A while back when we were on a short trip I had to change a flat tire on my utility trailer along the road. It was a real PIA to get the lug nuts loose with a regular tire iron. Then, last week I had to fix a flat on my skid steer. Removing the wheel was the worst part. I near beat myself to death getting the lug nuts loose. I ended up using a 18" breaker bar with a 4 foot pipe over the handle to get 2 of the nuts loose. This week I had planned to replace all four tires on my 20 foot flat bed equipment trailer. I ordered the tires online and they arrived late last week and with the recent memory of trying to remove the skid steer wheel I decided it was time to buy a new impact wrench.
I have an old Chinese air impact that is about worthless. I don't think it EVER loosened a lug nut. I had read some reviews on electric impact wrenches that sounded impressive. Especially the corded ones. They had lots of torque. Then I thought about the convenience of a battery operated one so I started looking at them on line and reading lots of reviews. I started out leaning toward the "yellow" one as I have lots of other yellow tools and they perform well. But the reviews on the yellow one were not all that good, and it was close to $300. :o Several reviews I read were tool comparisons between brands and more than half of them identified the same tool as the #1 pick. It was the Lowes Kobalt brand, 24 volt lithium ion battery powered one. One review even said the measured torque was "well beyond" the advertised specification. I found nothing bad written about that particular one so I decided to buy it. And, it was $50 cheaper than the "yellow" one.
I put it on the charger last night and today I changed all four tires on the flatbed trailer using it. I don't believe the tires had been removed in 5 or more years. The nuts ands lugs were completely covered with rust. The Kobalt spun off all 32 lug nuts (8 per wheel) without any effort. It didn't even bog down. Just unbelievable. I didn't even break a sweat until I wrestled the tires onto the changing machine. This tool is truly amazing. I don't know why I never picked up one before. Of all of the tools and gadgets I own, this one is probably the best one I have ever bought. I may jack up the vehicles and take the wheels off and put them back on just to play with it. ;D
Use never seize on all steel threads as I have for over 50 years.
Quote from: moodnacreek on May 06, 2018, 08:13:04 PM
Use never seize on all steel threads as I have for over 50 years.
I TOTALLY agree.
Bruce
I don't have a battery powered one but several years ago I bought a corded electric impact wrench from HF and have asked the same question more times than I can remember and still don't know how I got along without it. Every time I change a trailer, ATV, truck tire or just take the blades off my mower to sharpen I repeat it. I first used my son's to remove my electric PTO on my mower simply to replace the drive belt. I could not spin the nut fast enough with a socket wrench but it was a piece of cake with the electric impact wrench.
Congrats on the new tool. I am sure you will have many years of happy service with it.
I have a cordless Dewalt 18v impact. Pretty darn handy, it has removed every automotive tire and trailer tire I ever put it on, it even removes the lugs on my skidder once I figured out they were left handed threads😁 The new brushless lithium ion Dewalt and Milwaukee impacts are rated at about 3 times the torque of my old 18 volt. I'll upgrade to one someday. I don't know of any cordedi mpact that can match the torque of the brushless, cordless ones.
I have one of the DeWalt 20V brushless heavy duty ones, there have two versions of the 1/2" impact, it was expensive, but man alive - it will knock all 20 lugs off of two tires on my Franklin skidder and put them back on with a single battery, it's rated for something like 1,000 ft/lbs of breakout torque.
I have an 18v Bosch that is great.
Use them almost daily now at work. They have went along way towards replacing the air impacts for most jobs there. Less stress on our ears from noise of a truck or air compressor running and also no high pitched whine of the air gun
I've got an 18v Milwaukee Fuel that's rated at 1,100 lbs of torque. It'll pull the threads off a 3/4" bolt/nut. The new ones are rated @ 1,400 lbs.
I've got the Gen 1 M18, it's awsome. A friend has the Gen 2. He was breaking bolts putting cutting edges on snow plows this winter.
seems like cordless is the wave of the future.
I havent had my old corded Makita drill off the shelf in probably 10 yrs.
cordless chain saw at the mill is a godsend as well as a leaf blower.
Only change tires in my shop so my IR thunder gun does the trick.
Do wish the batteries weren't so expensive tho
Quote from: petefrom bearswamp on May 08, 2018, 07:52:01 AM
seems like cordless is the wave of the future.
I havent had my old corded Makita drill off the shelf in probably 10 yrs.
cordless chain saw at the mill is a godsend as well as a leaf blower.
Only change tires in my shop so my IR thunder gun does the trick.
Do wish the batteries weren't so expensive tho
Pete, Check online. I bought 2 dewalt clone batteries for $49 a pair.
I am going to "need" to get a cordless impact before my next RV trip and I could see that even at home it would nearly replace my air tool. The only recent use of a corded drill was when making a fishing rod rack I needed to use a 1 3/4" hole saw for 16 holes through 3/4" pine.
The only time I ever called AAA for a flat was because I could not loosen the lugs with the truck lug wrench.
Raider were they 40V?
No but I believe 40v a/m are available.
The milwaukee fuel 18v cordless 1/2 impact i bought my dad a few years ago for maybe $199 or so smokes my $600 snapon CT3850HO.
Milwaukee makes an 18volt 3/4 impact too. If i ever get another itll be that. Those ball and socket budds arent getting any easier to change with age. Nor is my 1" air impact a picnic to lug around.
The first gen M18 2763 Fuel beats all the others. The second gen M18 2767 beats the first gen. ;D The 2767 is more powerful than the 3/4" model, at present.
what 18 volt fuel drill is the one to get
That Gen 2 appears to be a monster. I would like to see some real world comparison to that beast vs the Dewalt. Can't understand how they get 40% more torque out of a lower voltage battery.
It's about wattage. The higher voltage tools have less amperage. I am running 18 volts with a 9 amp hour battery. The 60 volt tools are only 3 amp hours. Keep in mind that Milwaukee rates their voltage under load, and most of the others rate unloaded. They all use the same 18650 battery@3.7 volts. The M18 uses 3 sets of five to get 18v. DeWalt runs all 15 in series to get "60". Its the same thing as wiring an electric motor 240 vs. 480. Double voltage, half the amperage, and half the conductor size. I know the gen1 will beat any that I have put it up against, including all Snap-on, Makita and DeWalt 18v.
Milwaukee is debuting their new 18V 12AH battery along with some new tools including a cordless Super Sawzall, tablesaw, chainsaw, enhanced drills. The new chainsaw is on my short list. I love my big 1/2" Milwaukee impact but my most used is the 18V 3/8" Fuel impact. It's really handy. Milwaukee's 12V cordless lineup is pretty impressive too. Lots of power in lightweight tools.
I haven't used a corded power tool in a long time.
I've just been reading up on those tools. Milwaukee has said they are committed to forward and backward compatibility. I saw that a number of their tools won't accept the new 12.0 pack, but that they will be offering an update kit for free. I guess they are committed. :)
I'm keeping my eye on the chainsaw availability.