Fuel Hi Torque Disappointment

[tyyost]

I bought a Milwaukee 2767 1/2 high torque to replace a 1st gen non fuel 1/2 impact. The non fuel couldn’t budge the caliper brackets on my Silverado and it struggled with lugnuts, so I figured an upgrade was due. Last night the new impact couldn’t budge the rear caliper brackets either...

Now, the truth is my batteries are older 5.0’s, would grabbing a pack of the new HO’s wake this up at all? I was under the impression the HO batteries were designed for the table and miter saws. I’d hate to lay out another $200 in batteries to still be disappointed.

 

[CJM8515]

sounds to me like you got a defective unit, bad batteries or those caliber brackets are stuckon there. I removed a honda crank bolt with mine no issue.

 

[BenHilton]

Are you using a wobble adapter or socket? They really don't transfer a lot of torque. If you were on it straight with a regular socket then I'd say those bolts are really stuck! I've taken off caliper bolts on my F150 that were torqued to 184lb-ft and sat for a whole year through a salty Ontario winter with no problem.

 

[Farmall450]

It should definitely do that.

Then again, the old one should have ran lugnuts off no problem. Do you have any friends with the HO batteries that you could test? I usually run a 4.0 in my Mac.

 

[Showkey]

Weak batteries will cause poor performance.

 

[Wrenchin95]

I rarely have an issue removing caliper bolts with mine with the 5.0 battery unless I need to use a universal then sometimes I have to crack them loose with a long 1/2 ratchet first. The thread lock they use on some of them can really make them stick also.

 

[sparky 1971]

Make sure the torque setting is turned up. More than once, mine somehow got turned down without me knowing. That being said, I have also been disappointed in the performance of my high torque unit. There were two lugs on my truck it couldn't get off. I was able to get them with a 30" breaker bar and my 300 lbs pulling with everything I had. I didn't do the math, but I doubt I was generating 1400 ft lbs.

 

[Yarpo]

Make sure the torque setting is turned up. More than once, mine somehow got turned down without me knowing. That being said, I have also been disappointed in the performance of my high torque unit. There were two lugs on my truck it couldn't get off. I was able to get them with a 30" breaker bar and my 300 lbs pulling with everything I had. I didn't do the math, but I doubt I was generating 1400 ft lbs.

I have also had a lug nut my high torque failed to remove on a passenger car/SUV. No way these guns are generating near 1400 ft lbs. I still love them but am finding their real world limitations rather quick.

 

[redragoon]

This sounds more like a quality issue that Milwaukee should look into. I have not yet found anything that my high torque would not remove, including several rusted lugnuts. Even my M12 3/8" stubby handles all of the lugnuts on my daily drivers.

 

[Tbird22]

When my boss bought the 2767 about 4 months ago, I was sure it would outperform my IR w7150 that is 7 years old. It didn’t. And the 2767 is much heavier


Sent from my iPhone using Garage Journal

 

[nealric]

This sounds more like a quality issue that Milwaukee should look into. I have not yet found anything that my high torque would not remove, including several rusted lugnuts. Even my M12 3/8" stubby handles all of the lugnuts on my daily drivers.

Same here. Mine had to struggle a bit to remove a crank bolt on a motor that had been sitting for 30+ years, but I've yet to encounter anything it's been defeated by.

 

[Farmall450]

That does seem quite odd. The one in the shop keeps up to my Mac/DeWalt. If they aren't taking off non-semi lugnuts there is something seriously wrong...my 1/4" impact driver will do that all day long.

 

[DFB]

I maybe can understand not getting some lugs with the old non fuel wrench its about the same specs as a mid torque really

But ya the High Torque can really tear things up and I only have the Gen 1

Two different wrenches but same bolt assembly...I be looking more at that the fastener socket fitment or possible torque loss like maybe thru adapters as someone else mentioned. Even vibration can be a factor

Just for the record I have not experienced any battery problems with any Milwaukee Red Lithiums. Shorting out or not holding a decent charge or anything else, not like my old Makita's for sure and especially nothing that could ever even remotely be referred to as a "weak" battery

I mainly use only the 4.0's on my wrenches

 

[Batscat]

Batteries make a huge difference. Also from the factory Chevy uses yellow thread lock it’s like red locktite. Super strong I have used a breaker bar many times to break them loose.

