"dave" wrote in message
...
I've been toying with the idea of getting an impact wrench. (battery
elect.
driven). I do the (all too) occasional work on the car etc and have heard
how
useful these thing are supposed to be (eg getting rusted nuts off etc).
From
what I can see though, it'd be tricky to get something the size of the
wrenches
I've seen anywhere near an exhaust nut!

Still, I appreciated views on;

The general usefulness of impact wrenches
Any recommendation as to make/model (£100 limit for me)
1/2 or 3/8?

Thanks

Mostly people buy half inch drive ones. I use half and three eigth ones
everyday, it depends on your working practises and socket availability.

The cheap battery ones that clip on your car battery are not very good. the
rechargeable ones are better, but you need to spend 200 quid, a cheap air
powered one is better again at about 30 quid, but a really good air one is
200 !!

If you have a compressor then get a cheap air one, and a cheap set of impact
sockets, otherwise I recommend you save your money.

mrcheerful

mrcheerful
. wrote:
"dave" wrote in message
...
I've been toying with the idea of getting an impact wrench. (battery
elect.
driven). I do the (all too) occasional work on the car etc and have heard
how
useful these thing are supposed to be (eg getting rusted nuts off etc).
From
what I can see though, it'd be tricky to get something the size of the
wrenches
I've seen anywhere near an exhaust nut!

Still, I appreciated views on;

The general usefulness of impact wrenches
Any recommendation as to make/model (£100 limit for me)
1/2 or 3/8?

Mostly people buy half inch drive ones. I use half and three eigth ones
everyday, it depends on your working practises and socket availability.

The cheap battery ones that clip on your car battery are not very good. the
rechargeable ones are better, but you need to spend 200 quid, a cheap air
powered one is better again at about 30 quid, but a really good air one is
200 !!

If you have a compressor then get a cheap air one, and a cheap set of impact
sockets, otherwise I recommend you save your money.

I'd go along with that.

I've worked on cars for 20+ years, and never needed or felt the
requirement for a cordless impact. I have used an air impact fairly
regularly though.

There's times when only an impact will loosen something, e.g when it's
hard to stop something turning and you don't want to damage the
component, e.g. gears or clutch plates etc.

Exhaust u bolts, forget it. Angle grind them off and put a new one on !

I'd also be wary of a cheap impact, it might not have the power you
need. If it were me, i'd put the money towards a small compressor, that
has many more uses, and you can then buy a air impact (and all the
other useful air accessories ..)

Cheers

Paul.

zymurgy wrote:
Exhaust u bolts, forget it. Angle grind them off and put a new one on !

Chop them off with bolt croppers, or use the croppers to
split the nuts.

In article . com,
wrote:
I'd also be wary of a cheap impact, it might not have the power you
need. If it were me, i'd put the money towards a small compressor, that
has many more uses, and you can then buy a air impact (and all the
other useful air accessories ..)

My problem is not having a garage to work in so air tools would be a pest
since compressors are heavy things to move around. Suppose I could put one
in the cellar and pipe the air to outside, but electric tools are just
more convenient if expensive. Got a super electric nibbler off Ebay
secondhand - cost a fortune new.

--
*A fine is a tax for doing wrong. A tax is a fine for doing well.

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

In article ,
Chris Bacon wrote:
Exhaust u bolts, forget it. Angle grind them off and put a new one on !

Chop them off with bolt croppers, or use the croppers to
split the nuts.

Or get a stainless system and forget all this. ;-)

--
*You! Off my planet!

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
In article . com,
wrote:
I'd also be wary of a cheap impact, it might not have the power you
need. If it were me, i'd put the money towards a small compressor, that
has many more uses, and you can then buy a air impact (and all the
other useful air accessories ..)

My problem is not having a garage to work in so air tools would be a pest
since compressors are heavy things to move around. Suppose I could put one
in the cellar and pipe the air to outside, but electric tools are just
more convenient if expensive. Got a super electric nibbler off Ebay
secondhand - cost a fortune new.

Yes, I'm in a residential area (obviously) so had to box in my
compressor with some fairly hefty insulation to get the thing quiet
enough.,

Thankfully I also have a detached brick garage, which helps a lot.

Impact wrenches are noisy, but I use it fairly infrequently in favour
of a 1/2" strongarm. You know by looking at the nut whether it's going
to need impact as if you don't it'll shear off.

The joys of old motorbikes ..

P.