So I'm finally tired of having to bring stuff up to my buddy to bust things loose and fighting things I can't bring to him. The final straw was a stupid axle nut on a little honda civic. My 160lbs sitting on 4ft of breaker bar wouldn't budge it, 2ft more of cheater snapped my breaker bar. Drove it up to the shop my buddy works at and he zipped it off like it was nothing. He useless for asking tool questions though. I also got the truck in my profile pic so far the only thing on it I've had to take to him are the inverted torx holding the rear rotors to the hub.

I'm thinking a IR231c it has 600ft of torque. Hoping thats enough for stuff like I want. Considering me times 4ft is 640ft lbs of torque but going on the assumption the hammer action will give it that extra or should I spring the little bit extra for a 2235TiMAX with 1000ftlbs+.

Then the question is will a little cheap 10 gallon HF that supposedly does 5.3 scfm at 90 psi be enough or do I need to go all out on a compressor too? I just want to be able to break stuff loose I can take stuff out by hand or wait on the compressor after that. I'm hoping to spend the money on the tools and not the compressor right now. Want a nice impact wrench, an air hammer and maybe a ratchet. Plus some sockets(allen, torx), adapters, chisels, pickle fork, etc. Then spring for a nice 3/8 hose, 3/8th adapters.

The 10 gallon will be nice for rehab projects on houses so it won't go to waste later on down the road when I opt for a 60. If I'm wasting my money for what I want though I'll go for the 60 now which will probably just be a 60 gallon husky for $500.

 

I pick up a Sears 25 gallon 125 psi compressor with 3/8” lines maybe five years ago to deal with truck lug nuts.

It isn’t powerful enough to beak them loose. Changed to a shorter line (50’ down to 25’ I think), but no change. I loosen them with a breaker bar, then use the air gun to spin them off quick.

Not worth it to me to upgrade, but my advice is to go with as powerful one as you can afford; one inch air line.

 

Check the specs on the tools that you want to get to see if you can get the full torque with the HFsetup. You might also do a search on this site for such things as air tools, compressors and the like. They've been discussed a lot.

Some HF stuff is good and some not so much. Check the return policy and hang on to your sales slip.

Maybe one of the real experts around here will see your post and give you the benefit of their experience.

Good Luck,

hj

 

i have not used an air impact in over 5 years. cordless impact wrenches are the way to go. i picked up a 450 lb torque snap on impact for $150 last year to add to the two 350 ftlb battery impacts i have. i now have one in each truck, with a spare battery for each. the two smaller guns were only $100 each, and they are snap on also

 

What impact are you using with it?


The problem is these things consume 20 cfm at load and 6 average. The HF numbers are exaggerated from what I understand and they don't say how much it'll provide for 15 seconds or so. So I'm just not sure if It'll be enough air for that quick 20cfm to break stuff loose.

I've been searching a bunch of different sites can't come up with a definitive answer. Some people say small compressors are a waste of money it'll never be enough are and others say its all in the impact they don't use that much air to break something loose real quick.


I have a first gen milwaukee 1/2 impact. Thing sucks so much I lost faith in cordless impacts. It's supposedly 500 ft lbs too but can't break my 180ft lbs truck lugs loose.

 

You got me curious and I started looking up the new ones, the Milwaukee high torque model supposedly has more nut busting torque than the high end ingersoll-rand and the reviews are great. Do you use your 450 lbs one on stuff that was originally torqued to 250 ft lbs then sat around the rust belt for 20 years because thats the kind of stuff I'm up against.

What do you do for an air hammer? I'm tired of screwing around with banging out the bolts that break too. Same honda had to cut the lower ball joint out. Then proceeded to heat and beat for an hour because my ball joint press was too big to get in there and remove it. Luckily it worked pressing the new one in. Which I probably wouldn't of even had to replace it if I had the right air tool to begin with. It was seized in the lower control arm and I needed that out of my way.

 

i use the big gun to break loose lug nuts the smaller guns don't crack rite away.
it will break loose lug nuts on superduty pickups that have not had the wheels off in years.
these same trucks then need a sledge hammer to break loose the rims from the hubs.
once off i give the hubs and studs a coat of never-seize to prevent them from self welding again .
i have also used it to change tires on my kenworth dump truck when i get a flat.
i have no experience with the milwaukee guns. i have snap on, and we have dewalt guns in the big truck shop.

i do have an old Ingersoll rand air hammer, but have not used it in a while as i have been letting the kids do the heavy work the past 5 years.
after having the knee replaced 5 years ago and then the shoulder rebuilt last year, it is getting harder for me to get down and then back up or lift any weights.

 

Depending what model Milwaukee impact you have many of the very early ones were quite a bit less powerful than todays newer generation of Li-Ion "Fuel" series. I have two of the 14.4 volt 1/2" drive impacts and for the most part they're just large nut runners. Look on YouTube for Milwaukee 2767-20 etc---those are pretty impressive.

If you're married to a "smart phone" there is an "app" you can download to customize the One-Key equipped tools. The impacts can be limited to their final torque setting so as to not over-torque something if that's wanted.