Air hose diameter vs connector diameter, impact gun torque

[blacK20]

You should really be using 3/8" hose with 1/4" NPT couplers. That's pretty much the standard for automotive use air tools. Your small compressor may be part of the problem but you need to step up to 3/8" hose first.

 

[ssentt]

Most air tools require 3/8 hose. 3/8" hose is what I run but all my ends are 3/8NPT and I use the milton V couplers. I ran this type setup on an older sears 1.5hp twin cylinder compressor with 20gal tank for several yrs before getting a 80gal two stage compressor. Worked decent for impact gun work and light air hammer work. Didn't have the volume for alot else without the compressor running nonstop.

 

[marshaul]

The reason to get rid of the regulator is because 120 psi output, after pressure drop, is going to be around 90-100 psi at the tool anyway. Connecting directly to the tank will alleviate some pressure drop and running air tools at just over 90 psi won't do that much harm to them especially with the amount of work you are doing with them.

Any reason not to put a T before the regulator instead of removing it altogether?

 

[Tarheelgarage]

 

[marshaul]

Ironic post is ironic.

 

[rival904]

Wow.

Our new kid at the shop has the SAME impact and it does 90% of the cars that roll through the door. We are a high volume lube/tire shop and its used hard day and day out, and to be 100% honest, it's lasted a lot longer than I thought.

We all have 3/8s hose with PLENTY of air to back it up.

 

[mikebramel]

SO, youre buying a Goodyear air hose that costs more than the impact wrench LOL

 

[marshaul]

Wow.

Our new kid at the shop has the SAME impact and it does 90% of the cars that roll through the door. We are a high volume lube/tire shop and its used hard day and day out, and to be 100% honest, it's lasted a lot longer than I thought.

We all have 3/8s hose with PLENTY of air to back it up.

Well, thanks at least for confirming my speculation that these $20 guns are capable of working, at least some of the time.

I think one (or both) of two things may be going on:

1. These units have a high lemon rate, but a good one works (relatively) well. I was unlucky and got a lemon.

2. 1/4" hose + regulator + small fittings are killing my air delivery.

I think I'm going to get a 3/8" hose before I buy the Earthquake everybody tells me I need. That way I can at least verify whether #1 is the case for me.

 

[theknurl]

Any reason not to put a T before the compressor instead of removing it altogether?

?????....i have no idea what you mean

buy a real compressor and real air tools
my 2 stage compressor was made in '46, i put a used Baldor motor on it in ~'82
amortize the costs......

i have air tools from the '30s

one Dotco 1/4" die grinder lost a spindle bearing.....i've used it for ~37 years.....only failure, on any air tool i own

you're using a marginal compressor to run a marginal tool.....you expect good results????

my air tools are on a 100', 3/8" Goodyear hose.....my CP-734 set on 4 of 10 has no trouble with the axle nut of my MV Agusta torqued to 176 lbft

besides i have a 3/4" Swench Wrench......which WILL remove the torqued to 219 lbft, 36mm axle nut of a VW BY TIGHTENING IT

yes, snap the axle or strip the nut

 

[Larwyn]

I have a 15-20 year old version of that same HF impact. Though I have never used it on a compressor as small as yours and have never owned 1/4" air hose. The little impact has been very useful over the years, and will consistently remove lugs torqued to 80 ft pounds when connected to either my 26 gallon compressor or my little 4 gallon DeWalt with 3/8" air hose. I think the little $20 impact is a bargain if you supply it with enough air and keep your expectations reasonable.

Even though I have a more powerful impact gun (IR 231C), I keep the old HF impact with the compressor in my woodworking shop. A lot of the work that I do on my trailers and lawn equipment takes place in the back yard so the HF sees as much or more use the the IR which I keep in the garage. I still keep my breaker bars and cheater pipes for the really stubborn stuff.

A larger compressor, thicker hose and more powerful impact gun would have more power than the combo which you are using. But considering the compressor that you have, the most logical upgrade would probably be the air hose. At an advertised 4 scfm @ 90 psi, your compressor is less the optimum for an impact which specs 5 scfm @ 90. There will be a lot of waiting for the compressor to catch up.

