The majority of tire places just crank the lug nuts down to about 300 ft lbs or whatever power their impact driver produces. I have gotten into so many arguments with the clowns that do this because I own several VW's who's lug bolts are torqued to 89 ft. lbs. I tell them this and they'll say don't worry we'll torque it to that spec. I get home and check it and the lug bolts can only be backed off with a breaker bar with a 3 foot extension.
When I worked at a ford dealership I always got a good laugh watching the apprentice techs who do only tires and oil.changes go ugggaaa dugggaaaa 4-5 times deep on lugs and then throw the torque wrench on and torque to 105ftlbs
I appreciate the video. My coworker is a master technician, I was watching him use these torque sticks and I asked him what were they design for? And he explained it and now I'm checking out your reviews. Thank you so much.
Old days we never used any of this stuff just put them on with the air impact. Never broke a stud but remember in the old days rims were steel , aluminum rims I think didn't come around till the 90 now they are almost on everything. Amazing how stuff changes. I have seen techs forget to tighten them and car drive away and first turn all wheels come off snapping studs off. Nice sets I do have both torque wrench and a set of five sticks. Some of these guns have a lot of power. Good advice thanks t
John Gibson thank you and that is a very good point. The old steel rims and I don’t think the old impacts had the power the impacts nowadays have either. Some of them are stupid strong
I have that set. My car calls for 100lb/ft torque. With a DeWalt DCF889, the stick is -1~2lb/ft of spec and the final snug with a torque wrench does it nicely. I just got the DCF899 so new tests have to be made.
I've been using the torque stick closest but lower than the required torque and then the torque wrench for awhile now but have always wondered if torque sticks "wear out".
Bruce L. Ya that’s a smart way to go about it as well. And that is actually a really good question. I have not owned mine nearly long enough to find out and I’ve never heard of it but that is a great question.
like all your videos man good luck with the new garage set up looking forward to seeing it when you get it all set up.wish i had a garage at my house . only got a gravel driveway it sucks to do work out there. can`t wait to move so i can get back to work hate to even work on my care like that.
ghostlegz thank you!! And ya I can’t wait to get everything here and get the garage set up!!! Ugh ya that would suck I’ve done that before and ya it makes you not want to work on your car. Thank you for watching and for commenting!!
I love my torque sticks, But I only ever use them with an Air Impact because I was warned that my cordless Impact works at a higher frequency than the air, and would not allow enough time for the torque stick to fully un-wind before the next impact leading to unpredictable results, normally over tightening. Which is not a criticism of the stick as that is how they are intended to be used.
if the nut was tighted to say 130nm instead of the desired 120nm, then I’d have to loosen it and then tighten with the torque wrench. If I didn’t loosen it, the non-electric torque wrench would just click even if set to 120nm. The torque wrench instructions says not to loosen nuts with the torque wrench.
I just bought same set and even have the same little impact, I just tried them and they overtorqued every time. Like 130ft/lbs on the little one with two seconds of rattling
Well if your trying to go to let's say 100 ft lbs then use the 90 lb stick. The chances of you hitting 130 is highly unlikely especially when the impact used has a max of 150 ft lbs and you say you only impacts for a very short time. You might want to get a new torque wrench bc that is off
Flawless treatise on torque sticks- They should sell these things individually and price them to match, as it's pointless to have that kind of assortment for most people. I'd just get something like a 75 ft lb one for the initial snug-up, and then torque it with a torque wrench as the final step.
or alternatively you can get a feel for your tool and get the proper torque that way just blast them on with one ugga dugga and it should be good enough still check them with the torque wrench but thy are usually within 1/8th of a turn there or spot on
That's true in some cases like if your impact is always full charged or if your compressor is always full otherwise your tool isn't always applying the same power. And if it's spot on most likely it's over torqued. Now if you work on the exact same vehicle all the time ya that can be done easily but different vehicles require different torque specifications so to do the same routine on all vehicles would not work. Now like on the race car I never use torque sticks bc just like you said I know exactly when to stop and then go a half turn with the torque wrench but that is the same every time.
I like using impact & torque wrench. I guess those sticks are good for stopping people from destroying shit. Like condemns for drunken sailors. Since I use the Milwaukee 2763 high impact, the low setting gets me ~75 after first knock so finishing with torque wrench is only a few turns depending on specs. I’m a bit of a torque fanatic too. I use a beam style on drain plugs :)
asm154 1 haha ya that’s a good way to put it. It’s really a safety for people who don’t know the purpose of changing the settings on the impact 😂 especially with these new impacts making so much power. And as far as you do it that is a great way to go about it. Thank you!
I have a set looks exactly like yours with different brand (Mastercraft). My experience/opinion of this set is that they don't last long in a busy shop. My mostly used one (80 ft.lb.) didn't break apart, but started failing at male drive ball pin. Over time brake dust + rust accumulation makes it hard to press down retaining ball. Remove & install sockets become a wase of your time. I later bought ones with retaining rings. When the ring wears out, you could just replace the ring @ power tool repair shop for couple bucks in 5 min, like your impact wrench.
