Recommend an impact driver

[JB]

As above reckon an impact driver would be really useful. I suppose to deal with hub nuts, crankshaft pulleys etc need 250Nm+
Thoughts and advice very welcome

[GaryA]

Do you mean an air impact gun or like the screwdriver you can smack with a hammer ?

[JB]

I don't have air supply. Was thinking of mains or cordless. Wondering if anyone has experience of any.

[GaryA]

Ah i've only used a snap on battery(18v) one a couple of times but couldn't tell you if it would shift hub or crank bolts , it did feel quite pokey though -better than a cheap air one .

[David Sleith]

I have a dewalt 440NM electric impact wrench - pretty meaty but don't think it would shift a hub nut.

Its handy because you don't need to go and plug the compressor in to use it. Think I paid about 180 quid for it new from ebay. Cheaper than the equivalent battery unit and at least you dont need to worry about battery charge.

http://www.dewalt.co.uk/powertools/productdetails/catno/DW292/

I use a Ingersoll Rand 1500Nm air gun for the bigger stuff but its only worth the effort using if you have a lot of work to do. For the hub nuts I have a 1/2 inch 600mm breaker bar which will just about move anything and they cost less than 20 quid from ebay.

[David Sleith]

Another worthwhile investment if you are trying to shift big stuff is a 3/4 inch socket set.

Think I may have a tool fetish :gay:

[David Sleith]

The biggest electric and cordless 18/24/36 volt guns are around the 440NM bracket. If you wanna go higher then it has to be air fed.

[JB]

Cheers chaps. David the dw292 was one I had been looking at, as you say 440Nm.
Yep you can't beat a good tool:slap:

[Jim-SR]

if you want an impact gun then my personal recommendation would be to spend as much as you can afford on a Snap-On item. we've got about 6 of them at work, 24V iirc, theyre all 5+ years old and still running the original batterys. they were originally used on a daily basis whilst running 4+ race cars, for the last 2-3 years they have been used less intensely for general car purposes and also quite a lot on the damper work we now do for some of the external nuts on mcpherson strut assemblies.

despite all of the use, the undoubted abuse, and the thousands of charge/discharge cycles, of the 5 or 6 we have, all of the guns still work. however we are down to 4 good batteries (there were probably more like 8 originally as they had spares), 3 of which are good as new, 1 of which needs charging more often than the others (the other 3 are just totally dead).

there are probably other impact guns on the market that can boast the same, but my own experiences are with the Snap-On ones, and they are worth every penny. for DIY use i dont know that you would ever kill a battery if used and stored correctly. the guns themselves simply dont wear out

[JB]

cheers Jim good info. Will they manage high torque like hub nuts and crankshaft pulleys?

[Jim-SR]

crank pulleys yes, ive used the ones at work on a couple of 4A-GE's. im not sure it would manage hub nuts, im not sure anything electric would, but it depends on how tight they get done up, some are tighter than others, and if theres a bit of corrosion thrown into the mix it makes things harder. youre better off with a big breaker bar, an extension pipe and someone with strong legs on the brake pedal

[JB]

Thanks Jim that gives me an idea of what they will do, nothing worse than buying kit that you never use. Hub nuts are a challenge but at least there's usually plenty of room. My missus does a good job on the brake pedal but she doesn't seem that pleased when I tell her she's got great legs:slap:

[supersi]

I have to DeWalt DW059 Cordless impact wrench. The cordless actually packs more punch than the equivalent 240v one (have both). I've used it to break hub nuts and crankshaft pulley bolts. I've only had the occasional hub nut that it won't break in which case I usually need the 3/4 set with a really long bar.

Also, I'm a big fan of cordless because you're not trailing power cables/air lines around.

[quantumtools]

Hey Guys,

I use the 230nm Makita lithium one, but the new 400nm one is on the way.

The Hitachi stuff is also pretty good

I am powertool service agent in NZ, there lithium tools are awesome, especially when you can get the 18v angle grinder and a few other goodies without batteries and use the batteries from the wrench or drill etc.