Stuff We Use: Impact Wrenches

On our never-ending quest to improve this place by listening to feedback from the B&B, we are taking a new tack with these product posts, choosing instead to focus on items we have actually used or purchased with our own meagre income. After all, if we’re giving you the truth about cars, we ought to give you the truth about car accessories.

There are a number of names for this tool depending on to whom one speaks – impact wrench, torque gun, faster blaster – but despite that, there is one title on which just about everyone will agree: incredibly useful.

Our intrepid Managing Editor said it right when he opined that  the sound these things create is probably one of the noises most closely associated with a garage. That distinctive racket, especially when used on the lug nuts of a steel wheel, is one most of us can identify with our eyes closed.

In most of those professional settings, impact wrenches are often powered by air sourced from an 80-gallon or other sufficiently huge compressor tank somewhere else in the shop. These days, any number of home-based DIY guys and gals turn to ones powered by electricity, tools which can now provide the capability demanded by the average shadetree mechanic. 

It wasn’t too many years ago this writer turned up his nose at battery-powered devices, preferring to tether himself to a standard household socket for electricity. Modern batteries now do a better job and provide more power (often for longer) than ever before, meaning an impact wrench with a battery pack hanging off its handle is not a reason to scorn. 

There are numerous available to pick up on places like eBay, though we heartily recommend one which includes at least two batteries – that way you won’t have down time after one inevitably goes flat. Bonus points if you pick up a unit which utilizes batteries which are already part of your chosen electric tool ecosystem. Your author isn’t a fan of those flimsy blow molded plastic cases at the best of times; while I will concede they are necessary to protect precision tools like a torque wrench, these impact wrenches are generally robust enough to survive being stored solo in a tool cart or tool chest drawer. They typically have a decent heft, so placing it in the lowest shelf or drawer isn’t a bad idea.

Most of these tools  come with a series of stout sockets to fit typical sizes of fasteners – the more the better, obviously. Make sure to use sockets rated for an impact wrench since they are made of sterner stuff and have thicker walls. Those el cheapo ones from the dollar store will fly apart in a split second; even good quality sockets not rated for impact duty are likely to be damaged and potentially cause havoc to the user or whatever they’re working on. Ya don’t want that. With that in mind, the standard safety legalese applies with impact wrenches: Wear goggles, gloves are a good idea, wash your hands, eat your vegetables – that type of stuff. 

Just don’t let the thing hammer away on a lunch break and torque the lug nuts into oblivion. The very scientific measure of ‘two ugga duggas’ should be just fine on those fasteners. Besides, you read last week’s missive about precision torque wrenches, right? Our best advice is to use the impact wrench as a tool to quickly deal with stubborn lug nuts, then to quickly spin them back on – but only snug. Tighten them properly with the more precise tool.

As planned, this series of posts will continue to focus on items we’ve actually used and bought with our own money. We hope you found this one helpful.

[Images: eBay]

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