Tool suggestion - Cost effective impact wrench

Maintenance/Repairs
21

Current battery powered units do well. Simpler than having to get a compressor, hose, and a place to put it all.

1 Like
22

Good ideas above. Thereā€™s a couple of other threads here discussed earlier on that topic where folks chimed in with their favorite impact wrench make & model. OP might want to search the forums from the main forum page to find some additional content. Not saying I wouldnā€™t want one, but somehow Iā€™ve managed to get along without one for 50 years of diyā€™er driveway repair and maintenance. Iā€™ve always been able to find an alternative method I guess.

23

I bought an electric (plug in) impact wrench from Lowes about two years ago. I have six vehicles with snow tires (on wheels) that I have to swap out. Two tire changes per year, four tires per car, five lugs per tire, and six cars means a total of 240 lugs per year that I spin off and on (using torque sticks). Combined with my slick, quick pump, low saddle, aluminum floor jack, tire changes are a snap now. Itā€™s so easy I can even make my kids do it!!!

1 Like
24

Just to put it out there, torque sticks arenā€™t really reliable. Theyā€™ll generally prevent you from overtorquing to the point of damaging the stud, but they will not guarantee even torque across all the lugs.

Iā€™ll spin lugnuts off, but I wonā€™t torque them down with anything but a torque wrench.

25

A follow-on to the torque limiting bars: I only use the impact wrench to remove bolts that I canā€™t budge with a ratchet or breaker bar. I sue the ratchet to reinstall the bolts. Iā€™ve never had to use the impact wrench on wheel nuts.

26

If you are changing out those larger tires these days, you also need one of those tire caddys to position the tire and raise it up to the studs. I tried to make one with less than stellar success but then Iā€™ve gotten to the point where I just pay the tire shop $20 instead. Theyā€™re a lot younger.

27

Most dealers give free rotation every 5000 miles and I would also pay to have it done. To each his own but spending money for an impact wrench and hauling ramps around in the trunk while living in an apartment just does not compute for me.