Think This Would Work For Axle Nuts?

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actionstan

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Hello All,

For sometime I have been trying to find a substitute for a air compressor/impact wrench setup, as I don't have the money or space for a good air compressor and air tools (I so wish I did though).

I have been looking at battery operated/electric impacts, trying to find one that will be low cost, but will be able to handle most jobs, I don't expect it to be as fast as a air impact, but I would like something that can still handle difficult nuts such as an axle nut.

The one I am currently looking at is the harbor freight electric impact, I imagine it would work well for lug nuts, but I am not sure if it could handle axle nuts, and other hard to remove bolts. Right now its 49.99, plus they sent me a 10 dollar coupon for it. So it is definitely affordable, just not sure if it will get the job done.

http://www.harborfreight.com/12-in-electric-impact-wrench-68099.html

Let me know your thoughts, thanks!
 
Axle nuts? No...

Mine can *sometimes* take off the lug bolts, which I always torque to 89 ft-lbs...

It's good for some things, but in reality is quite weak.. The only thing I can think of is running it with a better extension cord then the regular orange that I use for all my outside activities..
 
Originally Posted By: spavel6
Axle nuts? No...

Mine can *sometimes* take off the lug bolts, which I always torque to 89 ft-lbs...

It's good for some things, but in reality is quite weak.. The only thing I can think of is running it with a better extension cord then the regular orange that I use for all my outside activities..


Hmm, that's disappointing, I torque my Saturns lugs to 100ftlbs~ and it sounds like yours has issues at 89, i will most likely to continue to look elsewhere
frown.gif
I still feel silly rotating tires on car with a breaker bar and normal socket wrench LOL
 
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I have canadian tire 7.5 amp impact gun, its rated for 240ft/lbs and took off the 15 year old pinch bolts on the Neons struts with a couple seconds of back and forth hammering. Car lugs aren't an issue, even the air gun over tightened ones. It even has a magnesium body! But is still big and heavy...

Can tire has a 350ftlb one as well at 8 amps. $200 but on sale can be 50-60% off making it a decent deal.
There must be US equivilent somewhere, or maybe you can order a can tire one?
http://www.canadiantire.ca/en/pdp/mastercraft-maximum-impact-wrench-0541264p.html

Can tire used to sell an impact attachment for cordless drills that also had no issues zipping lugs off with my 18V rigid (40ftlbs itself). It had a plastic body though and would last about one season of autocross. So 16 tire changes.
It was $20 on sale, can tire seems to have dumped them but here's what they looked like
http://toronto.kijiji.ca/c-buy-and-sell-...QAdIdZ537246871
 
I run a IR 231C on a pancake compressor from HF and it takes the wheels off my Tahoe torqued to 120 ft lbs. This gun is rated at 400 forward and 600 reverse, that's much greater than the 230 rated torque on the link above.

Even air tools with the low rated torque of 230 ft lbs are not practical and a waste of money. Most of the inexpensive stuff from HF is not worth much, they have some decent tools if you pay a little more. I was impressed with the Earthquake gun, it hits harder than a CP on big truck tires at half the price.

BTW: the pancake compressor is at my house because it is small and does what I need for cleaning parts or pumping tires. It's not practical to keep a 20 gal sitting around taking up space.
 
I would look at Dewalt 18V or Milwaukee M18 or IR cordless impact wrenches. Not real cheap unless you already have the battery for other tools (I did for the Dewalt).

100 ft lbs sounds high for a Saturn.
 
A friend of mine at work has the Harbor Freight one you're looking at.

I borrowed it a few months ago when I was replacing the wheel hubs on our old Subaru. I didn't use it on the axle nut (used a breaker bar for that), but it was able to remove the 4 bolts holding the hub to the trailing arm, despite quite a bit of rust. I believe the torque spec for those is around 75lb-ft.

I know he's used it on lugnuts with no problem and also used it to get the crank pulley off on his Neon (though he had to let it try for a couple minutes before it came off).
 
Originally Posted By: actionstan
Originally Posted By: spavel6
Axle nuts? No...

Mine can *sometimes* take off the lug bolts, which I always torque to 89 ft-lbs...

It's good for some things, but in reality is quite weak.. The only thing I can think of is running it with a better extension cord then the regular orange that I use for all my outside activities..


Hmm, that's disappointing, I torque my Saturns lugs to 100ftlbs~ and it sounds like yours has issues at 89, i will most likely to continue to look elsewhere
frown.gif
I still feel silly rotating tires on car with a breaker bar and normal socket wrench LOL


Why? I doubt it will take you much longer
 
What are the cordless ones rated to? Would it make sense to get a 20V DeWalt, or is it weaker than a good air setup (in the $250 price range)..
 
