Cold War Era Power Tools vs 1990's vs Today 

This one was a lot of fun to make. Thank you guys for making doing stuff like this possible. It's not lost on us

As someone who worked as a mechanic in the 70's and 80's, I can say this. Ingersoll-Rand was a "go to" brand in that era. Were they top of the line? Can't say. But, I bought an impact in 1979 or 80 (can't remember). I still have it and it works just as well as it did all those years ago. I'll have to admit being somewhat envious of you younger guy's access to all these newer tools. No air line, no electric cord; just a battery and tool. Very cool!

The Cleco is the definition of old man strength.

Geez that Bauer brings the beans...I didn't expect it to be that good.

I love my "newer" battery tools however the 1970's and 1980's air tools are still going. I just cant see my battery impact still operating in 40 or 50 years. Thankyou for the comparison of the old to the new. cheers from down under.

Genuinely upsetting that 1990 is closer to 1960 than we are to 1990

Respect to all those OG's. They were the pioneers of the industries. Without them, there won't be any incremental improvements and we won't get all those awesome toys of today.

Hey TTC, I would highly suggest you pull the armature out of that vintage Thor and polish the commentator bars (what the carbon brush rub against) that may give that old motor a decent boost in speed. I'd also suggest removing all the old grease and crud from the bearings and adding fresh stuff. I'd love to see what it's capable of, if it's been restored.

You have to love that little Cleco.

I have a soft spot for vintage tools. If it does a good job, just keep using it. Something fun about being the 2nd or third generation using a particular tool.

In all likelihood your Cleco WP-421C was manufactured sometime between 1980 and 1988. It was replaced by the “D” model and discontinued in the early 1990’s. It uses an oil foam bath for lubrication is very different from other comparable impact wrenches.

In the early 1060 when I was 13 and wanting to start woodworking and other things, my father bought me a 3/8” RAM drill to start. Another polished aluminum case which turned grey shortly.. it had a 1.9 amp motor, 1900 rpm, a lock on button and that’s it.

It’s cool to see these old tools and nice to be reminded that there is still innovation and progress overtime from engineers building on previous designs

that corded electric one was probably used on assembly lines back in the day...75 footpounds is about the torque on most lug nuts on smaller cars today....and that was the max on that gun...they have come a long way

Its fun seeing old tools and yes how well they were built to last. It's sad that everything we buy now is designed to break so they can sell us another one.

Gotta love old tools, they just last forever. Even the recently old tools. I've got a 25 uear old corded Milwaukee angle grinder that just won't quit

I’ve got a Thor drill that was my grandfathers. That thing will break your wrists and not notice.

My dad has used that Thor electric for 40 year, and I’m pretty sure great grandad bought it new. He finally bought a Snap On at a yard sale last year.

This is one of those awesome channels that have been around for awhile that you just discovered and say WOW!

That was a great video!!! I really like the details you went into and the "why". Keep it up. Great job!

I have a small Thor circular saw and a Mall 3/8" power drill, what they lack in power to today's tools they make up for in longevity and build quality. Seriously doubt any of my Yellow, Red, or Blue tools will be around in 60 years from now. As an aside to the Thor impact in this video, it seems the spring is very crucial to the torque output and since springs wear out with use, it would probably be insightful to see what a new spring would do in improving the Thor's numbers. High hopes to find such a spring today but something that should be noted given how small the hammer is and how little surface area is involved with the pin-type anvils.

TY for doing this. I hope you do this again in the future with some more old school tools.

That opener. Welcome back to the torque test channel founded in 1893. Woah TTC has been around hella long.

This is awesome to see how much you guys listen and interact with your subscribers. Keep up the awesome videos!

Once had a 40s Thor valve grinder...heavy as hell but hard to beat the quality..sold to a hotrodder a few years ago and he is still using it...

Wow your ability to have new content on an otherwise pretty straight forward subject is amazing.Thats for the video

Always wanted to do something like that! Good one for sure! P.S. Maybe something along the lines of Eastern vs Western Europen tools at the time of the Iron Curtain.

@TorqueTestChannel. Thank you for all of your hard work and time creating such informative and entertaining content. You and @ProjectFarm are the only content creators that I trust when it comes to accurate and non biased results/opinions on products. I was wondering if you happened to have any recommendations for good quality dexterous, durable work gloves. Any advice, thoughts and opinions would be greatly appreciated. Thank you, all the best to you and the team!

This is up there with my favorite videos on the channel

W0W... a few months ago I came across a few of these old tools!! Initially, I don't think I found much info on the Thor tools and I think it also said something about old Chicago or just chicago tools??? I was looking for information on refurbishing these old..heavy pneumatic tools!!! Thanks for the video and some history!😮

I wonder how many Milwaukee tools will still be working in 60 years...

