How To Assemble The Brace JDC Pulling Tool

Assembling the two inch JDC pulling tool. We’ll start with the skirt, down, threaded end up. We’re going to install the dog. Push the dog on over the threads and slide it down until it’s aligned with the slots, and give it a little tap so it goes on there. It slides into place. You want to make sure they move nice and free like that so it’s not jammed up.

Then we’ll install the pawls. A little grease on your screwdriver, set your pawl on there, slide it in the bottom end, line it up with the hole in the dog and skirt. I use a magnet to pull them on. Some people use heavy grease. I like using the magnet because they don’t typically fall off. Turn your tool, install the next one, put the magnet on it, install your third one. There you go, right there.

Have your core turned up, threaded facing down, line it up, careful not to knock out any of your pawls out, and drop it in place. Remove your magnets because you don’t want them sticking to everything that you're dealing with. Then I like to assemble the whole tool without the dog spring on so I can function test it before I get the final assembly.

So I use a five sixteenths punch, install the core spring, put a little grease on the threads for your core nut, take the core nut, put It on top. I just use the weight of my body to collapse that spring and install the core nut onto the core. Once it’s started, you can grab the core nut in the vice and thread it in the rest of the way. The core nut is held on by the thread pressure, so it doesn’t have to be over torqued. And there’s also a set screw that holds it on.

Install the set screw if you want to make sure the set screw you install is not too long so it binds on the top sub when you install it. That screw should be torqued in snug, not over tight. Grease on the threads, install your top sub, don’t tighten it at this point because we’re going to function test and make sure that the dogs release properly.

This spring has quite a bit of tension in it. So I don’t install the fishneck until after I’ve double checked this to make sure it’s going to work. Pull that out, reach inside to make sure you feel that the dogs have retracted all the way, grab a fishneck, double check it that it slides in and out freely, then I’ll use this core retractor tool to pull the core back up and install the shear pin, turn the core until the pin is lined up with the skirt and the core, check it with your punch that you had earlier that it slides in easy, install your brass pin, remove your core retractor, unthread your skirt from your top sub, this time we’ll add more grease which I didn’t add earlier because if it didn’t work, I didn’t want to get all messy, install your dog spring, move the top sub, place your skirt in the vice and clamp on the free sides that are not the dogs just to ensure you're not pinching your dogs.

Using a wrench, tighten your top sub on, and you can function test it once more to see if it’ll release by hand, install your fish neck back in there, it’s a nice latch. To release it, pull down on your dogs, grip it around the part where your palms are, pull it back to release the spring tension and there you go, tools are ready for use. Once that is in the hole, you’ll tighten it up a little tighter than I did there, but for this demonstration, that’s good enough.