About Grip-Tite

A Century of Quality, A Vision for Tomorrow

A Legacy of progress and vision

Grip-Tite® Manufacturing Co., L.L.C. of Winterset, Iowa has been manufacturing earth anchoring products for over 100 years! Over that time, we have established ourselves as a leading foundation repair product manufacturer. Our history is long and varied. We’re very proud of where we started and how far we’ve come to provide you with the best foundation repair products on the market.
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our story

How did our company begin?

Over a century of excellence

100+ years of innovation and growth

Wei-Lock Manufacturing was founded in Winterset Iowa in 1921, manufacturing earth anchoring products used for guying oil well derricks, oil pipelines, and highway guard rail cables. The company grew as mass production of the automobile increased demand for oil and infrastructure. During the depression, Wei-Lock began manufacturing a variety of custom steel products including Bridge Clips, Bull Dog Floor Clips, Farm Anchors, Screw Anchors, and the Daisy Wheel Cultivator Shield.

In 1937, Wei-Lock became Grip-Tite Manufacturing Company and Will Johnson purchased the majority of Grip-Tite in 1939. Will’s sons, Dwight and Clarence, began working for Grip-Tite a few years later.

Following WWII, Grip-Tite developed earth anchors to secure power systems as the U.S. electric system evolved from small local grids into a highly interconnected interstate utility system. Grip-Tite also supplied anchors to telephone utilities that grew from 30,000,000 phones in 1948 to 100,000,000 just 25 years later. By the early 50’s, Grip-Tite established itself as a leader in the earth anchor industry and was owned entirely by the Johnson family by 1953. Today, Grip-Tite remains one of the leading earth anchor manufacturers for the electric and telephone industries.

Mike Johnson, Dwight’s son, started pushing a broom at Grip-Tite in 1960 and continued working part-time in the family business for the next 13 years when he started full time. In 1968 Grip-Tite developed a new cross-plate anchor for guying electric lines for the Island of Madagascar. Over 53,000 anchors were manufactured and in 1978, a local resident asked Mike if he had anything to repair his cracked and bowing basement wall. Mike and Larry Utsler, the owner of a local construction company and founder of Anchored Walls, installed a modified version of the anchor used in Madagascar and repaired the wall. The Grip-Tite Wall Anchor System was awarded U.S. patent number 4,189,891 on February 26th 1980. Since that time, hundreds of thousands of Grip-Tite Wall Anchor Systems have been installed across North America.

Mike purchased the remainder of the company in 1998 and Grip-Tite designed a full line of foundation stabilization piering products for residential and commercial use. With its patented technology and growing demand for product, Grip-Tite established a network of certified dealers and began growing at an astonishing rate.

Today, Grip-Tite is a rapidly growing company manufacturing a high-quality line of products for the foundation repair and electric utility industries.
what we stand for

Our Values

Our Values

We conduct our business with the highest standards of honesty and transparency, building trust with our customers and partners through ethical practices and reliable products.

Innovation

We continually push the boundaries of what’s possible, leveraging cutting-edge technology and creative thinking to develop superior foundation repair and earth anchoring solutions.

Excellence

We strive for perfection in everything we do, holding ourselves accountable to the highest standards and consistently delivering top-quality products and services that exceed customer expectations.

explore The Markets We Serve

Learn more about our expertise in Utility Industries, Foundation Repair, and Contract Manufacturing.