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Impact drivers vs Impact wrenches


SteveG

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The cheaper ones are 1/4" hex drive and are OK for most small stuff, but will give up on larger and rusty bolts.

Yes you can get 1/2" drive cordless impact wrenches, in fact a mate has a Makita which he is over the moon with, it isn't the most powerful one as these tend to have large bodies which get in the way of doing stuff....

Bit pricey though *gulp*

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An impact driver causes a banging motion along the axis to drive a drill bit into a wall.

An impact wrench causes a rotary banging motion to tighten or loosen nuts.

The fact you are asking about socket adaptors leads me to think you need an impact wrench. An impact driver will not do the job.

Steve

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I have a Ryobi impact driver which is uber useful around the house, and gets pressed into service on the Landy with increasing frequency.

It can generally get fasteners as tight as a standard 8" socket handle - clearly not if you really lean on the end but they're usefully tight. It's best for undoing long fasteners which would take an age with a ratchet handle. It will undo wheel nuts if you un-crack them with a breaker bar first.

Mine has a hex driver female head, which adapts to a 3/8" socket via an adapter.

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Thanks for responses so far.

So just to clarify (and potentially confuse even more ;) )

I have just had all of my power tools stolen, all but one of my socket sets and other stuff etc etc. I had a DeWalt 14.4 combi drill, a DeWalt 14.4 Impact Wrench 1/2", four 14.4 batteries, two chargers.

After the garage break-ins I now have the DeWalt 14.4 Impact Wrench 1/2" and one battery as this was in the car not the garage at the time of the theft.

So I need to buy a new drill, grinder etc to replace what was stolen, and so I was looking at the DeWalt kits as they work out cheaper when you have to buy multiple tools. Most are 18v and so I was thinking of changing everything out to have them all running off the same batteries, but I noticed that all of the kits come with 1/4" impact drivers, hence the question.

So going by responses an impact driver will be no good for me, so it looks like I'll forget the kits, by an 18V drill kit and an extra battery for the impact wrench. Fortunately the Dewalt chargers charge all voltage batts.

Cheers

Steve

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The idea of all tools sharing the same batteries sounds good on one hand, but it does rather tie you to one brand. You may find better spec, better deals etc buying different names. But then I s'pose you will be spending less on batteries.

I can recommend the Bosch GDS18V-HT 18V Impact Wrench although it has gone up in price by nearly £100 since I bought mine. Astonishing performance though.

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