1/2 inch impact wrench recommendations

[UncleBad]

I went with the Dewalt DCF899P1. It easily handles the lugs on my F250 and the Airstream and much more. It a bit of coin but saves me time and breaker bar frustration and can take it with me.

DEWALT DCF899P1 20V MAX XR Brushless High Torque 1/2" Impact Wrench Kit with Detent Anvil https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00X52TWA4..._U4piCbWCH6VYW

Lots of other good ideas here. Good luck with whatever you choose!

[68 TWind]

I bought the Earthquake 1/2 in impact wrench from Harbor Freight. I don't use it often so figured it would be fine. I love it. Plenty of torque. In fact, I recently changed timing belts on my Tundra and my wife's Sequoia (both with 4.7 engine). The crank bolt is really tight and nearly impossible to loosen with a breaker bar (I have done one that way) but the HF air wrench zipped it off in a couple of seconds. Wheel lug are never a problem.

[ROBERT CROSS]

Originally Posted by Shermy1987

When I ran my own workshop, sometimes those crap air tools came in handy. Their impact guns would usually last over six months before starting to fail. Six months of daily use is about ten years of home use. Pretty good for 19.99 I say.

Whatever makes you happy. TETO
I've only been a bucklenuster for 40yrs, so what do I know?...Don't buy HF if you respect your tools. 😂

Bob
🇺🇸

[B and R]

I appreciate your advice about impact guns.
I see you have been wrenching on imports quite a while.
I would be happy to pay you for some advice on my 2.5 turbo 1991 E-300 Mercedes.

Started up one day pressed on accelerator and nothing. Idles only. I checked all the linkages and can manually advance the linkage and nothing happens. Stays on idle. I put it in drive and idled down the street and back but no throttle at all.

Electronic problem? Since its a 1991 is doesn't have that much electronics I guess? I've worked on my own cars all gas till my wife got this one from her diseased Father.

Great road car 30+ miles per gallon on road and less then 200,000 on her.

And thoughts and advice would be greatly appreciated.

We have a 1987 square stream(32') and f150 Ford with twin turbo v6

Thanks again.
Bob

[ROBERT CROSS]

B & R

? Directed my way?
First ck fuel supply...rest & run pressures, ck all lines & filters, a bad fuel pump, restricted fuel pick-up.
Crud in the tank...
If that doesn't help...call me, start it up and put the phone on the air filter, all the needed information will be transferred directly to the mainframe between my ears. 😉

Bob
🇺🇸

[Kilroy]

Ditto, OTRA15.
My Milwaukee M18 is better than the air wrench’s I’ve had. You can also have it on the road.

Originally Posted by OTRA15

Based on our satisfaction with entire line of Milwaukee M12 cordless tools, this M18 1/2" impact wrench would be a good choice IMO:

https://www.amazon.com/Milwaukee-Tor...t+wrench+1%2F2

A good set of impact-rated 1/2" drive sockets should eliminate any 1/4" drive adaptor issues IMO, for instance:

https://www.amazon.com/TEKTON-2-Inch...V188836J51J388

FYI this thread is a bit old, but good background reading on lithium cordless tools:

http://www.airforums.com/forums/f44/...ls-170188.html

Good luck, and please let us know what you get, and your satisfaction.

Thanks,

Peter

[twolanehwy]

If you have air any old school impact will work.
All of my tools are Makita 18v been totally happy with all of them including new led portable work light.

[featherbedder]

One thing not mentioned this thread is a bolt or nut that is hard to take off by hand, bolt or stud can break, w/impact not so easy to break as its a hammer motion instead of constant pressure, also sometimes tighten very small amount, will often come loose.

[OTRA15]

Originally Posted by featherbedder

. . .
. . . also sometimes tighten very small amount, will often come loose.

^^^ x2

Back in the old days of hand-held impact driver "screwdrivers" we would often click it into tighten mode, then bang it once with a small sledge, to loosen up a screw.

[GM Airstream]

I went to the 1/2 in makita torque wrench some time back.. its battry powered.. and can go as high as 750 ft lbs... which will give your arm a run for its strength... grin...

It replaced the air compressor and the air wrench... but, that being said... its quieter etc... but then again a air compressor can be used for a lot more things.. as well... like tires etc...

But, after we got the makita... we still go back to the air wrench... depending on how far out we are going in the driveway.

which is cheaper... depends on how you value the air compressor... the one we have is from the used market... and has a 1 hp motor that runs on 220 v. It auto starts and shuts down when making pressure.

We use it for riviting and doing other aircraft related things... as we have those tools too...

But, If I were to buy one thing.. I would go with the air compressor, hose and air wrench... for as often as you will use it to do the lug nuts... etc... but as we said the air compressor is more usable for other things... from nail guns to blowing things off...and cleaning etc...

