Best easily available impact wrench.

It is time to get a new impact. Old trusty is not pulling a balancer bolt it would have had no problem with when I first got it.

Last time around I bought one for the same reason. I bought the best Harbor Freight wouldn't pull it, returned it and tried Kobalt, then Husky, etc etc etc until I found a Craftsman at Sears (that will give you a time frame). The Craftsman is just a rebranded IR.

I need one this weekend so I have to look for something local and not off a tool truck.

I'm leaning towards another Craftsman from Ace Hardware or an IR from Tractor Supply. Cost is important but more important is bolt removal torque.

Anyone have suggestions about ones they have had great luck with?

Thanks

I have a Ryobi brand ( home depot ) 18 volt.
Ive had it for over 5 years for sure, maybe close to 6 or 7 now. I cant remember the last time Ive had to power up the compressor to use a air power impact

PS, make sure you upgrade to the 8 hr battery at a minimum . Anything less doesn't last long when you keep hammering on a bolt ,

And I have never had it not take any bolt off Ive tried it on. From crank bolts to head bolts to lug nuts

Love my 20v dewalt 1/2 inch, also have the 1/4 and 3/8th in the lower voltage butt I don't remember the volt on them and they all use the same chargers. I have been using them about 5 years in a full service shop and they still work great except one of the smaller batteries broke it's locking tab so it falls off the impacts unless you hold it on there.

18V Milwaukee here, I LOVE mine.

It has a lot more torque than the pneumatic 1/2" drive I had.

have you considered trying to rebuilt it?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UnV6VgyfDJc

doesn't seem that bad overall.

I bought a Chicago Pneumatic about 8 -10 years ago. It hasn`t let me down yet.

Just look up Ingersol rand IR231 and go from there Summit used to have the best deal on them.
https://www.amazon.com/Ingersoll-231C-Super-Duty-Impact-Wrench/dp/B0002SRM3I#customerReviews

Gus

Which Harbor Freight impact did you buy? I bought one of their EARTHQUAKE models (exact model escapes me at the moment) and it zinged out the ball joints in my Dakota effortlessly.

I bought a Chicago Pneumatic in the late 80's from JC Whitney.

Still have it, still does the job, no idea who actually made it and I doubt it's still the same all these years later.

Agreed hands down 20 V Dewalt, ......we've gone thru the entire offerings of 120 V electric, 14-20 VDC battery and pneumatic impact guns in the shop, of all the major brands regarding cordless, the Dewalts are the only things to do the job repeatedly and survive the gorillas using them on a daily basis.... Roiboy is a good second choice, the Milwaukees suck up battery time too fast, and the torque can't compare to the Dewalts or Roiboy output regardless of the mfg's supposed ratings....

Times 3 for the Dewalt.....Just wish mine had the Lithium Batteries but I bought it ten years to soon.

Are you wanting pneumatic or battery ?

Regardless, wanted to comment, I have an IR 3/8 air ratchet that is about 5 years old but has seen very little use. I was using it a couple of weeks back zinging out some LONG bolts and it cra--ed out. I took it apart and the planetary gear set self destructed. I doubt the unit had more than 1 hour of actual run time.
So I called IR and they wanted pictures. Ok, the unit looks brand new and I even had the box. So they comment that the planetary assembly appeared dry and required regular maintenance send me the instruction manual etc. I said if it was to dry it came that way. They begrudgingly sent a replacement planetary assembly.
While i was waiting for the back ordered part I dug out the 40 year old air ratchet that i bought the IR to replace. It has been abused, rarely oiled, never greased and worked like a new one. Out of curiosity I looked at the boxes,
The 40 year old unit was made in Japan by KTS tools. The IR, straight from Taiwan or China.
Thinking back 40 years it was 1981 and Japan was establishing its ability to build quality tools. Currently IMO, China's capable as is Taiwan but they are still producing some sketchy items. i have always had good service with craftsman products especially their dremel type tools. Indestructible. I actually have two spares that I have yet to need and likely won't now that I've gotten rid of my employees who apparently were Neanderthal's

I’ve used the Dewalt High-Torque impact for a few years without any issues. With 2 batteries, charger, etc., it can get expensive.

