Impact wrench recommendations

[Dave3166]

Hi.
Could anyone recommend me a decent impact wrench for removing my wheels.
Preferably one that’s not silly money, but realise I need to spend to get a decent one with plenty of torque.
Thanks in advance.

[Baldchap]

If it's just for wheel nut removal, anything that comes with a 3/8 or more drive will undoubtedly have the torque you need. Even my little impact driver for screws produces enough torque to do every car wheel nut I've ever come across.

[Dave3166]

Thanks for replies guys.

So, just get the correct socket to fit the wheel nuts then.

[Belle427]

The Milwaukee range is very good, De Walt also do a beast of a gun that will tackle evrything, talked about here quite often.

[Baldchap]

If you want big torque, the Makita brushless one is about 2000NM. I've never found anything it doesn't undo, and being an impact wrench, it doesn't damage or snap bolts either.

It's even doggy approved! (I've uploaded the picture before), you're not going mad.

[normalbloke]

Baldchap said:

If you want big torque, the Makita brushless one is about 2000NM. I've never found anything it doesn't undo, and being an impact wrench, it doesn't damage or snap bolts either.

It's even doggy approved! (I've uploaded the picture before), you're not going mad.

[Baldchap]

normalbloke said:

Is that 3/4" drive?! Looks like a big boy's toy!!!!

[Taita]

Some good knowledge here

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

I've got a 18V ONE+™ HP Cordless Brushless Performance Impact Wrench (Bare Tool) RIW18X-0, no issues.

[timbob]

If you’re not going to use it often and don’t already have a range of cordless tools to share batteries with, have you thought about a mains powered one?

I got the Clarke one from Machine Mart. Was about £50, loads of torque, whizzed the rusted rear suspension bolts off my VW T4 with no bother at all. And as it’s mains powered, no need to worry about remembering to charge a battery on the odd occasion it gets used.

[Gary29]

timbob said:

If you’re not going to use it often and don’t already have a range of cordless tools to share batteries with, have you thought about a mains powered one?

I got the Clarke one from Machine Mart. Was about £50, loads of torque, whizzed the rusted rear suspension bolts off my VW T4 with no bother at all. And as it’s mains powered, no need to worry about remembering to charge a battery on the odd occasion it gets used.

I've gone exactly the same route, I take on 'big' jobs but few and far between so a mains one is perfect for me.

[normalbloke]

Baldchap said:

normalbloke said:

Is that 3/4" drive?! Looks like a big boy's toy!!!!

1” baby! It only gets rolled out when things get obstinate…

[biggiles]

If you have a compressor, then the air ones are cheap and very powerful for circa £50. But cordless ones are much more convenient and won't gather dust in a cupboard.

[JP__FOX]

Depending on what you're after, I'd recommend both of mine...

At home, I use the Milwaukee M12 stubby impact wrench, it's got plenty of oomph (more than most of the home use 18V ones) and is small enough to be able to get into a lot of places most others wouldn't! Really pleased with it and would recommend it to anyone! https://www.toolden.co.uk/power-tools/cordless-pow...

That said, I don't fancy leaving something quite as expensive outside on the floor at trackdays so I've also got a cheaper one that's a lot less tempting to passers by... I'm not convinced it'll do the full spec it mentions in the advert but it doesn't struggle with wheel nuts and comes with 2 batteries, charger and a few sockets for £69!
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07TMY1R1X/ref...

[Sford]

I have an air clark one, a brushless clark battery one and an Aldi one that came from the Netherlands. All are pretty good (they undo stuff) but the one I use the most is the clark battery one. Just because of convenience.

https://www.machinemart.co.uk/p/clarke-cir18lic-18...

not that expensive, powerful enough and light.

I guess what I'm saying is get something that's quick and always ready. If you already have some battery tool brand get one that works with it. I also have a battery ratchet which isn't very strong but is used so much I don't know why I bothered with manual ratchets. Think I got that for about £20 on ebay.

[TimmyMallett]

normalbloke said:

1” baby! It only gets rolled out when things get obstinate…

So used fairly frequently by your partner, coincidentally when you talk?

[PugwasHDJ80]

One of these:
https://uk.ryobitools.eu/diy-power-tools/drilling-...

plus a 3ah hp battery

even on the lowest setting it undoes my wheelnuts

its basically this one- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wB55jYJOOOU&t=...

pulls something like 600lb/ft on "undo" mode which is the same as an moderate sized bloke bouncing off the end of a 1m breaker bar- very few things aren't released from that!

[kambites]

biggiles said:

If you have a compressor, then the air ones are cheap and very powerful for circa £50. But cordless ones are much more convenient and won't gather dust in a cupboard.

To both. My air wrench is rated to, I think, 900NM and cost me about £75. It's certainly shifted everything I've been able to get it onto, although in one case "shifting it" consisted of snapping the M6 bolt the nut had welded itself onto. It's great when you're doing big jobs but even with plumbed in air in the garage it's a bit of a pain when you just want to take a wheel off.

Plus of course any real DIY mechanic has got to love the noise an air-powered impact gun makes.

Edited by kambites on Tuesday 18th January 19:07

[Flibble]

I have the dewalt big boy mentioned above (DCF899). It's a beast but quite handy for wheel nuts even so. I had dewalt kit already so it was an obvious choice.

[AW10]

PugwasHDJ80 said:

One of these:
https://uk.ryobitools.eu/diy-power-tools/drilling-...

plus a 3ah hp battery

even on the lowest setting it undoes my wheelnuts

its basically this one- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wB55jYJOOOU&t=...

pulls something like 600lb/ft on "undo" mode which is the same as an moderate sized bloke bouncing off the end of a 1m breaker bar- very few things aren't released from that!

I bought the non-brushless 3 speed Ryobi with a 2.0 Ah battery and it routinely *can't* undo wheel nuts torqued by hand to 130 Nm. Some comments suggest that a higher Ah battery is required to deliver the full rated max torque of 400 Nm. Shame Ryobi doesn't make this clear.

[Flibble]

AW10 said:

I bought the non-brushless 3 speed Ryobi with a 2.0 Ah battery and it routinely *can't* undo wheel nuts torqued by hand to 130 Nm. Some comments suggest that a higher Ah battery is required to deliver the full rated max torque of 400 Nm. Shame Ryobi doesn't make this clear.

Also make sure you don't have an extension on it, these can sap half your torque or more.