Well, couldn't break siz lug nuts bolts on my front driver tires. I had a lug wrench set up, and, using a 42" demolition bar from HomeDepot, was able to put all 170 lbs of my weight into them (estimated 170lbs x 30" lever / 12 in / ft = 425 ft-lbs).

I couldn't believe that I actually spun the blocked front tire instead breaking the lug nuts bolts free. Tried heat, PBlaster, hitting the tire iron with a BFH, ... nothing.

Then I saw this online....
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A Kawasaki 12v Impact Wrench from Pepboys. That's right - it runs off the cigarette lighter. No way did I think this would work - but for $50 and no way to get my non-running car out of the garage to a mechanic with air tools I figured I'd give it a try. Heck, it's rated for 280 ft-lbs of torque

Much to my surprise, after about 10 seconds per rusted lug nut bolt, and very little effort on my part (holding the gun and pressing the trigger), the lug nuts bolts loosened and came right off!

Initial plan was to spin the nuts bolts off and quickly return the product for a refund, but now I'm keeping it in the family minivan for emergency tire changes. Figured I'd give a great product a plug and try to keep some fellow members from falling off their 3' long breaker bars as they jump up and down.

I've found that slow, steady increase of torque is WAY less effective than bursts of torque. When I'm loosening tough fasteners by hand I often do this. For example, old brake lines often want to round off when they're stuck and you try slowly increasing the pressure. But I have great success with breaking these nuts loose by pushing hard repeatedly, on-off-repeat.

But success with a 12v cigarette lighter tool is really interesting. Might have to add one of those to my collection.

Interesting thread concerning the 12 volt impact drill. I have been looking at 120 volt versions at Lowe's and Home Depot, wondering if they are worth the investment. I don't have a big compressor in my garage, so air tools are out. I get irritated when rechargable batteries die, so I didn't want to go rechargable.

Does anyone have experience with 120 volt impact drills? Are they worthy?

Thanks. Sorry for the hijack.

I have two electric impact wrenches, a little one and a big one. They have come in handy many times.

I had to pull off the rear axles a month ago...that axle nut. A breaker bar with 225 lbs at the end didn't do it. Soaked in PBlaseter didn't do it. Bought a 500+ ft-lbs air impact wrench - that didn't do it either.

But it must of loosened it up because a 225 lbs human jumping up and down on the breaker bar finally did it. We were literally ready to quit when it came loose. The breaker bar bent before that nut came off.

I had stopped by after you tried the breaker bar and loosened up the nuts. Actually it was my daughter that broke them free. Didn't want to hurt your feelings.

I've got a 3/4" breaker bar stuck into a 48" long piece of black iron pipe.
It puts the load out at about 60" from the socket.
Never had a problem breaking anything loose, not even axial bolts (bus, bug or 914). Just need to stand on it and bounce.

Cool tip. And it's Ninja Green too!

Force = mass x acceleration Acceleration can really make a difference sometimes.

2 (squared)

I have broken both a 1/2 inch and a 3/4 inch breaker bar doing the rear nuts with a pipe while bouncing.
Twisted the end off both tools (craftsman thank you for the replacement)

Never had any issues using an impact gun, I have quite a few.
12VDC impact...that is now on my list...
Battery operated ones do tires really fast.

rich

Eric,
Seems you've been picking in Jake's notes on how to calculate engine power.

The unfortunate part about removing stuck lug nuts with an impact is quite often you will twist the studs off. I wish I had a better solution for you, but you'll have to do what you have to do to get them off. Try reversing and than going forward in really short bursts using a medium torque setting. If you break them off than you'll have to put in a couple of new studs. If you don't want to buy an impact yourself ask a local repair shop to do it for you. If it was my shop I'd buzz them off for free.

Electric motors start turning at max torque. I have both air and electric guns. My electric gun is way better at loosening bolts, my air gun is better at tightening bolts.

"Does anyone have experience with 120 volt impact drills? Are they worthy? idea.gif"

I have had a 120V impact wrench for at least 20 years and have beat the crap out of it (commercial use, not just hobby).
It will still break off pretty much any bolt you throw at it.

I dont recall the brand but I will check.

Stu

Scott,

If you get in a jam again give me a hollar. I've got tools and stuff down the street from ya.

The key for me has always been "impact". As in "impact wrench". If you use a breaker bar with a cheater pipe, put a bunch of weight on the cheater pipe and then put some "IMPACT" (BFH) right where the pipe slides onto the breaker bar.

This might be the first time that I agree with Elyut but, Also, this method is less destructive.

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I use one of these every day. Love it!

I also have a 120v. one, for when the cordless isn't enough.

I figured out trying to loosen the axle nuts on my CRX--always push the breaker bar down! I pulled up on the breaker bar for one of them, and spun the wheel against the ground.

--DD

I have one of those IR titanium air impact guns 1,200 lbs removing torque, has worked on everything i have ever needed to remove, i have a 18V cordless goodyear for my lug nuts, nice cordless removes the lugs and i never have to worry about over torquing when putting them on , snugs them up and i use the torque wrench to tighten the rest of the way.

I have one of these and it's never let me down
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heeyuk, some's got class.

The Dewalt works extremly well. It has made easy work of many projects around the house and garage!

The cheapo 115V impact wrench from Harbor Freight got the rear axle castle nuts off where the breaker bar didn't. Sears has some kind of special going for their corded impact wrench @ $25, might be a special for the mailing list but maybe worth checking. Especially if they haven't left it out of their definition of the hand tools warranty.

I'm hoping the HF unit will last until I've got air at the house, and then would consider a good cordless model for track days, etc.

Oh, and if you should need an impact socket bigger than ~27mm (which seems to be where the sets usually top out), they were out of stock at HF and Sears - but I found the 30mm on the rack at the FLAPS (O'Reilly) next to a bunch of other sizes...

They call them "impact" wrenches for a reason. If you don't have one the old farm-boy trick is to take a very large hammer (if you're doing this kind of work your toolbox has one, or should) and just hit the stud or bolt or nut. On every side, from every angle you can reach. On lug bolts hit them on the heads, like you're driving in a nail. Lots of little taps, not hard enough to distort the metal or break anything, but they're usually stuck from corrosion on the threads, and an impact will break that corrosion just enough so your big 3/4" breaker will be able to turn it the rest of the way without twisting the head off. If you're using a penetrating oil those taps will also move things enough to help it penetrate a little better.

Once you get out of the field and into a shop air powered tools are the real deal, but the guy with the battery powered impact wrench and sawzall will always be king of the Pick-n-Pull.

I have nearly bought one of these several times. I should probably just get the damned thing.

Zach