Impact driver for bolt removal?

[windward]

I am new to this side of the forum as I am usually lurking over in the General Garage discussions.

After a long hiatus, I have recently gotten back into motorcycling and along with this comes motorcycle wrenching/maint. I do a fair amount of handy man stuff around the house, but I haven't worked on my own autos in years (too many computers).

So here is my question. Is there any negative to using a battery operated impact driver for disassembly of parts? I know you have to be careful with it on reassembly, but I find it really quick for disassembly. Also, my hands hurt using hand drivers and sockets.

What are you guys using?

Thanks!

 

[velillen01]

I use mine all the time for assembly and disassembly. Just a matter of being smart with them. I have four I use...an older 12v craftsmen hex, a 18v Ryobi hex, a 18v Ryobi 1/2" impact, and then the 1/2" air IR impact. The 12v craftsmen is great for smaller stuff (5/16's and smaller sort of stuff). Its pretty low torque wise so it doesn't have much breaking power or tightening but it works nicely (its like ~15 ft-lb at most). The two Ryobi's I just use when I need a bit more power. The 1/4" hex I haven't used much past like 30-50ft-lb range though. The 1/2" impact will go to 100ft-lb ish which is nice for lugnuts. The IR handles most everything else but I only use it for disassembly.

There are also 3/8" cordless ratchets from various brands now that work good as well.

 

[1982fxr]

People do it all the time. Personally I wouldn't. I don't want to sacrifice the feel. To each his own...that's just me.

 

[mechanical turk]

I can't think of anything off the top of my head where an impact driver would be at a disadvantage over hand tools for disassembly on a motorcycle, aside from those few parts where you want to keep even pressure on them, like in your clutch or removing the head off the engine. I have a little 12v Bosch impact that really saved me a lot of time in removing a hundred or so JIS screws from a Honda crankcase that hadn't been touched in 40 years. Quicker than the hand impact and a hammer for sure.

 

[bcradio]

It is the perfect tool for disassembly.

Just be careful if you are using it for reassembly.

 

[ptgarcia]

For disassembly of motorcycles I'd go ahead and use it. But there are too many aluminum and magnesium parts on motorcycles to use them for assembly.

 

[bobcatdan]

For mechanic work, look for a 3/8" square drive impact wrench, not a 1/4" bit chuck impact driver. The difference is an impact wrench is designed to have more power to break stuff loose while an impact driver is designed to hammer stuff in like lag bolts. Other downfall with an impact driver is the adapter bit to drive sockets. My ancient 12v Makita I bought back when cordless impacts were in their infants could snap any bit out there and their power has only doubled since then.