Air Impact Wrench

[Anonymous Poster]

Currently I have a 1/2 inch AllTrade air impact wrench and it does not have enough torque to handle all of the maintenance on my Kubota.

I would like a recommendation of a good general purpose 1/2 inch impact wrench that has worked well for maintaining your tractor. I don't mind spending the bucks to get a good tool but I don't want to spend extra money to get one with capabilities that I will never need or use.

I have looked at wrenches at Harbor Freight and I am considering this one Impact wrench

Is Harbor Freight the best place to buy a impact wrench? If not, where would you recommend?

John

 

[Pacesetter300]

Not knowing anything about what you have now and are dissatisfied with, I would recommend the IR 2131. It's on the list from Harbor Freight for $159. The only one I have used that is more powerful is a Snap-On IM51 for over twice that money. I use the 3/8 version of the 2131 all the time and love it. It is my most used air tool. You don't mention your compressor. If that's not up to the task, it doesn't matter what impact gun you use. I buy from Harbor Freight all the time, they are great to deal with and have great prices.
Pacesetter

 

[Bird]

Yep, John, that's the IR231, and like the add says it's probably about the most popular 1/2" impact there is. That's what I used for a personal impact wrench. Of course, if you want to spend another $50, you'll notice they also have the IR2131, which is even more powerful and has, in the last few years, become very popular, especially with diesel mechanics. It's an almost identical hammer, or impact, mechanism but an entirely different throttle valve, air motor cylinder, and housing. When I was working on them, I was initially very skeptical of that "composite" body, but the only broken ones I ever got had been left laying on the shop floor and either run over by a truck or had the lift let down on them. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif So it would be my first choice now, and the IR231 second.

 

[Bird]

Russell, you must have typed faster, or got an earlier start, than I. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif The 3/8" version of the IR2131 is the IR2112. And while the Snap-On IM51 (and the IM510) are good impact wrenches, they are not as powerful as the IR2131. And also, while the IM51 and IM510 are good impacts, I'd sure recommend staying away from the IM5100. They are very similar designs and for reasons neither I, nor anyone else I know of, know why, everyone I knew of who had an IM5100 was dissatisfied with its power, even when brand new.

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Pacesetter300 & Bird - Thanks for the information.

I have a Sears 5 HP, 22 gal. air compresser. Not sure of the CFM but I feel sure that it has enough capacity to handle any impact wrench that I could buy.

The AllTrade that I have is about 7 years old. I bought a complete outfit that included a 1/2 inch wrench, 3/8 inch wrench and an air hammer. I believe the total cost was around $50. I don't know the specs but I am sure it is low-end at that price. It worked well for my previous garden tractors but my Kubota has bigger bolts and higher torques. It's time for a better tool. Should have bought a better tool in the first place!

I will take a look at the 2131.

John

 

[Bird]

That Alltrade was probably rated at 230 ft./lbs (plus or minus 20) when it was new. So you're talking about impacts now with almost double the torque, and of course, double the price. /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif Don't forget to buy a little needle nosed grease gun to go with those Ingersoll Rand impacts.

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Thanks Bird... I have a needlenosed grease gun that I use to grease the sprocket tip on my chainsaw. I suspect it will work on the impact wrench. What are your thoughts?

John

 

[Bird]

Yep, same grease gun and I used the same grease. Ingersoll-Rand has their own grease and for reasons unknown to me, they actually had a different grease for the IR231 and the 2000 series impacts, but everyone I knew just used the same grease in all of them. Some types of grease are obviously better for some applications than others, but for your impact wrench, if you keep it greased with any kind of grease and keep the dirt and water out of it, it'll probably last longer than you do. /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

 

[GaryK]

I don't recommend buying another impact wrench until you are sure the compressor you have will handle the required CFM, most impacts use a lot of air, generally over 90CFM. The PSI should be up there too.I keep my compressor set at 120lbs. Can't recall the brand of my impact wrench but it has three or four torque settings.

 

[Anonymous Poster]

I checked my compresser. It is 6.4 SCFM at 90 PSI.

John

 

[Anonymous Poster]

I just talked with Harbor Freight and they said that you need 5 CFM at 90 PSI to get full performance from the 2131. My compresser is 6.4 so I should be OK.

 

[Bird]

Yep, your compressor will handle it just fine.

