Air impact wrench

sarabande

sarabande

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I have spent four hours today removing wheel nuts from an old trailer with a 27mm socket and a breaker bar.

Je suis, as the saying goes, knackered. Totalement.

Just as I finished I had a call from the local garage about new tyres, and after discussion, they laughed and said I was daft not to have an air impact wrench.

I don't have a huge use for such a tool, but e.g. changing the LandRover tyres for winter ones could be made much easier if I could go zip/whee with a proper air tool.

We have a smallish compressor, and it's not as if I need to rush a job, so what make of air wrench is a good one please - and what technical details such a Newton/metres do I need to look for , please.


EDIT

There's a 1/2 inch Bluepoint on ebay for £50. Does that sound reasonable ?
 
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A mate of mine has an 'electric windy gun'.
It does the job very nicely.
And will work where there is no compressor.
I think Landy owners like the 12V ones?
 
I bought a fairly cheap twin hammer one, about £45, a few months ago. My compressor won't keep up with it for more than a few minutes but it's a godsend. Particularly on Landy stuff - I've stripped and rebuilt two front axles this year. The first without the gun which that took my quarterback son and I twice as long as doing the second on my own with the gun (I couldn't shift the radius arm bolts without him countering). The best use was on a few bolts in a Jag engine which I'd soaked in easing oil for a couple of weeks, but with a spanner I knew that they were twisting to the point that shearing was close. Put the gun on them on lowest torque for a few minutes at a time and out they came.

Get one! Air tools are hilariously cheap compared to even the cheapest electric ones.
 
I Use both air and battery guns. They really are very useful. But.... they are useful rather than essential in most cases. As you proved you did get the wheels off without but I'd hazard a guess that it would have been a lot easier with a gun.
I think I've come across a few instances where I can honestly say that the windy gun was essential but I'm sure tha a solution would have been found if needed.
Slight drift but the most common use for the guns are undoing wheel nuts/bolts done up by tyre stores to the point of ringing their necks with an equally aggressive air gun! Never seen a torque wrench used in store,ever.
 
blxm said:
Slight drift but the most common use for the guns are undoing wheel nuts/bolts done up by tyre stores to the point of ringing their necks with an equally aggressive air gun! Never seen a torque wrench used in store,ever.
Click to expand...

Tell me about it. I often find wheel nuts that air or electric guns will not undo. Some serious effort is required with a 3 foot breaker bar !
 
blxm said:
I Use both air and battery guns. They really are very useful. But.... they are useful rather than essential in most cases. As you proved you did get the wheels off without but I'd hazard a guess that it would have been a lot easier with a gun.
I think I've come across a few instances where I can honestly say that the windy gun was essential but I'm sure tha a solution would have been found if needed.
Slight drift but the most common use for the guns are undoing wheel nuts/bolts done up by tyre stores to the point of ringing their necks with an equally aggressive air gun! Never seen a torque wrench used in store,ever.
Click to expand...

Ahem... My torque wrench comes out every time for wheel nuts / bolts. The guns we use have a high torque reverse, and the ability to set a low torque forward, which I judge to be around 80 Nm. Nuts / bolts are then generally torqued up to 110 Nm (or manufacturers own spec) using the torque wrench... But yes, I have been on the receiving end of some horror shows (the puzzle locking nuts being the worst!)
 
Bought a Clarkes Mains Impact Driver Gun for about £100 to remove a stubborn crankshaft nut on a Renault car. Failed totally to shift it. I think the moral here is to buy the biggest you can as the budget models may not be up to the job!
 
PaulRainbow said:
Tell me about it. I often find wheel nuts that air or electric guns will not undo. Some serious effort is required with a 3 foot breaker bar !
Click to expand...

The easiest way to remove a stubborn wheel nut is to heat it underneath with a lighter until hot enough to melt a candle held against the end of the nut/stud. Only heat underneath, not all over, and the wax will flow into the crevices.

Apply wheel brace and remove nut. Simples.
 
SAMYL said:
The easiest way to remove a stubborn wheel nut is to heat it underneath with a lighter until hot enough to melt a candle held against the end of the nut/stud. Only heat underneath, not all over, and the wax will flow into the crevices.

Apply wheel brace and remove nut. Simples.
Click to expand...


Sadly that was not the case with my Ivor Williams stock trailer . We warmed it with a gas torch to no avail, and applied copious copperslip grease.


The garage then welded a 4ft scaffolding bar to an oversize Snap-on 27mm impact socket, and a 16-stone weakling managed to turn the nut a sixth of a revolution at a time until the air gun could cope. Many many Newton-metres of force were used :)
 
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