air impact driver

Hey guys I am building up my toolbox , my question today is I have so many rusted tite bolts and such that I need some power to get them off I was wondering how much torque though. Lowes has 250 and 500 ft pounds is the 500 overkill ya think?

Hmmmmm..,

IMHO anything that needs that much "punch" is going to "snap"...! /emoticons/[email protected] 2x" width="20" height="20" />

I think you'd be better served with a air driven wire-wheel, a Dremmel wire wheel & some PB-Blaster.

This assuming you're work'n on a Bronco, not a D9 cat....

If you are going to buy one, I'd stick to the low end. Don't use it to put on your wheel lugs, they are supposed to be mounted with 100 fp. they are nice for fast removal of nuts and bolts, but always install with a torque wrench, impacts are not precisely controlled enough for most installations on light vehicles.

Good luck,

I've had the cheapo Harbor Frt. impact for yrs.

---- 2700 BPM, 240 ft. lbs. torque ----

All my neighbors & I use it for R&R'ing wheel lug nuts only. The trick is to "let-go of the trigger" upon installation..., then hand or torque wrench the rest of the way to proper spec.

As Seabronc says, most wheels on new(er) cars have a recommended torque, as do the aftermarket wheels.

"Rule of thumb" for 4x4'n.., don't put them on so tight that you can't get them loose out on the trail..!! :angry:

AND, insp. them going/coming/often. I put mine on by feel with a "star" wrench. That usually works out to about 80 ft/lbs.

As to other bolts.., snapping them off in a needed attach point hole is not a fun thing... /emoticons/[email protected] 2x" width="20" height="20" />

I have a 600lbft craftsman pro for home use only $160 and  a 750 lb ft and 1600 lb ft snap on for work. a little trigger control goes a long way. when you need the power it is nice to have. not all bolts will come off with a smaller impact. I work an army trucks at work so I use an impact all the time, it just takes some practice to learn not to over torque things.

My concern is that a 600+ FP impact driver will be snapping old rusty bolts that could other wise be worked out using a common rachet or breaking bar, with the right technique and penetrating oil or heat. 

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for one thing most of the air tools are rated in break away torque, which basically means that this is not an instant torque, the tool manufactures can explain this better. most impact guns have more torque in reverse than forward, and in my opinion the more torque the better. if a bolt break with an impact its going to break by hand your just going to have to  work a lot harder at it. you use the same principals for air tools that you use with hand tools, that is try to loosen until it gets to a stopping point the tighten it back up, working it back and forth like this loosens 80% of the fasteners that would break if you just tried to muscle them out. there are some bolt that aren't going to come out and that's what your going to have to live with when your working on a 40+ year old vehicle,      so the moral of the story is if you have a stuck fastener try working it back and forth(reverse and forward) whether you have hand tools or air tools.