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edessex
Part of things
Posts: 514
Club RR Member Number: 42
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1/2 inch impact guns..??edessex
@edessex
Club Retro Rides Member 42
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I bought a mains power impact wrench, Clarke 1000w, which is 450nm.
It has certainly undone nuts that I wouldn't have managed to by hand (such as pulley nuts/bolts), but there have been a few that it's struggled with.
I'm starting to move to battery tools, rather than mains and a generator, and have settled on DeWalt. My next buy is hopefully one of their 950nm 18v torque wrenches.
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400nm will struggle with anything tight, i wouldnt bother. Having bought a cheap one and found it useless i since bought a milwaulkee 1900nm
Not much can slow that down. You can get plenty of other tools that will use those batterys too.
A couple of friends went with the ryobi 400nm gun and it cant even get wheel nuts off.
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I bought a mains power impact wrench, Clarke 1000w, which is 450nm. It has certainly undone nuts that I wouldn't have managed to by hand (such as pulley nuts/bolts), but there have been a few that it's struggled with. I'm starting to move to battery tools, rather than mains and a generator, and have settled on DeWalt. My next buy is hopefully one of their 950nm 18v torque wrenches. Luckily I’ve got power in my garage but the battery stuff just as good as mains these days.
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400nm will struggle with anything tight, i wouldnt bother. Having bought a cheap one and found it useless i since bought a milwaulkee 1900nm Not much can slow that down. You can get plenty of other tools that will use those batterys too. A couple of friends went with the ryobi 400nm gun and it cant even get wheel nuts off.
Haha not messing around with a 1900nm! I was starting to thing 400 would be a bit wimpy.. but my current is a breaker bar with a scaffold bar attachment.. so have had no real reference of power. And actually that one Milwaukee one isn’t too badly priced I’m not sure where I looked before but I thought I’d seen them at £600+
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Flynn
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 142
Club RR Member Number: 166
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1/2 inch impact guns..??Flynn
@flynn
Club Retro Rides Member 166
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My experience for what it's worth... I wanted to buy into some battery tooling and I needed a new impact gun, I didn't want to spend all that much so I bought a Kielder KWT-002-03 18V 1/2" 430Nm. It was basically useless, wouldn't touch wheel nuts that I had torqued to 120Nm, wouldn't even dream of getting a crank pulley bolt off, I complained, the place I bought it from were very good and offered to have it back straight away but looking around online, that seemed to be a fairly common experience so I don't think mine was a duff unit. A year or two pass and I ended up buying a Milwaukee angle grinder on a deal which saw it arrive with 2 batteries, that then spurred me to do the impact gun thing properly and so I bought one of these: A Milwaukee M18FHIWF12-0 Gen2. Never looked back, it is an absolute beast and hasn't struggled with anything I've thrown at it yet, some highlights include getting the wheel bolts off an Audi TT that appeared to be stuck solid, it put out enough force that it made the socket and the wheel bolt too hot to touch but got even the most stuck ones free. I stripped down a nearly 40 year old, crusty and unloved Jaguar front suspension subframe assembly with no problems, it was like I was taking apart new stuff! My advice would be to save up and spend the extra, just on that Jaguar subframe job alone, the gun probably saved me 4 hours or faffing around with lever bars and contorting myself in to the right position to give things a good shove which would have been my tactic, had the impact gun not been an option.
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1971 MGB GT 1983 Daimler Sovereign 4.2 1999 Jaguar XJR
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ChasR
RR Helper
motivation
Posts: 10,188
Club RR Member Number: 170
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1/2 inch impact guns..??ChasR
@chasr
Club Retro Rides Member 170
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Feb 10, 2021 20:58:05 GMT
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Same as Flynn really, but I cheaped out (slightly, and I had to get one that day without taking the drum to a specialist) and got the DeWalt DCH899P2.
It's a little on the heavy side but it's fine. I have the Draper impact ratchet so once things are loose that can take over. The DeWalt has become a near permanent tool however, and it's one which is borrowed leaving people wondering over if they need one.
Like Flynn, my Kielder was great in terms of being light but for undoing tough bolts or tightening them, it was uselsss. The DeWalt does have variable speeds, so that can act as a gauge as to what torque to go to.
My DeWalt has only struggled twice on things. That was on oddly the BMW E61 wheel bolts. It undid most of them. However, the previous chap did them up with a 3/4" truck impact wrench! I also used a wheel socket which did get very hot. I suspect with the correct impact socket I'd have been fine, albeit at the expensive of potentially marking the wheels due to the thicker walled sockets.
