Harbor Freight 1/2" electric impact wrench....?

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mrsilv04

mrsilv04

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I'm looking at the Harbor Freight 1/2" electric impact wrench.

Main use would be for lug nuts on a minivan or pickup trucks.

Rated at 7amps and 230 ft/lbs. I'm betting the 230 figure is optimistic at best.

Using a 20% coupon, this would be $45 out the door.

http://www.harborfreight.com/12-in-heavy-duty-electric-impact-wrench-68099.html

What would be other options? Someone sold a used DeWalt here on this site, but missed out on it.
frown.gif
 
If it's just for lug nuts, you can even get away with the cordless job. I bought several and bottlejacks for my vans and light trucks so nobody has to deal with a lug wrench. Works well, even after repeated uses.
 
I don't have any luck with the electric motors on any Harbor Freight tools. Just be sure to buy the Extended Service Plan and if the tool quits they'll just give you another.

They're fine for weekend mechanics, however.
 
I have the older version of it, the one with the yellow case and solid black trigger. I bought it from HF about 8 or 9 years ago. It works fine, I have never had any trouble with it. It busts lug nuts and larger nuts/bolts loose easily and is a lot better than using a tire tool or ratchet. It is one of the best tool purchases I ever made. If it ever does break I will buy another one but so far it has held up very well.
 
I've had one for about 12 years now. Dropped it a million times. Still going strong.

Works ok for lugnuts, but too bulky to fit in the engine bay.
 
A buddy has had one for a couple years now. It will do the job for lug nuts, even rusty nuts. The rated power seems about right. It is more powerful than my 110 ft-lb cordless and less powerful than my air impact. We used it for other jobs like compressing springs... once off the vehicle.

I wasn't interested in getting one because I need something that fits in tight spots. This HF unit is huge. We couldn't use it for removing the front struts, only compressing the springs once they were off. For lug nuts it doesn't matter.

As far as other options, my Bosch 18V cordless impact at 110 ft-lb can't always remove stuck lug nuts, but I find it useful for other things.
 
Some of their stuff is not so good but most of it is pretty good. They are giving other tool companies a run for the money and seem to be helping to keep the prices down at some of the big box stores. Their warranty is pretty good most of the time also like sears used to be years ago.
 
Originally Posted By: mrsilv04
I'm looking at the Harbor Freight 1/2" electric impact wrench.


And it comes with a whole 90 day warranty. They sure stand behind their products, don't they?

Originally Posted By: mrsilv04
What would be other options?


If I were to purchase a corded impact, I'd probably invest in a Milwaukee 9071-20. The el-cheapo garbage from Horror Freight has no place in my shop.
 
I use HF for all my tools around the house and have no problems. The warranty will cover you if you do. Make sure you have some of their free item coupons. You can use them with your 20% off coupon. Harbor Freight is excellent for home use. I wouldn't spend extra for industrial grade tools at home. For a business I would though. I bought one of their $45 chainsaws and it made short work out of a 40 ft Poplar tree that the wind blew down. Excellent product.
 
Should work fine if the lug nuts being removed were properly tightened previously.

I'm a semi mechanic for UPS but at home, while I have an air compressor and air tools, I don't use air tools to rotate tires. It doesn't save me any time.

I use a breaker bar to crack the bolts (German cars use bolts) and than rotate the breaker bar to 0 degrees to quickly spin off the bolts. Spin them back in, snug them and finalize with my torque wrench.

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I hear good things about the HF earthquake impact wrench. So, far I've been very impressed with all my purchases at HF. Had a Craftsmen electric hammer drill that died on me and bought the HF equivalent. The HF was less money and it's more powerful than the Sears'.

Bought a big 1/2 breaker bar at HF and will use Sky's technique next time I need to pull off a wheel.
 
Originally Posted By: Jimmy9190
I have the older version of it, the one with the yellow case and solid black trigger. I bought it from HF about 8 or 9 years ago. It works fine, I have never had any trouble with it. It busts lug nuts and larger nuts/bolts loose easily and is a lot better than using a tire tool or ratchet. It is one of the best tool purchases I ever made. If it ever does break I will buy another one but so far it has held up very well.


Ditto: I have the same one and it works fine on lug nuts, bolts that hold mower blades on, etc. I paid $29.95 and I may be wrong, but i thing they still offer the currrent one on sale for that every now and then. I don't think it will tighten anywhere near the 230 ft lb advertised. More like 100 is my guess.
 
Originally Posted By: Bamaman1


They're fine for weekend mechanics, however.


+1 - I've had my H/F 1/2" Corded Impact that I use for taking off tires for about 7 yrs ... works great for what I paid for it. And it's not used every day.
 
I had it. I gave it away. For my usage, it turned out to be a HUGE and HEAVY paperweight.

Put more money and try to grab Craftsman C3 Lithium when it is on sale. You would have something which you will use rather than something which you will curse all the time.

By the way, I have lots of HF tools and I am NOT the type of person to denigrate HF tools.
 
Originally Posted By: Vikas
I had it. I gave it away. For my usage, it turned out to be a HUGE and HEAVY paperweight.

Put more money and try to grab Craftsman C3 Lithium when it is on sale. You would have something which you will use rather than something which you will curse all the time.

By the way, I have lots of HF tools and I am NOT the type of person to denigrate HF tools.


I have the Craftsmen C3 Impact Wrench. Love it.
 
I have one, eh, it's ok I guess. Definitely not as strong as it's rated.

My brother and I rotated the tires on his jeep and used it to tighten the lug nuts last week. We checked the lug nuts later and they weren't very tight.
 
I do not normally buy power tools at HF ( Chicago Electric ), but I will probably get this Impact wrench just for tires and other back yard mechanic stuff. Cant go wrong for only $50.
 
No matter what tool you use to tighten lug nuts, you should always use a torque wrench to tighten the nuts on tires that have disc brakes. Why? So that all nuts have the same torque which helps to prevent rotor warping, that can lead to front brake shutter.
 
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