Electric Impact?

So I got the Northern Tool one from Pep Boys, as apparently they no longer carry the GoodYear one. It was 24v rated to 240 ft lbs. Without a full charge it couldn't take off the lug nuts torqued to 85 ft lbs. I returned it.

So, what do you guys recommend instead? Does the Harbor Freight one work? It'll take off lug nuts torqued to 85 ft lbs even without a full battery charge?

Or do I need to spend big bucks on Snap On or something...

The harbor freight plug in one is pretty good, otherwise yea, the $500 snap on one is what you need (I have used one and it is really nice, i cant afford $500 tools though).

i picked up a compressor, hose, fittings, air ratchet, and air impact at harbor freight for less than half of what that snap on costs. downside: it makes a helluva racket, and i feel bad running it during the day, much less after 9 or 10 o'clock. not that big of a deal though, since it only will get used a couple times a month, if that.

edit: when i was at autozone, we had "store use'd" a plug in electric impact for doing things like swapping pulleys on alternators or PS pumps that worked great, i think they run about 70 bucks or so. i think

A friend of mine (class A Tech) has a Snap on electric Impact. It's pricey , but stronger then my Bluepoint on 125psi.

Nice tool to have, esp for the wreckers.

Love my Harbor Freight plug-in electric impact. Between that and my Skil Cordless 1/4" ratchet I have managed to do without a compressor for a little while longer.

I'm a professional tech but still hated to pay the high price for my Snap-On, especially since its mostly for personal use at the junkyard on weekends. A year later and I'd buy another in a heartbeat. Its amazing how much I use it at work just to avoid the hassle and extra 5 seconds it takes to grab the hose and plug in the air gun. WORTH EVERY PENNY!

I've got a hilti electric. It's very good up to about 110-120. Anything w/more torque and it sorta runs out of steam - but it's managed everything I've asked it to do.

I also have a makita electric impact, the small 18v li-ion one. It works great for most stuff except the big stuff which I use a breaker bar to get loose.

The Harbor Freight 1/2 inch is/was on sale as of monday for like $42.00. I bought it and the extended plan and it is supposedly good for 240 lb ft. Have not used it yet but I will let you know how it works when I am stripping down one of the RX-7s for parts.

I've got a small-ish ~100+ ft-lb 18V 1/2-inch drive DeWalt that is great for junkyards and is good enough to take off lugnuts, though it sometimes has to bang on them for a few seconds.

A friend has the bigger (300 ft-lb-ish) DeWalt that will take axle nuts off without a struggle. It's a lot heavier, though. The trigger is a bit of a pain on the big one: you can sometimes turn it on in the wrong direction.

While I like the DeWalts well enough, I don't like the little detent balls they use on the square drive -- they're too stiff and make socket removal a pain.

One thing to note, too, is that when you start adding extensions, the torque goes way down. For this reason, I sometimes wish my little DeWalt was a 3/8-inch drive, not 1/2-inch because adding a 1/2-to-3/8 converter soaks up some torque.

For the money the Horrible Freight unit is hard to beat. Buy an extra battery so you always have a full charge.

captainkarl wrote: I also have a makita electric impact, the small 18v li-ion one. It works great for most stuff except the big stuff which I use a breaker bar to get loose.

Ditto. On higher torque stuff (tighter lug nuts, axle nuts, big suspension hardware, etc.) I use a breaker bar to get it started, then let the Makita lithium ion impact take care of the rest. This thing is AWESOME for quick work in the pits, junkyard runs, and just generally handy to have around. It's significantly lighter than the big heavy DeWalt/Snap-On type guns and much easier to work with. I just wish I could get something like it to replace an air ratchet, then I'd REALLY be in business.

Bryce

I've had the HF gun for a few years now - no issues. It's one of my favorite tools, especially for junk yard duty. Got an Mtech steering wheel off an E30 a couple weekends back - the steering lock was broken and people had clearly tried to get it off with hand tools, but the wheel just turned. Impact took it off without issue.

Love that thing.

So the HF 1/2" drive has no problems taking off bolts set to 85-90 ft lbs? What's it rated at torque wise?

The 1/2 inch is rated at 240 ft lb. Since I haven't used it yet have no idea if it will remove bolts that tight. Once I get home I can try it out on my lug nuts and report back.

If it does I would recommend hurrying up to get it since its roughly 40% off.

Hmm, the Northern Tool one was rated basically the same and it couldn't do it without a full charge...

The 1/2 inch Harbor Freight plug in just took off my lugnuts without much problem. It seems I misplaced my torque wrench in the move but I had tighened them pretty hard. I removed all four and retightened them even more and it still took them off no problem.

I don't know if it will do 240 ft lb but for most work it looks like it should work.

Be sure you're checking ratings for both tightening and loosening. Most electric impacts are rated lower in "reverse".

My HF is the old (orange) model and has zero issues with lugs when it's charged. As the battery drains, predictably, it loses strength. But if you charge it the night before you head to the track, you should be fine.

Found my torque wrench and just checked the HF 1/2 inch plug in I was talking about. Torqued a lugnut to 135 and it took it off no problem. No idea about the portable one.

I had 3 of the HF 18v rechargeables .... all were next to usless... (2 were store replacements) then I bought the 24v from Great Northern Tool and have had zero problems to date ( 2 yrs ) torque my lug nuts to 75#.... have used it to loosen suspension parts, again no problem ...

The Northern Tool had to be fully charged to remove my lug nuts. If it wasn't, it couldn't do it. Pretty useless for me at the track...

Pretty happy with my 18v Milwaukee, it gets stuck now and then but only on really rusty crap

I have a blue harbor freight one, it doesnt really do much. Pretty much anything that is too tight to easily turn by hand it wont do. The orange plug in one is great, but the snap on one i used (I was helping someone pull and engine at the junkyard and it was theirs) was 1000x better.

Careful with electrics. I have a engineer friend who brought his unit into work, and tested the output. It was more than adequate to torque his RX7 wheels....until the charge went down. After the second lost wheel event, he went back to torquing by hand after tightening by technology. I just bought a Kawasaki 21volt drill / driver from Costco for $49 with case, bits, charger and two batteries. Works great, but I still break everything loose by hand and check with a torque wrench.

uhh, they don't even leave the torquing of wheels to the air gun at walmart. i've always heard that you should just snug everything up with the impact, and torque by hand. otherwise its easy to under/over torque the lugs. both are bad, for different reasons.