Even a breaker bar with scaffolding had me struggling to undo the bolts on that car! I suspect them being heat cycled didn't help! I am shocked that none of them snapped. I do wonder if I should have left the gun to rest a bit or change batteries more often. I've very rarely come across nuts done that tightly, even from careless tyre shops.
So, there was one job it may have struggled with, potentially due to user error. What has it succeeded with
-2CV Rear Hub Nut and Bearing Retainer nut. The latter are known for being super tight and mine was no exception -'07 Saab Upper suspension bolt on the rear. I am so happy I had the wrench on what has to be the worst design even for doing the rear brake discs; Yup, you have to partially remove a super tight suspension bolt to undo the rear carrier bolts as the supension bolt is in the way. Those suspension nuts had never been undone, and despite the factor tightening them to 150Nm+90, the Dewalt took them off fine, rust, curse word and all. It would have taken me forever with a breaker bar/wrench combo, thanks to how long that bolt is. Why did Saab go bust again? -M3 Prop bolts, even the Torx ones at the back ; it stopped me slipping on them -E36 Subframe bolts. Like Flynn, the rattle gun made light work of it.
The chap I bought the car off no longer uses that chap, as it did once cost him a set of wheel nuts getting destroyed, they were that tight.
Like Flynn, my gun has paid for itself easily now. BMW prop bolts were much much easier to undo with this as opposed to trying to stop the engine from turning when undoing them etc.
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Last Edit: Feb 10, 2021 21:09:31 GMT by ChasR
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thomfr
Part of things
Trying to assemble the Duett again..
Posts: 639
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Feb 10, 2021 21:23:22 GMT
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Looking at what a usable battery impact wrench set costs (€400+) I decided to stick with my 1/2" compressed air impact wrench as it cost me something around € 150 and has never disappointed me on any task. Sometimes less handy due to the airline but more compact than a battery one with battery. Thom
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73' Alfa Giulia Super 64' Volvo Duett 65' Volvo Duett 67' Volvo Amazon 123GT 09' Ford Focus 1.8 06' Citroen C4 Exclusive
71' Benelli Motorella 65' Cyrus Speciaal
The difference between men and boys is the price of their toys
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Feb 11, 2021 23:17:19 GMT
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Definitely helped me make up mind not to cheap out with a less powerful one that just won’t be up to the job! (Especially as next job involves the rustiest of rusty alfa series 😂)
And I do like the idea of air tools my then my compressor isn’t up to the job of keeping up so by the time I’ve spent more money on a compressor I’d have brought the Milwaukee
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Last Edit: Feb 11, 2021 23:22:51 GMT by eskimogod
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pptom
Part of things
Posts: 464
Member is Online
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I have the same one as Chas. It's a bit of an animal, threw my air one away shortly after. Battery power is the future!
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I can only echo what people above have said. I thought about getting a cheaper gun but in the end went for a 1/2 MAC tools Impact gun. Yes, it was expensive but the time it saves is incredible. Wrestling with one bolt for half an hour and risking rounding it off is no longer an issue. Things you never thought would come apart are done in seconds.
Buy the best one you can afford and you'll never look back.
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gte86
Part of things
Posts: 611
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Feb 13, 2021 23:15:11 GMT
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I've had the Dewalt Dcf899 for over 5 years now and use it daily in a professional manner. Its a bit battered and I've lost the use of the lower 2 power settings but it's still going and on its original batteries still. I highly recommend it and a kit with the 5ah batteries will last you a lifetime of occasional use
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Good to read, I was thinking about getting the DeWalt to undo the hub nuts on a T25, they're torqued to something ridiculous (to me at least).
Currently rely on a Clarke Air impact wrench which is next to useless.
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Project Diary1975 Viva / 1988 T25 Camper / 1989 Mini / 1991 MX5 / 1992 Mini / 1994 Saab 9000 / 1997 Saab 9000 / 2008 Saab 9-5
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gte86
Part of things
Posts: 611
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Feb 14, 2021 22:30:57 GMT
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Good to read, I was thinking about getting the DeWalt to undo the hub nuts on a T25, they're torqued to something ridiculous (to me at least). Currently rely on a Clarke Air impact wrench which is next to useless. If the t25 hub but is the giant hex style it may struggle. They seize and will only come loose with heat. Admittedly I've only ever worked on t4 onwards
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Good to read, I was thinking about getting the DeWalt to undo the hub nuts on a T25, they're torqued to something ridiculous (to me at least). Currently rely on a Clarke Air impact wrench which is next to useless. If the t25 hub but is the giant hex style it may struggle. They seize and will only come loose with heat. Admittedly I've only ever worked on t4 onwards Oh I will struggle, no doubt about it. 500nm tightening torque plus decades of corrosion isn't something I'm looking forward to tackling!
