Luxury Tools

[IdahoDoug]

Be aware the Milwaukee can only generate 35 lbs-ft of torque. The Harbor Freight model is nearly twice that. Looks like a similar setup to mine otherwise.
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1987 2WD Wolfsburg Vanagon Weekender "Mango", two fully locked 80 Series LandCruisers. 2017 Subaru Outback boxer. 1990 Audi 90 Quattro 20V with rear locking differential, 1990 burgundy parts Vanagon. 1984 Porsche 944, 1988 Toyota Supra 5 speed targa, 2002 BMW 325iX, 1982 Toyota Sunrader

[Sodo]

[dabaron]

[Wildthings]

[shagginwagon83]

There is a 55ft lb model by Milwaukee but some say it's too 'fast/powerful' when tightening nuts. It's also bigger.

I didn't buy it since I didn't want to invest in the whole family of batteries. I think my harbor freight drill bit to 3/8" drive adapter is the bomb.
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Brandon
"Jo Ann" - '83.5 Westfalia EJ22e w/Peloquin
Instagram @joannthevan

[tencentlife]

I used to have 3/8" and 1/4" drive air ratchets. The 3/8" is fairly useless, it just won't get into the places where a powered ratchet would make a real difference, anywhere it can fit I can swing a ratchet well enough. The 1/4" is the game changer. I do most hand work in 1/4" drive anyway, jump to 1/2" for the bigger stuff.
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Experience is kryptonite to doctrine.

[shagginwagon83]

[Sodo]

And now that its $99 again, it's sold out.... but I put my email in for a notification when back instock.

I'm doing brake disc pads today on (F150)?. I would have enjoyed this ratchet for unbolting the calipers which have fairly large, LONG fine-thread bolts with loctite on the threads that just seem to clickety-clickety "forever".

On a Syncro the skid bars are bolted on where a normal ratchet gets one-click per swing. Looking forward to this tool. It seems like it would e nice to have the 1/4" version too. It's $199 as a bare tool.

I am pretty much hooked on battery tools, no more going under a car with an air hose locking creeper wheels etc.
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'90 Westy EJ25, 2Peloquins, 3knobs, pressure-oiled GT mainshaft, filtered, cooled gearbox
'87 Tintop w 47k 53k, '12 SmallCar EJ25, cooled filtered gearbox
....KTMs, GasGas, SPOT mtb

[Merian]

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Milwaukee-M12-12-Volt-.../202196520

add 1/4, 3/8, 1/2 driver for sockets
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[Sodo]

As a ratchet for under the van that’ll stack up to be about 5 inches tall and you can’t use it like a lever arm to finish with “hand torque”.

Can’t use it on bolts between the fan and the radiator.

But probably a nice tool to have!
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'90 Westy EJ25, 2Peloquins, 3knobs, pressure-oiled GT mainshaft, filtered, cooled gearbox
'87 Tintop w 47k 53k, '12 SmallCar EJ25, cooled filtered gearbox
....KTMs, GasGas, SPOT mtb

[Merian]

about 1 inch tall, past the head

no idea where you get 5" from
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[Sodo]

[IdahoDoug]

Wups missed these comments. So, no - 65 is not too much and in fact there are a lot of fasteners that test it that power. I used it to disassemble the entire top half of the Lexus V8 in its first debut. I think where people are concerned is on the tightening use. I don't tighten them with the motor's torque. Here's what I do and you guys would also do the same as its logical and eliminates breaking fastener danger - a HUGE sin that you'll all agree would make the whole tool a bad idea.

First off, the huge time savings is in the loosening where you are changing 30 seconds of swinging a ratchet into 5 seconds. If the fastener is in a tight spot, you're changing 60 seconds into the same 5 seconds. That would be the case where you can only swing a few clicks and we all know there's lots of those. So that's loosening advantage where you WANT the 65lb ft to break things loose and get down to business. Add to that the LED light way in there directly on the bolt you're heading for and you start to understand that this can take a half hour out of a 3 hour project easy.

