Best impact gun for a small air compressor?

[ovilla]

I recently bought the compressor listed below and have used it mostly for my framing nailer. However, this weekend I replaced the struts on my Maxima and quickly found that the impact gun I had borrowed was not strong enough to loosen a few of the strut bolts. I ended up going to a Merlins and paid a tech to loosen these bolts then drove home and finished the job. Anyway, is it my compressor or is it the gun? I know compressors are rated for different SCFM's so what would be the best impact gun to use with the SCFM that I have available? Also, I may switch to a bigger unit later but I'm really quite happy with this unit and want to find something that will work with it. Thanks

Here's the specs on what I have:

Craftsman Professional 25 gal. Air Compressor, 1.6 hp, Vertical Tank, 2-Stage Oil Free Pump
SCFM Delivery At 40 psi 5.6 SCFM SCFM Delivery At 90 psi 5.1 SCFM Tank:
Compressor Tank Capacity 25 gal. Maximum Compressor psi 175 psi

 

[ImportTuner]

I recently bought the compressor listed below and have used it mostly for my framing nailer. However, this weekend I replaced the struts on my Maxima and quickly found that the impact gun I had borrowed was not strong enough to loosen a few of the strut bolts. I ended up going to a Merlins and paid a tech to loosen these bolts then drove home and finished the job. Anyway, is it my compressor or is it the gun? I know compressors are rated for different SCFM's so what would be the best impact gun to use with the SCFM that I have available? Also, I may switch to a bigger unit later but I'm really quite happy with this unit and want to find something that will work with it. Thanks

Here's the specs on what I have:

Craftsman Professional 25 gal. Air Compressor, 1.6 hp, Vertical Tank, 2-Stage Oil Free Pump
SCFM Delivery At 40 psi 5.6 SCFM SCFM Delivery At 90 psi 5.1 SCFM Tank:
Compressor Tank Capacity 25 gal. Maximum Compressor psi 175 psi

It sounds like you had a really crappy impact gun; the compressor you have drives a IR 2135T quite nicely with a 1000 LB nut breaker torque ...

 

[toolfreak]

I would go with either the IR2135T, IR 231c, or a nitrocat. Any of them will have plenty of power but you might have to wait for your compressor to build up once i a while.

 

[SteveU]

Get a 1/2" Nitrocat, it will be both quieter and more powerful than the gun you borrowed. Outside in the summer might not be that big a deal but doing anything inside in the winter where the sound reflects off the walls & ceiling every little bit of quiet helps.

 

[OctaneMotorsports]

My 8 gallon CH compressor will power any impact gun fine for intermittent use. Even my 3 gallon portable CH compressor will power any impact gun provided it's only short blasts.

 

[TNToy]

That should run a Nitrocat 1000TC quite nicely.