I need an impact wrench for home use


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Old 08-29-11, 10:58 AM
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I need an impact wrench for home use

ive taken off the wheels so many times this year for stuff, i'm tired of it

i dont have a compressor and i see electric guns for about 150 from lowes and then i also see some 12V ones u plug in your lighter for half the price... but those appear to be a bad choice.

so who has real life experience with plug in impact guns?
 
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Old 08-29-11, 11:26 AM
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I got mine at Harbor Freight - paid about $80.

I bought their high end one (if that's not an oxymoron), I think it's called the Anvil line.

I'd buy it again.

I also have an electric one from there someone gave me, only used it once but it worked just fine.
 
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Old 08-29-11, 02:08 PM
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I got mine at Harbor Freight online several years ago. It is called "Twin Hammer" with 450 ft-lb torque. It costs around $45 - $65 + S/H. I used it to do all major car works that required impact wrench, but it is air tool.
 
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Old 08-29-11, 02:43 PM
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I couldn't imagine life without air tools
You ought to talk yourself [and/or wife if necessary] into buying an air compressor. You'll find so many uses for it of course that will take you down a path that involves buying more tools
 
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Old 08-29-11, 06:54 PM
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I have Harbor freights and a pro one, "borrowed" from a pal. Ditch HF one. Mine is rated to 600 foot pound, won't even budge a lug nut. Useless. Loaner is rated to 1200 and will do the job. About the only time you'll need it is when you break loose driveaxle nuts.

here's the thing. IT IS USELESS WITHOUT GOOD COMPRESSOR. Mine is 130 psi rated, and it barely does the job. You'll either have to buy a very powerful compressor, at least 80 gallons, or go with electrical from 127V. Keep in mind, horse power and torque are never enough.
 
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Old 08-30-11, 04:35 AM
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My impact is a cheap HF model that I bought for about $20 or so 25+ yrs ago. I've been well pleased with it [painter not a mechanic] On rare occasions it won't be able to break an overtightened nut/bolt but for the most part it works great. I think it's rated at 250 lbs or so. At the time I bought it, the only air compressor I had was a sears 1hp 11 gallon. I've not noticed a lot of difference using it with my 6hp 60 gal compressor.

I know a HF impact will never work as well as a pro model will but for the price, I can't complain
 
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Old 08-30-11, 06:07 AM
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i really dont want a compressor...dont see any other need for it..thought i did see i could probably get a cheap one plus a gun for about 200...the only thing this will be used for is lugnuts.

i guess all i can do is try HF and see what electric they have..their online site didnt show any electric that i could find and of course there are always 20 percent coupons everywhere for that place
 
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Old 08-30-11, 08:18 AM
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I remember seeing an electric impact for sale at HF in the past - don't remember the price but if they still carry it - try to catch it on sale or with the % off coupon.

Nail guns are great! A compressor comes in handy when you need to air up a tire or blow something off......... it's easy to get addicted to air powered tools
 
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Old 08-30-11, 10:44 AM
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I wouldn't want to live without an air compressor (actually, I have three).
 
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Old 08-30-11, 12:34 PM
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lucki, think twice before you get into all this. it's a fair expense. it hurts, if expense is done, and then stuff sits in garage and "do sheet". bites you every time you glance at it. I had free compressor, so I can't complain. mof, I had free HF impact wrench either. mof, I'll have even bigger compressor, 90 gall, coming soon. that one will do any job. my compressor is tiny 20 gall thing, and it does not provide enough air flow for most power tools I have - senders, impact wrench, side wrench, cut off wheel, etc.

As of the lug nuts. here's the thing. You should not be using impact wrench on those anyway. reasons are 2:

1. ask Les Schwab techs. Torque for lug nuts is, actually, not that high. So, you should be easily able to hand torque any of your wheels.

2. My 1200 f/lb impact wrench will do the lug nuts fine. Undo them. Due to impact. But, if you use it to tighten them lugs, you'll find out that it does leave them slightly loose. And you have to hand torque anyway. Is it worth the hassle then?

if you are really struggling with lug nuts, you either overtorque them, or use wrong lugs for the wheel, or have mismatched threads, or damaged studs, or studs geometry is not right. 1st example to come to mind is using regular lug nuts on alloy wheels. alloys suck lug nuts in, and it takes torch to undo them. ones, designed for alloys, are about 20 bucks a piece. can't tell you how many studs I ripped this way.
 
