Am I the only person who flips out when an Impact Wrench Is Takin To Your Car?

[jacobn4056.]

Good morning. Folks
Last night I had some trouble out of my headlight switch. Had to pull it off and tap it about to get it to work. So I was watching someone replace the switch this morning online because my knob isn’t fitting up properly. And the guy has this damn Skil impact to the light little screws on his guage shroud spinning them off.
I just know this guy is looking to show his choice of impact but it doesn’t even belong there.
Sereno
I had to have a window replaced a while back at some middle of nothing Single-Bay Transmission Shop. That did it all. It was right after my grandfather gave me the car.
I got it done for 100 bucks which was fair as I was at The University with no Tools.
-But this guy at this aforementioned transmission and all shop Started taking his Harbor Freight impact to my thin guage bolt holes on the inside of my door.

My thoughts were that he can play with his collection -on that god awful hoopdie full size pickup with the worst matched chroma Edelbrock Crate Engine (that I’ve ever seen).

Y’all When I was a kid we had a parts store. Had been in business for almost 30 years. One day we got a FedEx truck with a bad alternator and I had set up a pneumatic impact Rachet to so called “upgrade” the tools we had. Long story short -I spun the threads completely off of the bolts to that alternator. I was able to get it to work but my advice is put your impact away.. just why?!?
You can’t tell me you Turn 100,000 Bolts A Day and Need An Impact to help save Time or make for a smoother job.

 

[lwarrior1016]

I dont know, man.

I agree there are times to use impacts and interior parts arent typically those times, unless the impact is variable and you can lower torque. Much like using an electric ratchet. After working in a couple shops, you would not believe how tired your hands and arms will get when you are wrenching all day. Not to mention the long term effects like arthritis. I was thankful any time I could get out the power tools and not only save time, but save myself.

 

[jacobn4056.]

I dont know, man.

I agree there are times to use impacts and interior parts arent typically those times, unless the impact is variable and you can lower torque. Much like using an electric ratchet. After working in a couple shops, you would not believe how tired your hands and arms will get when you are wrenching all day. Not to mention the long term effects like arthritis. I was thankful any time I could get out the power tools and not only save time, but save myself.

Good point.
Especially the effects of age. That’s something I didn’t consider and you’ve made the best point I’ll Read.

Still I couldn’t have it any other way but that’s my stubborn opinion. Not fact.

 

[ttocs]

are we talking an actual impact, or just a drill with an adj clutch? When I installed audio/security I used my drill with an adjustable clutch to remove/replace dash screws but as I said it has a clutch on it to keep from over torquing. When you hit that point it sounds like it is stripping gears but that is just the noise it makes when it stops spinning. As he mentioned one shop I worked at on a busy sat we could do 8-10 cars per person and some of the cars have no screws/bolts to remove, and then on some you had to remove the entire dash and 8-10 screws. I had also broken my wrist a few years earlier in a motorcycle accident and it was known to cause me pain.

 

[weendoggy]

Basic knowledge on how a tool works and what tool to use is the key. Just because you have the power, doesn't mean it's the correct choice. jmo

 

[ttocs]

that just reminded me of a couple of times when I was working on someone's car and they were in the waiting room. Sometimes the noises that were made when you pulled panels off would were horrible sounding and would make people get up to look through the window to see if I was standing there with a sledge hammer or something.

 

[Musturd]

I’ve gotta mini m12 impact screw driver it’s awesome for interior bullshit

 

[Michael Plummer]

Automotive manufacturers use impact guns, aka impact wrenches, to attach various parts, such as engine components, suspension components, wheels, body panels, and some interior components.....why? Because of efficiency and speed. Impact guns significantly speed up the assembly process. This efficiency is crucial in high-volume production lines, where time savings translate into increased productivity.

It's also important to note, impact guns are calibrated to apply a specific torque level consistently. This ensures uniformity in bolt tightness across all assembled vehicles. Proper torque is critical for the vehicle's safety, performance, and longevity. But it is worth mentioning that not all fasteners in an automotive vehicle are tightened using impact wrenches.

I hope this helps.
Michael Plummer

 

[jacobn4056.]

are we talking an actual impact, or just a drill with an adj clutch? When I installed audio/security I used my drill with an adjustable clutch to remove/replace dash screws but as I said it has a clutch on it to keep from over torquing. When you hit that point it sounds like it is stripping gears but that is just the noise it makes when it stops spinning. As he mentioned one shop I worked at on a busy sat we could do 8-10 cars per person and some of the cars have no screws/bolts to remove, and then on some you had to remove the entire dash and 8-10 screws. I had also broken my wrist a few years earlier in a motorcycle accident and it was known to cause me pain.

I comprehend the slipping clutch noise.
I just have an issue with putting power to threads. I’m sure this is something some never have a problem with. My personal issue beyond that is a drill or impact is harder for me to fool with. Unless it’s necessary

 

[jacobn4056.]

Everyone has their own points in this conversation. I grew up in a shop where our impact’s touched nothing but lug nuts. And our one old drill by granddaddy had was for wood. lol the battery wouldn’t allow for anything else. The corded drill sat., we didn’t do metal work but it can be necessary.

