impact wrench

[slowcoach]

Im often beaten by tough bolts and whatnot, making a simple "undo that, replace this and refit bolt" job turn into a deflating failure and a retreat for a cup of tea and rethink.

so has anyone got an impact wrench? the noisy ones you hear from mechanics and the ones used to tighten your wheel bolts so you cant get them off again at home. ive got a dewalt impact driver which is awesome for house work and building, but this looks like a beast! its cordless too, which i didnt think possible really. id love one! about £140 for the bare unit.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmFiFgAtUpM

[tobydog]

I bought one of these..

https://www.machinemart.co.uk/p/cir13c- ... h-kit-12v/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Excuse the pun, but it's the nuts. Keep it in the van for undoing wheel nuts.

[slowcoach]

I bought one of these..

https://www.machinemart.co.uk/p/cir13c- ... h-kit-12v/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Excuse the pun, but it's the nuts. Keep it in the van for undoing wheel nuts.

no doubt handy! that one lists as max torque 170Nm, where a bosch drill driver i have is 38Nm for example. But the dewalt i linked to in the first post is a massive 950Nm. im v tempted, but i do have a bit of an addiction to nice power tools at the moment

[what2do]

Power tools ought to be a last resort, in fact, I've never resorted to them. What do you think an impact wrench will find? The weakest element of the fastener that you're trying to undo. You maybe lucky and this is the thread or not so lucky and shear a bolt.

Patience, penetrating oil, heat, technique and repeat. If they don't undo a problematic fastener then an impact wr nice most certainly won't.

[nevill3]

I purchased a cheap impact wrench to remove some very stubborn wheel nuts a couple of years ago. An Amazon special deal that worked only for a few weeks before giving up the ghost. The mechanic at my works swears by his cordless Dewalt impact wrench but has said to me that you must make sure that you get one with Li-Ion batterys and not Nicad, and preferably the 18v versions if you are working on stubborn old VW fastenings. The Makita brand also gets good reviews too.

I have invested in a good old fashioned manual impact driver and that has never failed to get a nut off as long as I have enouigh room to swing a hammer to use it.

[JonB]

I bought one of these from machine mart.

https://www.machinemart.co.uk/p/streetw ... ct-wrench/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Originally looked at all MM offerings and thought this might be a good compromise size/budget/quality. Seems the corded wrench is a little bit too aggressive and massive. Cordless wrenches with nicad aren't great and potential battery issues, lithium just a bit too expensive e for my needs.

I almost went with the Clarke 12v but decided on this as had more torque (apparently). So far I've been playing pleased and has shifted the nuts of the 4 van wheels plus adapter platest without issue...well it did need a rest for the last wheel...and I kept the engine running. It's also nice that I can keep it in the van for emergencies as it's 12v.

[CovKid]

A friend of mine has been testing one from MAC tools. Think it costs about £800.

[nevill3]

I bought one of these from machine mart.

https://www.machinemart.co.uk/p/streetw ... ct-wrench/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Originally looked at all MM offerings and thought this might be a good compromise size/budget/quality. Seems the corded wrench is a little bit too aggressive and massive. Cordless wrenches with nicad aren't great and potential battery issues, lithium just a bit too expensive e for my needs.

I almost went with the Clarke 12v but decided on this as had more torque (apparently). So far I've been playing pleased and has shifted the nuts of the 4 van wheels plus adapter platest without issue...well it did need a rest for the last wheel...and I kept the engine running. It's also nice that I can keep it in the van for emergencies as it's 12v.

That is very much like the one I bought, my first failed within hours of first use and the seller sent a replacement. They didn't request a return of the faulty one and so I kept it, good job I did because the second one started playing up after a while. I decided to strip them down and found that they have a fly wheel with centrifugal weights that activate the impact mechanism. The parts are very cheap but I managed to salvage one working wrench by selecting the best bits of the two.

I hope you have more luck with yours.

This is the one I bought, but a lot cheaper than it is now.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Liftmaster-Imp ... act+wrench

[slowcoach]

Power tools ought to be a last resort, in fact, I've never resorted to them. What do you think an impact wrench will find? The weakest element of the fastener that you're trying to undo. You maybe lucky and this is the thread or not so lucky and shear a bolt.

Patience, penetrating oil, heat, technique and repeat. If they don't undo a problematic fastener then an impact wr nice most certainly won't.

mm.. well i cant say id agree that power tools are a last resort. Weve all used penetrating fluid and had zero progress at one time or other.

Im no masochist and regularly use power tools for carpentry and all sorts of work. Having an impact wrench would have easily saved me last weekend's sunday afternoon undoing the rear suspension bolts which were a right barsteward.

Id say using an impact wrench on any nut and bolt that is over say 15mm in size would be very effective. I wouldnt use one on any bolt thats straight into the engine block or head, for obvious reasons, or anything thats small and liable to snap. Weve all got better things to do than lean on a breaker bar all afternoon

[what2do]

Power tools ought to be a last resort, in fact, I've never resorted to them. What do you think an impact wrench will find? The weakest element of the fastener that you're trying to undo. You maybe lucky and this is the thread or not so lucky and shear a bolt.

Patience, penetrating oil, heat, technique and repeat. If they don't undo a problematic fastener then an impact wr nice most certainly won't.

mm.. well i cant say id agree that power tools are a last resort. Weve all used penetrating fluid and had zero progress at one time or other.

Im no masochist and regularly use power tools for carpentry and all sorts of work. Having an impact wrench would have easily saved me last weekend's sunday afternoon undoing the rear suspension bolts which were a right barsteward.

Id say using an impact wrench on any nut and bolt that is over say 15mm in size would be very effective. I wouldnt use one on any bolt thats straight into the engine block or head, for obvious reasons, or anything thats small and liable to snap. Weve all got better things to do than lean on a breaker bar all afternoon

Apologies, I should have been more clear. I was talking about using impact wrenches for the type of fasteners that are smaller than wheel nuts, etc. Like those found around the engine.

I've had the joy of using a petrol driven impact wrench, it's original use was for undoing nuts on railway track, it made light work of removing wheel studs on an old tractor.