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Old 08-30-11, 12:54 PM
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I break lug nuts loose with the impact wrench and get them spinning back on with it but I finish tightening them by hand and the torque wrench, I don't run them up tight with the impact wrench for fear of over-tightening them.
 
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Old 08-30-11, 12:58 PM
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ukrbyk....
Yer saying lugnuts for allow wheels are $20 per nut??? Or $20 per wheel? I really doubt I would need to spend $400 to replace the lugs on my SUV....

I think everyone agrees that the use of an impact gun is to just remove the nuts....or installing maybe, if you use those calibrated adapters for tightening. Or hand start them then run them almost snug. Doubt anyone other than a shop would fork over the money for those adapters. I know we had some calibrated nut drivers that we had to use when I worked on crypto gear in my Navy days. We had 3 sets that had to be calibrated every year or so.

I have used impacts to remove nuts in the past...but now that I have a torque wrench that goes that high...I've never had to stand on a normal lug wrench to remove a nut. A simple heavy twist works...then I either spin them off with the wrench or I have a cordless drill with the right socket to spin them off and snug them up til I tighten with the torque wrench. I even check any time I have a flat repaired or get new tires.
 
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Old 08-30-11, 01:10 PM
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yep. I looked up price for my wife's lexus RX300 alloy wheels lug nuts, and they were $19 EACH. see, thing is, some alloys have very deep channels for lug nuts, and lug nuts have special turned "tubes" that should fit real well into those channels.
I was first introduced to this problem on our 1986 Chrysler LeBaron. One of our all time favorite cars. I broke several studs on it, trying to undo lug nuts, that were of the wrong kind. Apparently, original owner souped up looks with aftermarket alloys, but used regular nuts. Also, that's when I learned that regular clip on balance weights do not stay on the rim too well, if it's alloy.
 
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Old 08-30-11, 01:15 PM
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just to elaborate on alloy lug nuts. they have 2 flared surfaces. one is to mate with the rotor, and one is to mate with the alloy wheel. length of the "tube" has to be exact match for the particular wheel thickness, otherwise, wheel either sits loose, or is held in place "on the edge", by the outside lug contact only. as a result, it wobbles some, soft metal gives, and lug nut sucks into the alloy.
 
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Old 08-30-11, 01:26 PM
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Thats just ridiculous.....$20 for a durn lugnut? Jeez...it's not an F40 fer gawds sake.

I guess if you really want a fancy car...but an RX300 isn't THAT fancy.

And I thought it was bad when changing the rear plugs on the SUV would cost over $300.

Thats it....I'm finding an '85 Chevy pickup with a straight 6...lol.
 
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Old 08-30-11, 01:42 PM
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gosh, you guys really got me on those nuts. nuts over nuts..

here's a rough sample of what I am talking about:
Dorman Lug Nut

not exact match, but you can see how long and "intricate" that nut is. and the price is now, and online, and I checked then, and at dealer. those are specialty lug nuts, so try not to lose them.
 
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Old 08-30-11, 01:46 PM
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Originally Posted by Gunguy45
Thats just ridiculous.....$20 for a durn lugnut? Jeez...it's not an F40 fer gawds sake.

I guess if you really want a fancy car...but an RX300 isn't THAT fancy.

And I thought it was bad when changing the rear plugs on the SUV would cost over $300.


Thats it....I'm finding an '85 Chevy pickup with a straight 6...lol.

yeah, but if you do not use the right one for the wheel, it'll cost you a lot more later down the road. and back when we bought that car, there was not really much aftermarket lugs choices in parts stores. if those lugs do not fit right the wheel channels and thickness, you'll bust something sooner or later. I am afraid, many do buy fancy alloys, but save on "expensive" lugs that, actually, do match the wheel, and then end up having all kinds of issues, and wondering, where the heck they came from.
 
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Old 08-31-11, 06:35 AM
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Are they expensive just because it's a Lexus? Buddy of mine had a headlight burn out in his LS 400 - $500 to replace (part alone, labor was in addition).
 
