Technical Using a Rattle Gun (Impact Wrench) on...

Years ago, when I was in high school, I worked at the local school bus garage. It was only me and another guy who I got to hanging around with. We had to replace a damper on a Big Block Chevrolet 366 in a full size bus with a fibergl*** flip hood. The damper got stuck about 1/2 way on. His answer was to pull the radiator out and he straddled the radiator support, and with a 15 lbs sledge, drove the damper onto the poor crank snout. To this day, I can’t understand how that snout did not snap off. All I can say is that after he was finished, it ran and drove out of the shop.

 

LOL! Amazing the things we got away with over the years, right?

 

That poor thrust bearing...I cringe every time I see someone drive on a dampener with a hammer.


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Anyone who hasn't done something mechanically stupid just hasn't worked on enough cars yetThe voice of experience............

 

Exactly. We did stupid things when we were young and now we have stories to tell.

I got hit on the shoulder with a 10" Crescent wrench that my dad flung across the shop for using a pair of vise grips on a hose clamp on a Maserati once. (he was a damned good shot). I said, "HEY WHY DID YOU HIT ME WITH THAT CRESCENT WRENCH!!!!!!" he calmly said, "because you were using the vice grips" We both laughed and went to lunch. I knew better and we both knew it.

 

We won’t let students even have access to vice grips and I have, more than once, calmly asked a student for their hammer, then flung it out the door into the parking lot.


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Hell, my dad would've done that if I was using a Cresent wrench LOL! He hated those things.

 

I use my 3/8" ****erfly gun for ***embly, all of the time.

Mine has a knob that allows some regulation. I leave it low, so I am only using it for speed.

Then it is on to the torque wrench, and paint marker.

 

Didn't the early 265/283 sbc use the pound on damper?

 

Using a torque stick on your air gun is a lot more precise than just using the air control with no known torque reference. Not that I consider the torque sticks precise, but they at least have a rating. A torque wrench is best, unless you are the type that keep it in the same drawer as your hammers.

 

Kinda. It was press on, but there was a tool for doing that in the ***embly plant.

Once it left the factory, all bets were off, and all hammers were on.

 

A guy told me years ago, that’s how he set the thrust on a BBC engine...smack the end of the crank and measure. I never liked that idea

 

Drove quite a few of those on between '64 & '70 , 3" long 1 1/2" CIA chunk of br*** & a 24 oz hammer ! There were many 58-64 grain trucks around here with 283's in them !

 

I worked in the shop of a taxi company servicing and repairing a fleet of Chevy caprice’s.
We used impact guns for everything.
I could r&r a transmission in one of those in about an hour and every bolt got removed and reinstalled with the impact.
I have no idea why we worked like that, it was hourly!


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it was either way in his shop and I worked with him a couple of times. I never ever figured out what they were for. LOL

One time we were working on an Auburn and while he went to his box to get the correct wrench I grabbed a crescent and he flung a pair of vise grips at me. His foot slipped and I had to stand up to save the windshield. It made a bruise on my chest. I laughed at him because he would have missed but it was good for pie for a week or so.

Near as I can figure they were a teaching device and I would not have traded my time with him for nothin'.

 

I have a 1/2" drive air impact gun with 750 ft lbs torque in reverse, and I'm not afraid to use it! I even have my air compressor pressure turned up to 140 PSI. I've had the gun for years. I have removed a lot of stuff with it, and I have installed stuff with it as well. At some point, a guy should have some comprehension of how much torque your installing stuff with. Lets not loose fact this was in a welding shop, motor work just didn't happen too often.

The fact is, I'm probably more accurate with my air gun then I am tightening stuff by hand with a wrench or socket and ratchet. I have an old Snap On 3/8" torque wrench and an old Craftsman 1/2" drive torque wrench (both click type) in the tool box, but neither have had the calibration tested in the last 30 years. How close would you bet on them being?

A few years ago, my brother in law and I had a discussion concerning installing wheels on cars. I put them on with my impact, and he was having a fit. I told him to get his torque wrench out and check them. He uses a dial torque wrench, says its more accurate. 4 tires and wheels, the worst one was within 5 ft lbs (loose) of his torque wrench, every time. We tightened and loosened the wheels 4 times.

Those of you in panic mode can relax. It was my car, I don't work on other peoples stuff. I did stop by his place a few weeks ago (different vehicle), and he met me in the driveway with his torque wrench and checked all 4 wheels. Yep, the worst within 3 ft lbs (loose). I wouldn't use my air gun at anyone else's place, nor would I use their air gun at either my place or theirs. I know how my gun works at my place. Gene

 

In my trade as an IronWorker I often was ***igned to rattle up
bolts on new steel structures. It referred to tightening thousands of bolts per day, with multiple crews rattling bolts at the same
time. It would rattle you alright! sounded like automatic weapons
having a fire fight. Hearing protection was not even considered
in my early days. Now my hearing is compromised to the point
there are various tones I dont hear at all. After some time you
could tell when a bolt was in torque specs just by the sound.

