Impact Wrench

[Gerald-TVR]

Has anyone used an electric impact wrench? Any recommendations?

[noddy2]

Just asked our workshop lads and service manager.They say Snap On half inch drive is excellent,around £300. They have tried others including Draper, not up to much for commercial use.

[Gerald-TVR]

Thanks Chris but its not for commercial use and so £300 is a bit much but thanks for the 'heads up'

[philh]

Ive got one from machine mart about £80 its there 18 or 24V one and seems good. It hasnt failed on anything ive tried it on yet

[Gerald-TVR]

Thats a better price thanks Phil

[teamHOLDENracing]

The best balance between price and performance in my view is one of the ones made by Sealey. They do two or three models, but there is a 19 volt model with ~ 300ftlb of torque. From memory it is the CP3002. We use this for the race cars. If you shop around you can get them for less than £200, with a spare battery.

I also have a 24v 'Rolson' wrench which was a gift and retails for about £60-70. There is no comparison between this and the Sealy model - you get what you pay for and the Rolson thing is a dreadful bit of kit that has never made it close to a race circuit with me, its that bad.

[Gerald-TVR]

Hi Andy very helpful - if expensive

[dugt]

what are you plannign on using it for?

if its for changing wheels then the ones you plug into fag lighter do work and are cheap

doug

[Gerald-TVR]

Hi Doug

Not just the wheels lots of other nuts and bolts as well

[number2301]

I've got one in my garage at the moment (not mine) which has apparently been used to do just about everything you could think of on a 106, including hub nuts, which cost £80. Now for a home garage when are you going to do anything tighter than a 300nm hub nut?

[(steven)]

teamHOLDENracing said:

The best balance between price and performance in my view is one of the ones made by Sealey. They do two or three models, but there is a 19 volt model with ~ 300ftlb of torque. From memory it is the CP3002. We use this for the race cars. If you shop around you can get them for less than £200, with a spare battery.

As above, The sealey ones I have seen certainly seem to be impressive based on their paper specs for the price.

I been given a clarke one for christmas which seems pretty good although the quoted torque rating seems lower than others which reflects it's price.

I hired an electric (110v - not cordless) one for removing some head bolts once which was knocking out something like ~450ftlb which was very impressive but it weighed a ton and was huge. You need to consider how easy it will be to get in to small spaces around the engine bay as well as power ratings.

Edited by (steven) on Thursday 15th January 21:22

[teamHOLDENracing]

Gerald-TVR said:

Hi Andy very helpful - if expensive

Not so - the price has fallen: http://www.ccw-tools.com/product.asp?P_ID=1566&amp...

Well worth the extra in my opinion, and I use these things repeatedly!

[EDLT]

number2301 said:

I've got one in my garage at the moment (not mine) which has apparently been used to do just about everything you could think of on a 106, including hub nuts, which cost £80. Now for a home garage when are you going to do anything tighter than a 300nm hub nut?

The Snap-On one I use at work struggles to get some wheel nuts off cars that have been to Kwik-Fit.

[annodomini2]

EDLT said:

number2301 said:

I've got one in my garage at the moment (not mine) which has apparently been used to do just about everything you could think of on a 106, including hub nuts, which cost £80. Now for a home garage when are you going to do anything tighter than a 300nm hub nut?

The Snap-On one I use at work struggles to get some wheel nuts off cars that have been to Kwik-Fit.

Show me one that won't break undoing mini driveshaft nuts.

[B16JUS]

had a snap on 1/2" impact gun for wheel nuts its fantastic but fat too powerfull for normal nuts etc sold it on ebay for way more than it was new and now got a 3/8" one much better still does the wheel nuts ok some might need a crack but its better for the other stuff and doesnt snap heads off bolts etc

J

[sniff diesel]

They had a "Performance Power" one in my local B&Q for about £60 IIRC - no idea if they're any good though.

[M3 Mitch]

You didn't ask about them specifically, but the fact that essentially all pros use air impacts tells us something.

You need a compressor anyway, I have had one most all my life since I have had cars/bikes, really the shop/garage would look pretty naked without it.

If you don't have room for a big, proper compressor, keep in mind that even a 1hp compressor with a decent tank will run your impact tools just fine, so long as you are not wrenching away as if you were making your living at it.

You can even run an impact from a decent sized air tank, can be a life-saver if you need to loosen a big bolt somewhere you don't have mains power available.

[RicksAlfas]

philh said:

Ive got one from machine mart about £80 its there 18 or 24V one and seems good. It hasnt failed on anything ive tried it on yet

Yes, I've got one of those too. 24v. Works well for me. I wouldn't want one much heavier.
£70 in one of their VAT free sales.

[Gerald-TVR]

Thanks Guys great help

[danrc]

http://www.sealey.co.uk/PLPageBuilder.asp?gotonode...

Just got an email off Sealy - they are having a sale and the 24v impact wrench is down to £149.44.

Have you thought about Air power? Opens up a whole world of possabilites!

Edit to say the link i posted is still original price - look here:

http://www.sealey.co.uk/PLPageBuilder.asp?gotonode...

Edited by danrc on Friday 16th January 13:42