As an engineer, I hate few things more than wasted time. If I can do something as well or better in half or a quarter of the time — especially if that something is a mindless task that I don’t enjoy — then I’ll pay quite a bit to make that happen. Here’s the thing, though: If you’re a mechanic used to using hand tools, you can save a shit ton of time without even spending $50. That’s the beauty of the impact driver, a tool you simply cannot afford not to have as a mechanic.
When I first learned to work on cars, I was 18 years old, and I’d just purchased a $1400 1992 Jeep Cherokee XJ with 225,000 miles on its odometer. The thing leaked oil, it had a seized brake caliper, there was lots of rust, and pretty much everything needed to be repaired in some fashion. I drove to a neighboring college, where Jake (the brilliant mind behind Out Motorsports) taught me some of the ropes, and after a quick Walmart run, I had myself a basic Stanley tool set.
Something like this:
You can see there’s a screwdriver in that set that comes with a little quarter-inch drive that fits an adapter, which itself fits various bits — torx, flathead, philips head, etc. This is what I used when working on my cars, though eventually I bought a dedicated screwdriver since the adapter in the set above is a bit thick for tight holes.
For years, I undid every screw and small bolt in my car using my right wrist. Interior door panels? Twist of the wrist. 11mm valve cover bolts? Twist of the wrist. That tiny sheetmetal screw holding my fuel filter to the unibody rail? Wristicuffs.
Even years later, after I moved to Detroit, bought a bunch of car projects, and yanked all sorts of parts from my local junkyard pretty much daily: I used a handheld screwdriver. Then a reader and friend named Jamie — owner of a 300,000 mile Mazda MPV — gave me a gift that truly changed my life.
Walmart was having some kind of special on its impact drivers, so he picked up a pair for cheap and gave me one:
Upon using my new gift, I couldn’t help but place my forehead into my palm and sigh: My God, I wasted so, so, so much of my life using a handheld screwdriver. Spinning each thread out of whatever I was unscrewing — first the initial ones that release the tension holding the parts together, then the next thread, then the next, then the next — and doing it for probably thousands of screws over the years had been completely pointless. I probably lost days of my life just undoing screws, and all because — for whatever reason — I didn’t think to buy an impact driver.
Don’t be like young-me. Go to the store and just buy one. This shed I just put together has tons of awful reviews which said they spent days trying to erect it, almost certainly with a handheld screwdriver:
By the way, this shed is freaking incredible, and the candy-asses who paid far-too-little for such a big shed, and are complaining about how thin-gauge the metal is, need to wake up. The fact that this giant shed was flat-packed into a single box, and offers so much stiffness despite the thin gauge of steel — honestly, it’s a marvel of engineering. Somewhere in China, an engineer is reading those reviews, with a tear dribbling down their cheek, wondering what else these ungrateful customers could possibly have wanted.
I, meanwhile, with impact driver in hand, was not at all deterred by the brilliant design’s main compromise of requiring quite a bit of assembly, writing in my review:
I totally get why people gave this shed one star; it’s frustrating to build! But here’s the thing: You bought a dirt-cheap shed, not a high-quality blow-molded plastic one. In order for the manufacturer to keep the price down, they necessarily had to build a structure out of incredibly thin steel that 1. Could be flat-packed into a single box and 2. Could be configured into a shape that allows the thin material to have significant stiffness.
That’s the thing here: If you want something cheap, you have to reduce material cost, and the best way to do that is to rely on clever geometry to give thin-gage material stiffness. And so that’s what you get: Lots of really thin pieces of metal in a single box. As such, you’ve got to screw all that thin metal together into a big shed. It’s a lot of work.
But in the end, you have a shed. A decent shed for the price, actually.
Shed reviews. The Autopian has it all! Anyway, here’s a cheap Harbor Freight impact driver for $40:
You have to get the socket bits, like this set I own from Ryobi:
And the socket adapters are clutch for low-torque 10mms bolts and such:
Just trust me on this one. You have other things to do other than twist a handle in a freezing cold junkyard.
Top photo: The Autopian
Man, I feel seen here David. I just finally got an impact wrench about a year or so ago. It’s embarrassing to admit that, but here I am.
