Re: Looking for useful impact wrench on a budget...

[Aleksander Mierzwa <alex@matrix.pl>]

At 03:30 99-01-06 -0800, gerard@dockside.co.za wrote:

>My level of confidence in him has dropped and I
>reckon I might as well tackle the problems at hand myself.

Wise move. 

>So, starting point. I want to find out who sells a budget
>priced impact wrench that has torque settings or where can
>I get a set of torque-limited sockets for a impact wrench?
>I've seen these, but can't find them, they seem to have
>torque limits in the sockets. What I want to do is work
>on the suspension and hubs and things like that and I
>know it's a bitch to get some of those bolts off, especially
>for a non-gym little bloke like me. :) 

I seriously doubt if you really need an impact wrench. While it may seem
nice to have, it's pretty dangerous. For example, what if a bolt is
_really_ frozen? You attack it with your impact wrench, BANG, the bolt head
breaks off, what now? If you use a long breaker bar instead, you can apply
force in a controlled manner and usually avoid such problems. 
Impact wrenches also shouldn't be used for tightening things. I know they
are often used at tire shops, but those guys have to undo and tighten
several hundreds bolts a day, so it's a "necessary evil". After having lug
bolts tightened using an impact wrench at the tire shop, I always loosen
and retighten them again using my trusty handheld torque wrench. For the
price of an impact wrench and accessories (I assume you already have an air
compressor, if not, the price goes ballistic) you can get a nice set of
hand tools that would serve you much better. And yes, my muscles are
definitely nothing to be proud of, too ;-) Remember - you don't have to be
strong to fix cars, you just need a longer cheater bar ;-)

Aleksander Mierzwa
Warsaw, Poland
mailto:alex@matrix.pl
87 Audi 5000CS turbo (mine)
88 Renault Medallion wagon (mom's)
91 mountain bike (just in case both cars broke at the same time :-)