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Convince me not to buy this Impact Wrench

F

fleabag

Banned
http://www.plumbersurplus.com/Prod/...googlebase&cvsfa=63&cvsfe=2&cvsfhu=3733393931

I don't own an air compressor or any air tools but I need an impact wrench and I need as much torque as I can get. The only problem is, I've been reading in places that these torque wrenches while rated at like 350ft-lbs, aren't able to get off 70lb-ft bolts (though that review WAS for a craftsman professional impact). http://www.plumbersurplus.com/Prod/...googlebase&cvsfa=63&cvsfe=2&cvsfhu=3733393931


Does anyone know of any better electric impact wrenches or something?
 
Do not get an impact wrench unless you are going to use it more than once or twice a month.

A breaker bar is much cheaper, take less room in your garage/tool shed, and doesn't require you to string out an extension cord every time you need to turn a bolt.
 
I use my air compressor and impact wrench every three months or so but I really do think that even then it's worth it. I don't use it to put wheels back on but taking them off it's beautiful. I use the compressor for blowing air sometimes and also with a nailer a little and a cutoff wheel. I got the compressor and gear from harborfreight.

I have heard that the electric impact wrenches are no good. Maybe they are now or are getting better, but do be careful that you don't end up with a pretty tool good for nothing more than taking off bolts that haven't been overtightened.

An impact wrench is only good for:
1) Speed
2) Ease of use (e.g. don't hurt your shoulder breaking out 20 bolts to rotate your tires)
3) Access (i.e. you need to get at a bolt in a strange area that for some reason a breaker bar can't hit)

Not until you get the truly hardcore industrial ones for fixing tractors, though, will you get more torque than a breaker bar plus a pipe can get you. That is how I've undone the main wheel nuts when I've had to replace axles. Or at least, there's nothing on a car I can think of that the breaker bar plus pipe wouldn't handle that an impact wrench would.

blah blah blah, in the end, though, for this particular wrench I see so far only one review on amazon. The lady liked it. I'd find more reviews.
 
You can get that wrench cheaper in other brands (Canadians can get it from C.Tire for $50-75 at least one week a month, and sometimes that comes with the sockets, too). I've been using the same old one for several years and they seem to be pretty reliable.

Plenty of power, too - enough that you don't want to use it for tightening anything smaller than a 1/2" bolt because you will break it too easily.
 
cheap compressor from sears or home depot + ingersol rand.

i see no reason to buy non-IR air tools. tool truck brands are more expensive, hardware store brands don't work as well or as long.
 
Skoorb said:
I use my air compressor and impact wrench every three months or so but I really do think that even then it's worth it. I don't use it to put wheels back on but taking them off it's beautiful. I use the compressor for blowing air sometimes and also with a nailer a little and a cutoff wheel. I got the compressor and gear from harborfreight.

I have heard that the electric impact wrenches are no good. Maybe they are now or are getting better, but do be careful that you don't end up with a pretty tool good for nothing more than taking off bolts that haven't been overtightened.

An impact wrench is only good for:
1) Speed
2) Ease of use (e.g. don't hurt your shoulder breaking out 20 bolts to rotate your tires)
3) Access (i.e. you need to get at a bolt in a strange area that for some reason a breaker bar can't hit)

Not until you get the truly hardcore industrial ones for fixing tractors, though, will you get more torque than a breaker bar plus a pipe can get you. That is how I've undone the main wheel nuts when I've had to replace axles. Or at least, there's nothing on a car I can think of that the breaker bar plus pipe wouldn't handle that an impact wrench would.

blah blah blah, in the end, though, for this particular wrench I see so far only one review on amazon. The lady liked it. I'd find more reviews.
Click to expand...
What about for crank pulley bolts? I remember reading that an impact tool would be the most ideal for this circumstance.
 
fleabag said:
What about for crank pulley bolts? I remember reading that an impact tool would be the most ideal for this circumstance.
Click to expand...
I changed some belts recently and did not use it because the confines were way too tight to get it in there. There has never been a time I have used mine that I had to; a breaker bar with a pipe to extend it, if necessary, will exert ridiculous torque on any nut. I basically use mine because I like the magical impact--er, effect--of a super-tight nut being super-easy to open in my hand without any exertion and it takes a wheel off a car very quickly, too. It sounds bad-ass, too. I bet you won't get the bad-ass sound effects with an electric one 😉

BTW you can buy a $100 oiled compressor I think from harbor freight and people generally like HF compressors. I paid something like $90 for my earthquake impact wrench from them, but you can get cheaper. I think it's rated to 450 ft lbs. Compressors have other uses, too, they beat the heck out of a small tire-reflater because they are fast and you will probably find other uses down the road for one. Like match it with the $7 cut-off wheel from HF and now you can cut through metal or whatever else you need.
 
iGas said:
Do not get an impact wrench unless you are going to use it more than once or twice a month.

