They are a good way to limit the amount of torque to lug and get it close, but I feel they still need to be hand torqued.

 

I know that I can tell how much the gun is putting out by the sound. those that use theirs often probably know what I am talking about. I know that here at the shop we have some regulated supplies, they are not regulated much but you can always tell by the sound, etc.

Your right, thats about the best impact out there, IMO. I use the same one, its just labeled IR instead of Matco.

 

This is the one I like best. She's been through hell and back but still keeps running like she was new.

 

Jeff,

That's one nice gun!

Mine's an old IR "Impactool 403".

Still kickin' and tickin'......

Pop

 

Thanks Marv. I replaced an old Blue Point with that one 5-6 years ago. Man I couldn't believe how much lighter and more powerfull it was. Did I mention how much LIGHTER it is!

 

the torque sticks are only accurate if you can control the input. Its a crap shoot at best. to many variables as mentioned. Compressor on/off, how long the Techs on the trigger,
air hose diameter,etc. they are a tool designed to speed up the Tech.

auto tech 12 yrs, Snap-on tool man 16 yrs

Barney

 

They used those torque sticks when they reinstalled my wheels and tires after performing valve stem repair on all of them. Two guys used two different impact guns, one on each side. I loosened all of the lugs with my 4-way and both sides were at very different torques. I'm not sure what went on there. I used my torque wrench to properly torque the lug nuts.

 

The IR 2135ti is the *****. I just picked up my 3rd one like 3 months ago, then noticed recently that they have a 2135tiMAX which is a little better, and bluish.

The major issue with torque sticks, is the fact that most people do not use them correctly, and thats where the inconsistancy comes in. When you have an impact gun like our high powered ones, you can not expect to not over tighten the small lugnuts because the tq stick relys on the torsion effect of the stck and the hammer function of the impact. On the smaller nuts you need to run the gun at less power, and the big nuts you can gun them down with good consistancy. Then othe major thing people do wrong is put their hand on the tq stick while using it. When you do that it changes the torsion resistance and rebound and will over tighten them every time. You are not supposed to touch the tq stick anywhere when using it.

Their main fuction like bfife said, is to speed up tech, and so that these high power guns dont ream the lugnuts on so tight the guy on the side of the road cant remove them with the pathetic stock lugwrench.