The dewalt is a beast. Love it. Variable trigger, three steps in power. Not sure if you will find one on the shelf in your town if you need something quick. It’s worth waiting for one. Got mine on Amazon.

I've used the 20V Dewalt 1/2" drive to tear apart suspensions on 40' transit school buses. They flat out work, all the mechanics @ the garage where I work use 'em.

Wow I was not expecting the love for electric impacts but when I looked at the specs they are not like the one I bought years ago. They are a new beast.

Definitely looking at them now.

I am shifting from Dewalt 18V tools to Craftsman but I am now rethinking that.

The bolt I have to remove is a tenacious. I used the old breaker bar against the ground and hitting the starter and it had no effect. My current Air impact is rated at 800 or 900 ft lbs but that was out of the box and it's pretty old now.

I think I am going with the Dewalt 20V or the IR Air Unit.

Is this the Dewalt everyone like?
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01D61NSUS

The IR unit is this one.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00LV9YC76

I can get either one locally or overnight from amazon since I live in a big city.

I bought the Earthquake about three years ago for a couple of ball joints that my Blue Point wouldn't move. It's a very capable impact that has not let me down. The Blue Point recently stopped working.

I have used a couple of electric impacts. Very nice, but overall heavier than a comparable strength pneumatic.

Both of my air ones are Campbell Hausfeld. The cheap one and the better one, Neither have let me down but the better one was supposed to be a rebuilt one I bought years ago at a swap meet and it turned out to only be a defective returned one. It works great but the F/R button is very picky and is hard to push at times and judging by the bash marks on it that's why it was returned.

I have two plug in electric ones, one at home and one at my shop and they get used more then the air ones do. I'd love the convenience of battery ones but I don't use battery tools enough so I always end up having to charge batteries when I use things.

For pneumatic, about 2 years ago I had one of my reps get me an AirCat 1/2" compact. He reps that line. It is a very good impact gun!! WAY better than my old CP.

I got the Milwaukee M18 Fuel a few years ago. I use it only occasionally in my garage and it generally removes bolts, or snaps them off if they are rusty and won't turn. This is the first electric impact I've owned and I just run my compressor to fill tires these days. It sounds like DeWalt is the way to go now, but its definitely worth considering battery power if you have not tried it before. This is what I use:

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Milwauk...riction-Ring-Tool-Only-2767-20/302654201

Yes the XR Max....we currently have 1/2 dozen or more thru-out the shop, upgrade to the 8ah battery for a full days use with nightly recharging, I use the 12ah battery ($300) as it's suited for my work (MillWright) sometimes being out on the jobsite with no electrical power to charge batteries and needing a long time work horse

Anyone taken a Dewalt 20 volt Li battery pack apart to see what current manufacturer makes the individual cells?

In the past they were LG batteries

https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-KKgsRfRI...auAvsMcNjbBAbjq7ACLcB/s1600/DSCF6385.jpg

https://www.sevarg.net/2016/09/11/dewalt-20v-max-30ah-battery-pack/

The Milwaukee M18 and M12 cells are made by Samsung.

Samsung and Panasonic Li cells are highly rated for long life.

Teslas use Panasonic Li cells

There are adapters to convert Milwaukee battery packs to Dewalt, Ryobi and others.

Anyone else use “torque multipliers”

https://www.northerntool.com/shop/t...msclkid=0fcb2f0fea3c10008b734fefbb5cc34e

https://www.toolsource.com/torque-m...iplier-w-handle-1000-ftlbs-p-114023.html

After 3 years or so, mine is holding up...

That’s it, the dewalt. Don’t know about the other one.