 

[DFB]

One day I was removing a standard pintle hitch to replace with ball type on crummy old Ford dump body farm truck my boss had bought "cuz he got a good deal". Bumper and bolts all rusted up. My old 2665B got one off...the High Torque pulled two and just snapped the third one right off

 

[tyyost]

My batteries may be as old as 4 years, but they are 5.0’s. Three bars so they weren’t dead by any stretch. I got one bolt dead on with an extension and a impact socket, the other had a swivel joint in the mix. If it was just the swivel sucking up torque I would almost get it.

I’m still on the fence, obviously the Battery is not going to go bad, as I have several other M18 tools. But if I get a $200 6.0 pack and it’s still a dog I will be pretty disappointed that I didn’t just buy the M 12 angle grinder.

 

[Bretny]

My 3/8 fuel m18 impact removed the lug nuts on my rusty k3500 plow truck. I have 4.0 and 5.0 battery. Not sure what one was in it.

Cold weather can really take a toll on lithium stuff too.

 

[DFB]

My 1/2" compact has done serious stuff too rusted dirty rototiller nuts and bolts and even a few bolts of a Z71 bumper where the High Torque had no access.

So there is some torque loss involved by OPs own admission extension bar and swivel.

Remembering that old RTR video swivel adapters caused the most reduction in power transfer.

I don't have 2767 but Mode 3 and Mode 4 are both full on power settings in reverse is that correct?

 

[sparky 1971]

The two lug nuts that my high torque couldn't get off were on so effing tight that I thought I was going to snap the head off my breaker bar but I really doubt it was anywhere near 1400 ft lbs. that would have probably snapped off the studs. I was really considering making an hour round trip to get a 19 mm 3/4 drive socket so I could use my 40" bar. The fact that the 30" 1/2 drive did it without breaking is a testament to SK in itself. They were only supposed to be torqued to 100 ft lbs.

Also, I was using a fresh 4.0 battery, no u joints, may have had a 3" extension on, but not sure.

 

[CJM8515]

I vote bad batteries

 

[sparky 1971]

I vote bad batteries

Nope. Nothing wrong with the batteries. The tool is not as powerful as Milwaukee says. I have 5.0 and 9.0 batteries and could use them with the same results. It is a good unit, it just has limitations that are lower than expectations.

 

[CJM8515]

Nope. Nothing wrong with the batteries. The tool is not as powerful as Milwaukee says. I have 5.0 and 9.0 batteries and could use them with the same results. It is a good unit, it just has limitations that are lower than expectations.

whatever you say. I have had no issues with mine and nothing it has failed to remove.


I was also talking about the original post, not yours-or I would have quoted it. Even so shame yours didnt remove that, but stranger things have happened.

 

[Farmall450]

Yeah, it shouldn't be that low though. Lugnuts? C'mon. It should be breaking at least 3/8 bolts. I'm pretty sure a half inch bolt (grade 8) takes about 200 ft lb to fail.

I'd hit up Milwaukee. Something is seriously wrong with that impact.

Edit: and no, it won't generate 1400#...that's breakaway. But it should put up a solid half of that.

 

[CJM8515]

Yeah, it shouldn't be that low though. Lugnuts? C'mon. It should be breaking at least 3/8 bolts. I'm pretty sure a half inch bolt (grade 8) takes about 200 ft lb to fail.

I'd hit up Milwaukee. Something is seriously wrong with that impact.

Edit: and no, it won't generate 1400#...that's breakaway. But it should put up a solid half of that.

I snapped a bilstein strut accidentally with it using 5.0 battery. Was tightening the tophat cause the noise wouldnt stop (kept clacking) and went a little overboard). Snapped the 3/8 shaft in half

 

[sparky 1971]

Well, I am a 300 lb former power lifter and strongman competitor that is still pretty damned strong. I used a 30" breaker bar and was pulling hard enough that I thought my bar was going to snap just to get them to break loose. When they did let go, it felt more like the head was rounding off because it was going so slow for the first full turn. The only thing wrong with the impact is that it is not as powerful as Milwaukee says. It blows my old m18 impact away

Edit: I would believe that it would hit 700 ft lbs. I would also believe that I applied more that that getting the two lugs broken loose.

 

[Yarpo]

That does seem quite odd. The one in the shop keeps up to my Mac/DeWalt. If they aren't taking off non-semi lugnuts there is something seriously wrong...my 1/4" impact driver will do that all day long.

Either you have a 1/4" impact driver thats on crack, or every Milwaukee tool and battery I own is bad. Every Milwaukee gun I own has now failed to remove lug nuts, and everything but the high torque has failed numerous times. The 2755-20, 2554-20, 2861-22 and a 2767-22?

