First look at Milwaukee M18 Fuel impact wrench

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This arrived yesterday and its first use was removal of rusted spark plugs in my snowcat. I used it only on the #1 or low torque setting. Now 5 of 6 plugs are out. I went Forward and Reverse on the last one and then sprayed more PB Blaster.

Its trigger is for speed. The F/R is a switch you push left or right (or center lock). Has a small LED to light your work.

Its heavier than my Dewalt, but then again its over 1000 ft/lbs in reverse and 700 forward. The Dewalt was 300 ft/lbs.

I am moving towards the M18 batteries and this is my second tool, I will put my Dewalt 18V tools on CL.

At this point I figured I would be patient with the one stuck plug as I am really not in a hurry. Its a snowcat and its almost spring. There will be next year.

If after a few more days of light impacts and PB Blaster the plug does not come out, then I will switch it to #2 which is full torque.

I got it at ToolBarn, but here it is at Northern. It is the high torque version.

http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/p...CFUtp7AodXX0ACw
 
Great impact. I've got a myriad of impacts and nut drivers,all Milwaukee. They are the king in the cordless world hands down.
I'm not a dewalt fan. Too many failures over the years. They make a couple of tools worth buying, like their sliding compound mitre saw,the older type,their rack and pinion table saw is great and they make a cordless nailer that doesn't require fuel,just battery.
But that's all the yellow tools I've got. The rest broke.
 
Originally Posted By: Clevy
Great impact. I've got a myriad of impacts and nut drivers,all Milwaukee. They are the king in the cordless world hands down.
I'm not a dewalt fan. Too many failures over the years. They make a couple of tools worth buying, like their sliding compound mitre saw,the older type,their rack and pinion table saw is great and they make a cordless nailer that doesn't require fuel,just battery.
But that's all the yellow tools I've got. The rest broke.



I agree and I made the switch from Dewalt to Milwaulkee myself.
 
Nice tool. Only issue with this and any other cordless tool is that there is no commonality with batteries, and even from the same manufacturer, they change batteries now and again to force obsolescence.
 
Originally Posted By: JHZR2
Nice tool. Only issue with this and any other cordless tool is that there is no commonality with batteries, and even from the same manufacturer, they change batteries now and again to force obsolescence.


Yes and no. I managed to use Dewalt 18V batteries in a variety of Dewalt tools and I plan the same for the M18 batteries.

I tend to work on more stuff outside in my parking area than in my garage, thus a cordless is much easier than dragging out an air hose.
 
Yeah they are usable across a variety of tools for a while... Then the manufacturer changes it. Form factor and connection points...
 
Originally Posted By: JHZR2
Yeah they are usable across a variety of tools for a while... Then the manufacturer changes it. Form factor and connection points...


Yes - but change is always risky. If you make your own battery system obsolete, customers will migrate to something newer, but it might be a competitor.
 
That's how it has been going for years and years.

Heck, Im not sure Ill be able to get batteries for my IR W360 anymore... They changed with the latest model.

Ditto for my DeWalt set. And my bosch units have ever so slight differences with some others...
 
Originally Posted By: JHZR2
That's how it has been going for years and years.

Heck, Im not sure Ill be able to get batteries for my IR W360 anymore... They changed with the latest model.

Ditto for my DeWalt set. And my bosch units have ever so slight differences with some others...


Yup, thats what they have done so far.

BTW - I have sent out old Dewalt battery packs to a place that did a great job in reloading with new NiCad cells. You do not save much money, but they install higher AH batteries that what came new. You can also do it yourself. The important thing is the attachment to the battery cell needs to be spot welded.
 
I could wait no more, I switched the impact wrench to hi torque and out came the rusty spark plug. Although that probably not a great test of the impact wrench capabilities.

It did break the porcelain. But I am replacing the plugs anyway.
 
I could wait no more, I switched the impact wrench to hi torque and out came the rusty spark plug. Although that probably not a great test of the impact wrench capabilities.

It did break the porcelain. But I am replacing the plugs anyway.
 
If it broke the porcelain, how did you get it out in one piece? The electrode stayed connected? How do you know grit didnt fall in the cylinder?

Post a video breaking free some lugnuts!! Want to see this beauty!
 
I am not getting how you would break the porcelain. I thought the hex part of the plug is below the porcelain portion of the plug.
 
The top inch of the plug broke off is what I meant to infer. I assume the socket was not perfect on the plug and the top of the plug touched the socket and the impact broke the top of the plug off.
 
Originally Posted By: Donald
The top inch of the plug broke off is what I meant to infer. I assume the socket was not perfect on the plug and the top of the plug touched the socket and the impact broke the top of the plug off.
That makes perfect sense.

A good quality spark plug socket and perfect angle would NOT have caused this regardless of the oomph of the impact gun.
 
Originally Posted By: Vikas
Originally Posted By: Donald
The top inch of the plug broke off is what I meant to infer. I assume the socket was not perfect on the plug and the top of the plug touched the socket and the impact broke the top of the plug off.
That makes perfect sense.

A good quality spark plug socket and perfect angle would NOT have caused this regardless of the oomph of the impact gun.


While I had a Craftsman spark plug socket I had a 10" impact extension to get around a hydraulic pump and thus easy to not have the perfect angle.
 
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