The lug nuts on my Silverado are torqued to 140 ft lbs. The HF impact will not remove them, while my IR231C will remove all 6 lugs on one wheel before the 26 gallon compressor starts. Same compressor and hose with both guns.

 

[skiingman]

I'm sorry, but I don't quite understand how someone suggesting a 70 dollar air tool is a snob. That's just...ludicrous.

I once bought a POS 30 dollar Lowe's impact wrench. I brought it back because I had the same experience...awful performance, despite my 60 gallon source of air and appropriate hoses and fittings.

Then I bought a chiwanese 80 dollar impact wrench from Horror Freight, and I've been removing or destroying everything I've hooked it to (with the exception of Honda crank bolts) for 10 plus years now.

I'l go sit in my tool snob corner now with my fancy tool snob tools.

 

[marshaul]

Any reason not to put a T before the compressor instead of removing it altogether?

?????....i have no idea what you mean

buy a real compressor and real air tools
my 2 stage compressor was made in '46, i put a used Baldor motor on it in ~'82
amortize the costs......

i have air tools from the '30s

one Dotco 1/4" die grinder lost a spindle bearing.....i've used it for ~37 years.....only failure, on any air tool i own

you're using a marginal compressor to run a marginal tool.....you expect good results????

my air tools are on a 100', 3/8" Goodyear hose.....my CP-734 set on 4 of 10 has no trouble with the axle nut of my MV Agusta torqued to 176 lbft

besides i have a 3/4" Swench Wrench......which WILL remove the torqued to 219 lbft, 36mm axle nut of a VW BY TIGHTENING IT

yes, snap the axle or strip the nut

Well, I meant to ask pipsters if I should put a T before the regulator, which he suggested I remove. Bit of a mistype there.

As for buying "real" tools, I need to remove 80 ft-lb lug nuts, not axle nuts (I remove axle nuts so infrequently I have no problem going breaker bar + cheater).

I have every reason to believe I should be able to accomplish the task at hand with my toy compressor, and possibly even my toy wrench with an adequate air hose.

I might as well advise you to buy "real" tools capable of completing some arbitrary job you'll never do in your life.

I may have been wrong the first time around, but anybody who thinks this post isn't snobby needs to grab a dictionary.

 

[G_P]

I have that exact impact except it is branded as a "powermate". It was given to me in a set of air tools.

I have yet to ever find a lugnut it can remove. Hell I have yet to find a single bolt on a car that needs a 1/2" drive socket that this gun will remove. It has absoloutely no power.

When I upgraded compressors I dug the thing out figuring maybe more air would make it work. Nope.

Took it to a friends house who has a 60 gallon 2 stage compressor. Still incredibly weak.

From reading the reviews it seems 70% of these impacts are useless scrap metal and the other 30% seem to work OK but don't make the amount of torque they are speced for.

And yes it is a massive air hog. This thing uses easily 5x the amount of air as my friends IR impact yet makes less than a tenth of the IR's torque!

 

[marshaul]

From reading the reviews it seems 70% of these impacts are useless scrap metal and the other 30% seem to work OK but don't make the amount of torque they are speced for.

Yeah, that's the impression I'm getting. I'm sure I'll end up buying a nicer model, especially if I'll get more power for less air – I don't exactly have a lot of air to begin with.

 

[Kracin]

The problem with a breaker bar is it doesn't work with the wheels off the ground (at all). An endless problem for me. Frankly, I'd be happy if it would just loosen them.

Let me ask you this: do you have a better gun that was capable of doing the job with the rest of the setup unchanged?

I continue to find reports of people doing lugs with a compressor similar to mine.

I'd certainly rather buy a 3.5x more expensive tool than a $200-300 compressor.

break em lose when its on the ground. jack it up, take em off when its in the air.


if you really want to see the difference between the impact they suggested and the one you bought. buy the other one, test it compared to the one you bought first, then return it if it isn't better. otherwise he has a point, some tools from hf are worth it like the die grinders etc, others like the impact, just won't do lugnuts like you want. even my chicago pneumatic 1/2 can struggle sometimes with lugs and a good flowing air setup.

