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Need more oomph out of my air compressor

I bought a new Earthquake HF air impact from a flea market dealer last summer..only used it twice so far to remove the lug nuts on my 3/4 ton,which are always stiff every thread ,doing them by hand would put me in agony now..

My previous air impact was a $20 "Buffalo" cheapie I bought like 25 years ago and didn't use much because it was so weak I had to break lugs free by hand before it would unscrew them..

I tried using the Buffalo one first when I changed the rear tires recently--I don't mind using that gun to tighten the lugs because it cant over-torque them and make removal by hand tough or impossible,but it lacks enough guts to break them free often..

I only have a 11 gallon "airless" compressor that stops at 125 PSI that I normally use outside--it does come back on instantly as soon as you pull the trigger,but recovers fast enough not to be a pain..

I also have a 2 cylinder single stage compressor in the house garage with a 60 + gallon tank,but it takes almost 12 minutes to pump up to about 110 psi before it shuts off,and once it comes back on it takes about 3-4 minutes to recover...
I find the air impacts actually work better with the higher PSI of the smaller compressor..provided you don't mind waiting for it to recover,which takes under a minute usually..

The Earthquake zipped the lug nuts right off easily after the Buffalo failed ,and I do not have the high capacity air hose or fitting they recommend for the HF gun,it still has a lot more guts regardless..

The only things I do not like about the HF gun is the plastic button trigger,it seems fragile and doesn't really have a "feather" action,it is more like an on-off switch..the torque adjustment knob is also plastic..

I paid the guy $40 for it and he threw in a set of 1/2" drive impact sockets for another $10..how he makes money selling them so cheap I cant say,but he must have an "in" at HF--or maybe they were hot ?..:eek:..
I'm not sure I'd be willing to pay the retail price for it,but I felt it was worth a gamble for that price..
I think this is the one I got..

1/2 in. Composite Xtreme Torque Air Impact Wrench
 
Wes Harden said:
Yes you need a better impact gun. 90 psi is industry standard for rating numbers. 140 ft pounds should be nothing to a 1/2" impact.
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For job site use, I have a porter cable 150 psi suitcase style with wheels. It is around 4.5 cfm at 90 psi and 7cfm at 40 psi. It will run a hopper gun as much as I need for drywall texture, a conventional binks spray gun, and runs my IR 2135TI impact with no problem on lug nut.

A small tank with proper pressure will break free at least a couple lug nuts. When the pressure drops in the tank, you will loose power. The only other possibility is that the flow is somehow restricted at the regulator or other parts from the compressor.

My shop compressor is 80 gallons two stage 5hp 1-3/8" shaft motor that makes 20 cfm average and 17.3 cfm at 175. The blast cabinet with big tips, or the cnc plasma table, can't even keep that compressor running non stop, yet the only difference between the little one and big one is the amount of time you can run the impact. Even 1/4" hose works fine with my impact for the 9/16" lug nuts on my C20.

Cordless is nice, and my brother has a milwaukee one, but they are heavy and expensive. Also, I have the V28 and M12 tools, so I haven't needed to get into the 18v stuff yet. Batteries crap out after a number of years where the air impact is almost always there if it isn't used often. The air valve did go out on my IR, but it sounds like there was a recall or defective part years ago. $20 bucks for a part from amazon fixed it. M28 batteries are $150 a pop and m18 isn't cheap, unless you already use those tools all of the time.

Small air compressors suck, but cheap or worn out air impacts are more often the problem. I think AVE has torn down the HF impact and gave his input. It might be worthwhile, but I hate HF shit.
 
I bought a $100 impact from Northern tool years ago for busting pinion nuts. Still works like a champ after all these years (around 15). Even with my Dad's old 3 horse craftsman 20 gal. compressor. Have been lusting for a cordless unit though. Portability is everything.
 
1/2" hose gave mine a little more oomph it was definitely harder to plug and unplug the airtools at the end after .I've used the same craftsman air impact for over 20 years, used and beat on and the Damm thing keeps working still going strong .
 
Bought a Harbor Freight Earthquake XT Saturday. They had a sale going on so it was $99 instead of $149.

I aired up the tank and it easily spun two lug nuts off without even blinking in seconds. Compressor never fired back up.

So far, so good.

1839FA17-AF04-47E1-B251-70975A16C194.jpeg
 
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