Right Angle Impact Driver to Impact Wrench Conversion?

[YoshiMoshi3]

I've seen lots of people convert non-right angle impact drivers into wrenches, by swapping out the anvil, but never a right angle impact driver. Has anyone ever done this conversion and had success, or could provide some tips on how to do so? I don't believe one is currently available commercial. That is a right angle impact WRENCH (not a driver).

Milwaukee 2668-20 M18 3/8 Right Angle Impact Wrench

https://www.milwaukeetool.com/Products/2668-20

Maximum torque of 675 in lb or 56.25 ft lb (Makita Website)
Overall tool height of 58.28 mm (see Project Farm Video, Height not provided on Milwaukee Website)

Milwaukee 2467-20 M12 Right Angle Impact Driver

M12™ 1/4" Hex Right Angle Impact Driver (Tool Only)

www.milwaukeetool.com

Maximum torque of 600 in lb or 50 ft lb (Milwaukee Website)
Overall tool height of 56.86 mm (See Project Farm Video, Height not provided on Milwaukee Website)

Makita XLT01Z Right Angle Impact Driver

Makita USA - Product Details -XLT01Z

18V LXT® Lithium-Ion Cordless Angle Impact Driver, Tool Only

www.makitatools.com

Maximum Torque of 530 in lb or ~44.2 ft lb (Makita Website)
??? Cannot find overall dimensions

Skill RI574502 Right Angle Impact Driver

PWR CORE™ 12 Brushless 12V 1/4 IN. Hex Right Angle Impact Driver with PWR JUMP™ Charger

Make challenging projects a breeze with this impact driver set that includes a Brushless 12V Right Angle Impact Driver, a PWR CORE 2.0Ah Lithium Battery with PWR ASSIST Mobile Charging, and a PWR JUMP Charger.

www.skil.com

Maximum torque of 900 in lb or 75 ft lb
Overall tool height of 66.08 mm (Project Farm Video)

Rigid R87730B

RIDGID 18V SubCompact Brushless Cordless Right Angle Impact Driver (Tool Only) R87730B - The Home Depot

Give a strong addition to your workstation with RIDGID SubCompact LithiumIon Cordless Brushless Impact Wrench with Belt Clip.

www.homedepot.com

Maximum torque of 950 in lb or ~79.2 ft lb
??? Cannot find overall tool height

Project Farm Video:

(see 9:46)

Looking at the parts list on Milwaukee's website for for the M18 right angle impact driver. The M12 version does not show the internals of the head, only the M18:

It appears that the hammer (part 31) impacts the anvil (part 30) which is female with internal teeth. As the anvil rotates it turns Part 21 which rotates the 1/4 female hex that holds 1/4 hex bits. I just don't know if it is a special part that the pin (part 3) needs to go into.

It looks like a regular ratcheting mechanism that you would find in a hand ratchet.

Almost like I just put the anvil of a 1/4 hand ratchet into the right angle impact driver to get a 1/4 right angle impact driver.

Milwaukee does make a right angle impact wrench that is 3/8", 2668-20 https://www.milwaukeetool.com/Products/Power-Tools/Fastening/Impact-Wrenches/2668-20. It looks very similar to the two 1/4 right angle impact drivers they sell.


I'd imagine the right angle impact drivers from the other manufacturers would have similar internals.

For what it's worth, the 3/8" right angle impact wrench that provides much more power than the 2668-20, the 2564-20 (https://www.milwaukeetool.com/Products/Power-Tools/Fastening/Impact-Wrenches/2564-20), with 71.85 mm in overall tool height, or 14.99 mm shorter in overall height than the M12 2467-20.

Maybe if we could modify the Milwaukee 2467-20 M12 Right Angle Impact DRIVER into an impact WRENCH, it would be the lowest profile 1/4" impact wrench. It would save you 15 mm over the larger and much more power 3/8 impact wrench 2264-20, and allow you to use shallow 1/4" impact sockets, that are smaller in overall length than the 3/8" drive sockets. The Ko-Ken ones are about 9 mm shorter. So a modified 2564-20 would give you about 24 mm in extra space or about .95 inches. This might allow you to get your impact in a few additional spaces with not much clearance, so you don't have to resort to hand tools. I know some cases you just have to use hand tools, and not use non-impact tools. But the more places you can get your impact in the faster you can work.

