Recommendation for a Cordless Impact Wrench

Status
Not open for further replies.
The Critic

The Critic

Joined
Aug 30, 2004
Messages
31,965
Location
CA
I thought about buying an Ingersoll-Rand Quiet series impact wrench and the appropriate air compressor, but after some research, I discovered that it would cost me around $1000 total for a setup that is not very portable. So, someone recommended that I consider a high-end cordless impact wrench instead. I found a cordless impact wrench that would give me 400 ft-lbs (620 ft-lbs for breakaway) of torque for around $500. Here's a link to it:

http://buy1.snapon.com/catalog/item.asp?...ore&dir=catalog

Since I only plan to use the impact wrench to rotate tires, do timing belts and suspensions, is this impact wrench up to the task?? I do not mind spending more money if it will buy me a more powerful and longer lasting tool. Are there other cordless impact wrenches that are more powerful and more durable in the same price range? Or should I just stick with a good 'ol compressed air setup?

Thanks!
 
I'd go the compressed air route. You will use this tool for the rest of your life.

Of course you being in College I feel you might be okay with the cordless until you graduate and get a good job. Then you could buy the air.
 
The tools are in totally separate classes.

I may be full of it, but even the best cordless will have difficulty with truly stuck threaded fasteners - especially large ones.
 
Why not buy a decent, portable Dewalt compressor, and an Ingersol Rand (sp?) Impact, in a half-inch flavour. At least when it comes time to upgrade, you'll still have a great IW.
 
Look carefully at air flow requirements for the wrnches, and pick one with good torque at lower flow. You might be able to get by with a smaller continuous duty rated compressor. The big issue here is breaking nuts as opposed to basically having a heavy air ratchet, so you can also get by with a good wrench or lower torque model and smaller compressor if you use a $20 breaker bar to break the nuts loose first.

I gave up using an impact wrench as it makes so much racket, and instead use the 18in breaker bar that I keep in each vehicle and a 'speed wrench'. I've never had problems breaking any nut loose, and the speed wrench works great.
 
My local tire shop uses that snap-on cordless impact almost exclusively on every car that comes in, they are amazingly powerful. Shop manager has nothing but good things to say about them.
I'd also look at the ingersoll-rand IQv series of cordless tools, they are the nicest I've seen. http://www.irtools.com
Milwaukee V28 series tools are also great.
BUT
Cordless tools are great until the batteries are dead because you forgot to charge them or no longer take a charge because they are worn out. At $75-100 each, replacement batteries are expensive and they will have to be replaced in a few years if they are used often or not.

If it were me I'd just buy a 120v corded impact, same performance but half the price. They are plenty powerful and the batteries never go dead. Dewalt and Milwaukee both make good ones, I'm partial to Milwaukee tools.

any electric impact wrench is about half as powerful as it's pneumatic counterpart.
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted By: tom slick
My local tire shop uses that snap-on cordless impact almost exclusively on every car that comes in, they are amazingly powerful. Shop manager has nothing but good things to say about them.
I'd also look at the ingersoll-rand IQv series of cordless tools, they are the nicest I've seen. http://www.irtools.com
Milwaukee V28 series tools are also great.
BUT
Cordless tools are great until the batteries are dead because you forgot to charge them or no longer take a charge because they are worn out. At $75-100 each, replacement batteries are expensive and they will have to be replaced in a few years if they are used often or not.

If it were me I'd just buy a 120v corded impact, same performance but half the price. They are plenty powerful and the batteries never go dead. Dewalt and Milwaukee both make good ones, I'm partial to Milwaukee tools.

any electric impact wrench is about half as powerful as it's pneumatic counterpart.


I'd echo the battery part. Unless you need the portability of batteries, use AC powered everytime. A good brand (Milwaukee, Bosch, some DeWalts) will last a lifetime.

The batteries almost require you to get another drill in a few years. I have one works great, but would never use it for your uses - woulnd't last.
 
Those "slide-on" battery impacts are nice, they've got more power than the kind were the battery push up into the handle.
iirc, the last time I checked IR was cheaper than Matco or Snap-on.

