While doing the shocks and struts on the minivan, I noticed the bump stops in the back are completely shot, bushings in the control arms in the front are cracking, and maybe the CV joints as well. That means I’ll be removing most of the nuts and bolts I just did with hand tools again. Plus, more even bigger ones.

Fuck it, I bought a cordless impact wrench.

I now have 24V cordless impact guns. 1/2 and 3/8.
Along with impact drivers and a cordless ratchet.

I'm to old to pull breaker bars now.

I ran pneumatic impact wrenches for decades working on cars and industry, they sure save some knuckles and sweat. I am just amazed at how powerful and light the new generation of cordless tools are. Congrats.

Having used 1” impacts for more than 10 years prior to the Navy, I can assure you, impacts don’t make you a “wuss”. It’s either an impact or and impact plus a 10# beater and a striker wrench.

Let a 1” impact grab you the wrong way? Will make a gorilla seem weak.

And I’m tired of getting creative trying to fit breaker bars in tight quarters and undoing nuts an eighth turn at a time because of same tight quarters.

You ain't a wuss, you're SMART.

Just wanted to tell a tale of using an impact wrench. Back in the 80's I was changing some rear shocks on a VW van, It was on stands and I was under there using CP 1/2 impact wrench. The firsts shock no problem. The other side I took the upper bolt out first but on the bottom the nut broke loose but the bolt was frozen in the bushing so the shock came swinging down like a long hammer and nailed me right in the forehead. It didn't knock me out but left a nice big goose egg, damn that hurt. Anyhow the moral to this story is when using any impact wrench it ain't like a breaker bar, things can break loose a lot faster make sure body parts are not in the way.

No reason to keep tempting fate. I bought a 1/2 inch to use for mower blades mainly..cheaper than a slip and emergency room visit. Smarter, not harder.

Work smart, not hard. I spent the majority of my life wrenching. If I had to use only hand tools, as well as work on the floor with only jackstands to hold the vehicle up, I would have been completely worn out long before then.

I've had a cordless impact for years. At the moment I have 3. Before them I had air impacts.

My current level of wussiness has led me to purchase a cordless ratchet (WAY nicer/easier to use than the old air ratchet) and a cordless grease gun.

Some years ago, I was doing some repairs for an elderly lady - I'd guess she was in her late 80's at the time, and VERY independent - and said something along the lines of "I bet the men back in the day would laugh at me for using a cordless screwdriver" and she said "No, not at all, they'd think you were smart!"

You might think you're a wuss today but tomorrow you'll tell yourself you should have bought one a long time ago. I went from air to electric to cordless and I put off cordless for too long.

quote:

Originally posted by OttoSig:
Let a 1” impact grab you the wrong way? Will make a gorilla seem weak.

No thank you. I’ll just take your word for it.

What were you wrenching on that needed that? Caterpillar’s?

And congrats trapper. Hope it saves wear and tear.

I don’t know why that would make you a wuss.
Work smarter, not harder.

Just think of how much quicker you’re going to be! How many more jobs you can do!

It’s a double edged sword

My son has the Milwaukee brand impacts and they are awesome. No more hoses to drag around, trip over and wrap up.
The downside is the cost of the batteries when they go bad.

quote:

Originally posted by Roady toady:
No reason to keep tempting fate. I bought a 1/2 inch to use for mower blades mainly..cheaper than a slip and emergency room visit. Smarter, not harder.

My copay on a ER visit is $125. I have purchased several tools based on a positive ROI versus that cost. Factor in getting the job done correctly and lack of pain and suffering and I can justify almost any tool.

Bought a cordless one several years ago. It stays in my truck 24/7. Used it a couple of times on the side of the road for trailer flats. I literally timed myself one time at just a tad over ten minutes, changing a tire on a trailer. No wuss, just smart!!!

If I can use a power tool, I will. It saves so much time. The six T40 bolts that hold my engine cover on took about 20 seconds to remove with my cordless ratchet. More like 3 minutes with a hand tool.

Have two my self, well, one small corded and one large air compressor driven model.

The Bosch Cordless comes in handy for lots of things outside of breaking loose bolts, driving a long wood screw into a 2x4, makes cakework of that.

It's actually very non wuss, it's smart, cuts the time down significantly.

A better question is why did you not already have one?