High torque impact wrench Vs impact driver

[glen12]

which would be more useful for a mechanic, high torque impact wrench or impact driver ?

 

[Kracin]

whats more useful a phillips or a flathead?

different tool different use

 

[LordPsychon]

For lug nuts, impact wrench. For everything else, impact driver.

 

[bcradio]

are there more nuts and bolts on a car or screws?

 

[shampoop]

For purely mechanical use, impact wrench for everything.

Impact drivers are very handy for a mechanic as well, but they would be even better if they just had a 1/4" or 3/8" square friction ring head (impact wrench) instead of a 1/4" hex chuck with a 1/4" or 3/8" square adapter (impact driver).

But! You can also build a deck (or do all sorts of similar stuff around the house) with an impact driver!

 

[QwikKotaTx]

My Makita driver will crush washers behind a 3/8" nut if you aren't careful. Impressive torque. Much cheaper than its bigger brother impact wrench but won't get on the highway without the latter.

 

[Jwych]

I use a 3/8 snap on cordless impact wrench at work with a bit adapter and feather the trigger to achieve decent low impacts for light work. So I suppose if I only had one id go with the wrench

 

[RedneckWelder]

Impact wrench. I cannot sing the praises of my 3/8 and 1/2 impact wrenches enough.

A 1/4" impact driver is great for running stuff down and low torque work but I use my impact wrenches a lot more.

I would not miss the 1/4 if it disappeared. I would probably quit my job if the 3/8 and 1/2 impact wrenches were deleted from existence suddenly.

 

[92integra]

impact driver is the most veristile imho. snap in a long bit torx or whateve and then turn around throw on a 1/4" drive bit and rock some socket on that, throw a 3/8" or 1/2" bit in there to quickly run down a bolt. i honestly use my impact driver more than my 3/8ths cordless. but i work on new cars. a locking exention locked into the impact driver with a magnetic 8mm socket works wonders when i have to remove 30+ underbody panel screws. everything is locked together no worries about losing the screw/nut off the the magnet socket. no worries about the socket falling of the locking extension, no worries about the extension falling out of the impact driver. dropping **** wastes time and costs me money!


i would love to see a head to head competion, lets say m6 bolt (10mm head) torqued to *** ft pound and then you remove or attempt to remove with the impact wrench, then with the impact driver. it would be nice to see how they stack up since no one can really tell you if the torque ratings on the impact drivers actually work. i'm thinking m12 fuel 1/4" drive impact wrench rated roughly at 45ftlbs vs the m12 fuel impact driver rated at like roughly 1200inpounds. see which one can has more power.________ woodstockvia i would love to see you perform this test!!!!!

 

[sam.coll]

Just get a 3/8 impact and buy one of these, best of both worlds

 

[TheRobotCow]

From my experience and from what i see at work, I say impact wrench.

I do see a few guys at work with impact drivers, but then they must use a 1/4 hex to 3/8 square adapter to even use a socket. So why not just have a wrench from the start?

Here's what i'm going to be doing(once my order comes in). I just got my milwaukee 3/8 m18 impact wrench. It's got 3 speed settings(which i think is the key) and i'll be using a 3/8 square to 1/4 hex adapter. I'll mostly be using it with sockets(so no need to mess with an adapter) and when i need to, i'll use the 3/8 to 1/4 adapter and use the slow setting and use it as an impact driver. But i do think the impact driver is more versatile tool but i believe for an automotive mechanic the wrench is more useful.

 

[glen12]

Thanks for reply and suggestion...... will go for impact wrench rather than impact driver