Impact Wrench?
- Thread starter Theleman
- Start date
Currently reading:
Impact Wrench?
Depends on what sort of level your working on them to
General maintenance and servicing not needed at just a socket set a breaker bar are enough
If you get more in depth with suspension work and wheel hubs ect they can get more useful
There are three basic types. Air powered - I did a big bit on my setup 3 weeks ago here in tech-talk. (entitled Compressors, rattle guns ----------) Reading it will give you some idea of how much gear you need to back it up, can get expensive, especially as you need a good compressor to get the best out of it, so I'd only go down that road if you are going to get deeply involved.
Then there's battery powered. Used to be they couldn't hold a candle to the air powered tools but they are getting really quite good these days. Quite expensive for a good make and, like with battery powered electric drills, if you only use them infrequently, you'll probably find the battery is flat just when you need it!
A real "outside the box" approach might be to consider a mains powered one. Of course you've got to have access to mains electricity which makes the battery jobs more handy for some and I wouldn't use one in the rain or standing in a puddle! but the overall cost is a bit cheaper than a good battery tool and it's always ready to go as long as you have a plug in point handy. The Clarke CEW 1000 would be my choice (available on line or from Machine Mart) MM's spares backup is quite good in my experience. The only issue with the mains powered ones are that they are not very adjustable. By which I mean, pull the trigger and it's full on GO! The battery and air tools are quite finely adjustable. Mind you I use these types of tool for removing fixings only as I like to "feel" how a bolt/nut is running up it's thread and tightening so use hand tools for tightening. "Full on GO" works just fine for undoing things - unless they are very small (m6 maybe?) as you might snap them.
One thing a really powerful "rattle" gun excels at is removing really tight fixings where you either can't, or find it very difficult to, stop something rotating. The crankshaft pulley bolt on an engine or perhaps the driveshaft hub nut on a front hub assembly.
Most things however you can do, albeit rather less quickly, with a nice big power bar - and maybe a length of scaffold pole - and the application of a bit of muscle and/or body weight! Don't forget you'll need to buy impact rated sockets to go with an impact tool. There is a very real risk, if you use ordinary sockets (especially cheaper ones) of them shattering with bits flying, at high speed, all over the place!
So I think, nice to have one but, if you're not doing a lot of jobs which make use of it, you're going to be able to do pretty much everything without one but it may take you just a little longer and make you sweat a little more! You can buy a lot of nice hand tools for what a good impact tool will cost! If you do go for one avoid the cheap bargain ones. They often make lots of impressive noises but don't actually apply a lot of force to the work piece!
Good luck with whatever you decide. Do let us know if you buy one and let us know how you get on with it if you do.
regards
Jock
Last edited:
Great posts thank you.
I am planning to work on the suspension / shock absorbers and brakes, so they will come in handy then.
I don't want to pay too much for them, as I will not be using it daily. So mains powered one with good price and performance would be great from your recommendations.
I have ordered Silverstorm impact wrench from Amazon for £46 including a few impact bits, and also Sealey Impact Socket set for £13, so £60 total investment for these tools, and hope that it will be a wise one.
I am planning to work on the suspension / shock absorbers and brakes, so they will come in handy then.
I don't want to pay too much for them, as I will not be using it daily. So mains powered one with good price and performance would be great from your recommendations.
I have ordered Silverstorm impact wrench from Amazon for £46 including a few impact bits, and also Sealey Impact Socket set for £13, so £60 total investment for these tools, and hope that it will be a wise one.
The Sealey brand is quite well respected in the trade, not top notch but a very good choice for home mechanics. I've got some of their stuff and it's proved quite tough. Silverstorm I have no experience of but I think are a brand of Silverline tools? I bought some Silverline branded drills at a market a while back (don't know why, I usually wouldn't buy this sort of thing at an open air market? - oh, I remember, they were super cheap! Silly me!) and they were as soft as cheese so I have avoided them ever since. The impact wrench will probably be an outsourced item, doubt very much if they actually design or manufacture it. As such it is likely to be Chinese and there's some quite good stuff coming out of China these days - like my compressor - so I'll keep my fingers crossed for you. I'm sure that, for occasional use, you'll find it's fine. It wouldn't surprise me to find that the Clarke tool is a Chinese product. I recommended it because I have a number of that brand name tools (trolley jacks etc) and find them good quality but most importantly for me, I can get spare parts reliably and easily.
Just a final thought. If you're intending to use it on wheel nuts (and that's one of the main things I use mine for) DON'T use it to slacken fully tightened security bolts - normally one on each wheel if you've got alloys - There's a good chance of shearing the "scroll" inside the security bolt. I undo security bolts by hand. However if you want to speed things up a bit I can see no reason why you shouldn't slacken them a half turn first with a hand wrench and then spin them off with the electric wrench.
PS I'd be very interested to know how the Silverstorm tool turns out if you could find the time to let us know?
Just a final thought. If you're intending to use it on wheel nuts (and that's one of the main things I use mine for) DON'T use it to slacken fully tightened security bolts - normally one on each wheel if you've got alloys - There's a good chance of shearing the "scroll" inside the security bolt. I undo security bolts by hand. However if you want to speed things up a bit I can see no reason why you shouldn't slacken them a half turn first with a hand wrench and then spin them off with the electric wrench.
PS I'd be very interested to know how the Silverstorm tool turns out if you could find the time to let us know?
Last edited:
I have had a few Sealey tools (Pryer bar set, Soldering iron, Engineers Square Set ..etc), and am happy with them. So, this impact socket set would be good too, I thought.
But Yes, you are correct Silverstorm impact wrench is made by Silverline company. They used to be cheapest tool makers and often looked as inferior. But I have Silverstrom drill and impact driver set, and they are working great. I have had them for about 5 years now.
I also have Silverstorm Router, and it seems very powerful. Still to use it for real application. It is sitting in the shed now.
So this Silverstorm Wrench is another added tool by the company to my tool collection.
There are some poor reviews for underpowered performance, but there seem more positive excellent reviews.
Will update how I got on with it when it arrives.
Thank you for the advice on taking off the wheel nuts. Great stuff.
But Yes, you are correct Silverstorm impact wrench is made by Silverline company. They used to be cheapest tool makers and often looked as inferior. But I have Silverstrom drill and impact driver set, and they are working great. I have had them for about 5 years now.
I also have Silverstorm Router, and it seems very powerful. Still to use it for real application. It is sitting in the shed now.
So this Silverstorm Wrench is another added tool by the company to my tool collection.
There are some poor reviews for underpowered performance, but there seem more positive excellent reviews.
Will update how I got on with it when it arrives.
Thank you for the advice on taking off the wheel nuts. Great stuff.