 

[CSAW]

You can't go wrong with an IR I would not have anything else. I have a 231 and they are great. Not trying to sound negative but with 120 psi I still think it will fall short of you expectations. I used to have a single stage compressor that shut off at 120 and it would not give full power for air tools. The compressor I have now is a commercial monster (got a deal or I wouldn't have it) It shuts off at 175 and makes a world of difference.

One other thing is the hose size. I run a 3/8" hose off the compressor, but, if I put a 1/4" extension hose on that the power is greatly diminished. Just make sure you get enough flow.

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Thanks for your comments. I won't be using my air wrench heavily. If I allow the compressor to build to max pressure will the air wrench produce full torque for a period of time? Or, will I never be able to develop full torque? I don't plan to buy a bigger compressor. I don't use an air wrench very often but it sure is nice to have one when you need it.

John

 

[Bird]

/forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gifWell, I'm not in the air tool repair business anymore, but when I was, we loved folks like you who kept us in business. /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif Every air impact wrench I know of produces its rated torque at 90 psi, and that's the maximum recommended air pressure, but you can certainly get more power if you can turn up the pressure. And they'll usually last quite awhile even then, but eventually they break. Warranty would not cover such a break if they knew you were running over 90 psi, but of course they usually won't know. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif On that model, it usually twists the spline off the front end of the rotor, with the next most common thing being broken hammers and/or hammer frame. I could usually fix whatever needed fixing for $40 to $75 parts and labor. So, I'm certainly not telling anyone not to turn up the air pressure. You just have to decide for yourself if the additional power is needed enough to be worth the repair bills, and sometimes it is. I know that many of my customers ran 175 psi compressors and just didn't complain when they had to pay the bill.

Excessive air pressure, moisture, and failure to properly lubricate air tools is the only thing that keeps the repairmen in business. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Naturally, you do need an adequate flow volume, so the 3/8" hose is a good idea, especially if you have very much distance for the air to travel (long hose). Most folks use quick couplers on those wrenches, and their quick couplers are only 1/4".

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Now I'm confused (it's not hard for me to get in that state!) I thought that what he was referring to is that a 120 PSI compressor could not produce enough air flow. I didn't think he was suggesting operating at 120 or 175 PSI.

Am I wrong?

John

 

[Bird]

You needn't worry about it, John, you've got adequate pressure and volume for any 1/2" impact. I, too, prefer 3/8" air hoses; had three 50' ones, but I also had two 10' coiled and one 15' regular 1/4" hose. That new IR will be so much more powerful than the Alltrade that I can just about guarantee you'll be happy with what you've got.

 

[knucklehead]

Thanks, John for the good quesitons, and Bird, for the great answers. Also thanks to others who contributed, including my fellow Mainer with the Swamp Donkey glued to the wall (you can put down the rifle, Russ, I think it ain't gonna get up again /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif).

I've been ghosting the conversations about air tools, and I've picked up a lot of info in a short time. Thanks, again, guys.

 

[OkieG]

Isn't the CFM rating of a compressor the rate it fills the tank at a given pressure?
Of course, an impact wrench doesn't care how fast a tank can fill at 90psi, only how fast it can empty as it bleeds down to 90psi.
My little 5hp Sears compressor can empty much faster than it fills, but I don't know how many CFM it flows as it bleeds down from 120psi to it's "kick-in pressure" of 100psi.

OkieG

 

[Bird]

OkieG, I don't disagree with anything you said, but in this particular case, it's a non-issue. If his compressor will move 6.4 SCFM at 90 psi and the impact wrench is rated to use 5 SCFM at 90 psi, no problem at all, even has a nice "cushion" there. Yes, it would be possible to empty or drain air out of the tank fast enough that the compressor could not maintain the 90 psi, but it ain't likely to ever happen unless you open the drain cock at the same time. The impact wrench will work at lower pressure, but just wouldn't have its full rated power. But how long is an impact wrench normally run at a time? A few seconds. I've used impact wrenches with a 1hp compressor on a 12 gallon tank. If you have 100-120 psi in the tank when you start, the wrench has full power for the first few seconds and that's usually enough to loosen a tight bolt, then the lower pressure and power will go ahead and spin the nut or bolt the rest of the way. Worst case scenario; have to remove a bolt, wait a few seconds for the compressor to build up maximum pressure, then remove the next one, but that ain't gonna happen with what JWE has.