I have the feeling that the lifespan of one of those multipliers when used with an impact wrench, any impact wrench, would not be very long. Think about taking a ratchet and beating on the handle with a hammer to loosen a fastener.

For Electric I have a Ryobi 1/2" and it is really stout, easily the strongest thing Ryobi makes because most of thier stuff isn't super stout.

For Pneumatic I had to go by a better one when I was tearing down the Dana to go in my car. I bought the Harbor Freight "Earthquake". It is a beast and handled the pinion nut on that old Dana no problem where my old no name didn't have a chance. Since I don't use pneumatic much I went with the harbor freight, it did have great reviews and I would give it a great review as well. Excellent Value.

Not supposed to use an impact on them. We used them when I climbed wind turbines, but not with an impact and the good ones were not cheap. However, we were using them to torque stuff so they had to be accurate. The Northern tool cheapo might be ok for disassembly, but most impacts ought to exceed it's rated capacity anyway so unless you don't have an impact it's doesn't make sense.

A bit off topic but I just bought a Dewalt 8v battery-rechargeable screw driver. Figured it's good quality and will last. The big mistake I made was getting the gyroscopic one. Maybe it's just me but I find it to be a PITA having to turn it to activate and getting it to operate at the rpm I want.

Can't comment on their impact (if they even make one) but I recently bought a 20V Sawzall and 20V weed wacker from Black and Decker, each tool was only $100~ and included a battery and charger. I picked up 2 additional chinese batteries for $50

If you wanna sell that gyroscopic, shoot me a pm

I have never used an impact with a Torque multiplier.
I have a Williams that is 37 years old.

I posted the torque multipliers because many people have the mindset: I have got to use an air/electric impact gun to loosen this big tough nut.
The huge slurry pumps made of super hard, wear resistant “White Iron” like the Georgia Iron Works or Warman are also hugely expensive.
They have huge nuts to torque but you need to avoid big impact guns that could crack a $40,000 casing.

With the torque multipliers you can gently and predictably tighten and loosen.

If it is your desire to actually break a bolt, you can do that gradually too, the bolt does not have to “snap”

In mining schools that study the strength of rocks it has been a big advance to use “stiff” monster sized presses to slowly find the breaking strength of rocks. Most rock failures in tunnels fail slowly, although terrifying “rock bursts” or “bumps” do happen.

you mentioned "rock bursts or bumps".............
a couple of days ago, there was a bunch of people on a boat somewhere, taking pictures/video of a rock cliff somewhere, and the whole side collapsed into the lake, causing a tidal wave toward the boat those people was on ! luckily, none were hurt, but just seeing it on tv made me jump !
i know my standard response when someone asks me if i want to go out on a boat, : "i can't swim, so i'll stay on shore and guard the beer !" makes more sense than ever now !

Some days start peacefully but do not end that way.....

https://geology.com/records/biggest-tsunami.shtml

Another vote for the Milwaukee "M18 Fuel". It has more than enough torque for what I'll ever use it for.
The battery lasts too. Just finished replacing the hub bearings on the '06 2500, and the battery did not need to be recharged.

Warning: It broke a couple of Harbor Freight cheap Chinese 'impact' sockets that the air impact wrench couldn't break. It also twisted a 4" extension (it was unmarked...no doubt made in China). Quality sockets are required!

Just an update.

There are several kids in the neighborhood that work on cars and borrow my tools. This time they loaned me the tool. I used a Milwaukee Fuel 18V.

I was very impressed, it took it a few seconds but it pulled the bolt.

I dodged a bullet and didn't have to buy one this time but I will be getting an electric impact. Even though the Milwaukee has better specs I am leaning towards the Dewalt because I have a lot of Dewalt and a couple Craftsman battery tools. I just don't want to have to have multiple tools that don't use the same batteries.

Thank you all for the advice. Had I not asked I would have bought an air impact and I will definitely get more use from the battery powered one.