We take the makita along when we travel.. and use it also on the BAL jack screws.. as we can set it for light impact and it works great to just zip the jacks down or up... no more crank crank crank... etc... as well as it can be used to do repairs or change tires... as it also will fit the 1/2 in sq in the vehicle jack... so it makes life easy...

by the way... if you have alu wheels... its not the shop that torques them up... seems that they natch tighten up on their own.. as you run them... so its not the shop that overtorques.. its the nat way they behave...

[Rocinante]

Given you have limited $$$ to spend and your application will be limited to occasional use for your truck, you could probably go with a basic Kobalt impact wrench from Lowes. This one is on sale right now for $199, not a bad price given they claim full retail would have been $249.

Before anybody asks, no I do not work for Lowes, nor do I get a finder's fee.

https://www.lowes.com/pd/Kobalt-24-v...ded/1000604927

[lyleapgmc]

Over the years I've come to realize that tire installers do not know the first thing about properly installing lug nuts or lug bolts.


The first thing they do is tighten the lugs with an air impact driver that is capable of producing up to 700 foot pounds of torque. Some only produce 350 foot pounds but the point is that an impact driver will over-tighten lug.



After over-tightening the lugs they put a click type torque wrench on the lug. It clicks at the desired torque but the fact it the lug has already been tightened far beyond the desired torque. This stresses the lug bolt beyond what it is designed for. These stresses can eventually cause the failure of the wheel attach system, with possible disastrous results.



Lugs should never be tightened with an impact driver. There is no control of the torque applied to the lug. Even if the lug is loosened after being over-tightened the damage (stress) has been done. Ideally, over-tightened lugs should be replaced with new. That means both the bolt and the nut involved.


Some installers, in their rush to get the vehicle out the door, do not even apply the torque wrench to all the lugs on each wheel.


Trust but verify, or don't trust!

[pteck]

I have both both air impacts and battery impacts at my disposal.

Often, I will just do it the old school way. Either boxed end wrench, or breaker bar. And just a few taps with a hammer on the end. Piece of cake.

[Noggin]

Originally Posted by Shermy1987

Your obviously not about to open up a workshop!!! So you hardly need a 500 dollar impact gun. Take a trip to Harbour Freight and buy the most powerful one you can afford.

Shermy I agree. I bought mine from HF about 10 years ago. Hardly ever use it and it stays in the bottom of my tool box where I keep crap I don't use much. I dug it out two weeks ago and it took off 4 tires with no problems and put them back on. Threw it back in the bottom of tool box. Paid less than $100. It doesn't owe me a thing. Do the coupons!

[Action]

six point socket, 1/2" breaker bar and a three foot pipe!


>>>>>>>>>>>Action

[Shermy1987]

Originally Posted by ROBERT CROSS

Whatever makes you happy. TETO
I've only been a bucklenuster for 40yrs, so what do I know?...Don't buy HF if you respect your tools. 😂

Bob
🇺🇸

When I moved the this wonderful country 5 years ago from Australia . I simply didn't have cash to go out and spend another 20 odd thousand dollars re buying snap on type tools. So I started with a lot of Harbour Freight type tools in my 100 dollar tool chest. I can tell you that not all of it is junk. Some is. Most of my work is diesel. A lot of it is big diesel. 40 ton excavators and the such. I have so many harbour freight tools I brought 5 years ago expecting to get perhaps a year at most out of them. The best example is a 1/2 inch rachet breaker bar. It gets pieces if pipe slid over it and it has never broke.
It gives me a little chuckle when I see some guy with a million dollars worth of tools go wreck something that I fix with a 100 dollars worth of tools.

[Shermy1987]

Simple fact is. If I wanted to undo a set of wheel nuts 3 times a year. Why would I spend 500 dollars to do it?

[ROBERT CROSS]

I inherited quality tools, when it came time, I bought quality tools... what other folks use is up to them.

Bob
🇺🇸

[Kanusport]

It could be worse then tight lugnuts the tire monkeys at my local Ford dealer caused over 3000 grand in damage to my full size ford transit van. They positioned the two post lift pad to the rocker panel and creased both sides of the rockers on the Van.

For your application I’d buy a harbor freight corded or cordless impact. If you have a little wiggle room you can’t go wrong with Milwaukee cordless impact.

[tjdonahoe]

Originally Posted by Countryboy59

Check the specs on a battery powered one before you buy. You need 200 ft lbs to be of any use on lug nuts. There are a few good ones out there, for about $300. The bonus is you can use it on the road.

I got a Kobalt at a Black Friday sale for everything else. I avoid using a breaker bar for really tight stuff. I apply some heat with a torch and use an impact. Almost never break a stud. The Kobalt had better specs than any of the compact ones but I wouldn’t use that on wheel lugs.

....paid $100.00....for my craftsman...1 battery will rotate all 4 tires and still have plenty of battery left...I carry it everywhere....you never know...