Opinions: electric impact wrench
I was very hesitant as well, especially since there were zero reviews anywhere on them when I was looking. I dont use mine everyday but I have definitely put it to work this past year. Countless wheel changes, a lot of suspension and exhaust work on my fireturd, engine removal/install and rebuild on my G8, header/catback/intake install on a Fbomb, and a few random other things. I use the 3/8 impact more than the 1/2. The 3/8 has 3 torque levels which allows you to not destroy things where the 1/2 is variable trigger only, but that half puts out some power. I also highly suggest the M12 milwaukee ratchet 2457-20. I already had an M12 impact driver so I didnt need another battery. I believe my next purchase will be a milwaukee 2555-20 1/2 impact for those really tight to reach spots.
TECH Fanatic
Joined: Mar 2014
Posts: 1,266
Likes: 165
The biggest thing everyone needs to realize on the Milwaukee stuff is they have different levels of quality on all their stuff including the batteries. Get the batteries that either say high output or high demand on them. They are the best and longest lasting. The tools must say fuel high output brushless. I have had all the different tools and hands down the Milwaukee Fuel high output brushless stuff is the best longest lasting stuff on the market. Period. Absolutely incredible.
i think up until a year ago milwaukee was outpacing everyone with battery charge and discharge logic controllers. the batteries just lasted waaay longer than everyone else both in power use and number of charging cycles. now some of my friends have the newest green brand and yellow brand and they're pretty good these days. I'm just so invested with the milwaukee tools it'd be a nightmare scenario to change everything over.
I have the 20v ingersol rand and the milwaukee fuel 1/2" impact. They both have been great. I really love all the m18 milwaukee tools. The ingersol rand isnt brushless but it has more then enough power, often too much. Its also lighter then the milwaukee.
https://www.northerntool.com/shop/to...1287_200641287
https://www.northerntool.com/shop/to...1287_200641287
My air impact wrench wouldn't do a thing on a balancer bolt after many tries, pipe on breaker bar also nogo, so I tried my electric 1/2" Harbor Freight impact that I've had lying around for a few years, it worked in 3 seconds! Figured I'd never get any real use out of that thing. Yeah it's HF, and not exactly compact, but... cheap, and lots of torque.
To add to this thread what sockets do you guys carry in your go bag with these? I dont like to carry more than I need so I carry impact deep 10mm, 15mm, 18mm, 3/4" and 22mm. Shallow 10mm, 1/2". 9/16", 5/8", "3/4" and a 4" extension. What say you all?
I wanted to tell you guys. I picked up a junkyard 5.3 aluminum engine. I tore the whole thing down with my ryobi 18v impact. Until I ran the battery down it even undone the head bolts. I forgot to have another battery charged so I got the second head halfway off when the battery died. I can remember if I undid the crank bolt with it. I think I did tho.
TECH Senior Member
Joined: Jun 2016
Posts: 22,288
Likes: 3,615
From: Central Cal.
I wanted to tell you guys. I picked up a junkyard 5.3 aluminum engine. I tore the whole thing down with my ryobi 18v impact. Until I ran the battery down it even undone the head bolts. I forgot to have another battery charged so I got the second head halfway off when the battery died. I can remember if I undid the crank bolt with it. I think I did tho.
valve covers
exhaust manifolds (badly rusted)
spark plugs
complete head (including all the rocker bolts) and about half another head and all the rocker bolts. Then battery died.
I may have undone the balancer bolt in the middle of doing the heads. I’m 99% positive I did because I remember being very impressed with this $99 (I got it free as a promotion as part of a package) impact. Had I had another batter charged I would have done the whole motor with it.
If you already have some of the ryobi 18v tools, this impact is well worth 99 bucks. I’ve had this one for years. Over 5 years and I use it a lot. No problem with it st all. I’ll tell you how long I’ve had it. I bought this kit. It came with a nice bag. I dug the bad out of my attic a couple days ago and the inner liners of the bag crumbled to black dust when I started messing with the bag. So probably a good bit over 5 years. I ought to start marking the year on my tools as I buy them. Lol.
My air impact wrench wouldn't do a thing on a balancer bolt after many tries, pipe on breaker bar also nogo, so I tried my electric 1/2" Harbor Freight impact that I've had lying around for a few years, it worked in 3 seconds! Figured I'd never get any real use out of that thing. Yeah it's HF, and not exactly compact, but... cheap, and lots of torque.
I wanted to tell you guys. I picked up a junkyard 5.3 aluminum engine. I tore the whole thing down with my ryobi 18v impact. Until I ran the battery down it even undone the head bolts. I forgot to have another battery charged so I got the second head halfway off when the battery died. I can remember if I undid the crank bolt with it. I think I did tho.
Yeah I gave up on the one bag to carry plan already and bought a decent set of complete metric/SAE 1/2" impact sockets with a nice carry case to go with the electric. I store em both together and only use them on afs jobs. In the shop I still use air