Learn me: Impact Guns

I've been totally let down by the cheap Husky impact I bought. I should have known better. Throwing 100psi through a 3/8" line at it and it still doesn't have enough power to take on the axle nuts on my RX7.

I'm on the hunt for a <$200 impact gun with a special eye on Ingersol Rand products given some positive reviews from people I race with.

What say you, GRM collective. Which gun offers the biggest bang for the buck?

Sometimes on tool trucks they have lightly used repos you can get for a good price, but this is an area that is rapidly getting more and more expensive the newer you go.

Duo-Fast were all we ever used. Reliable as hell. But they are no longer being made. I've had decent experiences with Pasload and Senco.

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

I had/have a Napa Platinum Pro Super Extreme XXX whatever impact that i LOVED. Nailed it off Ebay for $40, didn't look none too good, but it was QUIET, impressively so, and stupid strong.

Unfortunately, i blew out the seals trying to take off an axle nut that was completely rusted and fused (i should have known better), and now i need a rebuild kit somewhere.

I don't know much about cheap impacts other than that the Huskys SUCK. My buddy has one and it's balls.

Ingersol rand IR 231. I bought one on ebay a few years ago for peanuts. Awesome gun. I kept my old (cheap) one for installing wheels.

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IR is my go to for air tools. The composite impacts are light and powerful.

In reply to Swank Force One: +1 on the HF "Earthquake" guns. I made the mistake of buying a Husky myself, it barely gets lugnuts off my truck some days..

May I suggest a used snap on 1/2" breaker bar and some pipe? Never runs out of air, will loosen anything that is going to come loose, and I dare ya to break it.

Hard to stop the hub from moving when I'm going the lever route.

I'll dis the HF "earthquake". I've got one, I've been thoroughly underwhelmed by it.

Next time, a good IR unit. Used will be fine.

I know I might get flamed for this, but I use a cheapo HF 110v electric impact gun. Its heavy and really noisy, but its reliable as a hammer and has torque 'O plenty.

To be fair and honest, I do only use it a couple of times a week, and if I had to use it every day I would get something quieter, but I doubt that I would get a pneumatic gun. If my HF electric impact gun died tomorrow I wouldn't hesitate to get another one.

Zomby Woof wrote: Ingersol rand IR 231. I bought one on ebay a few years ago for peanuts. Awesome gun. I kept my old (cheap) one for installing wheels.

This. Mine's 30 years old and still works like new. It was the standard of the industry before IR moved the manufacturing over seas. I have no idea what they're like now. I'd recommend finding a used one that was made in the USA.
A little air tool trivia - Don't believe all the huge published torque numbers you see advertised. Using the best alloy and heat treatment, the anvil of the tool can only take 450 lb-ft of torque before it breaks.

Another vote for the IR231..... Tons of them out there and very high quality.

Kenny_McCormic wrote: May I suggest a used snap on 1/2" breaker bar and some pipe? Never runs out of air, will loosen anything that is going to come loose, and I dare ya to break it.

I have broken a 1/2 breaker bar using a pipe on a stubborn cv axle nut.

I am following this thread, my Kobalt air gun isn't cutting it any more.

Does anyone know of a good place to send older impact guns to get rebuilt? I've got a Rockwell from the late 70's that at 80 psi only kicked out about 70 ft/lbs or so, wouldn't take off some lug nuts. And then an even older Black & Decker, that thing has to be from the 50's or early 60's, that's pretty beefy but could probably also use some attention.

Another vote fore the IR 231. Bought mine in '98. It will outlast me! Awesome tool!

I'll chime in on the Husky too! It's weak. Still nice to have, but I'm not a heavy user, and it's just barely adequate. Sucks when you have to reach for the breaker bar because the impact is too weak.

I don't always use an impact wrench, but when I do it's a IR 2135ti. Light. Powerful.

I have an old Craftsman (old enough to be USA-made) that wouldn't loosen lug nuts most of the time. Axle and pinion nuts laughed at it. In a moment of frustration and need, I went to Sears and bought my 2135ti ($260ish IIRC). I wasn't willing to risk saving $50 or even $100 only to not have it do the job. I got it home, swapped the QR fitting, added a drop of oil and it removed said stubborn pinion nut like it wasn't even tight.

I've read a bunch of interesting techniques for holding a FWD CV axle in place while removing the hub nut. With the IR, these nuts are removed in seconds with no drama...

My point is, I usually use a breaker bar and don't use an air impact very often (and I use my cordless impacts for most wheel work), so when I do use an air impact, it's because more conventional methods have already been attempted. So when I break out the impact gun, I want it to work. I need it to work. A good, quality gun works.

Be sure to oil before each use if you're like me and only use it a few times a year.

As I work for a dealer of both IR and Snappy, I get employee pricing perks. By far the best pneumatic impacts I have used were the snappy's. 400+ ft lbs on a 3/8 drive The IR stuff is good for the price, but the snappy is worth the extra(IMHO)

In reply to yamaha:

Hate to burst your bubble, but you can't put 400 lb ft on a 3/8" drive square without breaking it off. Those published numbers, regardless of the brand, are all BS.
Let me explain. In "some" cases those numbers are totally fabricated. In other cases the manufacturer will be able to back up their claim, but this is how it's done. There's a limit to the volume and pressure of air that can flow through the motor of an air tool. What they do is calculate the theoretical torque the tool would make if they could provide that amount of air to it. But I can tell you from experience, you can't put 400 lb ft to ANY 3/8" drive mandrel and have it live for more than about a half a second.
There's also a difference between static and impact torque, but I'll save that for another day.

DaveEstey wrote: Hard to stop the hub from moving when I'm going the lever route.

Knock the wheel center cap out and remount it or put a steelie on, put the car on the ground with a friend standing on the brakes. Its to my understanding that you shouldnt use impact guns on hub nuts anyways, the impacts can brinell the bearing and CV.

That would mean reinstalling the rest of the suspension. So no go.

Kenny_McCormic wrote: Its to my understanding that you shouldnt use impact guns on hub nuts anyways, the impacts can brinell the bearing and CV.

Installing, yes - VW's have a specific procedure for tightening the hub nut. MINI's too.

However, when removing most of the bits are getting replaced anyway.

IR2135Ti.

They used to be $450. You can find them sub-$200 now. They're still worth $450.