Regretting the Nitro Cat

[kartracer55]

Lately I have been regretting buying the nitrocat 3/8 impact. I LOVE the power and how smooth it is, but Im getting anoyed by the reverse "dial" on the gun. At this point I would recommend the IR TI equivalent with the push buttons. While the gun will probably wear out a bit quicker (or so they say) but reverse is much easier.

The biggest downfall is that you need to hold the gun with one hand and switch it with the other. CP's with the slide pin, Snap On's with the lever, or IR with the push buttons allow for one handed reversing. This pays off if you have to loosen something to make an adjustment and hold that adjustment in place. Not a BIG deal, but still, It has been irking me lately. I really wish I could do something. Im half tempted to disect it and make my own reverse lever lol.

Has anybody else noticed this?

 

[chevy302dz]

I don't know, it really hasen't been a issue when using my AirCats which have the same setup.

 

[kartracer55]

Has your "dial" loosened up at all? Id imagie if it got really loose I could use my thumb to turn it but the quality is SO good that mine is still tight.

Jim

 

[bmwpower]

I'll take it off your hands....

 

[chevy302dz]

Has your "dial" loosened up at all? Id imagie if it got really loose I could use my thumb to turn it but the quality is SO good that mine is still tight.

Jim

Mine hasn't loosened up much. if you wanted to be able to turn it with one finger the gun would have to be modified.

 

[kartracer55]

Oh son of a *****. lol Go look on the first page of www.aircat.com.... The guns now have a flip lever lol. Im emailing to see if I can order a retrofit. Wierddd....

 

[chevy302dz]

Oh son of a *****. lol Go look on the first page of www.aircat.com.... The guns now have a flip lever lol. Im emailing to see if I can order a retrofit. Wierddd....

Now that is definatily strange. On the upside it looks like the switches will at least fit the case.

 

[TNToy]

Oh son of a *****. lol Go look on the first page of www.aircat.com.... The guns now have a flip lever lol. Im emailing to see if I can order a retrofit. Wierddd....

Look again. It's only on the twin-hammer Aircats. They haven't put it on the twin-clutch NitroCats yet.

Wonder why...

Something else that's interesting: Go look at the front page of www.aircat.com again. They're selling a gun preset to torque fasteners to either 80 or 140 ft/lbs. Interesting idea. I could definitely see the appeal to guys who work in tire stores, or the walmart monkeys who only do tire rotations all day long.

 

[Fast Orange]

Jim-
I have no idea what kind of adjustments you're making using an impact gun,but it sounds like the flat rate monkeys have corrupted your desire to do the job right instead of doing it fast- next you'll be torqing heads with the thundergun.

George

 

[kartracer55]

The emailed me saying "you cant make the switch on these guns, but the techs really like the new patented switch lever for ease of use." Im thinking you CAN make the switch, but they would rather you buy a new gun. If you check out the Nitrocat page they are showing the Mini 1/2 drive gun with these lever.

Jim

 

[kartracer55]

Jim-
I have no idea what kind of adjustments you're making using an impact gun,but it sounds like the flat rate monkeys have corrupted your desire to do the job right instead of doing it fast- next you'll be torqing heads with the thundergun.

George

We do alot of custom work for performance shops on the side and I had to put in these PITA camber plates that require you to loosen the three strut tower nuts, flip and twist the plates, then push/pull the strut to get the specs right then zip then down without moving them. Couldnt do it with my nitrocat. Had to do one of the belts on My car which has no automatic tensioner (freakin mitsubishi) so I was holding it with one hand fumbling with my nitro cat. Little things that irk me. Yeah, I realize I could use hand tools but my boss wouldnt like to see me sitting there with a ratchet trying to run down three nuts like that. Not a big deal but its a convenience thing.

Jim

 

[Dodgepu360]

from looking at those crappy pictures it looks like the bottom of the housing is different where the lever is on the newer ones

why don’t you just take a piece of material (wood, plastic, what ever is laying around) and epoxy it onto the switch so it extends down so you can flip it with your thumb

it doesn’t have to look pretty it just has to work, they probably got the idea form somone who had done that