Is this impact driver useful for wheel bolts?

[Willy Nilly]

Jimmy Recard said:

Willy Nilly said:

I have a Makita DTW1002 which has 1050nm of tightening torque and 1600 of loosen torque. It's a monster.

For doing the odd car wheel nut, just use a 1/2 inch drive socket set.

That’s what I do already, so I’ll just continue.

Eventually I’ll find a use for it

You can't have too many tools, just in this instance it's not the correct tool for the job. The only thing you can sensibly do is buy a big mutha like mine, which you may not need and is far too power full for car wheel nuts. This will mean you will have to treat yourself to a nice, new, fancy 1/2 inch drive socket set. You might as well chuck a breaker bar in too and you'll need a torque wrench to tighten up the bolts with. This will also present you with some storage issues, so you'll have to, almost by law, go out and buy your self a nice tool chest. This chest will have some empty draws which will need to be filled with new tools that you never knew you needed but can now longer manage without.

No need to thank me.

[227bhp]

Jazoli said:

Wheel bolts should not be greased, ever.

What utter rubbish, it's whatever the manufacturer recommends. Some torque settings are with lube, some without.

[JonChalk]

Jimmy Recard said:

That’s what I do already, so I’ll just continue.

Eventually I’ll find a use for it

Still useful though. Here's how I use mine on:

Loosen bolts slightly with extendable wrench and quality socket.
Undo and spin out with impact driver
Take wheel off / put back on again.
Spin up with impact driver.
Do up with proper torque wrench (usually only about 1/8 to 1/4 turn from impact driver finish)

Still saves a lot of time if you're doing all 4 wheels.

[Jimmy Recard]

Willy Nilly said:

You can't have too many tools, just in this instance it's not the correct tool for the job. The only thing you can sensibly do is buy a big mutha like mine, which you may not need and is far too power full for car wheel nuts. This will mean you will have to treat yourself to a nice, new, fancy 1/2 inch drive socket set. You might as well chuck a breaker bar in too and you'll need a torque wrench to tighten up the bolts with. This will also present you with some storage issues, so you'll have to, almost by law, go out and buy your self a nice tool chest. This chest will have some empty draws which will need to be filled with new tools that you never knew you needed but can now longer manage without.

No need to thank me.

You're so right

[Jimmy Recard]

JonChalk said:

Still useful though. Here's how I use mine on:

Loosen bolts slightly with extendable wrench and quality socket.
Undo and spin out with impact driver
Take wheel off / put back on again.
Spin up with impact driver.
Do up with proper torque wrench (usually only about 1/8 to 1/4 turn from impact driver finish)

Still saves a lot of time if you're doing all 4 wheels.

I think that's what I'll do until I can justify buying a decent torque wrench. This is what I've got my eye on at the moment, since I've spent the afternoon reading about the topic:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Kielder-18V-Brushless-I...

Although I kind of want to get a nice set of matching Makita/Milwaukee power tools so I can share batteries and chargers between them

[alabbasi]

Jimmy Recard said:

I'm thinking something like this would be more suitable:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Kielder-KWT-002-06-18V-...

Jimmy, if you already have power tools, buy the brand that shares the same batteries and chargers that you already own. You'll save money in the long run.

[Jimmy Recard]

alabbasi said:

Jimmy, if you already have power tools, buy the brand that shares the same batteries and chargers that you already own. You'll save money in the long run.

That's my thinking, but the power tools I have are either knackered old NiCD batteries or this Aldi Workzone set, so I think I'll just have to choose a new brand to stick with

[227bhp]

Nanook said:

Sump said:

Nanook said:

Sump said:

You will need a 1/2" bit adapter which will make you lose all the torque anyway. A decent branded version impact driver like that would barely be good enough.

Are you on about putting them on or removing them?

Will it?

Why?

How would you get a socket on there?

Sorry, I wasn't specific enough. Why will fitting a 1/2" adaptor like this:



Make you 'lose all the torque'?

Slight exaggeration, but for every fitting and extension you lose some. There is slop in the joints and longer fittings twist.
Start a nail off in a loose plank of wood (say a floor board), hold the plank in the air and try to hammer the nail home, you'll never succeed.

[Mr Tidy]

Jonny_ said:

I've got a Milwaukee 12v impact wrench with a 1/2" square drive (came in a twin pack with a drill for less than the drill alone, oddly) and it's still pretty much useless. Tops out at something like 160Nm which doesn't even tickle wheel bolts.

That's quite ironic really - I'm assuming this is because the wheels were fitted by a tyre-monkey!

