Electric impact wrench (gun)

[e34musician]

I'm thinking of buying one of these. Any thought? Is 3/4" (rated 345 ft-lb) is too big ? (harder to find sockets?). The 1/2" is $15 cheaper with the same torque rate. I want to use it for suspension job... Will this be strong enough?

http://www.toolbarn.com/product/dewalt/DW294/

[Vanguard]

I think 3/4" will be too big. You'd be better off with the 1/2" drive. Since the gun your looking at is not a cordless unit, it should have enough ompff to get the job done.

[Tiger]

No electric impact drive is strong enough... I can't even get lugbolt out with electric impact wrench. Buy air impact gun... and small 3gal compressor is 10 times better than electric..

[Ross]

There was a thread about this a while back. Sorry I don't know how to link it.
Dewalt is a decent brand and the corded 3/4" ought to have the balls as advertised. You can get a reducer for the sockets, 3/4 drive are expensive.
I ended up with a Milwaukee cordless that zipped the headbolts out of a motor, will remove most lugnuts and today drove 3/8" x 5' lag screws into my fenceposts.
Keep us posted please of your choice and it's performance.

[Dave M]

No electric impact drive is strong enough... I can't even get lugbolt out with electric impact wrench. Buy air impact gun... and small 3gal compressor is 10 times better than electric..

I have a relatively cheap corded impact (I paid $70- Can. on sale) that easily removes lug nuts/bolts and all suspension fittings. It surpriseed me yesterday by torquing a hub nut on my chevy pick-up to over 160 ft/lb.

Dave

[Barney Paull-Edwards]

I have a deWalt that plugs into the cigar lighter, has some sort of spin-up system that will take a chev and Range-Rover lug nut off, cost $65,will not torque a Bm front hub but has done two wheels several times,worth it .

[Vanguard]

The only concern about a plugged electric that I might have, would be the size of the gun itself. It might make it difficult in tight spots, since I recall them being significantly larger than their pneumatic cousins.

[Barney Paull-Edwards]

Dead right, but when it comes to changing a wheel in Belgrade speed is a really good idea, for doing tight jobs it`s no use but for front suspension it will reach all bolts and the `rattle` set up shakes off tapers a treat.Draper also sell them but demand a test first.

[icesoft]

I bought my 1/2" Ingersol titanium off ebay for $165 and the 3/8" Ingersol for $150, brand new. The 3/8" will make 280 ft/lb, the 1/2" will do 700 ft/lb and max out at 1000 ft/lb in reverse. The are the best guns I could find for the size and torque capacity.

I bought the 3/8" just for removing the exhaust manifolds in the car since I broke one of the studs initially trying to use a breaker bar. The impact easily fits between the block and body on my 535i, and took all of the remaining nuts/studs out with ease, and didn't break a single one.

There are so many uses for these guns, I'd be lost without them anymore... One of the best tool purchases I've ever made.

[632 Regal]

cordless or corded?


I bought my 1/2" Ingersol titanium off ebay for $165 and the 3/8" Ingersol for $150, brand new. The 3/8" will make 280 ft/lb, the 1/2" will do 700 ft/lb and max out at 1000 ft/lb in reverse. The are the best guns I could find for the size and torque capacity.

I bought the 3/8" just for removing the exhaust manifolds in the car since I broke one of the studs initially trying to use a breaker bar. The impact easily fits between the block and body on my 535i, and took all of the remaining nuts/studs out with ease, and didn't break a single one.

There are so many uses for these guns, I'd be lost without them anymore... One of the best tool purchases I've ever made.

[icesoft]

Neither, that was the point (guess I should've stated that)... Air powered is the way to go... The electric ones are far too big to get into a lot of the spots where they could be extremely useful, like exhaust manifolds, suspension parts (mine was very handy when I took the rear subframe out). And they really don't have the balls that an air powered impact has.

Look up the Ingersol 2135Ti, and the 2115Ti for air powered guns. But if you've gotta have electric, don't expect to get much over 350 ft/lbs (380 was the most I saw in a Milwaukee 3/4" electric impact).

Guess my car just has more rusted fasteners or something. (Either that, or I just don't like to use the breaker bar as much as everyone else...) ;) :p


cordless or corded?

[e34musician]

Is this the summary?
1.) Electric cordless ===> too weak?
2.) Electric corded ===> good enough for suspension, lug nuts? But too big.
3.) Air compressor ===> good and strong. But have to carry air tank around.

I am looking at the corded ones.

[Bill R.]

cordless impacts that will do the job if you look around. The Ingersoll rand w360 produces 350 ft.lbs of torque , more than enough for just about anything on your car except the harmonic damper bolt. And then there's the
Mother of all cordless impacts with their new commercial. (http://www.motherofallcordlessimpactwrenches.com/) Not the old commercial that i really like. I have a cordless 1/2 drive thats been working great for 90% of what i do ,which is work on cars for a living. I also have a cordless ratchet made by Znex thats really great. For virtually everything you want to do a cordless impact has now reached the levels that it will do it. You'll have to spend more for one but they are much more useful. I just bought a makita lxt600 today that has a impact driver that i will probably use a lot for small bolt and screw removal on cars.





Is this the summary?
1.) Electric cordless ===> too weak?
2.) Electric corded ===> good enough for suspension, lug nuts? But too big.
3.) Air compressor ===> good and strong. But have to carry air tank around.

I am looking at the corded ones.

[Tiger]

Jeez! 550 ft. lb. torque?!

[Tiger]

Cheap Dewalt electric on ebay...

http://cgi.ebay.com/Dewalt-1-2-impact-wrench_W0QQitemZ280117071167QQihZ018QQcategoryZ731 10QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem