Need Help With Air Impact Wrench

Ingersol Rand here also. I have a 3/4" and 1/2" IR impact . :) I have had electric Black and Deckers, and a Mastercraft, and a Campbell Hausfield but the IR impacts are far superior. My friend brought his new Bosch cordless impact over to remove the drive shaft on his car. Couldn't mustard enough power to get the wheel nuts off.

Martin W
 
I have an Ingersoll Rand 2131QT for the last 15-20 years, before that Chicago Pneumatic that I rebuilt. The CP was good, but the IR runs circles around it. The IR 2131QT is obsolete now, but if I was doing this for a living, I would seriously look at the IR 2235QTiMax. Very impressive specs.

Just a side note, before I got my tools moved out here, I needed a impact wrench, so I purchased the HF 1/2" EarthQuake one for $79. It is surprisingly strong, for the price not a bad deal. Makes a good backup.
 
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I have two battery ingersal rands 1/2" and 3/8" ,been useing them for 5 years the lithion batteries last for days plus hold charge forever. Now I also have several pneumatics from 1/4" up to3/4" ingersols and HF 1/2" with built in 2"ext, the HF has been used for over 25 years , the $20.00 model has been a really good investment. My motto is take care of the tools that take care of you. Clean and oil every day its being used, and use air oil !! Up to you for me the battery ir works great the 1/2" has 250 ft lbs of torque, for my every day thats enough. If I were doing big machine repairs id use the ir with twin hammers. Those are equalto many others , I wouldnt be afraid of the new HF comp model for $100.00 about.
 
nascar uses a modified ir 231 or so I'm told by a friend that used to work for Toyota racing development but how many of usneedto change 4 tires in 10 seconds nuf said
 
most hobby machinists do not need to change 4 tires in 10 seconds bill
 
need != want


And to be on-topic, my dad had an IR 1/2 impact that he used as a heavy-duty mechanic from back in the 60's working at mines repairing the equipement, through working at Kenworth, then on his own, and then I inherited it from him. And I managed to lose it this fall. Stupid. The thing still worked great.
 
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I'm not in the same league as most of you but have a basic question regarding air supply. Is there an industry standard for psi with these impact drivers? I sometimes bump the psi up to get more torque from my gun but usually like to stay at 100 psi for most jobs.
 
Most pneumatic tools are rated at 90 PSIG in my experience. It is frequently exceeded however. I also am in the IR camp. I have CP and IR on hand, but the IR comes to hand more often. I worked for the local distributor as a second job a couple of years, learned to repair all their air equipment, including hoists. Had a monster 2" impact that belonged to Lone Star Steel in for rebuild. Handles on it were 6 feet on the control side and 6 feet on the dead end. Had to support it overhead for use. Weighed more than the operators. We could not test it. Had plenty of air, but our testing machinery was limited to lower rated tools. I don't recall the torque it was supposed to produce, but they had socket for it up to about 6" or a little larger. LSS was a big player in the tubing business, and is coming back, they say. It's a huge plant.

Side point, we were also Proto distributors back when they were owned by IR. When Stanley bought them, the company I worked for lost the distributorship. I still have lots of Proto tools. Industrial variant of Snap On, IMO.....pricey but the best. They don't seem the same now, like many other brands.
 
I was turning a wrench as a pro for 35 years, with that said...

I use a dryer and an oiler inline on my guns plus I oil them at the end of the day so they are ready to go the next morning.

I have worn out a Snap-on, a rebuilt Snap-On, an American CP, and an Ingersoll 2131, the latter just after I retired. I bought a HF as a backup. I use it monthly or more depending on the family cars. For the limited use I have now that I no longer urn wrenches a;; day the HF will probably last the rest of my life and be passed on to my kid who has no interest in being an automotive tech.
 
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