So, I've been day dreaming lately about getting an air compressor and an impact wrench. I do some work on my own cars, but its not like every day I'm working on them. When I do, though, I always think man, if I had an impact wrench, I'd have this thing off already, or whatever.
Anyway, they obviously range in cost and quality, I'd be looking at Craftsman products, not Ingersoll Rand $400 wrenches. Anyway, who here uses imact wrenches as a hobbyist? What are your thoughts on them?
I love mine. ~$200 IR. It saves a lot of time when you are disassembling things. I sometimes get lazy though and use them for assembly. I have screwed up a few threads that I wouldn't have if I was using hand tools (eg wrong thread). I have heard good things about the harbour freight earthquake impact wrench which is a less expensive option.
I have a craftsman 33 gallon compressor. Came with air tools. The impact it came with didn't last very long. I bought an IR(~$250 ish) impact gun and that thing has been rock steady. Far more power than the basic craftsman that came with the kit. Air tools makes things so much easier. Simply changing rims/tires over now only takes about 20 minutes or so, which is nice. For that alone it has been worth it.
I have a Dewalt 110v eletric 1/2 drive impact. It's a nice step up from hand tools without the big cash outlay for a compressor and tools. Takes up less space, no noisy compressor, more portable. If you've got a plug, you're good to go. Down sides are : bulky, heavy, not so good for wet places. Got it mainly for tire swaps, but is handy for lots of other stuff too.
I have a small DeWalt air compressor and a craftsman 1/2" impact.
I cannot stress how much I LOVE impact wrenches! I have weakened wrists from a car accident when I was 17 (and from being stupid, and from having a desk job and probably having carpal tunnel, and, and and), and the lack of torque transmitted back through the impact (versus an air ratchet) makes working on stuff an absolute joy.
You can have my impact gun when you pry it from my cold dead hands!
I have the HF electric impact. ($29.99 with GRM coupon) and even using 100 ft of cord it broke the axle nut on the wife's car free easily.
I bought my IR off CL.... older model but works PERFECT. $30.
After 23 years of using air tools, I'm not sure I could wrench without them. But, remember that air tools are for taking stuff apart. You put it back together without the air. The big impact guns are great for a few things like lugnuts, axle nuts, flywheel bolts, but an air 3/8" ratchet for $19 or whatever is king.
I ran a tool repair shop for a long time.
Get this: http://www.ingersollrandproducts.com/IS/Product.aspx-am_en-33374
It should be under $200.00
The IR 231 is the best 1/2" impact ever. Period.
I don't think any tire shops would be able to do business without these guns.
If you are changing tires a fair bit, consider the 231H. It has a 3" extended anvil so you can use it with deeper rims.
Shawn
The 231h is what I have. I do like the extended anvil most of the time, but on occasion it makes everything too long to fit where I want it.
I have three impact wrenches: pneumatic, corded and cordless. The cordless was great during the first few years of its life, then the batteries went kaput. The corded is nice, but heavy and bulky. The pneumatic is best. It's a 20-year-old CP734, but has worked all 20 years without fail (hobby use only). Along with the compressor, I can also use my grinders, sanders, paint gun, air ratchet (great tool) and dozens of other things.
I've got a Makita 110V, and it's the handiest tool I ever got. Between it and an aluminum HF jack, I can do a tire change in 10 minutes and not break a sweat. A more compact pneumatic would be really nice, but then you have to go to the expense of a compressor and plumbing. Depends what you need.................Naw, it depends what you want !!!
You know i hate to say this but it is 100% true. I have a 25 year old air impact gun made by Buffalo tools Tiawain. It cost me $30 at Ace hardwear. While working as a real mech I bought a snap on and killed it twice....Bought a high $$ Mac killed it with in a week...got a CP unit it took a month in the shop to kill it. My air at my personal shop is regulated at 120psi not the normal 90psi and the cheap E36 M3 buffalo gun just keeps on working.
44dwarf The only problem i have with t is the clip to hold the socket on broke two years ago...I'm to lazy to buy a replacment clip
For removing lug nuts and such, check the rating of the impact wrench. You can pay a lot for one without much ooomphf! My air compressor just crapped out, so I have been hand-tooling it without much concern.
Thanks for the responses, I've been researching it a little bit and it looks like as with most things, you don't want to go too cheap, as tempting as it seems. Looking at all the air wrenches on the counter at the Sears is what got my head reeling. Not to mention the work bench set ups and floor coverings and jacks and jack stands and hand tools and the rest of it all. I could easily spend $30,000 in an afternoon in there and I only have a one car garage. Its been a while since I really shopped for tools, I usually just go to the corner hardware store for small odds and ends.
Anyway, I've decided this winter to update my "shop", which consists of the aforementioned one car garage. On my list of things to do are to put in a decent powered work bench, some extra lighting, a new, larger jack and jack stands and then the impact wrench.
