Anybody own one of these?
Looking for opinions on quality of this item for my private use
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http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=92622
A buddy of mine borrowed his bosses new 1" impact (Harbor Freight) to change all 10 wheels on his 4501 and we were really impressed with it. it looks like good quality but dont know how long it will last, my friend was the 1st one to use it ,so it hasnt been used a lot.
just my 2 bits worth, good luck
AL
I spent about $100 on an Ingersol Rand 2135PTI 1/2" drive on eBay. 700ftlbs torque in reverse, 600ftlbs forward. 9500 RPM free speed.
It took the lug nuts off my 4103 with no problem. They hadn't been off in at least 8 years. I had tried earlier to remove them with a lug wrench and cheater pipe, but had no luck.
The gun is only about 3 lb.s in weight and very comfortable. Much better than my IR 231N 1/2".
FWIW
Dallas
Cliff, my brother and I both have the same wrench. Mine is unused but he changed a copuple of tires with his and liked it. He is critical of things that are junk so it must be pretty good.
If I were going to use one daily I'd get an Ingersol-Rand but for the few times I'll use mine I opted for the el-cheapo.
Ed.
I would recomend you go bite the bullet and buy ingasol rand, i have had three of the chinneese units , they do not have the power and you will be dissapointed in the performance, my little 1/2 in drive has more power than the 3/4 chineese one i have. anyway ive been using this kind of thing for yrs and i just dont think you will be happy with the harbour freight units
Frank Allen
4106
I purchased one of these and have only used it a few times on my bus and a couple friends buses. It has always been able to break loose the nuts (so far). I also purchased a 1" drive 475 ft. lb. torque stick to use when re-installing the wheels. The torque stick is carried in the bus and will be used by any road service truyck that I may have the mis-fortune of needing. Jack
Jack,
Where do you get a torque stick?
Sounds like a good thing to have on hand.
I have have this torque stick and it works good.....
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=3293
On sale now for less then $150.00
Mrbill4108
Quote from: Floridacracker on April 18, 2006, 11:36:10 AM
Anybody own one of these?
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http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=92622
I got one and it works fine. However, it won't work on anything less than 1/2" air hose. I use a 3/4" sandblaster air hose to operate it. It seems a little air hungry. Working for about 3 years now.
I have a torque head and ratchet adaptor that I carry for emergencies. I can easily get any wheel off the bus without an air supply. I don't believe that the Harbour Freight unit could be powered by the bus air, unless you have some sort of reservoir.
Tried to post a pix of my torque unit but getting an error message...."upload folder full" ....?? I broke it? :-[
Cheers, JR
This is what I was trying to post. It's one of the few sure-fire ways to quickly remove a bus wheel when no air, or not enough is avail....Road Service is still better, but, sometime things just don't work out.
These things are better bought used...the whole thing would cost about $800 bucks new...I wouldn't pay that. However, they turn up used and are handy if you can find them.
Cheers, JR
Cliff,
I purchased my torque stick at www.torquestick.com Hope this helps, Jack
PS: I also carry a plastic protector that goes over the nuts before removing them to protect the aluminum wheels from getting scratched.
Hey Everbody,
Thanks for your replies.
A lot of good information.
The torque sticks that I have require you to calibrate them by regulating the air pressure to the impact gun. If you run too much pressure to the gun, you will exceed the torque rating of the stick & over tighten the nut or bolt.
Jack, is yours different than the ones I have?
Quote from: JackConrad on April 20, 2006, 04:19:36 AM
PS: I also carry a plastic protector that goes over the nuts before removing them to protect the aluminum wheels from getting scratched.
Jack makes an excellent point with protecting polished wheels. To carry the protection one step further, I taped up the impact socket with duct tape to protect the wheels. The socket will slip off the lug nuts and mark up a wheel big time. Ax me how I know this.
JR
Jack, do you have stud piloted Alcoas? Wondering what the torque-set is for your torque stick.
Also saw the post on "air calibration" for the impact wrench....please elaborate. Never heard of calibrating the gun? How do you do calibrate the impact wrench to set the correct torque thru a torque stick?
Thanks, JR
My torque stick is stamped 475 FT. LB. +/- 5% When I received it (purchased new in the package) there was nothing mentioned about caliibrating it. I had never heard of this. If I get a chance to be somewhere that I can have a brief access to a big torque wrench, I will check my torque stick. Jack
The torque stick set I had (was for cars) came with instructions for calibrating the impact wrench. I don't know if this applies to the one Jack has.
The short version ;
Tighten a nut (with a known good torque wrench) to the value of the torque stick.
starting with low air pressure on the impact wrench, start tightening nut as you increase air pressure.
When the nut turns, back off the pressure slightly.
Install another nut with the torque stick.
Verify the torque with a known good torque wrench.
You have calibrated your impact wrench & it will use the same air setting for all sticks in the set.
Torque sticks are a torsion spring and you can exceed the rating if you drive them hard enough.
My local tire store uses torque sticks. I watched & verified the one used on my car was 80 ft-lbs. When I got home, I tried to remove a wheel to change brake pads. It took about 300 foot-lbs (my 200# standing on a 18" breaker bar & I bent the bar). I went back to the tire store & found no regulators & a 175 psi air compressor.
I take my own torque wrench now, it is so much easier than replacing wheel studs, nuts & etc. & then trying to collect restitution.
The plastic & duct tape are great ideas!
Thanks for the "calibration" explanation. The automobile scenario appears to be an unexact science. How do the torque sticks set the torque? They are pre-calibrated somehow. Do they slip or flex?? Sorry to run thiis thread into the ground, but looked at the website that was posted, and the concept looks good, but apparently won't work with my torque multiplier...but it could be used with the impact when at home. I've never changed a tire on the road....yet.
Best, JR
I have the 1" impact from Harbor Freight and it works great. I have an extra air tank from a bus and use it as a relay tank. I have a 3/8" air hose fronm the compressor going into the tank and a 8'x3/4" hose from the tank to the gun. The tank is not heavy and with relay tank the gun will kick butt. The relay tank refills quickly so it's ready by the time you get the next lugnut ready. The only comment about the gun is you just need to make sure everything stays tight. I had a couple if set screws loosen up but a little Lock-tite fixed that.