 

[Zewnten]

Why are you obsessed with socket and driver depth? I don’t mean that in a rude way just never seen anyone so stuck on it. Is there a specific project you’re dealing with that requires it?

The long neck M12 1/4 cordless ratchet has plenty of power for its intended bolt sizes. A coworker had the 3/8 angle impact and honestly anything bigger than a 3/8 bolt was a struggle for it if the bolt was uncooperative otherwise the ratchet worked fine in the same sizes.

 

[YoshiMoshi3]

Why are you obsessed with socket and driver depth? I don’t mean that in a rude way just never seen anyone so stuck on it. Is there a specific project you’re dealing with that requires it?

The long neck M12 1/4 cordless ratchet has plenty of power for its intended bolt sizes. A coworker had the 3/8 angle impact and honestly anything bigger than a 3/8 bolt was a struggle for it if the bolt was uncooperative otherwise the ratchet worked fine in the same sizes.

Trying to justify buying 1/4 impact sockets, by gaining access to a 1/4 impact wrench that is of overall lower vertical profile than my 3/8 right angle impact wrench? Maybe 1/4 impacts are somewhat obsolete with 3/8 right angle impacts now available?

 

[mike93lx]

What's on tight enough that chrome can't do it?

 

[WhataTool]

None of them are all that powerful in real life. Probably not worth the effort
The M18 is already one anyways and terrible https://www.milwaukeetool.com/Products/2668-22

 

[Retired dozer fixer]

WHY???

 

[bigfunwmu]

None of them are all that powerful in real life. Probably not worth the effort
The M18 is already one anyways and terrible https://www.milwaukeetool.com/Products/2668-22

The M18 one is absolutely ****. Worst electric tool I think I've ever bought. Won't even break 3/8" bolts (9/16 head) loose.

 

[BlitzcrankJapan]

Ingersoll Rand is the only cordless one I have seen that is actually an impact wrench, rather than just an impact driver, or ratchet wrench.

Note they also have a Cordless ratchet wrench R3150.

20V Right Angle Impact Wrench | Ingersoll Rand Power Tools

The 20V Right Angle Impact Wrench’s right angle design and reactionless torque will spare your knuckles while getting those hard-to-reach jobs done.

powertools.ingersollrand.com

 

[YoshiMoshi3]

The M18 one is absolutely ****. Worst electric tool I think I've ever bought. Won't even break 3/8" bolts (9/16 head) loose.

@bigfunwmu I know you say you don't like the tool, could you by any chance disassemble the head and see if the anvil is a regular 3/8" SQ drive that you can find in most ratchets? It kind of looks like it.


I'm just unsure if it's a custom made product with a hole in the center that the pin goes through it.

If it's a regular anvil that can be found in most ratchets, we might be able to take the 2467-20 M12 Right Angle Impact Driver, and swap in a 1/4 SQ Drive anvil from a ratchet to create a 1/4" Impact Wrench that has an overall tool height of 56.86 mm. This in conjunction with 1/4 impact sockets would save roughly an inch over the 2564-20 3/8 right angle impact wrench that is much stronger than the 2668-20 M18 3/8 Right Angle Impact Wrench, at an overall tool height of 71.85 mm.

71.85 mm - 56.86 mm = 14.99 mm

Plus on average 9 mm difference in 3/8 vs 1/4 impact sockets would provide a total savings of 23.99 mm or roughly 0.95 inches.

The stronger 3/8 right angle impact wrench 2564-20 is to thick to fit in the front of engines in most engine bays. But a custom made 1/4 square 2467-20 M12 Right Angle Impact wrench might fit!

I know you can add an adapter to impact driver to accept sockets, but then you get this deal that takes up a lot of space, in which case you might as well as just use a 3/8 right angle impact wrench which would likely have a smaller overall profile!

I see no point in setups above with the adapter so you can use 1/4 impact sockets, because the overall profile is much larger than a 3/8 right angle impact wrench, in which case you might as well as just use a 3/8 right angle impact wrench.

1/4 is supposed to have an overall lower profile and allow you greater access than 3/8, but this doesn't seem to be the case when it comes to impacts if you have to use an adapter!

I've looked online to find someone who disassemble the weaker right angle impacts, to see if anyone has done it and if there's a hole going through the center of the anvil, but I couldn't find any pictures or videos of anybody disassembling it.