Nice switchup this Friday, thank you!

Would be awesome to see some hydraulic impact wrenches. Not sure if the dyno could handle them.

Never thought I’d see a random parking lot I’ve driven through many times, lol, I did start to think where could that address be. Laramie ave is the way around, when Cicero is backed up.

Should do a few videos on early 00s tools, stuff like the old high end XRP dewalts and V18 Milwaukee

the old windy gun was proper good & amazingly still good ...

Thank you for educating us all! Have a great weekend.

The Cleco deserves polishing up

Alright, since you opened the door. Can we just start mailing you a selection of 5-15 year old cordless impacts? (to see how much we are missing out on by not upgrading.)

Just noticed I was unscribed, that is strange I've never unscribed since I started watching long ago. Anyway keep up the good work I enjoy your videos.

I'm digging the Cleco. It reminds me of a 1960s muscle car. Sure it's outdated by modern standards. Cast iron, oldschool engineering. Maybe not the most powerful thing today, But when you get on it, it can still give you the beans.

I think that if we still have Cold war Era tools to this day it just speaks for itself in therm of how good it is. At my old job we bough an old huge soviet Radial Drill and it was working 10/10. You won't find Amazon tools in 7 decades that dates from today!

Would you consider retesting the "Thor" corded after cleaning and regreasing? That old grease looked more like molasses :D

Great video TTC, Tools have come along way since back in the day

Just a thought, but is it possible to use gasket sheets and cut out some gaskets for the Cleco?

That’s wicked. I’ll be looking more closely at old crappy looking air tools at yard sales.

Can you test pneumatic 1” extended anvil tire guns for the diesel shops

I love the look of that Thor electric impact. Even though it's weak by today's standards, I'd like to have it just to polish it up and put it on display.

i personally own a logan 820 lathe from the 1940s-1960s, and apart from a broken pulley that thing rocks

I have a Thor drill, it looks like something Buck Rogers would use.

Dang I want that corded Bauer for garage use! I have all M12 Milwaukee line at my work but such a pain to haul it back and forth.

What was that program or website with the planetary gearing you used?

Dang, that Bauer is a beast. Next time I'm in the states I need to swing past a harbor fright and grab one, I definitely don't need a high torque M18 but there are times when the M12 impact just isn't beefy enough

Pretty sick. They have a picture of the internals like that in the Manuel

The 231 Ingersol Rand isn't the strongest gun....but it's a great rock solid reliable gun that's "strong enough" for typical work.

i have a model 55, it worn and beat up, bearing whine, cord cut and spliced, but works still

Would be cool to see some snap on im51 and im31 impacts as well.

Do you have a video explaining the tester? And maybe it taken apart? I wanna see how it does what it does, and also how it doesn't pull those threads on that bolt out.

Love this channel❤, have not seen y’all test cordless band files yet and every brand out there is making one these days. I have the Milwaukee 12v one and honestly it’s not as great as I thought it would be. Would love to know if the dewalt is better and by how much. Or Makita, or Ryobi, or maby even the cordless ingersoll.

Shout out to you finding these oldies but goodies!

That Cleco is damn impressive. I remember from the late '80s early '90s the air guns you could get for affordable prices were complete trash. They would barely take off a lug nut and they wore out very fast. The IR gun my brother bought (like the one featured here) was a world of difference from those, but you paid about 3-4x the price of the auto parts store specials. The fact that they had something so good from the early 1960s and we were still working with such primitive junk 30 years later is bonkers. I'm glad things have improved though. My HF air gun is about on par with IR and the cheapo cordless one I just bought (seesii) almost stays with it. My 1" air impact also competes well with those old brand name ones too, and it was cheap, cheap, cheap to buy. All of them were.

That old Thor is being dragged down by the ancient gummy grease. If you clean it up and retest with fresh grease it'll do better.

Have you seen an Ingersoll Rand NO. 805601 Model B 1" impactool ? It is a 120 volt corded impact for removing lug nuts on M939 5 ton trucks. Probably dates from the late 70's. Mine has been abused a little , but it still knocks them loose.

Still have my Dad's 50 ish Thor inpact wrench and it still works great.

The oiling was the cherry on top haha

Love to see this. I have an old school craftsman dremel of a similar style. It has a right angle handle that makes it look like a 40's sci fi laser gun.

Yeah, best not to talk about parking lots. Too many of the damn things in my book, but I getcha

Its actualy here...i just a saw vid of someone here in youtube showing this tool off and someone commented that it should be tested by this channel,and now its actualy here....nice!

@torquetestchannel if your interested in doing some more corded impact tests i have a Makita TW1000 1" drive corded impact id be happy to loan you for testing.