My batteries may be as old as 4 years, but they are 5.0’s. Three bars so they weren’t dead by any stretch. I got one bolt dead on with an extension and a impact socket, the other had a swivel joint in the mix. If it was just the swivel sucking up torque I would almost get it.

I’m still on the fence, obviously the Battery is not going to go bad, as I have several other M18 tools. But if I get a $200 6.0 pack and it’s still a dog I will be pretty disappointed that I didn’t just buy the M 12 angle grinder.

My batteries are all new within the last 3 years, all 5.0 XC batteries. It's not the batteries. You may see improvement, but the guns don't have anywhere near 1400 ft pounds, or we both have bad guns. There's also people who think a stubby will remove lug nuts day in and day out, and I gave up on that after just a day or two. I also end up working on probably...4-7 cars a day so I see sometimes upwards of 500 lug nuts a week. A large portion of people here are reporting "no issues" with a sample size of 20 lug nuts/bolts

Throw the gun at enough bolts and you'll find it'll fail more often than one would think.

 

[plinker]

My 2767 Milwaukee (w/ 5.0 batt) and Matco 2769 have both failed at times with the odd lug nut (3/4 drive worked). GM caliper bolt bracket bolts are another problem area. Both impacts have roughly the same power, but the thread locker GM uses is rather strong as mentioned. A long ratchet and/or breaker bar works if the impacts dont.

 

[Farmall450]

Either you have a 1/4" impact driver thats on crack, or every Milwaukee tool and battery I own is bad. Every Milwaukee gun I own has now failed to remove lug nuts, and everything but the high torque has failed numerous times. The 2755-20, 2554-20, 2861-22 and a 2767-22?

The vast majority of the bolts I throw the cordless at are agricultural based. However, the difference is they're fine thread and they last were loose 20 years before your car was made. If they're regularly failing to remove lugnuts torqued to sub-200 ft lb, or even hammered on as tight as an air gun (excluding IR Titanium) will go, I think you've got a problem. That, or the Mac/DeWalt gun is a heck of a lot better than the 1 ft lb it claims

I've only personally grabbed the M18 to attempt bolts the Mac won't take off (it's never succeeded). However, rarely does my IR 2235TiMAX, either. I guess I need to try a new order of operations to see what's going on here. I've done all sorts of fine thread, seldom moved bolts on ag and implements rusted to the point it hammers constantly coming the whole way out, so I wouldn't call my use narrow nor ideal.

 

[Yarpo]

The vast majority of the bolts I throw the cordless at are agricultural based. However, the difference is they're fine thread and they last were loose 20 years before your car was made. If they're regularly failing to remove lugnuts torqued to sub-200 ft lb, or even hammered on as tight as an air gun (excluding IR Titanium) will go, I think you've got a problem. That, or the Mac/DeWalt gun is a heck of a lot better than the 1 ft lb it claims

I've only personally grabbed the M18 to attempt bolts the Mac won't take off (it's never succeeded). However, rarely does my IR 2235TiMAX, either. I guess I need to try a new order of operations to see what's going on here. I've done all sorts of fine thread, seldom moved bolts on ag and implements rusted to the point it hammers constantly coming the whole way out, so I wouldn't call my use narrow nor ideal.

Unfortunately with the nature of cars coming in, I can't verify what they where torqued too. I don't imagine anyone is torquing a lug nut to over 1000 ft lbs. The weird thing is in my case it'll get 2 or 3 of the wheels removed and then my high torque struggles on 2 or 3 lug nuts on the last wheel or two. Nothing consistent, and its a small issue as the high torque has only really let me down once, the mid torque regularly fails, the stubby...I wont even try anymore.

Your use case certainly isn't narrow, what size bolts are you usually working with? I notice a Suspension bolt or other large bolts haven't proven troublesome, its only with a select few wheel lug bolts.

 

[thertel]

Yea I've not run into anything my 2767 wont take off on trucks or cars or farm equipment, but I try to avoid any wobble or swivel adapters. Hell my 2554 hasn't run into many things it can't bust loose.

 

[plinker]

Unfortunately with the nature of cars coming in, I can't verify what they where torqued too. I don't imagine anyone is torquing a lug nut to over 1000 ft lbs. The weird thing is in my case it'll get 2 or 3 of the wheels removed and then my high torque struggles on 2 or 3 lug nuts on the last wheel or two. Nothing consistent, and its a small issue as the high torque has only really let me down once, the mid torque regularly fails, the stubby...I wont even try anymore.

