Stuck -- What Would You Do?

[MountainD]

Maybe a stupid question, but what kind of air pressure are you running to your impacts? If you aren't getting 150-175 PSI to them, you aren't getting their advertised torque.

150-175psi? My compressor doesn't even go that high and I have a quite nice 80 gallon compressor. It can get to 150 but it would get really hot and struggle and would take forever plus it isn't good for the compressor and dangerous for the tools. All my guns, including my Rolling Thunder, recommends 90psi max although I may go a little higher from time to time. Never too 150 and above--so I would double check your pressure.

Sometimes you need the gun to hammer away a while--way more than a couple seconds.

 

[jymmiejamz]

150-175psi? My compressor doesn't even go that high and I have a quite nice 80 gallon compressor. It can get to 150 but it would get really hot and struggle and would take forever plus it isn't good for the compressor and dangerous for the tools. All my guns, including my Rolling Thunder, recommends 90psi max although I may go a little higher from time to time. Never too 150 and above--so I would double check your pressure.

Sometimes you need the gun to hammer away a while--way more than a couple seconds.

Every shop I've worked in has the pressure at 130-170 psi. I've had the same air tools for almost 10 years and haven't had any issues. You don't get near enough power at 90 psi. I also only ever oil air ratchets.

 

[nas90tdi]

Wasn't a typo. A quality impact will run forever at 150+PSI. 90 PSI will not even begin to use an impact to it's designed potential. I would almost just use my hand tools for all an impact does at 90 PSI.

I also don't oil my impacts. I have one that is well over 20 years old.

 

[RBBailey]

My air wrench says to not operate above 90 PSI, but the PSI that is being produced by the compressor is different than what is being put out to the gun. You should have two PSI dials, one for the tank, one for the tool. The larger the tank, and the higher speed and power the motor is, the more it can KEEP that 90 PSI for a longer period of time.

I think if I were able to operate at 90 PSI for more than 5-10 seconds, the bolts would come off. This isn't the gun, this is the capacity and power of the compressor.

I've actually been waiting for my compressor to fail so I could have an excuse to get a bigger one for this very reason.

 

[blueboy]

This is one of those times to just say f... it and let someone else hassle with it.

 

[RBBailey]

I know. But I can't find a shop to do it for a reasonable price on my last minute schedule. Besides, I'm stubborn.

I finally got the stupid things off. I went over to a neighbor and used his big 50 gallon compressor without any results. But he had a different type of ramp that allowed me to get the thing off the ground a bit more, then to turn the wheels fully to left and right. This allowed us to use a big breaker bar with a four foot extension. The things turned a good 45-50 degrees before they actually loosened!

 

[The_Vermonster]

I hope you replaced those bolts. There is no way they have the same structural integrity if they were on there that hard. Some jackass probably had his impact wrench at like 150-170psi (JK) You're really lucky they didn't just snap with that sort of torque.

 

[nas90tdi]

It's a joke, but I have seen it done.
A lot of shops just run unregulated pressure from a big ass compressor, thus the 150 psi, I have seen people just nut stuff with an impact when reassembling. It's also why you should watch your tire guys, they will elongate your steel wheel lug seats doing that. Quick way to ruin a good set of steel wheels.

 

[RBBailey]

True, I should replace them. I happened to look them up because I wanted to check that they were standard thread direction.

They had thread locker up 90% of the length and were difficult to pull out even once they were loose.

 

[blueboy]

Congrats on your success!


And for the amount on stress, heat, etc. the bolts have undergone, you really do need to replace with new ones.

 

[Roverman2010]

Make sure you loctite it up, as it should. Don't want that suckered coming out again.

 

[MountainD]

That is good to know about pressure. I stand corrected and will consider turning my pressure way up when necessary.

 

[Uncle Douglas]

While air pressure plays a role, its also about the impact wrench. Some only make 150ft lbs, some make 400, some make way more.

We have the whole barn plumbed with the rapid air stuff. Outside, blast cabinet room, main work area, all run through a double filter/water separator and then a pressure regulator.
The main regulator is set to run everything at max possible psi. Pressure regulators serve two functions they limit pressure but they also limit cfm. Air tools like both. The two go hand in hand, kind of like one is horsepower, the other torque.The enemy of air tools is the moisture/ condensation that all compressors make. We have an automatic drain on the main tank upstairs and still have to drain the inline filters often.

FWIW 90 psi is what our system drops down to when sand blasting for long periods.

 

[RBBailey]

I have to say, now that I have a few air tools on hand that I have collected, I really like using them, and I'm thinking that I might set up a system in the garage once the Defender project is done and all the parts are out of the way!

 

[nas90tdi]

Doug is 100 percent right on that. Some cheaper impacts just don't produce any real torque. And, none of them will keep up unless you produce enough CFM. We have an almost $20k compressor in the shop, unfortunately it is getting old, and even it will show you the value of CFM on occasion if a lot of sanding or other free flowing tools like that are in use at once.

 

[MountainD]

RB---you know you will have mere days between projects to get the system in place. Mere days. Then the next project will be in the way. It's just the way it is...at least in my house...

 

[Uncle Douglas]

I have been happy with the rapidair stuff. The system I have was given to me when a friend moved from Md to Ca. I doubt I would have tried it out otherwise, but for someone looking to plumb a home shop or garage for compressed air I think its a good product and installs very quickly. Its connectors are a push lock design and its easy to get them to release if you want to change something. My walls are block so hammer drilling for tapcons took all the time installing mine. What my application took was roughly two of these kits but you can buy elbows etc as needed and customize to your needs.
http://www.northerntool.com/shop/to...9P_9v3C7qPYN5ntMTGJPKi7CcrThzdebzVRoCL8zw_wcB