Cordless wrench

Can anyone recommend a good rattle gun through experience? Something that can release bolts nuts with ease. So much choice on the market like everything else. I have an old Draper wrench which is heavy and clumsy, and has seen better days. Any advice appreciated.

I have an elderly Snap-On driver which is pretty heavy..

Otherwise I have a number of Worx tools which all share the same 20V battery system which seem to be well made and powerful.

They do a 1/2" impact driver, Amazon list a bare unit for £140 Batteries and chargers are readily available.

I have no experience of this model, but I have been very happy with their other products for several years.

May be worth a look.

Makita would be my first choice. If you're looking for a smaller impact driver they do a 12v kit containing impact driver plus combi drill. I've had the previous 10.8v version for about 10 years and I find the compact size really useful. If you need more welly then go for the 18v range.

I've got a DeWalt impact wrench, plus their impact driver and drill. Seem to be good quality.

My wrench will go up to 900Nm!!

Another vote for the Dewalt 18v cordless impact wrench - it is epic for a home mechanic. Multiple torque settings (three, I think) up to 950nm

Not found a nut or bolt that it won’t undo, but you need dedicated impact sockets - it will destroy ordinary sockets, even really good ones.

Thanks all, I am leaning towards the Dewalt, looks like it’s capable of pretty much anything.

Bear in mind there are several types - you'll want the chunky one (>950NM) but even then, there's a choice of hog ring versus detent pin. You'll almost certainly want the former, as the detent pin is a bit of a pain for removing sockets.

You've then got the choice of batteries - some prefer a single battery with a large capacity (eg 6AH +) - personally, I prefer multiple battieries of smaller capacity. Even a big battery will run out eventually, at which point you have to wait for it to charge. Sure, a smaller battery will run out faster, but there will always be another ready to take its place. I have five 3AH batteries for my range of Dewalt tools - I've never actually run out of charged batteries, although the angle grinder does use them quite quickly.

https://www.screwfix.com/p/dewalt-d...shless-cordless-impact-wrench-bare/4660j

Here's what i use mainly for wheels and castle nuts, it's the nutz.

Just noting that RS are notoriously expensive: https://www.bigredpowertools.co.uk/milwaukee-m18onefhiwf12-502x appears to the the same part a hundred quid cheaper.

I have recently moved from De Walt to Milwaukee power tools, gotta say I am mega impressed by them, personally I wouldn't buy anything else now

You need to balance size/weight of the tool with the torque output, as it'll be doing zero for you if it can't fit in the required space. With the car on axle stands replacing wishbones a few years back I found I couldn't get my old impact wrench to fit (vertically) under all the bolts as it was too long. No problem if you have a car lift, but for DIY with jack/stands it can be crucial, no point in the super 1500nm wrench if it's 3" longer than the 400nm wrench and can't fit to even undo a 250nm bolt.

I also went for Milwaukee recently, but got 3. The 12v right angled one for best access but it's relatively low powered, the smallest normal 12v (300nm) again for good access but higher power, and also the 18v "mid torque" (745nm) for highest power and still at a reasonable size. The 18v "high torque" (1350nm) is quite a bit bigger/heavier and not likely to fit anywhere in the engine bay, so would probably only be used for wheel nuts (and who needs over 1000nm for that, unless you've got a truck?).

Check the "Torque test channel" on youtube, they test everything with their own measuring gear and sometimes the manufacturers claimed numbers are way off. They also found the lower amp/hour batteries are delivering less torque than the higher amp/hour batteries at the same voltage on the same tool, so again for access v's torque reasons you really want 1 or 2 small/light/lowest amp batteries and also 1 or 2 bigger/heavier/ highest amp batteries, just in case.

When I had the coupe CV joint seized onto the drive shaft and trying to remove it with the puller + impact wrench a 450nm wrench was able to completely strip the thread clean off of the hub nut (probably the biggest nut anywhere on the coupe) so really there isn't much need for much more power than that 'cause all you're gonna do is destroy anything that won't come off with a lower powered tool. OK so you lose some power with long extensions on the socket so you might want to go up by 50% or even 100% to account for that, but I don't see any need for more than about 600-900nm working on a coupe, so you're just adding pointless weight/size/cost to the tool by going above that.

Oh indeed, I’ve actually thought quite a lot about these points. I’m still thinking. Working on my Coop in my garage the other day, cleaning the rust off rear discs it did in fact dawn on me, there’s not a lot of room for a rattle gun. Thinking even deeper, there is only so much jobs I can tackle on the beastie. My garage just gives me enough room to remove the wheels, and I can work on the brakes a bit hampered. Mind you replacing the wheels is becoming more of an effort..Still I have premises

Good to see you back on the forum.