June 19, 2023

Losing my faith in air (pneumatic) tools

At one time I thought that having air tools and an air compressor was the path to joy and enlightenment. This has proven itself not to be true. Despite all the grand hopes I had when I got my big shop compressor on Craigs list, it has basically been a disappointment. And it hogs a lot of space. And it is noisy as it kicks on unpredictably. Not only that, it seems that all I use it for is airing up tires and blowing dust off of things. I might be better served by a small "pancake compressor". Did I also mention that a big tank of compressed air is a significant hazard? These things have been know to rust out and explode. Enough said -- some comments on my experiences with worthless air tools can be found at the end of this discussion.

An electric ratchet

If you watch car repair videos these days, you will see every professional mechanic using these. I spent some time fretting over whether I wanted an electric impact driver. I don't as it turns out. We won't talk any more about that.

You can buy cheap no-name ratchets from China. At the other extreme, you can buy excellent tools from Snap-on. I have settled on buying a Milwaukee M12 unit. There are a bewildering variety to choose from. Let's ignore 1/2 drive units and talk about 1/4 and 3/8 drive options.

I just got home from buying a Milwaukee 2569 at Home Depot. Just for the record, this was 6-19-2023. The warranty should be 5 years. The price was $249, but they had a deal of giving you a free battery. So I got an M12 2.5 Ah "high output" battery (normally $79) for free. The 2569 is both extended and high speed (450 rpm). What sold me is that it is a 3/8 drive unit that is as slim as the 1/4 drive unit used to be. It has a brother 1/4 inch unit also (the 2568) that is for all intents the same size.

The options before this were the 2560 (3/8 drive) and the 2559 (1/4 drive). The general opinion on these was to get the 1/4 drive unit. The head on the 3/8 drive unit was just too bulky to make most people happy.

There are also the non-extended versions, in both normal (200 rpm) and high speed (450 rpm) flavors.

Not only that, there are the older non-Fuel electric ratchets. If you don't know, the "fuel" designation from Milwaukee indicates that it uses a brushless motor. The older non-fuel units with brushed motors are still available and well liked. And they are a lot cheaper. I intend to buy the 1/4 drive 2456, which is $120 right now. Pretty much half the price of the extended fuel version.

Some people get concerned about the torque ratings. You don't buy an electric ratchet to bust bolts loose. They are bolt spinners. The original "low speed" fuel units had the most torque (55 ft-lbs). The new high speed units, as well as the original non-fuel versions offer 35 ft-lbs of torque.

Online reviewers have claimed that the units can be used as wrenches up to 100 ft-lbs to tighten or loosen bolts by hand. I find this questionable (100 ft-lbs is a lot) and see no claim of this sort in the instructions that came with the unit.

M12 batteries

I ordered two of the original 2.0 Ah batteries, so I would have spares to swap into my ratchet. I did this before I knew that Home Depot was going to give me a battery. There is also a 4.0 Ah "XC" battery, but it has a square section on the end that I felt might interfere with getting the tool into certain spots. The XC battery does provide (sort of by accident I guess) a large flat base so you can stand the tool up on a bench.

The battery I got free with my ratchet is a CP2.5, where CP stands for "compact power" or some such. It gives me some extra power in the same dimensions as the original battery. Presumably it is using different cells internally. The packaging says it has a 2 year warranty.

My worthless pneumatic impact driver

I have a worthless pneumatic impact driver. I don't remember when or where I got it. But it is wimpy and useless. It will spin entirely loose bolts and do it quickly, but it will not break anything loose, in particular tire lug nuts. It may just be old and worn out, but it is a disappointment for sure.

Dewalt Air Ratched DWMT70776L 3/8 drive

I hate this thing more than words can express.

The only good thing is that I only paid $80 for it, so it won't totally break my heart when I toss it into a dumpster. Why do I hate it?

Have any comments? Questions? Drop me a line!

Tom's Auto repair pages / [email protected]