# Super Vee: where do grippers go?



## Koolkat (Jun 30, 2013)

I use a GWS Super Vee with a 3/8" 50 ft cable for clogged kitchen and bathroom stacks. I usually disassemble the trap, and go in that way. The machine usually works great, but I found these two little L-shaped metal pieces (with a half-circle cut at the short end) that fell out of the head assembly. I discovered they are called "cable grippers", and the fact that these came out is probably the reason why the cable will slide freely in and out no matter whether the collar is pushed up or pulled back. Normally, when you pull back on the collar, it tightens on the cable and won't let it go in or out, but still allows it to spin freely. When you push the collar forward, it frees the cable to be pulled out or pushed in.

My problem is this: my machine's cable won't stay gripped, and I've tried to put those two pieces back in, but I can't figure out where they go, or what they attach to. Does anybody have any ideas how to fix these things? Is there something easy I'm missing here?


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## TomSV650 (Jun 18, 2008)

Those grlppers are junk, you need a good jacobs chuck.


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## 504Plumber (Jan 26, 2011)

I wish they would fall out of my machine. It is so irritating when you're trying to run it and the sleeve pulls down.


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## Koolkat (Jun 30, 2013)

I figured it out. Go to your wholesaler and get a set of SV-25 Cable Grippers. They come as a pair in a little plastic box, with instructions for changing them. It's easy: undo the slotted set screw and the Allen one, then slide the front collar and the big orange collar off the shaft. The grippers attach to the shaft with two big Phillips screws 180 degrees apart on the shaft. Face each of them so the half-moon end points into the hole in the shaft right behind where they screw on, then screw them down. Put the big orange collar back on, then the end collar, put in and lock down the two set screws, and you're done. check it by pulling the big orange collar all the way back: the cable should lock in place. Push the collar forward, and the cable should slide in and out freely. That's it!

I guess when you use these machines, you have to learn how to fix them, too, so you can rely on these tools to bring in those big drain-cleaning bucks.


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