Tool/air tools for a 170 ft/lb nut??

[Bill Edwards]

Just buy a half decent impact wrench, your compressor will handle it fine for the work you have in mind. Where a small compressor would let you down is if it needed to undo several (e.g a van/trailer) tight wheelnuts because it wouldn't keep up, but you should have the nut buzzed off long before the air pressure has dropped. Expect to want a 10mm air hose from your compressor tank though as a small bore hose can restrict even the best impact wrenches and render them useless.

I have a Sealey impact wrench, I'd have to look at it to find the model number but it wasn't a fortune and I'd say is a middle of the road gun. It gets kept where I dare not leave a SO gun and to be fair although it's obviously not as powerful it's pretty darn good. Tighten tractor wheelnuts and to go for the final tighten with a scaffold pole you have to put a fair bit of weight on it. There's not that much it can't undo.

 

[arther dailey]

Back in the 80’s, when Snap On dealers were good and looked after their customers. Like go to their homes to resolve issues.

I was working on my Beetle, 1972 1300 rust bucket. I had to remove the 36mm nut from the back end. I broke:

1 X 36mm socket, Halfords own.

1 X 36” long Knuckle bar, local spares place, CK make I believe.


So I saved up and invested in a Snap On bar and socket, a big investment for me at the time.

I broke it.

Mr Snap On man arrived, looked at the damage and replaced them. Asked what we were doing, we told him. He said he will be back latter in the day with a tool to help.
Scaff tube cant be beat............
He did, he arrived gone 18:00, with a socket welded onto a 6’ metal tube, between us we cracked the 2 nuts.

As I said back in days of myth and legends.

 

[armalites]

170ft/lbs really isn't that tight and a breaker bar will easily have enough leverage to undo it, 170 should within the bounds of even a cheap gun. The main difference with a gun is the fact that you don't need to be bracing the bike like you are swinging on a bar.

 

[armalites]

Yes shouldn't use a gun to tighten it but if you a have a gun that you are used to you can tell by the way it sounds and feels how tight it is. Just like when they undo things they don't just wang them right up, it's the hammering that does the work.

 

[SteveNI]

Thanks for all the info guys. So how reliable are the electric ones?, I rarely use the compressor so they appeal to me in the sense that i won't have to fire the compressor up every time i need to use it, then again i assume the air versions are more reliable?

 

[atomant48]

Thanks for all the info guys. So how reliable are the electric ones?, I rarely use the compressor so they appeal to me in the sense that i won't have to fire the compressor up every time i need to use it, then again i assume the air versions are more reliable?

Only thing I've had to replace is the brushes on mine but they come with a spare set. The gearbox has had a hammering forward/backward/forward over and over and it's fine.

Interested to hear you have rusty bolts on the duck. On my second GSA now as the first one dissolved. A little scared to take this one out on the salt until I've bathed it in ACF.

 

[SteveNI]

Only thing I've had to replace is the brushes on mine but they come with a spare set. The gearbox has had a hammering forward/backward/forward over and over and it's fine.

Interested to hear you have rusty bolts on the duck. On my second GSA now as the first one dissolved. A little scared to take this one out on the salt until I've bathed it in ACF.

Thank you

Yes, rusty bolts are abound & the ones in there don't seem to be made of good metal. I'm looking to remove the back wheel to properly get at the 3 bolts that hold the exhaust can on, they're in direct line of spray from the back wheel so i have been spraying them with WD40 to hopefully assist loosening until the wheel comes off. The guy that owned it before me didn't ride it that much but did sometimes in the wet so i've got most of the bike stripped to grease some bolts up & give it a proper clean.
On the heat sheild under the seat there's 1 very badly placed fastner, as well as getting heat cycles from being screwed into a tab on the exhaust the underside of the screw is going to get hit with debris & water from the back wheel so it corrodes, the top side is in a trough so water gathers around it's head. I had to dremmel & drill it off. The fun part is that to get at it you have to pivot the subframe up, so i had to remove the tank & ignition cover as well, loving it so far! lol

 

[Exuptoy]

Ducatis look pretty but I don't think they're made for the UK market.

 

[Bill Edwards]

id get this one if it was for in my garage use https://www.machinemart.co.uk/p/clarke-cew1000-electric-impact-wrench/

I have not met a nut that this has not opened or snapped! where the air gun has failed this has not been beaten yet for the money it is great

Never used a corded impact wrench, I can see that in theory they're probably useful when air isn't available and the budget can't stretch to Milwaukee cordless.
But, at the end of the day air tools still seem to offer the most power and although this Clarke gun may do for some DIY use the simple fact is a decent air impact wrench has 2/3 times the power. In theory it ought to handle the OP's job, though it perhaps depends on how much you trust the sales figures.