I would like you to test a CP 796 inch drive air impact I have owned two used them in the coal mines to work on heavy equipment. In my opinion, they are the best for my work .

That Cleco impact wrench is from the 80's Those tools (Dotco, Cleco, I-R Cyclone) are made to be used day in, day out in hard factory and maintenenace shop environments and still last a decade or so. Your cordless impacts will never hold up in that environment. Not that we don't still acquire them. The cordless feature is hard to beat, after all. But we will typicalyy get major check on a commercial jet out of a new DeWalt or Milwaukee and then it is worn out. A typical letter check will require loosening then re-torquing about 25, 000 fasteners.

Man that's cool. Really love seeing how tools of yesteryear stack up against modern tech.

Have you considered getting a Hazet Twin Turbo? I bought one a while ago and the power of this little thing surprises me every time i use it.🤩 9012TT is the model number btw😉

Awesome stuff! Now you're thinking out of the box to make videos! I miss the old intro; the new one is so cut off by the time the video loads, it's like 1 drum playing lol.

My og air tools were all IR. I replaced them with composite ones. I do not know if I could pick them up anymore.

I have a corded Milwaukie from the 90's that I bought new that still works when I need it. I'm surprised you didn't include one in your test.

Cleco and Dotco are the brands that the big aircraft companies use where I am from. i.e. Boeing, Cessna, Learjet, and Beechcraft.

If you want a mid-'70s Chicago Pneumatic CP734 for performance comparison, I've got one that's in reasonably good shape.

Great video! Interesting to see the old vs new tech and pros/cons of each. The history is interesting as well. Keep these videos coming!

You guys need to cover the Summit Racing tools that just got announced next!

I have a test suggestion. If you haven't already seen it, watch Project Farm when he tests MotorKote's Hyper Lubricant (good stuff). I wonder what will happen if you add it to air tools. Will a die grinder spin faster? A air hammer piston fall in love with it? Get a measurable difference with a impact?

You should do a test where you let tools run till the curve flattens cuz that thor was a straight line at the end like definitely has alot more to give with patience

thor needs brushes because it should have alot more hit than that

Cordless tools are great if you have ten extra batteries and don't mind replacing them every year and a half while you do need a compressor for pneumatic tools you only need one for an entire shop and good ones last many years.

Y’all should do a modern cleco 1/2 against the Matco 1/2 air impact

I'm really digging on that Cleco now 😮

@TorqueTestChannel Really wish you would do all the lineman impacts from big brands, the 7/16 hex chuck models. Milwaukee, Hilti, DeWalt, Bosch, Makita. If you decide to do so I can probably dig up an old corded 5/8 hex drive metal IR model (a tank) and maybe even on more modern corded 5/8 Milwaukee to compare them all to. Kinda new vs old showdown... 5/8 hex and 7/16 hex were both used in the lineman industry. I even have an old 7/16 hydraulic impact if you can find a way to power it. I also have the adapters to drive 1/2 sockets.

Respect for fixing them old ones

@TorqueTestChannel I don’t know if you’re still looking from several years ago. But, while looking for IR impacts to refurbish I stumbled across a seemingly legitimate “RACING” version of the street legal thunder gun. If you were still interested I could send you the link. I’d get it myself and lend it but I just finished spending all my fun money. 😂

If you make tools so durable they'll last 60 years you won't sell tools but every 60 years If you make tools that break every 4 to 5 years you'll sell a lot more It's the same for everything nowadays tools cars refrigerators everything And then they make them so "complicated" that when they do break it's cheaper to buy new than repair the old

Give me 60+ years of reliability any day. If I need to torque something higher, I will do it with a breaker bar.

I like how they made things looks like it was from the Jetsons back then.

I had a Thor electric torque wrench. I used it to take off valve covers...but they had to be loose.

Test some late 90s pneumatic my dad says they hit harder than the electrics nowadays

Wow. That Cleco sort of proves my personal take on tools...buy (quality) once, cry (price) once...take care of them, and they'll last you forever.

I would have liked to see the Metabo HPT corded impacts in the mix.

Damn. Missed opportunity to say “not touching that with a 6’ pole”

I have Milwaukee batteries I got 10 years ago and I'm a plumber. They get used a lot. I have more than 15 Milwaukee batteries and none of them have given me a problem, even after getting wet. Just my experience.

Don't forget that most power tools built then were sold for daily use by pros building houses and in workshops. Only in the last 20 years has the home user been offered more and cheaper tools for occasional use.

Not sure if this would be an interesting video at all, but could you guys test out old vs modern "Swench" wrenches? I think Snap-on sells the modern ones. Always been curious how effective those actually are!