Electric Impact Wrench?!

[ribbert]

I bought one at Harbor Freight last fall, so I could loosen and tighten the countershaft sprocket's nut. With a coupon, I picked it up for $38. For what I bought for, it was money well-spent. Unlike pneumatic ones I've owned in the past, it's non-adjustable for output.

I'm not picking on you specifically here

Noel

Of course not. Who would think that?

Here's my hammer and chisel set. You can have some fun with them too...   

Excellent! Another member with an eye for a quality tool. I too have a set. Those ratchet handles make damn fine hammers.

Noel

[ribbert]

Damn Noel , you guys must charge by the hour and not the job then. 

All kidding aside it is best to know your tools, electric or pneumatic , and use them with care . If you are not comfortable with running up a bolt or removing one then don't, it is you prerogative . The ones with adjustable power settings work the best to keep you out of trouble, and always use with impact sockets when possible .

Haha, yes I do charge by the hour. As I said, I prefer to crack and torque things by hand. What I didn't say is I run them in and out with a small 18v drill/driver (less than half the size of a normal drill and twice the price!) that has great sensitivity. I use this all day every day and could assemble a Swiss watch with it. Also, nothing gets a power tool on it until I get reasonable engagement of the nut by hand first when tightening.

Impact guns are great, my only concern is people over using them, they are very unforgiving. They are the router and belt sander of the automotive world.
Mark, unless like me, you are the bloke people bring their fuck ups to, you may not have seen first hand just what they can do with a powerful tool they have no or little experience with.

We have everything from Leopards to Monkeys here and while you might be skilled and experienced there are hundreds out there that aren't and for them, some of this stuff is a revelation that will save them a lot of grief.

An impact gun should only be used when you need an impact gun,  it's not a tool to be used on every bolt you can physically reach with it. We are also talking hobby owners here for whom time is not critical and the work occasional if not rare.
I may be little sensitive on this subject because many of my customers like to think they're mechanics and I see more than my share of stuff ups that you wouldn't believe. They never call when they strike trouble, they wait until they have well and truly stuffed it up (broken off ezy-outs is a classic) or stripped / crossed threads in places that would give you nightmares.
The most modern cars I work on are pre-war and that makes the youngest of them 70 years old. Many of the bits haven't been apart in that time and much of the metal used then was rubbish. Add a tinkering owner to the mix, and they all like to tinker, and you have trouble. Some of them have better equipped workshops than me because they have money, but no idea how to use any of it.

Noel

[movenon]

"An impact gun should only be used when you need an impact gun" Which should be extremely rare if ever on an FJ IMO.

+1. 

[aviationfred]

I agree with what Noel has mentioned. An impact wrench can make a simple job UGLY real fast.  

This is what I use for the times when I am removing multiple screws. (clutch cover).



The torque on this little electric driver is minimul, even at the highest setting. When driving the screws in, I always start at the lowest setting and increase the torque setting to get just past the breakaway torque. Once all the screws are on and snug, I go back with a traditional hand held torque wrench set to the proper torque.


Fred

[spsmith_fj1200]

Impact wrenches are useful for removing bolts and nuts.  If you can't put the bolts and nuts back on hand tight then there are probably issues with the threads and impacts wrenches will completely hose the fasteners.  Even when I use low torque drills to tighten fasteners I stop at a certain point and finish the job by hand.

[Mark Olson]

Damn Noel , you guys must charge by the hour and not the job then. 

All kidding aside it is best to know your tools, electric or pneumatic , and use them with care . If you are not comfortable with running up a bolt or removing one then don't, it is you prerogative . The ones with adjustable power settings work the best to keep you out of trouble, and always use with impact sockets when possible .

Haha, yes I do charge by the hour. As I said, I prefer to crack and torque things by hand. What I didn't say is I run them in and out with a small 18v drill/driver (less than half the size of a normal drill and twice the price!) that has great sensitivity. I use this all day every day and could assemble a Swiss watch with it. Also, nothing gets a power tool on it until I get reasonable engagement of the nut by hand first when tightening.

Impact guns are great, my only concern is people over using them, they are very unforgiving. They are the router and belt sander of the automotive world.
Mark, unless like me, you are the bloke people bring their fuck ups to, you may not have seen first hand just what they can do with a powerful tool they have no or little experience with.

We have everything from Leopards to Monkeys here and while you might be skilled and experienced there are hundreds out there that aren't and for them, some of this stuff is a revelation that will save them a lot of grief.

An impact gun should only be used when you need an impact gun,  it's not a tool to be used on every bolt you can physically reach with it. We are also talking hobby owners here for whom time is not critical and the work occasional if not rare.
I may be little sensitive on this subject because many of my customers like to think they're mechanics and I see more than my share of stuff ups that you wouldn't believe. They never call when they strike trouble, they wait until they have well and truly stuffed it up (broken off ezy-outs is a classic) or stripped / crossed threads in places that would give you nightmares.
The most modern cars I work on are pre-war and that makes the youngest of them 70 years old. Many of the bits haven't been apart in that time and much of the metal used then was rubbish. Add a tinkering owner to the mix, and they all like to tinker, and you have trouble. Some of them have better equipped workshops than me because they have money, but no idea how to use any of it.

Noel

Yes Noel , you have made all very good points in this comment . It seems we both use similar techniques when using power tools.

Yes , I have seen the result of ambitious diy's using their new impact guns and was the one who had to fix their screw-ups. I am sure we could swap stories about the time this guy brought me this thing to fix and ........

I understand the concern for our FJ family and agree that some of them do not possess the skill or finesse to keep themselves out of trouble with impacts . We could tell cautionary tales all day long and while some may listen others will not.

In the end , proper experience is a process that has it's share of success and failure with learning every step of the way. 

By now I think everyone knows to be careful with impacts and to use a torque wrench for final check .
Always check rotation of impact before using.
use an impact socket that is the correct size .
Make sure socket is all the way on the bolt and not at an angle before pulling the trigger.
do you really need to use the impact or is it just easier.

Just be careful for Noel's sake. 

   

[FJ1100mjk]

We could tell cautionary tales all day long

Ain't that a fact!