Your use case certainly isn't narrow, what size bolts are you usually working with? I notice a Suspension bolt or other large bolts haven't proven troublesome, its only with a select few wheel lug bolts.

On a couple different jeeps ('07-ish vintage) with 1/2-20 studs, I've had to use a 24" 1/2 drive ratchet to break loose the nuts. You'd think the studs would snap off as tight as they were. No telling what they were torqued at (100lb?) Or when they were removed last.

 

[WittHay]

Wheel bolts are tough to get off. I have a Milwaukee 2763 and it struggles at times removing 9/16 bolts. 13/16 and 7/8 socket size.

The same impact couldnt remove rusted 1/2 bolts with nuts. 3/4 socket size. Just hammered away. A 26" ratchet snapped off the bolts

The newer 2767 should remove flange bolts up to 22mm socket size. The exceptions being if used with extensions, universals, Also the cordless dont work well on allen hex or torx fasteners

 

[Farmall450]

Unfortunately with the nature of cars coming in, I can't verify what they where torqued too. I don't imagine anyone is torquing a lug nut to over 1000 ft lbs. The weird thing is in my case it'll get 2 or 3 of the wheels removed and then my high torque struggles on 2 or 3 lug nuts on the last wheel or two. Nothing consistent, and its a small issue as the high torque has only really let me down once, the mid torque regularly fails, the stubby...I wont even try anymore.

Your use case certainly isn't narrow, what size bolts are you usually working with? I notice a Suspension bolt or other large bolts haven't proven troublesome, its only with a select few wheel lug bolts.

I'm all over the place. 7/16 + for the 1/2 I would say. Lots of 1/16 oddballs.

 

[Malaworkerbee]

I don't understand people that claim it has no power.

I've broken wheel studs with the high torque. It's never failed to remove anything else for me. I used it to remove axle bolts for several vehicles (30mm-38mm sockets)

Hell the last CV axle I did I was far from home helping a buddy a town over. I broke two breaker bars before I drove my *** an 1 hour home to get my High Torque. Few seconds of impacts and the CV was clear.

Most days I use the Mid-Torque. One day I'll get the stubby.

 

[Bighead38]

Sometimes you need the constant pulling action of a breaker bar instead of the impacting of a gun. Sometimes you need heat involved. Just the nature of the beast living in the rust belt.

It’s not just wobbles, regular extensions rob a ton of power from impacts as well.

 

[WittHay]

Thats the dumb thing , fix a flat on some old car trailer, spray penetrating oil on the lug nuts, Take the hi-torque impact to it and the stud instantly snaps off. That was dumb

Take the same impact to some rusty old machine that you actually want to break off the bolts and replace with new. It will just hammer away thinking its a stubby or something

The thing I have noticed with my Milwaukee 3/4 impact is that it has a little more zip with a fully charged battery than when 3 bars are showing. Bit more voltage i guess

 

[billford]

I have a new 2767 high torque that came with a 5.0 battery. It gets nut and bolts off that my Snap-On MG725 air gun can't, like rusted trailer hitch balls.

Maybe when they get old, they lose torque?

And is there anyway to lube them? With air tools, a few drops of oil will lube everything. I guess with the cordless guns you would have to partly disassemble?

 

[DFB]

I have a new 2767 high torque that came with a 5.0 battery. It gets nut and bolts off that my Snap-On MG725 air gun can't, like rusted trailer hitch balls.

Maybe when they get old, they lose torque?

And is there anyway to lube them? With air tools, a few drops of oil will lube everything. I guess with the cordless guns you would have to partly disassemble?

I dunno about losing torque with the cordless...not like an air tool part wear down.

RTR did a video on that a couple of years ago. Granted the test tool was the Gen 1 2763 (like I have) but still showed no loss of power against a new model after 2 years of use. And I almost wonder if actually hits just a tad harder after breaking the parts

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=606&v=8x8CQ42_rpk&feature=emb_logo

Skip to 7 or 8 min if just want the test/results

I am open minded to the comments the maximum 1400 torque claims may be a bit exaggerated (same goes the new stubby wrench IMO).

The 2767 wrench is slightly overall smaller than the original Gen 1 so that fact alone makes higher power clams quite impressive indeed

Seems RTR has kind of moved on from producing competitive videos like this one so if there has been actual Skidmore testing on either of those two tools I for one would appreciate a linked to that.

As for the maintenance question yes the impacts can be dissembled and regreased. Milwaukee freely sells the recommended grease.