Air Tools

[czechsonofagun]

I am wondering. Do you use air tools to work on your car? Like ratchet and impact wrench?

I just finished replacing flywheel ring gear on my jeep using only hand tools - can not imagine how to do something like that with air tools, but I never had to use them and never even had them. Does it make sense for an average shade tree mechanic to try to change the way of wrenching?

 

[Bird]

Does it make sense for a shade tree mechanic? I don't know, but I know I'd hate to be without mine. I honestly don't know how anyone can do without an air-compressor, and if you have a compressor, the air tools are SO handy. I almost do no mechanic work anymore, but I still have to have my half inch impact, three-eighths air ratchet, angle die grinder, siphon type engine cleaner gun, two blow guns, tire chuck, paint spray gun, quick couplers, and enough air hose to reach anywhere on my property. My brother and I did do a front end brake job on his one ton dually Powerstroke Ford Thursday in my garage. And even though I really don't need them anymore, I miss my air powered reciprocating saw, air drills, and sandblasting equipment.

Of course it does depend on the individual. I can't imagine doing much wrench turning without an air ratchet, but when my brothers owned a garage and were both mechanics, neither of them owned an air ratchet. They used air impacts all the time, but not ratchets; said they didn't like the sound. Unbelievable to me, but different strokes for different folks.

 

[DieselPower]

Personally I own about every air tool known to man. But then again I'm a mechanic. All of mine are either Snap On or Mac Tools. For the shadetree mechanic you can usually get by with a cheap set from someone like Harbor Freight or some other no name company. No they don't last as long and have nowhere near the power as the name brand ones do but they sure are alot better than plain old hand power.

 

[czechsonofagun]

Personally I own about every air tool known to man. But then again I'm a mechanic. All of mine are either Snap On or Mac Tools. For the shadetree mechanic you can usually get by with a cheap set from someone like Harbor Freight or some other no name company. No they don't last as long and have nowhere near the power as the name brand ones do but they sure are alot better than plain old hand power.

So, say, to take skid plate, transfercase, transmission, clutch off- you would first try to use air ratchet or impact wrench and only if there is not enough space look for hand wrench?

I am asking stupid questions, I know, but as I said - I never used them.

I remember at least one time - pressing struts with spring compressor - I really wished to have some power help; killed my forearms on it big time.

 

[DieselPower]

Yep, I use air tools whenever possible. The hand wrench's and ratchets only come out for hard to reach items and when there are only a couple bolts. When you do it for a living time is money and getting a job done faster usually means a happier customer with a lower repair bill that is more likely to come back again.

 

[dgl24087]

Air tools sure make my arthritic hands and shoulder feel better.

 

[Bird]

This past Friday I bought an external CD/DVD burner and was going through old records, disposing of stuff, making current backups of my data, etc. and found I had old backup copies of computer files on the old 3.5" floppy discs, 100 and 250 mg. Zip discs, and a few CDs. I even found a lot of stuff I thought had been lost or destroyed long ago, including copies of all the invoices I did when I was repairing/rebuilding mechanics' air tools from 6-7-98 to 7-27-01. I guess I only worked on about a thousand of them. I printed 983 invoices, but of course, worked on a few that I never wrote up.

 

[TractorLegend]

Flywheel bolts off: air tool
Flywheel bolts on: Torque wrench & thread sealer if its a hollow crank (bolts go into oil)

 

[RonR]

Diesel,

I have to agree on HF as an alternative. When I was younger, I wrenched for a living, and had only snap on stuff. Wouldn't buy any cheap stuff as I needed it to last a lifetime!

Well, last time I was in HF, they had a 4" electric grinder for $15! To tag alone with my 9" grinder, I figure I can use this one for small stuff, and toss it when it breaks.

This week, I was in HF to pick up some dolly wheels--came across an air cut off tool for $9.99. The two 10 packs of cutting disks were also $9.99 each. Sure it doesn't have the power of a "real one", but I'm older now, so lifetime stuff doesn't have to last as long, hah!

My son was helping me last weekend, and I had him guess on the tool prices--he was triple over on each.

Wouldn't want all my tools to be HF, but for light duty stuff, it's ok for me.

And I use air tools all the time if I have more than a couple of bolts to remove. Best use ever: I changed the guards on a 9 foot sickle mower--zipped those nuts loose in no time!

Have fun,
ron

 

[Bird]

There's certainly nothing wrong with cheap stuff like Harbor Freight tools as long as you know what you're getting. I used a Central Pneumatic half inch impact for several years. It was a knock off of the Chicago Pneumatic CP734 and it never failed me once, but I knew it only had about 250 ft./lbs. of torque while the CP734 had 425 (big difference), and I eventually went to an Ingersoll-Rand IR231 for my personal use. But I used a 3/8" Central Pneumatic butterfly and a Central Pneumatic 3/8" ratchet for many years and never had a reason to replace them. Right now, my half inch impact is an IR231H, but my angle die grinder and 3/8" ratchet are from Harbor Freight.

Snap-On is the old standard, but their air tools are made in Japan just as the other brands are, and they're no better, no worse than Chicago Pneumatic and Ingersoll-Rand which also make the MAC, Matco, and Cornwell air tools. My complaint with Snap-On is simply that their parts are not interchangeable with the others and will cost twice as much if you have to buy parts for one.