Modern Vespa

Some folks might be thinking of a pneumatic or electric impact wrench whenever the subject is brought up. Those can be expensive items to have on hand. For our purposes, a manual impact driver is a low cost alternative that will do the job without excessive force. Here is one:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09D33CLZS

edited to remove loads of dross from the URL... jimc

I've had my outlet store cheapie for 40 years. Just the thing for stuck Phillips head screws.

I've got one from Sears, picked it up almost 50 years ago. Still works great, but I have broken and replaced bits over time.

Same here. Close to 50 year old Craftsman hand impact. Mine is even still in the red plastic pouch it came in. One of the oldest tools in my toolbox that I bought myself.

My red pouch split on the side, but I mended it. Things just don't last anymore, do they?

Love mine! Works a treat...grateful to jimc and whoever else talked me into one.

a great addition to the tool box and a real must have for scooterwork-- especially effective on stuck screws.

however, I wouldn't consider it as a viable replacement for a full on impact gun.

No, it is not. But when you are a broke 16 yo kid working on a Triumph Bonneville or a wonky ironhead Sportster back in the day, it was a miracle tool. I still use it when breaking one thing loose and I don't feel like firing up the compressor. I have not taken the leap into the electric ones yet as my old Rockwell still works great.

Had a yamaha ym2c in 1967 and after chewing up all the crosshead screws on it I decided I would buy an impact driver big money for an apprentice in those days but it did come in a tin box which was handy for keeping all the bits together. Still use it on my mp3 to crack the 6mm crossheads on it.

I think my impact driver is about fifty years old. It's the exact same model my Dad used in his motorcycle shop ordered from the same place.

They have their place in the toolbox but I doubt they have the oomph necessary for variator and clutch nuts. They certainly don't have the finesse of a proper impact wrench.

People swear by the power of their battery-powered impact wrenches but I have had no reason to test them due to the perfection of my Ingersoll Rand 231C pneumatic, a shop standard for decades. Of course you have to have a compressor to power it…but I am of the opinion that everyone with a garage should own a compressor.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0002SRM3I/

Pro tip: many Amazon tools are available "used" at very good prices.

Observation: Harbor Freight impact wrenches have been for me one of the few unacceptable products I've purchased from them.

I agree. A pneumatic impact will break a nut free and keep on spinning. A hand held impact gets whacked with a hammer - hoping breaking the nut or screw free, but no more. It is almost barbaric compare to using an air supplied impact, but they both have there place.

Not exactly. Each time you strike the impact driver, a cam inside the tool rotates the nut/screw 1/16 to 1/8 turn in the direction it's set to, so long as you maintain tension in the direction you want it to turn. Theoretically, you could unscrew a screw or nut all the way (very slowly), but the purpose of the tool is to break a stuck fastener loose. Plus, it requires no electricity or air, and easily fits in a small tool bag.

You should try an electric impact sometime. If you don't need all the power of a pneumatic impact wrench, they are really nice. Lighter and not tethered to an air hose. When I installed high shelves in my garage I attached the brackets to the walls with 3/8" x 3" lag bolts. The electric impact was super convenient for driving the lag bolts into the wall studs.

I agree that every garage should be equiped with compressed air. Also a good distribution of the air is helpful so you don't have hoses running everywhere to trip over.

Very nice setup. We may be splitting hairs here but if you're talking about driving lag bolts then you're probably using an impact DRIVER, a somewhat less-powerful tool that is intended to run in both directions but is not necessarily cut out for loosening lug nuts and recalcitrant scootery parts like variator and clutch nuts.

That's what an impact WRENCH is for. An impact wrench is rarely appropriate for use tightening stuff, and will easily run lag bolts right through the substrate they're going into. I have only one use case for tightening using an impact wrench - when there's a "torque stick" in between the wrench and the fastener to modulate the fastener tightness. But that's only for the rare circumstances when a torque wrench can't work or won't fit. (The oddly-designed clutch nut on my Scarabeo 500ie is one of those use cases.)

