LOL. Well, JWA's avatar is hot as hell, ha, ha... I didn't mean anything by it, just having some fun.

As to the impact wrench, bumped up the PSI, added some oil and made sure setting was on 4 (highest) and it zipped those lug nuts right off today! In fact, it tightened them to over my torque setting of 130 ft lbs. To think all these years I just needed to do a few things to make it run correctly. Thanks for the tips & advise, and most of all, for the smoking avatar, ha, ha...

 

Tools are like a woman, they need some TLC. If you do it right they will love you back. LOL

 

My regulator would only go a little higher than 100 psi. Looking into buying a different on that will dial up to 140 psi or so. Tank is reading 210 psi so I wouldn't think it would be a problem.

 

I've got a Snap-on IM-5. (1960's vintage) 1/2" drive with a cracked nose piece that works a lot better than the new ones. Wish I could find a new nose piece for it...

 

I have a 30 year old IR air impact. It just got replaced with a 18 volt Milwaukee 2763 Fuel. It is the baddest 1/2 impact I ever used plus you don't have the air hose in your way. I've tried to find something it couldn't take apart & I have not found one. I'm taking my 04 F250 apart to put my motor in a 07. It has made it a easy job

 

Wow---I've got an IM510 from about '85 or so---still working like new. Of course it doesn't have 20 hours continuous use on it since new, even has the original red rubber boot---it was a whopping $260 back then. Great impact!

Just sold a V-28 impact, circular saw and hammer drill mostly because they weren't used enough to justify keeping them. Well, that and was looking at close to $450 to replace the batteries with newer M-28.

Having switched to the LiIon Milwaukee M12 stuff with a few Fuel versions too next cordless impact will definitely be the M18 gear. At about 1/3 the weight and same or more power it'd be a cost I'd not think twice about.

 

M18 stuff is awesome, a shop I was at replaced their dying DeWalt crap with those and the difference is huge. I personally killed two of the DeWalts, one in flames and one just died in the course of normal work, but even with flat out abuse the Milwaukee stuff worked great. My only complaint with them, and all lithium-ion setups, is that there isn't a noticeable slowdown before it's dead. With the NiCad stuff, they would get slower to the point you knew it needed the battery changed say before you rode the scissor lift 35ft up to work on a truss. If you forget to hit the indicator button on the lithium ion ones, it'll just die on you whenever it's set to.

 

I have several M12 pieces. My M12 impact will outdo my old 18 volt drills. It will run 125 to 150 three inch deck screws on a single battery.They impressed me enough to buy the m18. Five year warranties on the tool & 3 on the batteries. That's backing your tools

 

One key to air tools not mentioned here is hose and fitting size. Every restriction and foot of hose adds up and removes the available amount of air to the tool. Always use the largest fittings and shortest hose possible. I use the larger size quick connects, and never buy cheap small hose, most of the coiled plastic stuff. When I need major air I daisy chain my compressors. I have a little 150PSI pancake compressor, I take it close to where I'm working and hook booth my main air compressor and my tool with a short hose to it, thus it acts as a booster for my tool.

 

So a new M18 is fully equal to or better than the 28-volt units?

I have years of abuse on my 28-volt gear including cutting truck frame rails with the Sawzall. I recharge off an inverter so I can take them to salvage. Beats running air lines and carrying a compressor!

How much brutality will the M18 take? If they are that good I'll try a set.

 

Everyone I've spoken to about V28 vs M18 say the M18 is what we hoped the V28 stuff would be. Even though the V28 stuff was durable and could take a beating the M18 stuff is right up there with it. Keep in mind M18 is the newer technology so in theory more advanced.

Given my experience with M12 vs the older 12v & 14.4v NiCad or NiMh stuff its light years ahead. Lighter tools, insanely powerful and battery life that's pretty astounding has me being a huge Milwaukee M-Series fan.

As for the older stuff running slower when getting low on charge: yeah the M-Series stuff runs until it doesn't, no real warning when it'll die. Its the one small price we pay for such long-life batteries.

BTW Amazon sells the M-18 stuff, they have a decent return policy if the tool doesn't meet expectations. While most local retailers might have something similar they most likely don't match Amazon's desire to keep a customer satisfied. Good prices, too!