Nut busting

[FC]

Originally Posted by rumatt

I have the big bertha Milwaukee M18 and it's fantastic. But it's kind of heavy for light stuff.

I also bought this impact driver and it's GREAT. Light, super fast, and surprisingly powerful. Way more fun for everything that doesn't require big breaking torque. It's strong enough to do wheel bolts, even though I tend not to use it for that.
https://www.milwaukeetool.com/Produc...rivers/2853-20

I still have the 1/4" driver that came with my initial Makita set - that apparently I bought 11.5 years ago!

I've used it A LOT all these years and it's still great.

[clyde]

The big repeated use for me is wheel changes and the 140 ft-lbs spec for the Camaro required something more powerful than the really, really, really old Goodyear thing I'd been using for 10+ years that, with a full charge, could usually bust 3 of 5 nuts off the first wheel.

The Milwaukee mid-torque has 3 power settings. The lowest almost feels broken. I use the middle to spin lug nuts on, but it's sometimes not quite enough to bust them off, so full power for that (600 ft-lbs, I think).

Ratchets are on my list. Just haven't run across a sale that quite gets them to the price point I want yet.

[rumatt]

Originally Posted by John V

Electric ratchets are the best. THE BEST.

I have this one
https://milwaukeetool.com/Products/P...enches/2668-20

And it's a huge disappointment. The torque is terrible. It's also one of the few milwaukee tools that gets a lot of bad reviews.

The impact driver I linked above is my goto instead. It's fantastic. Fast and powerful. The only down side is it doesn't fit into tight spaces as well as a wrench. But it's still way, way smaller than a big impact gun.

[dan]

damn, an electric ratchet would have come in handy putting together that tool cart

[Nick M3]

Originally Posted by rumatt

I have this one
https://milwaukeetool.com/Products/P...enches/2668-20

And it's a huge disappointment. The torque is terrible. It's also one of the few milwaukee tools that gets a lot of bad reviews.

The impact driver I linked above is my goto instead. It's fantastic. Fast and powerful. The only down side is it doesn't fit into tight spaces as well as a wrench. But it's still way, way smaller than a big impact gun.

You’re using the electric ratchets wrong. You DON’T WANT a lot of power. I would pay more money for one that was even smaller and less powerful. The whole point is to get it into tight spaces and spin. Breaking torque is not important.

Edit: I bet that M18 one gets lots of bad reviews because it’s too much of a compromise. Too big and heavy to use, but to compromised to have any power. You need the little M12 one that does 35 ft-lbs.

This is the one that I use. It’s fucking fantastic and it does things that no impact would ever do for me.
https://www.amazon.com/Milwaukee-245.../dp/B006GKFWSS

[Nick M3]

Originally Posted by rumatt

I have the big bertha Milwaukee M18 and it's fantastic. But it's kind of heavy for light stuff.

I also bought this impact driver and it's GREAT. Light, super fast, and surprisingly powerful. Way more fun for everything that doesn't require big breaking torque. It's strong enough to do wheel bolts, even though I tend not to use it for that.
https://www.milwaukeetool.com/Produc...rivers/2853-20

I don’t like using these for socket work because they end up much longer than a proper impact gun with the adapter installer.

This is my go to general purpose impact:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I usually use it with the 1.5A batteries, because they are plenty powerful and make it very handy.

[John V]

What Nick said. The Milwaukee M12 ratchet is awesome for my purposes. I can put it on a fastener, break it loose by using the tool as a ratchet / breaker bar, and then spin it off using the motor. It's just great.

[rumatt]

The smaller one gets good reviews because because it has the option to lock it out so you can break it free manually and then use the power to spin it.

The one I linked doesn't. You need to use a wrench to break it, then switch the socket to the electric wrench.

[JST]

Originally Posted by Nick M3

I don’t like using these for socket work because they end up much longer than a proper impact gun with the adapter installer.

This is my go to general purpose impact:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I usually use it with the 1.5A batteries, because they are plenty powerful and make it very handy.

Thanks, those look great.

I have a monster DeWalt for lugnuts, but it's not much use for anything else.

[John V]

Originally Posted by rumatt

The smaller one gets good reviews because because it has the option to lock it out so you can break it free manually and then use the power to spin it.

The one I linked doesn't. You need to use a wrench to break it, then switch the socket to the electric wrench.

That's totally useless.