In my experience, even pneumatic impact guns have a hard time and are not able to take off rusted old axle nuts.

For that, you'll need a 3/4'' drive breaker bar and a 3 foot pipe.
 
Yeah Axle Nuts are usually completely out of the question for most impacts. I usually have to bust out the ¾" Impact for that. And taking the Pinion Nut off my 98...I had to borrow my grandfather's 1" Impact...the thing was on there!!!
 
I've got the HF electric impact and it has been marginal for taking off axle nuts on mk4 VWs... quite a long time spent hammering away (1+ minute) before anything starts moving. It's even met some lug bolts it couldn't remove. Those came out with me and a 25" breaker bar and a whole lot of grunt but didn't budge with the linked electric impact.

I would either save up for one of the cordless ones or get a small oil-lubricated compressor, external surge tank (or long air tubing) and a quality rattle gun. Even the small 1 hp/3 gallon Craftsman will run an impact gun in short bursts (10 seconds), which is all you should need with a good pneumatic impact gun.
 
I use an identical but grey impact gun and it works great on wheel bolts and I have also done some heavier work with it. I get much more use of this electrical one than from the pneumatic since outlets are more common than compressors...
wink.gif

However, I now see similar wrenches with 500 Nm which would be better.
Impact wrench

NOTE: My neighbour used this one to *fasten* the bolts too. Obviously, if you mount them with max torque and they stick a bit on top of that, you will obviously not be able to remove them with the same machine...
Get torque sticks for your wheels, 80, 100, 115 Nm or whatever.
 
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I use a breaker bar with a pipe extension for axle nuts, easiest way.

The HF electric impact hasn't been bad for me, got mine last summer with the coupon. It has no problems with lugs (most of ours are 80ft-lbs). In the fall I did some work on the truck (balljoints, control arms and new steering linkage). It got the castle nuts off the ball joints, albeit with some struggling, even with rusted cotter pins exposed. Also managed to get all 8 lower control arm bolts off with it (torqued to 135ft-lbs). The wobble extensions were definitely required for most of that.
 
Sounds like this impact would be ok for light duty, but no heavy duty stuff.. may go ahead and grab it until i can afford something like a Ingersoll cordless.. they seem to be awesome by very costly..
 
Originally Posted By: actionstan
Hello All,

For sometime I have been trying to find a substitute for a air compressor/impact wrench setup, as I don't have the money or space for a good air compressor and air tools (I so wish I did though).

I have been looking at battery operated/electric impacts, trying to find one that will be low cost, but will be able to handle most jobs, I don't expect it to be as fast as a air impact, but I would like something that can still handle difficult nuts such as an axle nut.

The one I am currently looking at is the harbor freight electric impact, I imagine it would work well for lug nuts, but I am not sure if it could handle axle nuts, and other hard to remove bolts. Right now its 49.99, plus they sent me a 10 dollar coupon for it. So it is definitely affordable, just not sure if it will get the job done.

http://www.harborfreight.com/12-in-electric-impact-wrench-68099.html

Let me know your thoughts, thanks!


i would save up the bennies for the air compressor. most of the air tools can be had at HF cheaply. The exception would be the ones you care about, such as the impact gun. I'm very happy with the 1/2 inch earthquake impact wrench, it cost me $69 with a coupon. I also have the 8 gallon compressor which i picked up around the $100 range, again with coupon. another $20 for a quality hose, fittings, and teflon tape. You are going to spend the same money, if not more for a quality battery impact wrench.
 
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I have taken off couple of axle nuts on a 10+ year old New England car using Craftsman C3 19.2V impact wrench. I also have the wired HF electric wrench and I can guarantee you that it will NOT take off the axle nuts.
 
I have that same HF electric impact. Works fine for me. Just had to replace the CV axles in the 1994 Camry. Young son hit some debris in rush hour interstate and wiped a boot. The other boot was cracked. The impact did an excellent job with the lug nuts and the ball joint connectors. I didn't even try the wheel nuts. I thought CV joints didn't like impact wrench vibes.

On the 1993 K1500 pickup, the electric impact handles the lugs, except I finish and sometimes start them by hand. For the money, it is ideal for a shade tree like me.
 
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craftsman C3 1/2" drive with LI battery would do it. Did a buddies front axle nuts on his Chevy 4wd pick up and didn't even break a sweat. Also does my 4wd explorer (225 ft/lbs) with ease.
 
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