On the tightening side, naturally you don't want to bring the fasteners home with 65lb ft as you'd destroy things so here's how it works. You start it by fingers to ensure its not cross threaded, then full tilt for a couple seconds and then stop. It's easy to manage this precision with the trigger specifically designed to assist you. Then, the Harbor Freight model has a ratchet in its head just like a handheld - not sure that's apparent. So you stop using the power and simply ratchet as if you have a normal ratchet in your hand and tighten it by your normal use of "feel". Once they've all been zipped into place and then hand tightened (without changing tools, you simply start swinging the tools handle like normal) then you go back with a torque wrench and ensure its done right.

That same built in normal ratchet head benefits on the loosening also. When its 65 is not enough and stalls, you instantly revert to using the ratchet head and you can pull as hard as you want just as if you had a metal hand ratchet in your hand. It's seamless without a single wasted motion and certainly without changing tools.

It'll also change the way you sequence fasteners. For instance, rather than 1 bolt inserted into the intake, hand started then grab your hand ratchet and start swinging until that one bolt is tightened and move to the next, here's what it changed me to. I insert and hand start all 14 bolts, grab the electric ratchet and tighten them all one at a time in quick succession more like an assembly line. You may already do that sometimes but this makes that the obvious winning strategy and maximizes the speed. Very quick. So it changed my process a bit by highlighting the advantage of assembly line thinking with a fast tool in your mitt.

Many of the comments above imply you tighten with the electric function and express concern. None of you would dare do that on an aluminum block or other part, and so I wanted to dispel that misnomer.

So in summary of my view, yes the 65 is of value if the Milwaukee is indeed half as powerful, as I stalled this 65 a dozen times in this project. And no, the tightening on electric snapping things is only an issue if you're misusing the tool. 10 minutes in your hands and you'd understand that, and grasp how it is a seamless process where you stop with the electric and without missing a beat do the last revolution or so by hand as usual.

PS - I will check its power with my torque wrench and post up.
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1987 2WD Wolfsburg Vanagon Weekender "Mango", two fully locked 80 Series LandCruisers. 2017 Subaru Outback boxer. 1990 Audi 90 Quattro 20V with rear locking differential, 1990 burgundy parts Vanagon. 1984 Porsche 944, 1988 Toyota Supra 5 speed targa, 2002 BMW 325iX, 1982 Toyota Sunrader

[dobryan]

X2
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Dave O
'87 Westy w/ 2002 Subaru EJ25 and Peloquin TBD

"To travel hopefully is a better thing than to arrive." Robert Louis Stevenson

MD>Canada>AK>WA>OR>CA>AZ>UT>WY>SD
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=620646

Building a bus for travel in Europe (euroBus)
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=695371

The Western Syncro build
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=746794

[[email protected]]

Any recommendations on a cheap battery impact gun that would work on removing rear axle bolt?

[Wildthings]

[shagginwagon83]

I vote on investing in a breaker bar/socket setup with a 6 foot cheater bar. $20 for socket, $20 for breaker bar, and $30 for a strong pipe.

I was looking at an electric Ryobi impact gun from Home depot that advertises 350ft/lb of torque. Would be nice to tighten the axle nut but I would imagine needing more power to remove the nut - especially if it has been awhile since you have removed it.
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Brandon
"Jo Ann" - '83.5 Westfalia EJ22e w/Peloquin
Instagram @joannthevan

[IdahoDoug]

Axle bolts, crank pulley bolts and other high torque fasteners won't be removed by lower cost tools. Agree with the comments replying that manual tools with leverage and force are best to remove. For tightening, any tool that MEASURES in that force level, versus a tool that merely claims to reach that level would be best.

So I tried to measure the torque output and failed. When it stalls it goes into hammer mode so all accuracy is lost. My estimate of its stall torque was around 25lb-ft so pretty measly. Once I had the test setup on the bench I also checked my recently purchased Harbor Freight click torque wrench and i was off a whopping 20%. Scared me enough I'm going to switch back to my old beam style, toss it and buy a quality click type torque wrench.
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1987 2WD Wolfsburg Vanagon Weekender "Mango", two fully locked 80 Series LandCruisers. 2017 Subaru Outback boxer. 1990 Audi 90 Quattro 20V with rear locking differential, 1990 burgundy parts Vanagon. 1984 Porsche 944, 1988 Toyota Supra 5 speed targa, 2002 BMW 325iX, 1982 Toyota Sunrader

[Sodo]

[Wildthings]