Clarke electric impact wrenches

[sierraman]

Looking at buying mains operated one of these. Would come in really handy for suspension work, have nuts off in an instant I'm guessing. Anyone had one before? Was it any good?

[garbaldy]

They are not to bad although large and heavy they don't have the grunt I was expecting, I stumped mine on the blingo wheel nuts,

If your localish your welcome to borrow mine to try it properly before buying one.

[sierraman]

How big are we talking would they be too cumbersome to change a wishbone or a strut?

[garbaldy]

Here you go 12in long. the Milwaukee wipes the floor with it but then at six times the price it bloody well should too.

[sierraman]

Thanks for that, it's not that bad then. Reason I thought about getting one is that some jobs such as bottom arm take a fucking age as I'm pissing about with breaker bars. Any disadvantage that I ought to know?

[dollywobbler]

As discussed, they're bloody heavy and quite bulky. Mine struggled with wheelnuts that someone had done up far, far too tight, but undid a hub nut on a BX that I'd snapped tools trying to remove. I don't use it very often, but I'm generally very glad of it when needed.

[Danblez]

Clarke one above has some welly but you won't be wanting to swing it about much if you are in your back. If you have a ramp it may be a bit better.

 

I had an awkward bolt at the weekend changing some discs and I couldn't get anywhere near it with the impact gun.

[sierraman]

The smaller plug in fag light type is half the price and smaller. Does this sound a better buy?

[theshadow]

have got the cig/battery one works fine,even on the bottom bolts to change cambelts tc

[gordonbennet]

I've got a cordless which i use once in a blue moon, it will shift wheelbolts but it gets used mainly where suspension bolts are likely to be rusted and simple brute force guaranteed to snap them off, usually does the trick.

[Tamworthbay]

I use them at work, they take every bit of abuse thrown at them and will do everything the cordless ones we had before will do and have never failed on anything. Cost is pennies compared to the cordless type. When my own cordless one dies I will be buying a Clarke one to replace it.

[sierraman]

So what's best for the money? The fag lighter job or the corded one? It's going to get used on mainly suspension work, bottom arms, undoing hub nuts etc..

[beko1987]

Interested in this too, the nuts and bolts under the zx are very crusty...

 

Do you need special sockets to use them?

[garethj]

I've got exactly that one, it's never failed as long as you've got enough access to the nut.  It comes with 4 or 5 common size sockets but you might need to buy a few others as and when.

[sierraman]

What the corded one?

[garethj]

Yes, mine is the corded one.

[saucedoctor]

That looks like a stupendous thing. I hate undoing wheelnuts as I have arms like pipe cleaners and arthritis.

[Dead_E23]

I've got a Ryobi One+ 18v 1/2" impact wrench like this one.    

 

Despite being rated at 265Nm (i.e. 195 ft lb), I don't believe it is anything like this powerful as it completely shit at cracking off wheel nuts.  I suspect it might eventually undo a moderately tight one, but you'd be bored rigid by the time it did and it would probably be on its second battery.   I tend to use it as a nut runner, at which it's quite useful.   The cordless drill in the One+ system is quite good, which is ok but as drills tend to get used around the house you have to be careful the batteries don't get too filthy from working on cars.

 

I've found that an air impact wrench is the way to go for undoing really tight nuts, but they suffer from a couple of disadvantages: i) I can't stand the horrible racket my compressor makes ii) cheap air tools last about 5 minutes, after which they'd struggle to undo a toothpaste cap.

[Tamworthbay]

Mines the 240v one, it striped out the rear of my mx5 with no trouble and there were some very big and very crusty nuts on there.

[garbaldy]

Ive checked the ratings for both and the Clark mains one is 450nm the cordless one is 610nm that explains the power difference on siezed nuts.

[sierraman]

450nm sounds plenty enough for anything car sized. First job I've got lined up is the exhaust flexi. If there's one job you would need an impact gun there's it.

[Guest bangerfan101]

having bought the 450nm cordless Clarke impact driver for 143 an some english pounds or there about .

i,ve used it propperly one's . and now it point blank refuses to charge .

 

 

pile of tossed on bumwad  imo

[Dave_Q]

I've got a cordless one, a Neilsen brand that was about 65 quid on ebay, allegedly 265Nm max torque.

 

It's a well handy thing but the torque levels are optimistic at best, it won't shift wheelnuts etc unless you crack them off first.

 

Having said that it seems the max torque levels for the Clarke ones are made of lie as well based on peoples experiences.

[Bren]

I had considered one of these.

 

But because I invested in a compressor I will just buy an impact gun instead.

[hauserplenty]

I wouldn't bother with a 12v one. If you spray PB Blaster or similar on rusty fasteners first, that corded one should work just fine. It's times like these I wish we had 220V mains as the equivalent tool stateside is likely a harbor freight job which will struggle to loosen valve stem caps.

If it's got no regulator, as an air impact would I'd suggest you use it for disassembly only. They don't call 'em breaker bars for nothin'...

[Sigmund Fraud]

I have the corded version of the Clarke gun and it's been extremely helpful in undoing crank pulleys, wishbones and all sorts of other stubborn, large bolts.

 

What makes it effective seems to be the impact effect rather than the sheer torque it produces. For that reason, you usually need to persist for a few seconds - hold the gun steady, keep squeezing the trigger and pray that the bolt gets undone before it gets completely chewed by the socket.

[doobietoo]

Having bought a compressor a couple of months ago MrsD bought me an erbauer air impact driver for xmas...all in all the pair cost about £140 the same as a decent cordless driver and I can do lots of other things with the compressor like pump up tyres and spray things.....I will report back when I have used it in anger on Rex...

[mossymossy]

I have the clark mains one. It managed my transit hub nuts and they were mega tight.

[hennabm]

I have the corded version and have found it very useful. Agree it is quite heavy but I don't find it a problem holding it for the time required.