Oh yeah, eventually I want to have one of these in there, when the BGT isn't taking up the space anyway: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/29/1987_Porsche_944_Turbo.JPG
My friend bought the largest 110volt air compressor that sears sells, and I was somewhat disappointed with its ability to run air sanders and the like. It was not capable of operating them continuously and required regular breaks to refill the tank.
We have a 220 volt one at my family's garage that can operate just about anything I've ever ran on it continuously, and its reasonably quiet.
I think the hot set up is the outdoor 220 compressor so the noise stays outside, with plumbing going inside. I've also seen some garages with a "closet" with cork lined walls to quiet down the compressor, and a ventilation fan going to the outside to keep the compressor cool.
For me, I don't do much with air tools at my house, so I just use 18 volt cordless tools for all my needs. Its so much simpler than getting out the air hoses and chucks and oiling the impact and the compressor.
Oh, and on the subject of oil- make sure you buy a compressor that requires you to oil it. the "oilless" ones are WAY louder (and a lot of people say they don't last as long).
When I finally get my own garage I'm not gonna waste my time on a 110 volt compressor. 220 or nothing, IMO.
I built a nice workbench cheaper than those tin ones that sears sells. It's made of 4x4's 2x4's and plywood. You only need a circular saw, drill and hammer to build it. I'll post pics this afternoon.
My workbench is welded up out of 2x2 square tube with 1/4" walls 
My home impact gun is a C-H dual hammer - although mine's the 90's version that looks different. If you give the trigger a very light squeeze, it sounds like an idling Harley. It's held up to over a decade of major and minor products without a hiccup. Might not be an IR, but it does the job and it's quite affordable.
I used it with a 26-gallon C-H compressor for years and it was a noisy but effective hobby setup.
I do have one of IR's high-end battery powered impacts. It's awesome. Very much not cheap, but I bought it for the Targa and I didn't want to take the chance on anything else.
If you're looking for decent air tools, check pawn shops. You might score one of those IR 231s for cheap.
Workbenches, dont rule out looking at local school/govt autctions.
I bought a set of 3 cabinets/benches from the local HS woodshop for $35 for all. A 4ft bench, 6 ft bench and a 3ftx9ft cabinet.
They looked terrible when I got them but they were solid heavy steel
A little cleaning, sanding, painting and Sears cant top this for $35
ReverendDexter wrote: You can have my impact gun when you pry it from my cold dead hands!
Impact guns don't remove lug nuts, people remove lug nuts?
Outlaw impact guns and only outlaws will have impact guns?
I am in caveman class when it comes to changing tires - someday I will have a big enough compressor to run air tools. Now I am mostly limited to inflating tires.
I fell in love with air impact wrenches as soon as I started using them. But I hate the noise of the compressor.
Now I have an 18v DeWalt cordless that I use for everything except for bolts that are seriously frozen. Then I have to brake out the 1/2 inch air impact gun.
The DeWalt is perfect for tire changes and 90% of the stuff that I do in the garage.
I've got three types:
Plug in electric Harbor Freight. Weighs a ton and claims 300 foot lbs.
Cordless Craftsman. Probably about 50-60 ft. lbs. max.
Air driven impact wrench. $30 thing I bought 20 years ago, don't even remember the brand. Works fine.
Which do I use the most? The Craftsman cordless. Mostly because most of the stuff I take off is relatively small. I can take the lugnuts off my MG Midget with it since they aren't torqued more than 45 lbs. I can also put them back on with it, but always finish with a torque wrench. It is basically an electric speed wrench, which comes in very handy on those race weekends.
The Harbor Freight item I drag out to do the big nuts, like the one that holds the pulley on the crankshaft or the brake rotors on the hubs.
I rarely use the air impact because I can grab either of the two others in a lot less time than it takes me to power up the air compressor and drag a hose over.
I rigged up my garage with two reels of air hose, one near the main work area and one by the door. There's always a hose handy, just grab and pull. The compressor is always powered up and full, of course. The bead blaster is also permanently hooked up. It's less hassle for me to use air than it is to deal with extension cords. Took a Saturday worth of work to string rubber hose along the ceiling to each of the reels and the blaster, cost under $100.
Dr. Hess wrote: But, remember that air tools are for taking stuff apart. You put it back together without the air.
I've had to remove lug-nuts that were installed with an impact gun--without having access to same! Lots of kicking and cursing involved.
Oddly enough, I've never had much use--or money--for pneumatic tools. Hand tools and occasional brute force get the job done for me.
I had 3/8" impact. It was great for tires etc. I also had a 1/2 inch but I only pulled it out every so often once I got the 3/8". A MUST HAVE is a 3/8 air ratchet. Bar non the best /most used tool. If I could only have one it would be the 3/8" air ratchet. You can brake it free with muscle and then let the tool do all the twisting. Sadly my air tools were stolen with my compressor a while back. The only thing I still have is a cheep impact / air chisel set that I forgot was in the trunk of one of my cars. So for the moment I don't have any. I have replaced the compressor with a 175PSI two stage unit. Replacement tools will be forthcoming. The Harbor Freight coupon in GRM is going to be a huge help in getting some replacements.
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