I have used them before but couldn’t bring myself to buy one until I got so deep into renovating a house that I couldn’t avoid buying one. Same with a nail gun, table saw, and a bunch of other tools. Then I used them on vehicles and collected many, many more. It is a beautiful thing, except when you run into a bolt or screw too confined to use the power tool on and then it is back to the old ways with lots of grumbling.
An impact driver is a game changer. You will love pairing it with a mid torque 1/2″ impact wrench and a 3/8″ cordless ratchet, though. Those two can cover pretty much every suspension, brake and powertrain component, as well as body parts.
I don’t like using impact tools on delicate fasteners for obvious reasons.
I agree that drill drivers or impact drivers are indispensable, but the key is to be careful of the torque when tightening. It can be too easy to tear the head off a screw and then you’re… screwed.
Somehow, I am both shocked and completely unsurprised that DT had never before used a power tool to combat Michigan Rust.
Aside from an impact driver, a rubber or leather mallet is your second-best friend when it comes to fasteners of a questionable oxidation state.
I got the biggest 1/2″ M18 impact wrench Milwaukee offered 8 years ago, and with the largest battery capacity at the time. Big money back then (and still!), i think b/w $400-500 iirc.
But it has saved me so much time with lug bolts in the driveway or the side of the road when time is of the essence, trailer repairs, big ledger and lag screws into timber, head bolts, suspension hardware, and once in the mountains above Eagle CO., my team and i assembled a plate arch bridge that had 1,200 bolts to to tighten and hold it all together, so the torque limiting settings were great. Tighten bolt to just past hand tight, then torque to spec by hand. Saved us weeks of wrist pain pulling those huge steel sheets together! Fun fact- to speed the process up a bit (or so we thought), we bought 2 or 3 Horror Frought 120V impacts to run off the generators, and all of them burned up. Smoke, one had flames, all melted and failed after about 100 bolts of nearly constant duty cycle, something they were clearly not made to endure!. But the red plastic big boi battery impact lives on!
Try getting a second drill. Have one for Philips bits and one for sockets. Makes the job a lot easier
On some jobs I use 3. Screwdrivers and drill bits.
I had a similar experience when I was looking to upgrade my bed situation after college years ago. The flat pack headboard I really wanted had terrible reviews – all bemoaning how long it took to assemble and how many screws there were.
I bought an impact driver and ripped through the assembly in 30 minutes. I’m certain it would have been a 3 hour ordeal and a bunch of Advil if I were stuck with a screwdriver.
I too recently assembled an entire cheap, flat packed carport from the Zon. The impact driver was absolutely key to saving myself time and wrist pain. That thing took a metric Sh!t-ton of self-tapping screws to assemble it. The 18V cordless drill struggled mightily to sink any of those screws, but once I pulled out the driver I was zipping those things in with ease.
I still prefer to break and tighten my wheel lugs by hand. An impact gun is great (dad had a compressor in the garage) but also an opportunity to make a bad situation even worse. I was going to change my own timing belt on my ’05 MDX, when my big impact gun didn’t budge the crank pulley bolt I called no joy and sent it to the shop.
I love my small battery impacts for everday use.
Please tell me you also have an impact wrench in addition to an impact driver, even though I don’t know how that would have been possible in the rust belt?
All you need is a longer cheater. I still have a 2 foot chunk of 3/4″ conduit in my tool box for extra leverage on a breaker bar or ratchet wrench.
For the love of god, don’t buy anything with moving parts from Harbor Freight. Just buy the Milwaukee and enjoy it forever. I just about lost a finger to a shitty Harbor Freight grinder. Like flying on Spirit Air, never again.
Huh, most of my Harbor Frieght stuff has held up (sanders, mitre saws). I’ll admit, my grinder is a Porter Cable after I killed a few cheap ones. Depends on use – I’m not making my living off my tools, good enough is good enough.
I agree. Except with Dewalt. Milwaukee is good, but not what I chose. Better tools make a difference. A huge difference. It’s worth it. The batteries will last longer, it will be more durable, and it’s well worth it. Things like the action on the switch are way more controllable.
Life is too short for one ply toilet paper and cheap tools
I respect, I buy the best where it matters. As I said, my tools are not my living.
