OPINIONS needed/ Impact Wrench choices, help!!

[snakemanracing95]

What do most of you use for track use: An air compressor w/ impact wrench, a cordless impact, or a corded one that plugs in???
I am thinking about transportablility and ease of use. I am leaning towards an 18V Battery powered Impact wrench. And for home use, I may just purchase an air compressor and run air tools. Feed back on this topic would be greatly appreciated. I'm looking at a Dewalt/Milwaukee/ or Makita.   

Thanks for any input!
Brian.
CCS95AM

[Jeff]

Whatever I can borrow...

I have air impacts for home, but never lugged my compressor around.

[G-reg]

I've got an air one at home and just got a 24 volt milwaukee cordless one a few months ago..  I actually like the cordless one better than the air one...  The air compressors do come in handy for other things though...


Personally I've never had to use one at the track, the only time I ever used it on the bike was for changing the whole clutch..  But I can guarantee you the first time I get a flat tire on my way to/from the track I'm gonna be so damn happy I have that cordless one.. 

[Garywc]

Dewalt makes a good electric one so do some other companies i am sure
as far as cordless stay away from craftsman tool there don't hold up under a lot of use. but 18 or 24 volt dewalt  Milwaukee or makitta should do.

as far as air you need a good compressor for any to work well. but snap-on and mac tools would be the way to go
unless you don't use it much craftsmen or a few other off name brands would work.

i personally never needed one at the track there are ways around using them for most application's in need of one other then speed for ripping a whole motor apart which in that case i would probably be going home any way

[snakemanracing95]

I'm trying to remove my rear shock to get it rebuilt. Whoever had the bike before me must have welded the friggin bolts on!!! I figure it'd be nice to have a cordless impact around for times when I need it or when someone may want to borrow it...........

Brian.

[dylanfan53]

That's one of the last tools I think you'd need.  I own a $20 (I think) corded electric one from Harbor Freight.  The cheapest one they've got because I've only needed it to change the front sprocket.  If you get corded there are tons of generators around the track.

[GSXR RACER MIKE]

On the subject of compressed air.....

Air driven impacts and grinders consume air really fast, you would definately want a compressor with somewhat of a tank on it for volume. I have a horizontal Craftsman 6 HP compressor on a 33 Gallon tank (220 single phase), I don't use it to run a full time business, but I have used the hell out of that thing for I don't know how many years on automotive work and it's still running great. I looked at bringing this with me to the track but decided not to when I realized how much power it requires to run it, definately something to look into if your going to run it off of a generator (not having adequate power may run the compressor motor, but that can burn it up quickly).

I don't use impacts at the track, but incase I ever needed to use one briefly I modified my portable air tank so it has a quick disconnect on it now. This is also great for filling the tank as well, I bought a simple manual inline ON/OFF valve and put a male quick disconnect airline fitting on both sides of it so I could plug it into the female quick disconnect fitting on the air tank and the female fitting coming from the compressor as well. As long as your compressors max output PSI doesn't exceed that of the air tank you can just plug the 2 together with the valve I described, open the valve, and the portable air tank fills itself fast - sure better than holding an air chuck on the filler stem the whole time. Another option is to get one of the air chucks that lock onto the valve stem, that is if you can find a decent one that actually works.

Another advantage of a quick disconnect on an air tank is you could easily modify the filler valve assembly I described and make it a 'T' fitting instead with 2 male fittings and a female as well. With this set-up you could easily 'daisy chain' 2 or more air tanks together if you ever need to run an air impact for longer, another advantage is you can then use your portable airtank 'inline' with your home compressor (or a smaller one at the track) to effectively increase it's total air storage capacity when your using it so it doesn't have to run as often. With this type of set-up you can also put the portable tank close to where your actually working so you don't experience 'line drop' so your impacts ability to work stays strong. 

[Jeff]

Case closed..  I'll use and highly recommend Greg's Milwaukee Cordless.

<-- Man servant extrodinare!

[Eric Kelcher]

Every toolbox should have a manual impact. This is highly effective not only for highly torqued bolts but those that are partially stripped as the impact is into the the threads as well the twisting for loosing making it a very tight grip with the turn for screws and bolt heads to remove.

Plus they are cheap and small. Here is an example if you do not know what I am talking about.

http://www.sears.com/sr/javasr/product.do?cat=Mechanics+Tools&pid=00947641000&vertical=TOOL&subcat=Automotive+Specialty+Tools&BV_UseBVCookie=Yes

[snakemanracing95]

Well, I went out and bought a $39.99 "cheapie" as Don suggested. I "sell" for a living and do it well, but when buying.....that's another story. Sometimes I get an ulcer in wondering whether or not I made the right choice. (typical buyers remorse).In this case, choosing the "cheapie" should work out fine. I'll only seldomly need it.
Hopefully it'll last a while, and if not....oh well, lesson learned. Thanks to those who posted their opinions.

Brian.

[racer52]

I am a automotive technician, I bought a 3/8 makita cordless impact and it is the best tool I have ever bought, I use it at the races and it works great for axles and even the occasional lug nut at work, the IR titanium 1/2 impact is super lighweight and they make a 3/8 version of it also, great products.

[benprobst]

+1 on the IR stuff. Im a heavy duty truck and trailer mechanic so I use the hell out of tools, and if your looking for a strong relativly cheap air tool IR along with CP is the way to go. They dont stack up to any of my snapon air tools, and rightfully so, but they work very very well for what they are. And they do offer higher end tools as Mr. 52 mentioned. We brought our snapon 18V drill / light  /   1/2 impact kit home from work and use it exclusivly in our garageand the track and the impact is sweeeeeeeeeeet.