 

[marshaul]

break em lose when its on the ground. jack it up, take em off when its in the air.

This whole time, and I never knew how to take my wheels off!

 

[fourtythree]

I agree, bigger hose and larger automotive style couplings should make your setup usable. As far as the impact, I've owned a rebranded version of it and frankly, it is a turd, probably the most underpowered impact I've used. That being said, it should do what you want IF you get plenty of air to it.

 

[split150]

break em lose when its on the ground. jack it up, take em off when its in the air.

This whole time, and I never knew how to take my wheels off!

Kracin gave a basic tip just trying to help you out. If he didn't post it, I was getting ready to because it seemed the most basic things may need pointed out in this thread. Sarcastic and condescending posts won't help you get more information in the future, as I hate to ask where this project goes once the wheels are actually off.

 

[marshaul]

Kracin gave a basic tip just trying to help you out. If he didn't post it, I was getting ready to because it seemed the most basic things may need pointed out in this thread. Sarcastic and condescending posts won't help you get more information in the future, as I hate to ask where this project goes once the wheels are actually off.

I'm sorry, but it's eminently clear that actually saying that "tip" is sarcasm (especially after someone already mentioned the breaker bar route), which warrants sarcasm in response.

So, by the way, is your remark "I hate to ask where this project goes once the wheels are actually off." Sarcastic and condescending, just like telling me to break the lug nuts off while the car is on the ground. Apparently, because I have little experience with air compressors, I must be incapable of completing any job requiring wheel removal.

Incidentally, the project is called tire rotation. The whole point is to avoid having to break the wheels loose on the ground, as I made clear in response to a non-sarcastic suggestion back on page 1. Maybe, since I'm so incapable, you can tell me how to do that, too. Should I carry the wheels, or is it OK if I roll them? Does the finished part always have to face out?

Certain condescending folks act like they should be thanked for insulting me. I really don't give a flying **** whether you *like* me, but you can just forget receiving thanks for that kind of ****. There have been numerous posters here willing to help with actually useful suggestions, and to them I am thankful.

 

[skulldrinker]

I bought two swivel connectors from Home Depot and one of them blew apart. The hose went whipping all around the shop. I was lucky it didn't **** up anyone's paint job. I couldn't chance the second one so I took it off and now just use straight ends on my tools.

 

[Kracin]

This whole time, and I never knew how to take my wheels off!

one funny thing about mechanics, you never know until you know. you aren't born knowing tips and tricks to get things done, and i've ran into people before who would jack the car up then attempt to get the lugs off, and had trouble when they got to the tires not held by the e-brake.


whether or not you were being serious or not, i read the post, took it as a chance to toss a little tip out there which may or may not help you, but it might help someone else who was browsing and new to something and hadn't known yet.



this whole thread just seems to be you wanting to get some magical little tidbit of magical information for your magical little brain to get something to work that obviously isn't going to work. if you wan't a condescending or sarcastic comment, then i can give it to you and tell you stop ****** around with things you don't understand before you break something and send it to a shop. sound better? you obviously sound incapable of doing simple things like following directions that tell you standard things like a suggestiong to use a certain diameter air hose, which you failed to do in the first place, then whined and complained about it not working when you were using a tiny air hose to power an impact. then you go on asking questions about why it won't work, don't like the responses and return in kind with sarcastic ******* comments.

people like you don't make it too far in tool talks in real life, no one wants to give advice to the guy who knows it all, because he doesn't need it in the first place


outta this junk thread, have fun trying to find out why your impact won't remove some lug nuts, theres a lot of people that have figured out 100 other ways to get them off, and you seem to be stuck on the simplest

 

[Kracin]

OK, so I have a multipart question.