Yes shouldn't use a gun to tighten it but if you a have a gun that you are used to you can tell by the way it sounds and feels how tight it is. Just like when they undo things they don't just wang them right up, it's the hammering that does the work.

It's not quite as easy/simple as that, or at least not with powerful impact wrenches. I've a top of the range 1/2 gun and also a top/at least high end 1 inch gun and you can put them on nuts and hear one or two knocks and they're off, leading you to think they were't tight. Actually they are if you put a bar on them, but somehow a powerful gun doesn't sit there banging away for ordinary tight. Same goes for tightening, nip a bolt up with a couple of knocks from a powerful gun to then check by hand and you'll find it's already FT.

 

[Justme]

Cant you sit on the bike backwards, one foot on brake & undo it by hand?

PS said by the person that just bought an AEG barebone cordless 1/2" impact 360nm for about £50.
I had the drill version for about two years & have been well impressed with it so had two bats & the charger already.

It undid the 32mm driveshaft nut on my Astra with ease at 250nm (185ftlb).

 

[Robotstar5]

Cant you sit on the bike backwards, one foot on brake & undo it by hand?.

Or wedge a piece of timber through the wheel onto the swingarm?

 

[MattH]

Or wedge a piece of timber through the wheel onto the swingarm?

The wheel won't turn.

 

[SteveNI]

Never used a corded impact wrench, I can see that in theory they're probably useful when air isn't available and the budget can't stretch to Milwaukee cordless.
But, at the end of the day air tools still seem to offer the most power and although this Clarke gun may do for some DIY use the simple fact is a decent air impact wrench has 2/3 times the power. In theory it ought to handle the OP's job, though it perhaps depends on how much you trust the sales figures.




It's not quite as easy/simple as that, or at least not with powerful impact wrenches. I've a top of the range 1/2 gun and also a top/at least high end 1 inch gun and you can put them on nuts and hear one or two knocks and they're off, leading you to think they were't tight. Actually they are if you put a bar on them, but somehow a powerful gun doesn't sit there banging away for ordinary tight. Same goes for tightening, nip a bolt up with a couple of knocks from a powerful gun to then check by hand and you'll find it's already FT.

Oh dear!, there was me thinking my mind was made up! As long as I know both will do the job it's fine but how much lies are told getting the electric gun's torque, I don't really wanna buy something & find it's a flop & as air driven guns are more powerful it's less likely to be that.

As I say, if both are fit for purpose there are pros & cons of each, the corded one will be easier to pull out for occasional use & the air one will probably be more powerful & last longer

 

[Bill Edwards]

Oh dear!, there was me thinking my mind was made up! As long as I know both will do the job it's fine but how much lies are told getting the electric gun's torque, I don't really wanna buy something & find it's a flop & as air driven guns are more powerful it's less likely to be that.

As I say, if both are fit for purpose there are pros & cons of each, the corded one will be easier to pull out for occasional use & the air one will probably be more powerful & last longer

Well I'd be very wary of the torque figures on anything low end. I would say that you need something middle of the road both in the brand and spec. The very cheapest need leaving alone but anything fancy is overkill.

 

[Exuptoy]

Oh dear!, there was me thinking my mind was made up! As long as I know both will do the job it's fine but how much lies are told getting the electric gun's torque, I don't really wanna buy something & find it's a flop & as air driven guns are more powerful it's less likely to be that.

As I say, if both are fit for purpose there are pros & cons of each, the corded one will be easier to pull out for occasional use & the air one will probably be more powerful & last longer

I have found in the past that buy cheap and you buy twice. I have had a cheap impact gun and it was ****e and I am of the same opinion that if I need to JUST use the impact to get a wheel off and no other air tools then I cannot be arsed waiting for the tank to fill on my 200 litre Clarke compressor then having to drain it down afterwards. It's just not worth it and the CeW1000 corded hammer is more than man enough for the task.

 

[ajlelectronics]

i have been spraying them with WD40

A Water Dispersant isn't going to help much! Try a penetrating oil, PlusGas, GT-85 or my favourite which is ATF and Acetone 50/50 mix. You can brush that on just where you want it.

 

[Exuptoy]

Plus gas is one of the best ones I've found other than Krano Brand - Kroil. It's amazing.

 

[migcurious]

My dad always did the rear hub nuts on his type 2 with a pair of stillsons and a scaffold pole and calculated the moment required to tighten the nut ,me as a callow youth couldn't understand what he was doing

 

[SteveNI]

my favourite which is ATF and Acetone 50/50 mix. You can brush that on just where you want it.

Thanks, i heard that concoction was good, heard loads raving about it. Acetone i cannot get that easily but the ATF is no problem. If i find any i'll deffo give it a go

 

[The_Yellow_Ardvark]

@SteveNI
If you can not get Acetone, rubbing alcohol is as good, or meths.