But what do you need +600ft-lbs for?
Removing Mazda rotary flywheel nuts (+2" diameter) was the only time I've needed that much torque.

I would get a 3 foot breaker bar and a cheap Harbor Freight comp and impact. You could do that for a little over $200.
If you can live with a little over 100ft-lb Pepboys has a cheapo Goodyear cordless impact for $80.
For tires and suspension parts this will be plenty, it works for me...
 
Buy a name brand cordless impact.

Snap on, or MAC, something like this. Even the dewalts and Hitachi are VERY Good..

When that first battery dies, you might have trouble finding a replacement if you buy an el cheapo..

I ran into this when I bought a SKIL cordless from walmart. They changed their lineup after a year, and I couldn't even order a replacement battery from the manufacturer.

Or in some cases a replacement battery will cost MORE than a brand new impact.
 
Pepboys sells extra batteries for their el cheapo..
They're cheap ($30-40?), buy an extra one with the impact so you always have a back-up.
 
The ni-cads in my 7-8 year old Porter Cable 19.2v cordless are still going strong. With proper care they will last a very long time.
Racing R/C cars at a high level taught me a few things about rechargeable cells.
And when they DO die, I will rebuild the pack with high end matched cells.
 
Last edited:
Where did you price the compressor and air tools for $1000? You can buy a nice compressor for under $300 and a good IR231 which will do anything you need it to do on that saturn for under $200.
 
Sorry for the late reply. Thanks for all of the advice.

I just want an impact wrench that's capable of the tire, suspension and drivetrain work that I occasionally do.

Judging from the responses, I guess I'm better off with having an air compressor and a pneumatic gun for the heavy duty stuff and buying a cheap cordless gun for the rare occasions that I do work when I'm away from home.

However, I've been checking around and I'm getting info that the batteries in these guns can last quite a long time (5+ years) as long as they aren't subjected to heavy use on a daily basis. Can anyone confirm the battery life of these guns?
 
Even if it were to last 5 years the problem is they cost $500, that is paying $100 a year for the luxury of no cord. If batteries are available in 5 years (remember snap-on is not a common cordless tool brand) you'll pay another $200 for 2 new batteries.

If you bought a corded model it could last 10 years and only costs half with the same performance.
If you bought an aircompressor and pnuematic gun it will last much longer then 5 years and the air compressor is much more useful for other things like air ratches, spray guns, filling tires...

but all-in-all a 24" breaker bar will do almost anything the impact will, especially if 99% of the time you are using it on lug nuts.
 
I did some quick research on corded impact wrenches today. I was shocked to discover how inexpensive they were.
shocked2.gif


I'm considering the DeWALT DW292K or the Milwaukee 9070-20. Both are under $150 on Ebay.

http://cgi.ebay.com/DeWALT-DW292K-DW292-...id=p3286.c0.m14

http://cgi.ebay.com/Milwaukee-9070-20-1-...id=p3286.c0.m14

However, neither of them come close to the SnapOn's power, at least on paper. In addition, some people have mentioned the Milwaukee doesn't deliver close to the advertised power. There have also been people who've said that these wrenches get very hot during use.

What do you guys think?

Thanks!
 
The Milwaukee is rated at 7 amps; the Dewalt, 7.5 amps. That's probably your best indicator of how much power these actually deliver.

I'd find it difficult to believe that a cordless impact wrench, even an 18V one, could deliver more power than a 120V corded impact wrench.

As far as getting hot...I've never noticed. The ones I've used get warm, maybe. There's a fan on the motor to keep it cool. I'd expect the cordless one to get a little hotter because the currents flowing through it are much higher.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

S
Impact wrench and air compressor
2 3 4
Replies
60
Views
3K
2strokeNorthstar
G
Looking for new air impact wrench
2 3
Replies
47
Views
2K
JHZR2
W
Tool Review: DieHard 1/2 Impact
Replies
14
Views
4K
mrbreezeet1
D
A case for cordless tools
2
Replies
25
Views
2K
JHZR2
JHZR2
Value proposition of manual impact versus gun
2
Replies
25
Views
853
D60
Back
Top