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Project Diary1975 Viva / 1988 T25 Camper / 1989 Mini / 1991 MX5 / 1992 Mini / 1994 Saab 9000 / 1997 Saab 9000 / 2008 Saab 9-5
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gte86
Part of things
Posts: 611
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Hit it with a hammer to shock it and a bit of heat in the end of the nut helps no end
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edessex
Part of things
Posts: 514
Club RR Member Number: 42
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1/2 inch impact guns..??edessex
@edessex
Club Retro Rides Member 42
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Feb 16, 2021 22:09:49 GMT
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My Iveco Daily has wheel nuts done to 350nm, and rear hub nuts to 565nm!
I'm presently trying to up my gear a bit to deal with it!
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Feb 16, 2021 23:07:04 GMT
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I bought the dewalt dcf-899 as well, it's a bit of a beast of a tool tbh. My mate/mechanic has one & it's replaced the air gun & snap-on battery gun, he uses it with a flex bolt battery though.
I had 1 wheel bolt it struggled with (my own fault, only stuck a hammered 1.3 ah battery on) but a quick ugga tight and then back to loosen it came straight off.
Was very handy for putting 2ft trampoline ground anchours into the lawn, took about 5 seconds lol/
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ChasR
RR Helper
motivation
Posts: 10,188
Club RR Member Number: 170
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1/2 inch impact guns..??ChasR
@chasr
Club Retro Rides Member 170
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Mar 18, 2021 22:36:39 GMT
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Good to read, I was thinking about getting the DeWalt to undo the hub nuts on a T25, they're torqued to something ridiculous (to me at least). Currently rely on a Clarke Air impact wrench which is next to useless. Get Impact 6 sided sockets too. Not only are they safer to work with, but they will make use of most of the power. As two examples of this -BMW 535d E61. I bought it off a mate. It had work done to it but I knew his mechanic did everything up with a truck rattle gun, so everything was stupidly tight. The wheel nuts were no exception. Even with a scaffolding bar bending a 24" breaker bar, the wheel nuts didn't really want to undo at all. The Dewalt struggled, but eventually got them off. I had it using wheel sockets. These are great for not marking wheels. However, I suspect they are poor for when some idiot has tightened the nuts up to 50 Ugga Duggas. I'm glad I found out in my unit, and not at the side of the road however. I'm also glad it wasn't the same friend's Jag XJ : the wheel nuts split in two, with the bottom half still being left on the wheel. After that, he stopped using the mechanic thankfully. -Saab 9-3 1.8t For some reason, someone at Saab clearly had an Orgy at a Torx fixings party and decided to put every damned nut and bolt on with the dreaded things. This would prove fun to me. Was I stupid here? Yes. Was I tight? Yes! I had brake caliper carrier bolts to undo, in, you've guessed it, E-Torx bolts. These to my knowledge had not been touched for at least 8 years (They never were when my friend car the car) and were locktited too. The rears I believe I was the first person to ever take them off. I didn't want to spend £30 on an E-Torx set in an impact version. So what do you do? Use a 1/2" to 3/8" Adaptor and then put it onto either a breaker bar or a rattle gun. The rattle gun struggled and began to turn the end of the adaptor. When I put it onto the breaker bar, I snapped it. When I tried another adaptor with the breaker bar, the end began to turn, so that was two adaptors scrapped Finally? I admitted defeat and bought £30 of E-Torx sockets. The breaker bar was a struggle with one of them but it undid it. The DeWalt? It undid them as if the bolts almost weren't there. That's an example of what an Impact socket can do. They are well worth investing in. Imagine try to move a rock with a plank. A bending plank won't move it, but a solid metal bar will make life easier .
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jmsheahan
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 681
Club RR Member Number: 121
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1/2 inch impact guns..??jmsheahan
@jmsheahan
Club Retro Rides Member 121
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Good to read, I was thinking about getting the DeWalt to undo the hub nuts on a T25, they're torqued to something ridiculous (to me at least). Currently rely on a Clarke Air impact wrench which is next to useless. Can confirm the Milwaukee Flynn linked made short work of T25 hub nuts. Literally like 500nm was finger-tight. Quite an outlay but wish I'd bought one sooner!
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Last Edit: Feb 11, 2022 9:12:49 GMT by jmsheahan
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