A breaker bar is much cheaper, take less room in your garage/tool shed, and doesn't require you to string out an extension cord every time you need to turn a bolt.
Click to expand...

I've done work on my car where you could not get a breaker bar long enough in there to loosen the bolts. An impact wrench was the only way...and the only way to get them tight enough when re-installing them. Besides, I can't tell you how many bruised or scraped knuckles that thing has saved me. So what if I only use it a few times a year?

Oh, and I have no experience with electric wrenches. I have a 20 gallon, 5hp compressor and can say that it was worth every penny I spent on it (which wasn't much honestly). I've had this compressor for almost 13 years now and I use it to keep my car and motorcycle tires inflated (not to sidewall though), I've used it for various nailing projects around the house (I have two brad nailers), and for various automotive projects over the years. Such a useful tool.
 
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JulesMaximus said:
I've done work on my car where you could not get a breaker bar long enough in there to loosen the bolts. An impact wrench was the only way...and the only way to get them tight enough when re-installing them. Besides, I can't tell you how many bruised or scraped knuckles that thing has saved me. So what if I only use it a few times a year?

Oh, and I have no experience with electric wrenches. I have a 20 gallon, 5hp compressor and can say that it was worth every penny I spent on it (which wasn't much honestly). I've had this compressor for almost 13 years now and I use it to keep my car and motorcycle tires inflated (not to sidewall though), I've used it for various nailing projects around the house (I have two brad nailers), and for various automotive projects over the years. Such a useful tool.
Click to expand...
Funny that I can get my ratchet wrench in between difficult spaces to tight nuts & bolts at work but the impact air wrench could never get in there, and I can get more than enought touque out of an 18" wrench than an impact wrench.

I own air tools and compressors, as well as air impact wrench, and IMHO air nailers are much more usefull than air wrenches for a home owner.
 
Air wrench ≠ impact gun. Air wrenches are mostly useless.

If you're going to buy an impact gun do it right and get an Ingersoll Rand or a Chicago Pneumatic.

Don't waste time with the electric stuff, you'll burn the motor up. You want a hammer driven air tool.
 
iGas said:
Funny that I can get my ratchet wrench in between difficult spaces to tight nuts & bolts at work but the impact air wrench could never get in there, and I can get more than enought touque out of an 18" wrench than an impact wrench.

I own air tools and compressors, as well as air impact wrench, and IMHO air nailers are much more usefull than air wrenches for a home owner.
Click to expand...

There are two bolts holding the lower part of my front struts on my Maxima and I could not get enough leverage to loosen the ones on the left side (IIRC) of the car. I could only do it with an impact wrench.
 
My sears compressor came with an impact wrench. It was a cheap one, but I took care of it and it has lasted about 15 years. I then bought a Thunder Gun as I was doing more automotive work at home. In my younger days, I would have always gone with a breaker bar, but now that I'm getting older and the back is weaker, I always go right for the impact gun. There are lots of reasons to get an impact gun, but in my case now it is because of the weaker back. Pawn shops have lots of impact guns very cheap.
 
Raizinman said:
My sears compressor came with an impact wrench. It was a cheap one, but I took care of it and it has lasted about 15 years. I then bought a Thunder Gun as I was doing more automotive work at home. In my younger days, I would have always gone with a breaker bar, but now that I'm getting older and the back is weaker, I always go right for the impact gun. There are lots of reasons to get an impact gun, but in my case now it is because of the weaker back. Pawn shops have lots of impact guns very cheap.
Click to expand...
Although I am not on the sunset of my better days I vowed a couple of years ago to stop winter-swapping my tires because even with a breaker it was busting my shoulder up. Now with the impact wrench it's delightful. The most physically strenuous part is simply lifting the tire!
 
bigi said:
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=45252

This works well. You can find one for $50 or so at BM Harbor Freight Tools.
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For $99 the earthquake claims $99.

In retrospect I did not buy the earthquake, I just remember thinking long and hard about it. I ended up with this instead:

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=94803

So far so good but I have only tried to break wheel nuts and brake and strut bolts, I have no tried an axle nut, but again a breaker bar plus pipe for once in a blue moon of them does them just fine.
 
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