I'm sure BMW recommend 120NM for wheel bolts on the E46 & Z4?!

[Jakg]

Mr Tidy said:

That's quite ironic really - I'm assuming this is because the wheels were fitted by a tyre-monkey!

I'm sure BMW recommend 120NM for wheel bolts on the E46 & Z4?!

I have a 160nm impact driver (Bosch 18v).

It can't undo a wheel nut torqued to 120nm.

Maybe it doesn't put out as much as it claims, or maybe it takes more torque to loosen than tighten.

JonChalk said:

Still useful though. Here's how I use mine on:

Loosen bolts slightly with extendable wrench and quality socket.
Undo and spin out with impact driver
Take wheel off / put back on again.
Spin up with impact driver.
Do up with proper torque wrench (usually only about 1/8 to 1/4 turn from impact driver finish)

Still saves a lot of time if you're doing all 4 wheels.

This is how I use mine. As long as you crack them off, they will get them off easily, and gets them virtually all the way torqued with just maybe a 1/4 turn with a torque wrench.

However, although it isn't super torquey (I can get more torque by hand with a 1/2" ratchet), the repeated impacts can be very helpful to loosen something that's a bit stubborn that pure torque wouldn't move.

It's also very handy for long bolts - as you can just hold the trigger down. Swapped a pair of springs over today which needed a long shock absorbed bolt removing. Wasn't especially tight - but undoing it by hand would've been tedious.

You can even do some cheating to loosen stuff that would be a pain any other way - I had a brake slider today that I could barely turn, but I couldn't get anything on to pull it. By spinning it rapidly with the impact driver, I could pull the impact driver back slightly and the slider would just follow it out, like magic. Good luck doing that by hand.

EDIT - Also ignoring the obvious that an impact driver is fantastic for it's actual jobs - driving screws. I think mine is probably my favourite all-round power tool.

[S6PNJ]

I didn't want to start a new thread so thought I'd jump on this one. I've just bought a pneumatic impact driver from Lidl (can't get a proper link to the item as Lidl have taken it down now!) and I'm not sure if it is working properly (I've never owned or used a pneumatic impact driver before!). On its max setting, should I be able to hold a socket and stop it rotating? On any of the 4 settings, either forward or reverse, I can hold the socket. I have sufficient air (my tank is 250 litres and runs to 150PSI with a CFM not sure but it ran my old man's CNC machine and various air presses without issue!

Is there any way I can reliably test it at home to ascertain if it indeed is working to (or near) 310Nm?

[GreenV8S]

S6PNJ said:

Is there any way I can reliably test it at home to ascertain if it indeed is working to (or near) 310Nm?

Find a bolt big enough to take that torque. Tighten it with the impact driver. Using a torque wrench, see how much torque it takes to tighten it further - this will be approximately how much torque the impact driver applied.

If you don't have a convenient big bolt available, you could use a wheel nut on a vehicle, as long as you are careful not to overtighten it - which seems unlikely based on your comments here.

[S6PNJ]

Good idea, thanks! BUT, my torque wrench only goes up to 70 ft lbs if my memory serves me well (so about 95Nm) - I'll check it tomorrow and see what the range is.

[Sanchez89]

I have 2 battery impact wrenches. Both Bosch, 1 rated to max 185nm the other to max 250nm. They both whip wheel nuts off no problem.

The lower spec gun has also undone civic drive shaft nuts which are torqued to 180nm off the top of my head. And they have been on 13 years and they were both removed with not too much fuss.

The only difference is the more powerful gun would take slightly less time

Why doesn't the OP pick up some adapters, jack up 1 corner and try and take the wheel bolts out?

That will give the definitive answer...

[alabbasi]

That's a cheap impact gun. It might be OK for a couple of uses but won't hold up.

I've had this one for about a year and it seems to still be going strong.

https://www.amazon.com/DEWALT-DWMT70773L-2-Inch-Sq...

[Jimmy Recard]

Update:

I mentioned to someone that I was thinking of getting one, he mentioned he had one he no longer used. We discussed a nice price and here it is:


So now the only logical thing to do is spend a few grand on loads of Makita stuff

ETA, it's this one but scuffed up. So far the 400nm has been totally fine for wheel bolts:
https://www.toolstop.co.uk/makita-dtw285z-18v-cord...

Edited by Jimmy Recard on Saturday 24th February 12:59

[alabbasi]

That's a good start

[jetsetwilly2000]

That's how I started, with just the one, but then I spotted all those bare tool bargains on ebay. Then I noticed the cheap knock-off batteries. Now I think I have more 18V Makita tools than they do