recommend me a Cordless Impact Wrench

[s55shh]

Primarily for wheel changes, to add to my Xmas list.

[33q]

Do you really need one?

I love my toys but for wheel changing I use a long bar to loosen and then use an impact driver (DeWalt 18v) to whip the bolts out and whizz them back in. Tighten with a torque wrench.

The impact driver gets them pretty tight anyway and I can use the impact driver for all sorts of jobs.

[outnumbered]

I've got a Clarke CIR220 from machine mart. It's been fine for infrequent use and certainly speeds up the process of swapping wheels.

[Willy Nilly]

What are you changing wheels on and how often are you changing them?

[RicksAlfas]

I have a beefy Clarke job but I don't use it for wheel changes.
Very useful for other odd jobs though.

[DavieW]

I've heard good things about Milwaukee stuff that EuroCarParts sell. I saw a Milwaukie 3/4 or 1" cordless impact gun take off a bus wheel and they're torqued to about 600Nm.

[Steve H]

I've got a 1/2" 4ah Milwaukee, it's a good bit of kit - notably more powerful than the Snap-on equivalents. Cost £250 + vat from euro with two batteries, they also do a 5ah version now.

[Toaster Pilot]

Currently have a Clarke mains powered 1/2" impact - don't mind the cable but HATE the huge size of the thing.

Anyone considering the dimensions of the tool when looking at these and able to recommend a 1/2" or strong 3/8" that will fit into tighter spaces?

Suspension work when on axle stands not far from the floor, for example

[Steve H]

Not sure you will get an electric that's as compact as an air gun. At risk of sounding like the Milwaukee fan club they do a great 3/8" gun that's very compact but I'm not sure I'd offer it up for suspension work TBH.

[Krikkit]

Steve H said:

Not sure you will get an electric that's as compact as an air gun. At risk of sounding like the Milwaukee fan club they do a great 3/8" gun that's very compact but I'm not sure I'd offer it up for suspension work TBH.

This tbh, you won't get a motor beefy enough to get good torque if it's too small, kinda defeats the purpose!

Air for compactness, but even then they're pretty chunky. Most air ratchets have quite good torque ratings, 80Nm isn't unusual which tackles most things non-load-bearing.

[Toaster Pilot]

The Clarke gun I have is HUGE though so I guess it would be an improvement

£400 or so for a decent Milwaukee - can I buy a compressor and air gun for that?

[Steve H]

Battery guns aren't about being cheaper, they're just nicer to use (and a good one is more powerful than 90% of air guns).

[ethomas]

I have an 18v De Walt cordless 1/2 inch gun (bought in the US for about 150 quid). It does 90% of what I need it to do and makes quite a lot of annoying jobs much easier. Seems to handle up to about 120lbft without too much difficulty.

[Shaun_E]

When the batteries on my £100 Clarke one died I treated myself to this De Walt: http://www.dewalt.co.uk/powertools/productdetails/...
The Clarke ones do the job but are big and heavy and the spares cost nearly as much as the kit in the first place. It wasn't worth getting new batteries (which are NiCad) - may as well have bought a new wrench. If you are on a budget though they are great value. The De Walt is much smaller and lighter but just as powerful and generally a nicer tool to use. It's expensive and a battery is £70 but they are 4.0Ah Lithium Ion and last for ages between charges.

[Krikkit]

Toaster Pilot said:

The Clarke gun I have is HUGE though so I guess it would be an improvement

£400 or so for a decent Milwaukee - can I buy a compressor and air gun for that?

I have the same Clarke mains one, it's huge because it's a) cheap and b) designed to be utterly abused, it's also rated much higher than most battery guns as well... That DeWalt one above is only 200Nm, the mains gun is 450Nm.

If you want that kind of power in a slimmer package then an air compressor + gun is the best way, http://www.sgs-engineering.com/ have some cheap compressors which are great quality, the 50L one of those will keep you buzzing away with an impact wrench quite nicely.

[ethomas]

Digging up an old thread here, but I just treated myself to a DeWalt DCF899HN. It is an absolute beast, managed to remove E46 axle nuts (36mm, 220ft-lbs) without breaking a sweat, even though they were staked!

In reviews it has been independently tested to over 1000ft-lbs