Recommend me an air or electric ratchet

[kmacht]

I'm in the middle of replacing a stuck AFM lifter on a 5.3 motor and am tired of busting my hands up trying to swing a regular ratchet an 1/8 turn at a time in tight spaces. I have one of those cheap $20 air ratchets but the thing has absolutely no torque and is pretty much useless so its sat in the drawer for the past 10 years. I am a home/farm mechanic so don't want to spend hundreds on a snap-on or Milwaukee battery powered one fo the few times I might use it. Does anyone have any recommendations for around $100. I see that harbor freight has an earthquake version of their wratchet and I have been very impressed with their earthquate impact gun. Anyone use one and can tell me if they are any better than the cheap $20 one?

 

[Roert42]

The electric ones are not very powerful. I have a cheap $20 HF air ratchet and it walks circles around the Milwaukee electric one.

Still None of the air ratchets are anywhere near as powerful as an impact gun, always have to break the bolt loose first and then use the ratchet to spin it out.

 

[Rinspeed]

The IR pneumatic ones are slightly more than you want to spend but hold up nice. Aircat has one that is around $100, never used one but my Aircat 1150 has been super so I would take a look at those.



https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000OAHYKA/?tag=atomicindus08-20

 

[619DioFan]

I have the earthquake impacting air ratchet from HF. Pretty strong IMO.

 

[dnschmidt]

Astro has just introduced a 3/8" drive extended air ratchet that's a whopping 22" long and can produce 85 ft-lb on it's own.
Here's the details: https://www.astrotools.com/product/onyx-22-inch-long-reach-3-8-air-ratchet-85ft-lbs-280rpm/