Weird, because Milwaukee is practically the *only* brand I see used on job sites
Dewalt used to be the default in wood related construction, and IR / Milwaukee in Metal construction. Mechanics used to only use SnapOn, but Milwaukee made up a significant chunk of the market share there 10+ years ago. Nowadays, both Milwaukee and Dewalt make great tools in both fields, and mechanics are starting to get less loyal to any brand as there’s some great stuff out there if you’re willing to research it that costs significantly less with similar performance. What I think really set Dewalt and Milwaukee apart and put them on the path to success though was selling tools to a normal consumer that could out-perform any corded version and often match or beat the pneumatic one (at least in the US with our 110V outlets). All of a sudden people noticed they don’t have to be tethered and these were the only two brands that reliably offered that performance to the masses, and it made the high in comparison but reasonable for what you’re getting prices palatable. After that inertia just took over. Once you own a nice one of something you hate using the mediocre version of something that you once loved.
half of my batteries that have gone bad are Milwaukee. They are good tools but they get boiling hot in no time and are overrated
Moreover no matter the brand any angle grinder can do serious harm to you. It makes me cringe every time I see a construction worker, metal worker or body shop using an angle grinder without the guard it came with.
An impact driver is one of the safest power tools you can use, it can’t even harm your wrist
And if you’re worried about cost, Milwaukees are always available at your local pawn shop.
1/4″ impact for most things, 1/2″ for suspension and lug nuts and shit. Maybe one day I’ll get a 3/8″ but have never felt the need.
I have a big 1/2” impact wrench for big things and a compact 1/2” for smaller things. My 1/2” impact sockets go down to 10mm and I probably don’t need to be using an impact on anything smaller.
I have LOVED using my Milwaukee M12 Fuel 1/4″ hex impact driver on my car! The M12 line means it’s super compact, ergonomic, and well-balanced, and the power level has been seriously impressive! I took the tiny thing down with me when I was putting my summer tires back on, just for laughs, and was shocked to see the tiny thing just pulling lug nuts right off! Only about 60 lb-ft on them, so it’s not crazy, but still! Beyond that it’s just worked great for work under the hood; tearing down the engine for a head gasket, etc.
I’ve also picked up the M12 2-speed driver now, which is pretty much the same thing, but with a clutch and no impact, so it ought to be ideal for tightening screws without stripping them.
The 1/4″ impact drill is a game changer, no more stripped heads.
Getting an impact with enough torque can also make a world of difference. Getting my 2 foot ratchet into some tight spaces is a no go, but my 1/2 impact can usually zip that bolt loose.
The issue is rust country… If my big air impact won’t loosen it, straight to the shop. They have flame wrenches and lifts that I do not.
I sold Milwaukee Tools for a living for a few years, this is one of the tools I use the most, both car wrenching and around the house. Extremely versatile.
I had the same revelation when I got my first impact driver, but over the years I’ve procured several more cordless power tools including a power screwdriver and a 3/8″ ratchet and since then I’ve found I don’t use my impact driver much, at least in the garage. The impact driver has too much torque for some small hardware (and the lack of a clutch makes it harder to control), but not enough torque to break free most automotive fasteners.
That said, I spent a whole weekend assembling kitchen cabinets for my mom’s house a while back and having an impact driver for that was a godsend.
Get yourself a cordless 1/2″ impact too. Another game changer.
Yeah. I would say a hammer drill with torque and clutch settings and an impact wrench is a better combo. The impact drivers have all those cons you mentioned. I don’t like them because they’re one trick ponies and usually a good drill will have the speed and torque I need.
I bought a full 4 piece Greenworks battery set 2 years ago, complete game changer. The 1/2″ impact does not have the torque of my big air impact, but that’s honestly OK. The smaller guns are ideal for many things I used to do by hand.
1/2″ impact. 3/8″ impact, 1/4″ impact, cordless drill.
I still do most with hand tools, better control and feel.
The big “how have I gotten this far in life without one of these” tool for me was the impact wrench my now son in law and daughter gave me for my birthday this year. It turned replacing the back shocks on the trunk into a fifteen minute operation, and swapping out all 24 lug nuts into little more than a slow walk around the truck.
Do be careful with wheel lugs, I prefer to loosen with a breaker bar and retorque with a torque wrench. I also lube the studs with a light coat of anti-seize and oil the washers on Toyota mag wheel type lugs. I also have no issues with stripping out lug nuts or changing a tire in an emergency.
As soon as I get a car out of the shop and home I loosen and retorque all wheel lugs, most of the time they were overtightened.