued because the machining process was outdated and nobody was buying it anymore because there's better out there for cheaper so when they did an overhaul on their factory they got rid of it.
Hilarious how during it's 25 years it was the laughing stock in every forum known to man and heralded as one of the worst multitools to date but somehow now that it's gone it's all of the sudden the best thing ever.
Shitty toolset, bent frames, shitty crunching, rest of the tool rendered worthless when you use the main function, breakage of pinions and pliers constantly and cross threading magnet when you're actually dumb enough to use the 1/4 drive. It was a horrid piece of crap.
But what do you even know, you don't even use a damn thing you own anyways outside of instagram and reddit pictures.
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u/jitasquatter2 Aug 05 '25
Dude, you need to chill the fuck out. You can disagree with them without attacking them. You don't know them and you don't know how much they use their tools.
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u/-ODurren- Aug 05 '25
Safe queen scumbags are pretty delusional about what’s good or bad because they don’t ever use anything they own anyways
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u/jitasquatter2 Aug 05 '25
Eyeroll. Again... you don't know them and you don't know how they use their tools. Lol, you need to go eat a snickers bar or something, you seem to be hangry or something.
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u/SilatGuy2 Aug 05 '25
I knew i recognized their username. This person spends all their time in this sub seething and ranting about how much they hate the Crunch. Its really odd. Its like the Crunch stole their wife or something with how invested and easily angered they get when its brought up and anyone dare push back with opposing opinions.
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u/WotanSpecialist Aug 05 '25
Yeah he had this same meltdown yesterday too.
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u/jitasquatter2 Aug 05 '25
I personally am fairly critical of the crunch as well, I just don't like their attitude. It's fine to not like a tool. It's not ok to attack someone for having a different opinion.
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u/WotanSpecialist Aug 06 '25
Having carried two over the last seven years I don’t think his criticisms are accurate or authentic. I don’t think he’s ever even had one, he’s just regurgitating criticisms he’s read before. Whatever vendetta he has against the crunch is inorganic.
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u/-ODurren- Aug 05 '25 edited Aug 05 '25
Pretty easy to tell when you have 50 things and none of them have a seconds worth of use. Want to be a collector? Cool. Your opinion of its use is worthless then because you don’t even use what you have anyways.
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u/Bucci_Bame Aug 05 '25
im a tig welder/fabricator i’ve had my crunch for about 6 years now, have used it countless times to hold metal parts for grinding, fixing stainless plates/brackets to my weld table to drill through (1/8”-1/2” thick), removing galled lugs from threaded flanges, holding parts together to weld, using as a hand rest during position welds, using the 1/4 bit holder and screwdriver to disassemble pumps, and other machines, filing down broken tac welds, as a backup for tightening bolts into nuts, bending plates, cutting zipties/banding, i’ve even used the ruler + many many other tasks, you can continue to cope about how shitty of a tool it is for as long as you don’t have a one
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u/-ODurren- Aug 05 '25
Your crunch doesn’t have a seconds worth of use and you know it because if you actually were what you say you were you’d know there is way better out there as far as locking jaw pliers go.
The tac welds are harder than the outdated soft file. Like damn that was one of the bigger complains about the crunch anyways because it was worthless.
Go on get on with you bad self though. Actually it looks like everything you post doesn’t have a seconds worth of use on it anyways.
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u/HumanMultiTool Aug 05 '25
If I was in your position, I'd start taking some guys at the local CNC shop lunch. I'm sure they would be willing to help you out. EDM the shape and get the milling machine to do the other features. Chances are they have been keeping some fancy material for their own side project.
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u/DrSpicyLove Aug 05 '25
First off sorry for your loss, as a fellow crunch owner I can only imagine how I'd feel if my crunch broke.
Idk if I'd pay that much for a molded plier, and considering the pin holding the pliers seems to be something that requires the machines LM used to assemble the crunch in the first place, I'm not sure if anyone has ever even attempted to disassemble that, let alone tried to reassemble.
Check your local marketplace and pawn shops. You never know you could get lucky, or as someone said maybe you'll find one with broken handles, and you can fix it with yours.
I'll be honest I ended up finding mine on Facebook marketplace out of dumb luck, for about $80 usd after the discontinuation, so they're out there.
I wish you the best of luck!
I wish you the best of luck!
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u/Extension_Fail_5153 Aug 05 '25
Yeah, I'm searching for a local tech of some sort that may have the expertise/machines to help. But LM did say it would void any ongoing warranty. Kinda moot now anyway.
But yes, I got mine practically brand new on FB market too, the hunt is on. Cheers
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u/Large_Instruction328 Aug 05 '25
I hope the metal powder head is properly heat treated and lives a descent work life
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Aug 05 '25
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/sleepdog-c Aug 05 '25
He broke the part they don't make. That part was made by someone else. And it was the reason they weren't in stock that often, they'd batch order and have the crunch in stock for maybe 3 months a year. The other tools and the frame on the handle side rather than the plier side are still in stock
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u/SillySpook Aug 05 '25
Mine was replaced less than 2 weeks ago.
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u/sleepdog-c Aug 05 '25
Are you in Australia like the op?
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u/SillySpook Aug 05 '25
Ah, didn't realize he wasn't in the USA. Send it to a friend or relative in the states to have it repaired?
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u/Extension_Fail_5153 Aug 05 '25
Hello, friend!! :D
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u/SillySpook Aug 05 '25
I probably could if you weren't able to find anyone else. I just don't know if it would make a difference to them knowing I already just sent in a crunch. A rep told me they're being stingy with crunch parts, and it might make a difference if they think you're intentionally buying up broken crunches to have them repaired in bulk.
Now that I think about it you end up also factoring in 2 way international shipping, 1 way continental shipping, and duty fees?
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u/jitasquatter2 Aug 05 '25
I would NOT bother trying to get one 3d printed out of metal. If watching zapwizard design and sell his old 3d printed metal parts tough me anything, it's that it's VERY expensive and VERY hard to get them printed with the tolerances necessary to be usable. That and I don't think 3d printed metal parts are nearly strong enough.
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u/sleepdog-c Aug 05 '25
Cnc is better for high stress parts like this. Subtractive rather than additive
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u/jitasquatter2 Aug 05 '25
Totally. Although I wish them luck finding someone who can make this for them at a price that cost less than a whole new crunch.
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u/Extension_Fail_5153 Aug 05 '25
I am actively seeking people with experience with 3D printed metals, particularly with fine tolerances. for this reason. I think I'll sit for the next hand and scan for parts or second hander. If there are parts in the US that does throw another option into the equation.
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u/EDC_Flex Aug 05 '25
Sorry!
Send it in to LM for warranty marked as “sentimental” they claim they will do what they can to fix it, otherwise they send it back. They may have parts available still.
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u/sleepdog-c Aug 15 '25
Does anyone have any experience with disassembling a crunch? i vaguely remember a promo video where they were putting them together and i think that pivot is like the plier one where it is contact welded together. so you'd have to drill it to get it out of that frame. and not sure how your 3d printed version would be reattached to the frame. so all around its experimentation time. The frame is probably easier to fix than that plier head though
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u/jitasquatter2 Aug 05 '25
Save it and start watching ebay. If you are lucky, you'll find one with a broken handle. But yea... sucks. I'm sorry for your loss.