Battery torque drivers are fantastic. I have a Bosch 12V one that is not much more than a toy but have found it very useful even so. I haven't had a project that needed more than that yet.

I bought an electric impact gun back in the days when Scootdawg was hot. It has been helpful on a lot of tasks in addition to belt replacement, which is what I bought it for. I used to engage it for lug nut removal and replacement when I used to replace brake pads on my cars. It was much easier than breaking them free with a breaker bar and cheater pipe and putting them back with a T Handle.

I have a similar tool - very useful in some cases. 👍

It absolutely couldn't touch my ET2 exhaust bolts though, so I cobbled some bits and pieces together (1/2" to 3/8 adaptor + socket + hex bit) to get them off with a massive DeWalt impact wrench.

Now, none of this is advised (fandangled adaptors etc) since things can literally explode in your face. I've since added a load of impact rated sockets/hexes etc to my rack.

Also, got myself a compact air impact wrench - absolutely love the size of it. Rarely use the big battery giant now. 👍👍

Eh?

How do you stand such a disorganized shop?

Seriously, that's a good looking space. Room to move around.

You're right. I am referring to an electric impact "driver". As I mentioned, it's better for lighter jobs. I actually used it on the variator and clutch nuts on my wife's ET4. It's up to that task as long as you don't have a stubborn nut. But I'd never grab it to loosen lug nuts or automotive suspension or exhaust nuts that are exposed to the elements daily. I'll leave that work for a pneumatic impact wrench.

Funny story. Back in 2011 I was 2000 miles from home and needed to replace the intake o-rings on my 1949 Harley-Davidson. These aren't a commen size you can walk into ACE hardware and purchase. I called my wife at home and told her to go to the garage and stand at the left end of my work bench. Then look for the nails in the wall above the bench holding various bags of gaskets an seals. Take the bag from the 4th nail from the bottom and send it to me. The next day I got a FedEx overnight envelope with the o-rings I needed. It pays to be a little OCD sometimes. 😂

Nothing wrong with OCD.
I flew at night for 15 years in Special Ops. We were always flew blacked out inside and out. When I needed something, or needed to adjust something, at night, in bad weather, in a pitch black cockpit, I needed to be able to reach without looking. So, anything I brought to the cockpit went in the same place, every time.
I transferred that habit to my garage, through 26 moves with the military, for the same reason. I've had to direct my better half to a specific spot in a specific drawer in my tool chest or pegboard when she needed to fix something while I was deployed.
Plus, in aviation, tools and equipment have specific slots in the shop and toolbox so you can immediately tell if you left a tool inside an airplane or engine when you're done.

LOL. A BV350 with a wrecked front end was given to me a couple of weeks ago. Yesyerday, I cut off the axle and removed the twisted rotor. Piaggio puts those rotor screws on with blue thread locker. I stripped 4 out of 6 ... it's a 4mm hex and really should be 5/6mm if they are going to thread lock those things. Even using an electric impact driver with a hex bit stripped the last 3. Anyway, after several methods and failures to remove, I cut a slot in each of the heads and tried an electric impact river to no avail. It was going to take the heads clean off.
Finally. I pulled out the 40yo Craftsman impact driver and hammered them out.

Rdhood, what's the white thing on your hammer?

The black end is the soft face - usually semi-hard rubber. The white face is a harder nylon/plastic.

I finally caved and bought a Milwaukee impact wrench, and wish I got one years ago. Just shocked how powerful it is and it's even the 12 volt one. Took my exhaust hanger bolts right off on my 9 year old truck crusted with Minnesota road salt.

Funny that at least 3 of us have the same Craftsman hand impact tool. I've had this one since I was 16 years old. That makes it 46 years old.

I ended up with a Milwaukee M18 impact driver a few years ago, and it's spectacular. It's very useful for scooter belt maintenance and especially unscrewing when you are taking off the drive belt cover. Those bolts just zip right out. Same when I'm taking off the plastic panels from my BV250. It's tedious undoing all the screws with a hand driver, but quick and easy with the Milwaukee. Putting them back in is something you should think carefully about because you can do a lot of damage fast.