Cordless Impact wrenches?

Pixbarmy

Pixbarmy

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As I get older, I am struggling with removing the (correctly torqued) wheel nuts on the car. There are lots of low budget impact wrenches with claims of high torque capability. I just need something to rattle off the wheel nuts and the occasional tight bolt/s. Any recommendations, apart from the usual Dewalt, etc. Are there any budget rattle guns that will remove 5 car wheel nuts without giving up the ghost or do I have to stump up a couple of hundred quid?
 
to be honest if i was getting feeble to that extent i would look at a long breaker bar with a half inch socket end to "break" the initial tightness and then if you wnt just use a cheap impact wrench to whizz the nuts off
 
If you mean you are struggling with the maker supplied wrench, then perhaps rather than a power tool....how about getting a 3 foot length of steel tube to slide over the wrench handle to improve leverage???
 
For not-too-heavy use, this one is fine https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/284588102086, I've had mine a while.

Perfect for undoing but of course, even with the choice of 3 torque settings , a torque wrench is often needed for tightening - I know someone who tried out his new rattle gun on a TRACTOR wheel stud and snapped it!
And that was ironic, he snapped the stud off with a Snap On . . .
 
Mr Bump said:
to be honest if i was getting feeble to that extent i would look at a long breaker bar with a half inch socket end to "break" the initial tightness and then if you wnt just use a cheap impact wrench to whizz the nuts off
Click to expand...

That's what I use if necessary. I'm getting 'old' but I can still loosen just about any wheel nut with a spider wrench, unless it's been jammed on or cross threaded by some monkey getting too enthusistic with a power tool ...

Box Brownie's suggestion will work too, but I think there's some risk of snapping a very tight wheel stud if you give in to the temptation of stamping on the extension!
 
For
Pixbarmy said:
As I get older, I am struggling with removing the (correctly torqued) wheel nuts on the car. There are lots of low budget impact wrenches with claims of high torque capability. I just need something to rattle off the wheel nuts and the occasional tight bolt/s. Any recommendations, apart from the usual Dewalt, etc. Are there any budget rattle guns that will remove 5 car wheel nuts without giving up the ghost or do I have to stump up a couple of hundred quid?
Click to expand...
for a couple of hundred quid I think I’d get myself a small compressor and air wrench instead. I think a cordless wrench will struggle when it comes to removing seized on wheel nuts. With a compressor at least you’ll also have extra functionality: air blower, tyre inflator, spraying etc.

Assuming storage space is not an issue, or course.
 
:LOL: Sorry folks! I wasn't meaning that I can't physically undo the nuts, I am just getting that I can't be bothered! I have a long breaker bar but I just wanted to make my life a bit easier in my old age. I changed all the rear suspension on my old Rover a year or so ago, so I can't be totally falling apart! The nuts aren't seized on, they are just correctly torqued. Maybe I should just "break" the initial torque with my bar and then use a cordless for ease?
 
I think it’s all about horses for courses. I don’t carry out maintenance or repairs on my own car, I prefer to pay experts to do that. But I do volunteer for a small charity and collect and deliver a lot of trailers for them, bought and sold to raise funds. It’s not unusual to have to change a wheel when I collect a trailer, so I bought a good, big breaker bar, which usually works, with effort and time.

But sometimes it doesn’t, especially when the trailers are fitted with lorry wheels and the wheels have been on it for years and the nuts are rusted solid. And there’s another problem, because very often, on uneven ground, the breaker bar can’t work because the tyre isn’t touching the ground . . . And when I needed to change a wheel on our large van, there was one nut that I couldn’t loosen, although I accept that someone younger and stronger would have managed.

And that’s why I bought my cheap rattle gun. It never fails, takes no physical effort and does the job instantly. And it gets used for a lot of other jobs around the farm too. I think that the issue with the cheap ones is the quality of the steel used in the percussion action, so I would get a top-quality one if I used it all the time, but I don’t, and the one I have is likely to last a lot longer than I will.

As for battery life, that’s never going to be an issue.

For the same reasons, I also carry a decent compressor, a small trolley jack, an angle grinder, some decent sockets and various other tools in my car permanently, together with a large bag of ratchet straps, various hand tools and a cheap multi-meter.
 
If you really want an impact wrench then youtube is your friend. Loads of comparison vids there.
 
I use a long torque wrench, it also comes in handy when doing the nuts back up again :)
 
Don't know what your wheel nuts are torqued to but I find the usual is around 90-120Nm, but some cheap rattle guns don't meet their advertised torque which is why I tend to go with Milwaukee or DeWalt.

The guy does some pretty good tests:

 
One of THESE to loosen/tighten and an X type thing to whizz them off/on. I'd forget to keep a cordless whizzer thingy charged!
 
Nod said:
One of THESE to loosen/tighten and an X type thing to whizz them off/on. I'd forget to keep a cordless whizzer thingy charged!
Click to expand...

Absolutely! I have an X type thing (aka spider wrench), one of 'THESE' and a breaker bar for extreme situations ... :D
 
I have a Kielder cordless battery impact wrench on its way (rated at 430N) and so it should do the job. I will let you know if it does, when it arrives. Whether it will undo all 5 nuts before needing a recharge, remains to be seen!!! Laters!
 
The (Sheffield made) Kielder does a first class job. 5 correctly torqued wheel nuts off in seconds and the battery is still showing fully charged. They are half the weight of most of the opposition!
 
Pixbarmy said:
The (Sheffield made) Kielder does a first class job. 5 correctly torqued wheel nuts off in seconds and the battery is still showing fully charged. They are half the weight of most of the opposition!
Click to expand...
Why am I not surprised?
I used my cheapie one a few days ago to remove 4 heavily rusted 24mm nuts on an old drott machine, no problem. I must get it out of my car and put it on charge, just in case, but even y cheapie with its small battery is almost bound to still show as fully charged.

One other very useful feature of these machines is as a screwdriver. I use mine with special impact driver bits https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/263930341208.
I don't know whether you already know this or not, but anything that you stick on the end of these guns must be designed for impact use, they are nearly always with a matt black finish. Ordinary sockets can shatter, which is dangerous.
 
Yes thanks. I used to repair commercials with 1" air wrenches, so am well used to "power" tools. We did however, have a 1/2" socket driven torque multiplier tool, that would take off even the most stubborn of wheel nuts when attached to a commercial vehicle. You should have seen the looks when I removed "solid" wheel nuts with a 1/2" ratchet! Priceless.
 
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