 

I was the young guy fresh out of school line mechanic , my first job . Next to my bay was the oldest seasoned mechanic in the shop . He did engine work . A car or truck would come in to his bay . He’d go to work with the “ rattle gun “ set on kill instead of stun ! He’d , dis***emble and re***emble every engine he’d touch with the rattle gun , never touch a ratchet or s****er to clean anything . I became rather good friends with him . I ask him one day why everything so fast with the impact and never clean a damn surface ? His answer was “ young fellow its all about time , if I do 15 that way rather as fast as I can , and I get one come back , look far ahead of the race I am ! “ I just stood there looking stupid as usual , wondering why in the hell am I here trying to do a good job anyway ?

 

I am a retired Ironworker also. Rattled up thousands and thousands of 3/4" -7/8" hard structural bolts. My hearing is shot. Racecars also contributed to my hearing loss. You had to get them tight to spec because there was an inspector with a 4 foot torque wrench checking them behind you a lot of times.

 

Ha, I remember dodging wrenches! I grew up wrenching in wood boats. Lots of br***, so anything other than sockets or wrenches was out of the question. No crescent wrenches, vice grips ever. Dad woulda killed me....

 

I think part of the issue is when people just sit there and let the impact continue to hammer on a bolt. It's like, OK enough, it's tight.

 

Every time I go to my local tire shop, I watch the mechanics rev up the air guns like they are on a N.A.S.C.A.R. pit crew. Several months ago I got a flat and thankfully the car was in my driveway because I needed a 24" breaker bar to get the lugs off. Thank God I wasn't on the side of the road somewhere, I don't know what I would have done. If you ever go to a tire shop check your lugs when you get home.

 

I brought a 1/2" impact to a friend in Mexico that owned a tire shop. He loved it. But no matter who got tires done by him when he was done he would hand them a 4 way and say, "Revisa tu seguridad" (check your safety). He told me that he could not trust it and the only way that anyone knew that they were safe was the check by hand.

 

I use an impact for loosening anything that gives me problems, and for removing wheels.
I use my impact to reinstall wheels.........but the impact I have has been somewhat of a disappointment in its ability to remove things, so it does just fine for putting wheels back on.
All other things are usually wrench or ratchet with a knowing feel. Torque wrenches are used during engine ***embly and not much else.
The little electric (lithium ion battery) powered impacts are great for removing lots of things and even quickly reinstalling a lot of them......but final tightness is always by hand.

 

Around here my observation has been that the vast majority of the heavy duty and car tire shops are using torque sticks on their impact wrenches. So they might bang away, but the torque is limited by the stick. A lot of the sticks are color coded to help the tech grab the right one.

 

I use my 1/2" drive impact to install wheels, but I adjust the torque setting down, and just snug them up and finish by hand.

 

An old co worker used to say "there's tight and then there's oh ****..........."

Ed

 

My Dad was a mechanical engineer for McDonnell-Douglas, he stressed that you want to feel the fit of a nut on the threads to prevent cross threading or galling fasteners. The young and impatient me accepted a used 1/2" impact wrench as part payment for some header work and I used it to remove and install the wheels on my cars just like the "pros" against my Dad's objections. Then one night on the way home from a date the right rear Halibrand and M&H decided to depart from my '32 5w. Amazingly, the car stayed up until just seconds before I pulled to the curb. The big ol' slick rolled on down the road a block or two. My Dad brought me stock lug nuts and a steel wheel and we got it home safely. The next day I again tightened the lug nuts with the impact and then my Dad checked them with his torque wrench, they were only about half way tight! I guess the used impact gun and our home compressor weren't quite the equivalent of the local pro shops. I've used a torque wrench ever since. No more loose wheels.

 

I only use an impact wrench on wheels for removal. I have used it to remove some stubborn bolts as well.
I never use it to install lug nuts. I prefer to torque them by hand.
I had an OT TansAm 6.6 that I had a service station put some tires on for me.
I got around the block and my right front wheel almost came off. The service station had put the lugs on with an impact wrench and stripped the threads on 3 of the 5 lugs. I was not happy and a lesson learned.

 

If you make a living as a mechanic, you will use the impact a lot!For the guys that are an the “ line” time is money! Most guys here are hot Rodders and time means nothing to them.
I still use my impacts even though I’m retired, mainly because I older and lazy! I have learned how to use an impact and can get the torque quite close. I have probably ten impacts ranging from a 1/4 inch to a 1 inch. Like wrenches you need to select the right size tool for the job and learn how to use it!






Bones