I have a small Home Depot air compressor (only paid like $90 new, I think they put them on sale before they switched the color scheme):

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Husky-8-...sor-TA-2530B/202564847?N=c2fhZrd#.UZwhF5Wn4Uw

And I recently bought a cheapo HFT impact gun:

http://www.harborfreight.com/1-2-half-inch-pneumatic-impact-wrench-95310.html

Now, I know my compressor is too small to get maximum performance out of this sort of tool. However, my goal is to be able to remove lug nuts torqued at 80 ft/lb (installation will be done with a torque wrench), which isn't exactly the toughest job around.

it can be a tough job if you don't have the right tools. you should see how much someone struggles with lugnuts when all they have is a 4 way and the lugs have been rusted into place for 4-5 years

Moreover, I have read several accounts of people able to get >80 ft/lbs from this tool (or one of its differently-branded clones) from a compressor similar too (or even smaller than) mine.

you dont know if their lugnuts were torqued more or less, or is theirs stayed on longer, or they just threw them on and then took them off, or if they used a lubricant when putting them on, or antiseize. this is a generalized statement and you should be more concerned with your own application than someone else's

However, I'm currently driving the gun with 1/4" hose and quick connect fittings, and it just isn't cutting it.

who woulda thought a 1/4" hose on a 1/2" impact on a small compressor wouldn't cut it.. hell that wouldn't cut cheese if you tried.

So, question part 1: if I go ahead and buy a 1/2" hose (as the impact gun's manual recommends), is there a good chance I can remove these nuts? I do know that a smaller diameter hose has more internal friction and therefore greater pressure reduction at the outlet, and also I've heard that volume is as important for impact wrenches as is pressure, and obviously a 1/2" hose should help with that.

if you already read up on it, why don't you put that knowledge to use, or look up the basics instead of asking here, it's obvious you already looked up a few answers to your problem, and the recommended hose size isn't 1/2" anyway

Question part 2: I was looking at HF's 1/2" hose, and I see that all the reviewers are complaining that the 1/2" hose has 3/8" couplers, thus "defeating the purpose" over a 3/8" hose. However, I observe that 1: people readily assume HF stuff is bad-review-worthy even when their own ignorance is to blame, and 2: nearly all the name-brand 3/8" hoses I see have 1/4" couplers.

So, exactly how much effect does the coupler size have on the hose performance? Why do most larger hoses have a comparatively small coupling? I assume this does not render them pointless. Why not?

Finally, is a 3/8" coupler on a 1/2" hose reasonable?

you are asking a question as simple as pressure vs cubic feet per minute, just like volts vs amperage... pressure vs flow.... you could have a large amount of pressure, but without the flow you just aren't going to cut it. you already have all your answers and you came into this thread knowing it all, and then talking down to people's responses. i suggest you go out and do what you already know, put it to practice, then report back and let everyone know how it went. if you know a 1/4 hose doesn't allow a high enough volume of air to pass through at one time to power the impact proprely, then switch to a larger hose, probably 3/8 like alot of home compressor setups use, you shouldn't need 1/2 until you go larger unless you get a bigger compressor. at this rate with a small compressor and a 1/2 hose you can be guaranteed to run out the cfm you need to take 2 tires off.


Thanks for your time, everyone.

is this what you were wanting initially? it sounded like you already knew it all and i didn't bother going through each and every response, you didn't like my little tip, so i gave you exactly what you wanted.

get out there, get it done, stop whinin about what if's and how-to's. you don't learn it all by talkin around the work bench, you learn by doing

 

[TwoInch]

Incidentally, the project is called tire rotation. The whole point is to avoid having to break the wheels loose on the ground, as I made clear in response to a non-sarcastic suggestion back on page 1. Maybe, since I'm so incapable, you can tell me how to do that, too. Should I carry the wheels, or is it OK if I roll them? Does the finished part always have to face out?

.

unless you get a better impact, even with a better hose and fittings, you will still struggle with some lugs that the gun wont remove. if you want to not break them loose on the ground, you are in for headaches with that gun.

removing lugs torqued to 80ftlbs requires much more than 80ftlbs, sometimes quite a lot more.

i read through the whole thread. you dont play well with the other kids on the block do ya?

 

[#1SomeGuy]

My IR 2135TiMax should be here this week though The little cheapy will be going on kijiji for 20 bucks...

Got $30 for the little cheapy on kijiji lol go figure, it's gone now.