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Old 08-31-11, 08:37 AM
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Well...I sure won't be buying from AutoMD!!! Looking up for lugnuts for my SUV both there and Autozone.....AZ is $6.99, AMD is $8.28 each, for same item from Dorman. Though the one they say fits has a washer...which my truck doesn't have. I think the correct nut is more like $2.50 at AZ
 
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Old 08-31-11, 06:03 PM
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I can only speak from my own experience but I use a pneumatic (air powered) Blue Point by SnapOn impact gun powered by a Craftsman 120 psi 30 gallon compressor and it runs all of my air tools sufficiently except my wizzer wheel.
If I link up to my other compressor tank (25 gallon) I can paint and use the wizzer wheel.
Sorry, I never used an electric impact gun so I can't help you there but man.... it works like a charm when pulling wheels with the impact gun or loosening bolts with the air ratchet especially in tight places where you can't swing a ratchet wrench.

That's the advantage of using air power over electric you expand your ability for multi use.
They make practically every kind of power tool for use with an air compressor.
 
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Old 08-31-11, 08:15 PM
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AGREE---Not a single day goes by that I don't use my air compressor. Some days I don't use air tools but tire chuck or air blow nozzle---everyday.
Just today, I cleaned and oiled two fans. I can't imaginine how difficult it would have been without compressed air!
Originally Posted by marksr
I couldn't imagine life without air tools
You ought to talk yourself [and/or wife if necessary] into buying an air compressor. You'll find so many uses for it of course that will take you down a path that involves buying more tools
 
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Old 09-01-11, 12:18 AM
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Lucky, they DO make electric impact drivers that should suit all your needs. They will be roughly twice the size of an equivalent pneumatic model if size is important. I haven't looked for or priced one in several years but Sears used to have one. Don't buy a battery operated model but only a 120 volt AC tool.
 
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Old 09-01-11, 06:32 AM
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i have no issue with the manual removal of the nuts except in the past 2 months i took the wheels off both vehicles so many times i'm' tired of spinning the cross..intended to manually torque them anyway, no biggie
 
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Old 09-01-11, 07:38 AM
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I used to do it manually by using a 24" breaker bar to loosen them and then a speed wrench for most of the spinning off and them back on. Now the impact wrench does all of this for me and I just finish tightening with the torque wrench as I've always done.

While it probably won't break them loose, a drill can do the spinning for you.

Without a compressor, an electric impact wrench should suffice - I've only used mine once but it worked well (bought the pneumatic one shortly thereafter and now use that one exclusively). I want to say my electric one was $40 at HF but that was quite a few years ago now.
 
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Old 09-05-11, 10:12 AM
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Originally Posted by mitch17
I used to do it manually by using a 24" breaker bar to loosen them
A 24 incher is just a toy. I bought an '05 F150 last month and the left front tire would go flat after a few days. Decided to take the wheel off to put it in a tub of water to see where the leak was. First I tried my IR impact gun advertised as having 1000 ft. lb. of nut busting torque. It just bounced around on those nuts even after 20 seconds at full throttle. Then I tried a 24" breaker bar. Nothing. Next was the breaker bar plus a cheater bar. Gave it all I could. Nada. And the breaker bar was bending a whole lot. Time to quit playing around. Checked around online for some BIG ass tools. Got me a 4 foot breaker bar with a 1 inch drive made by Titan. This thing weighs nearly 20 pounds. Ordered a few 1 inch drive Sunex sockets as well, 19, 21, 22mm and 1 inch for any other vehicles I may use it on. When they arrived, I couldn't wait to try them out. Went out to the truck with the bar and a 21mm socket and went at it. Still nothing. Holy Sh**! My cheater bar wouldn't fit on the end of the new breaker bar, so what next, get a bigger cheater bar of course. Went to a plumbing supply house for some schedule 40 pipe. Cut it to about 5 feet long. So with that slipped on the end of the breaker bar I'd have 8 feet of leverage. Went to try that combination figuring it will get the wheel off one way or another by either snapping the studs or actually loosening the nuts. Luckily all the nuts came loose.


Those are 8x12 tiles.
 
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Old 09-05-11, 10:56 AM
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24" works just fine for me, all my lug nuts are properly torqued.
 
 

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