 

[ttocs]

ah so you just have never done it for a living, just a hobby. As we mentioned if mechanics used all hand tools you would see your labor rates go up fair amount because it would take longer and more effort. Back when I was doing 10 cars a day I could not imagine if I had to use hand tools on every screw/nut/bolt.

Lets not forget hand tools can be dangerous as well as I know one tech that forgot he tossed a screwdriver in his back pocket while he was under the hood(so he would not forget it under the hood) and then quickly sat down in the seat just to check something with it still in there and poked a hole in the leather with it.

 

[Mustang5L5]

I use my impact driver on everything and i'm about as anal as they come. Really make disassembly quick and easy. It's a lot less torquey than a true impact gun however. I have yet to mess up a fastener or where it tightens.

 

[b1pig]

I use my impact driver on everything and i'm about as anal as they come. Really make disassembly quick and easy. It's a lot less torquey than a true impact gun however. I have yet to mess up a fastener or where it tightens.

View attachment 32484

Might be because you are careful since it's your own stuff you're messing with.


I have had to deal with contracted installers for some vehicle equipment over the last few years. I was overseeing a mass-install of equipment into a fleet of vehicles. Installers kept snapping the heads off of screws on the equipment boxes with impact drivers. In short I had to tell them if I saw them take an impact driver to one of the vehicles, I was kicking them out. A drill with a clutch in it doesn't have the power that the impact driver does. The key is in the name... impact. The only exception I made is when a guy showed me he had a impact driver that actually had a clutch on it. It was some Bosch combo drill/driver thing. It would also cut the motor after there was enough torque to slip the clutch.

Dewalt and Milwaukee impact drivers were the ones breaking stuff. I have a Ryobi impact driver and that thing can't break a nylock nut loose from a swing set. The Dewalts that I use at work, though.. Yea. You can break the smaller hardware with them pretty easy.



To add to the OP reference. I learned the hard way that idiots using impacts to put wheels on will make it nearly impossible to get the wheels off when you get a flat three years later. On rare instances that I take my vehicles to a shop, I tell the manager that an impact to remove the wheels is fine, but the lug nuts will only be tightened with a torque wrench on my cars. If they can't guarantee that, I'll go somewhere else. Period.

 

[Mustang5L5]

Might be because you are careful since it's your own stuff you're messing with.

Valid point. I'm definitively operating with care since it's my personal stuff.

 

[badass98svt]

I use DeWalt 20v tools for work everyday, and have the same impact that Mike referenced above.

But when I'm working on little stuff (like interior stuff, inside cabinetry for work etc) I reach for my Milwaukee M12 impact. They are awesome and super handy to have.




I also have a 3/8 ratchet and drill that use the M12 batteries. The tools are pretty cheap to buy and they take a good beating.

 

[Musturd]

I use DeWalt 20v tools for work everyday, and have the same impact that Mike referenced above.

But when I'm working on little stuff (like interior stuff, inside cabinetry for work etc) I reach for my Milwaukee M12 impact. They are awesome and super handy to have.

View attachment 33359


I also have a 3/8 ratchet and drill that use the M12 batteries. The tools are pretty cheap to buy and they take a good beating.

Love that little guy . I broke the trigger on my 3/8 ratchet last week . Haven’t had time to drop it off to get repaired .

 

[garrittpwl]

If you're good. You'll strip enough bolts off to learn your tool and how much pressure you can apply etc etc. I use a dewalt 1/4 inch impact for damn near everything. 3/8 impact for medium/light duty mechanicals and a half inch for the heavy duty stuff. Time is money.

 

[whiplash473]

I use my impact driver on interior pieces all the time. I just had to pull the visors, overhead console, and A pillar covers off of my wife’s Xterra a couple weekends ago and used an impact driver for all of it. There are careful ways to go about it. Ensuring the driver is square to the screw, the bit being used isn’t all rounded out, and applying adequate force to prevent rounding out the screw head have all together resulted in me never having a problem.

Typical interior screws and small and, thus, not very tight. So it is more about removal speed than the need for impact hammering. Same goes for reinstallation. The trigger on my 20v Dewalt is variable so I can barely press the trigger and it spins them in but doesn’t really tighten them. Then I will go through them by hand with a 1/4 ratchet and appropriate bit so I can tighten them by hand. This process might be different if the impact driver had a variable torque setting but mine is just a variable trigger so I don’t know if this screw is actually as tight as the last one. Maybe I’m depressing the trigger 1/16” more.

I’ve never been big on electric or pneumatic drivers but they have their place to be used and equally have their place to not be used.

I used to never use them. Like using my hands to remove all the valve cover bolts was a rite of passage, making me a real man. After a decade I’ve realized that nobody is watching me or judging me so why waste my time to get the same outcome?

 

[b1pig]

Most of you seem to represent the experienced minority that are mindful of their tools' capacity.

I can't tell you how many I've dealt with that lack that capability.

 

[ttocs]

Most of you seem to represent the experienced minority that are mindful of their tools' capacity.

I can't tell you how many I've dealt with that lack that capability.

I was told year ago that this is called the %2 rule. You must be at LEAST %2 smarter than the tool you are trying to manipulate in order to find success, unless you are just lucky....