Learn me: Impact Guns

NitroCat 1200-K with Prevost couplers

In reply to bravenrace:

I don't doubt that.....just commenting. I can say one thing, I have owned an IR half drive, a matco, a couple of the old school CP's, and now the snappy's....if I didn't get them at a steep discount, I would probably never would have considered them. However, I have never owned any as nice, quiet, nor powerful. I am almost thankful my old stuff was nicked by a meth addict.

IR 2135Ti... I bought one when they first hit the market boasting a 1000lbs... Its been the best gun I have ever owned or used... I have used Snappy, older mac(newer stuff is pretty much the same as IR), CP, AP, and a few others...

I think its been on the market now for 8 or 9 years now.. Anyways the only thing I have had to replace was the anvil... I use the impact gun every day for work... Everyone in the shop will come over and brow it from time to time when they get a stuck bolt...

IR 2135PTi here, great gun, love it. I shopped ebay stores for lowest price, they were way under tool sites.

I've had a 231 for 15 years and it's great. That said, there's stuff that it just won't do. Sometimes a 1/2" breaker bar and a cheater pipe is needed.

Last summer in preparation for front and rear wheel bearings on my M3 track rat, I threw down and got the IR2135PTi, and it is mighty. And light.

I also have a 3/8" butterfly impact, and a neat little 3/8" Matco conventional.

Bargain, 231. Doing it right the first time, 2135PTi.

IR231

Last year I finally got tired of using the el cheapo impact wrench that came free with my compressor and bought a 2135TiMax. Night and day.

IR 2135ti for me

Made my purchase today http://www.ebay.com/itm/271159298714

IR 2135TiMax

I have the Matco version of the 1/2" IR composite. Has way more torque to snap off the bolt I am tightening. I always used my purchased from the Matco guy traded in used Snap On 3/8" impact for everything from wheel lugnuts to valvecover bolts.

When I was at Matco, we used to do a demonstration for our distributors to show the real differences in impact guns. See, the type of clutch the gun has makes a huge difference in the perceived power. A pin clutch, like the Matco gun had (not the IR design Ranger refers to above) builds torque slower than a dog style clutch like the IR 231 has. Mechanics used to connect their guns together to see who's was more powerful and the IR with out exception always turned the other gun backwards. Now, the IR was a very strong gun, but with the Matco gun what was really happening was that the faster-torque-building IR got the Matco gun spinning backward and it couldn't recover. The distributors kept complaining that our guns weren't strong enough, so we'd first do the gun-gun test, then we'd put both guns on the the impact dyno and show them that ours actually made more torque.

Swank Force One wrote: Honestly the HF "Earthquake" guns aren't half bad. They're heavy, bulky as E36 M3, but they seem to be strong.

It probably comes down to how much you have to use them. I'm not sure how they would hold up to daily abuse. But, yeah, they sure do throw some power around. A friend let me borrow one when I was having trouble getting the crank pulley bolt off my 22R. I guess they're kind of notoriously difficult. It popped it off like nothing.

Worth noting - there are several. I think some are better than others. This was the $90ish one with an aleged "1000" ft. lbs.

I have 3 I really like

3/8 Craftsman professional: It was a gift and I really like it for quick reassembly. Pretty much useless for anything more than lug nuts

1/2 Craftsman professional: Cheap and all around good heavy duty I used to crank it up to 130ish psi for hard to loosen stuff

3/4 HF Earthquake: Its a wreckin' machine seriously if you need a super heavy duty gun I use it on neon rear control arms usually. Sure its a pain to have to buy new sockets but how easy this thing makes otherwise hard jobs is so worth it.

I have to agree with yamaha. Snap-On has some new guns that are crazy-powerful. IR gets my vote for second place, and I used to prefer IR to Snap-on impacts.

I have been plenty happy with my old Cornwell branded IR 231 but also have an extented anvil composite IR that does almost as well. I bought them both used for less than $50 a piece and they have yet to let me down.

I've been happy with my <year old (and redesigned) HF earthquake gun. It is a beast! And you can get it for ~$70 if you play your cards(coupons) right.

+1 IR., I worked in a junkyard, and asked the old guys what I should get. $100 at sears got me an Ingersol of whatever sort they had. Never failed to do any job, outperformed the Snap-ons it went up against.That was almost ten years ago, for what its worth