The hog rings or the detent pins have alot more pressure applied to the socket for safety. Since the impact moves at a high Raye of speed it needs to be as secure as possible. If it only had the tension of a standard ratchet then the socket would likely fly off of the impact
I've ashtrays been told (and experienced) to not hammer on them with higher torque guns. Zip it on until it hammers once them check it with a torque wrench. Reason being is that while they may snap, more often than not they'll just act like a normal extension and just overtorque the fastener. I have a co-worker (who's a position below me) that I've gotten onto multiple times because he just hammers the 65 ft/lb one with the gun until the socket stops moving stating that he's been doing it like that for 15 years (one of the many reasons that he's still a general service guy after over a decade and a half of being in the industry) and it's always been properly torqued. So I did what you showed, and it didn't move the socket until 120 ft/lb. Since then he has stopped hammering on them when he knows I'm around because he knows I'll make him take them back off and redo it.
Hey Tony love the videos man. Good to see someone else that is as Obsessed with tool organization as me. Would you happen to have a link for these Torque Sticks? I've searched around and cant seem to find that particular set online.
Lyndon Moore hey thank you I’m really glad you enjoy. This is an Astro set. The exact same set as mine though. Hope you enjoy!! Have a great holidays. amzn.to/2B50zEk
I have not jumped on a set of these YET. I am just torn about them. I like the idea of them, but I don't like the idea of having to come back and torque them with a calibrated wrench.
Rob's Wrenches ya I can completely understand that but I think if you test them once when you get them and continue to use the same impact you should be good to just use them after that knowing how accurate they are.
These torque sticks companies should capitalize on the idea and create a impact driver with digital torque settings. (Might as well) Any inventors out there?
They exist but aren't mainstream because they're extremely expensive. F1 has had such wheel guns for a long time now. The most common ones seem to be made by Paoli and are 5000 euros each. On the other hand, Milwaukee just came out with a battery-powered torque wrench that will self-tighten nuts or bolts much like their electric ratchet but now with a digital torque read out.
Kick ass and über informative video! Have you noticed a difference in accuracy between using a deep well vs a standard size socket? I have heard some people make mention of a difference between the two.
Instead of checking all the nuts with the torque wrench, you could just check the first and last nut. The ones in-between should be good if you check them.
Great video as usual, i just picked up the same impact last week (haven’t tried it yet) I read that you shouldn’t use the sticks with cordless impact wrenches, do you have any problems with the accuracy? Keep up the great work
Look at all the people loosing tires everyday! Ive been slamming mine on for 10 years never had a problem you just retighten them a week later also just dont put them on like a bitch and they wont be loose
Cool. I like the simple engineering using torsion force and transfer, that's some smart monkey math for your impact. May be worth getting one specific to my wheel spec. Thanks for showing.
Not mentioned with the potential damage over-torquing lug nuts/bolts can cause is warping rotors (or drums) on some vehicles. Tire dealers in particular have ruined countless brake rotors and drums with their pneumatic impact wrenches. Torque sticks are overrated gizmos marketed to convince the DIY garage guys to spend yet more $$$ on specialized stuff to clutter up their work benches and tool chests. In dealing with lug nuts/bolts in particular, using a crank or other spinner to snug them up, then tightening with a ratcheting click style torque wrench set at their torque specs is just as fast as a torque schtick, if not faster. Impact wrenches are best used for disassembly requiring high levels of torque due to fasteners having rusted together or suffered dissimilar metals galvanic corrosion, and even then with judicious application of maximum torque to prevent breaking the fasteners. Those who have worked with very large industrial, earth moving machines and large scale farm implements also have good use for them with very large nut and bolt removal. Assembly is best done by hand with spinners and torque wrenches.
I have never heard of an impact gun warping a rotor because the lug nut was over torqued it would break the stud first and I have been working on cars for around 10 years now
@@jandjdestruction The idea is to use a torque stick less than the spec so you don't over torque the nut, and then take it to the spec with the wrench.
You said something here a little different that what I was told along time. I was told they that when you get a set of these you needed to use air only, and dial in your PSI and check with a torque wrench the first few times you use them. I kinda wanna hook a 65lb stick and blast it with the milwaukee high torque and see what happens. I've always been worried about these. I do plan on getting a set one day with some lug sockets
Mike's Tool Shed yes that is actually a very common miss perception and that’s what I used to think too. But after actually doing some research of my own and reading some instructions provided by some of the torque stick manufacturers. They say it can be used with either style impact as long as that impact has more power then the torque stick. But part of it is true. Whether you use a cordless or pneumatic dialing it in whether it’s by pressure or by modes. Being closer to the desired torque rating will give you the most accurate results. Hopefully what I just said made sense lol. Basically as long as you got the power and as long as the device you use produces power through impacts then they will work. A tool used that provides a smooth power without impacts would not make the torque stick work. The torque stick is a type of spring steel that allows the stick to twist and return between the impacts. Ok I’m done lmao
TonyTheTechnician I totally understand that and trust your research and trust you know more than me when it comes to this stuff. Looks like those have moved up a bunch of spots on my tool list. Great video man.
It's spring steel. And that's why it is used with impact guns because it works with the impacts. Now of course if you use a 1400 ft lb impact with a 80 ft lb extension then ya that person doing it is stupid and shouldn't be using an impact in the first place
no way i`m using these a pure waste of money snug em down get out the trusty torque wrench.you gotta get out the torque wrench anyway to check it and make sure anyway. this is one of those tools you should not buy pointless.when you have more useful tools in your arsenal.
ghostlegz I know what you mean but it also depends on the type of work you do. Ya it might not be a handy tool at home or if you only work on cars occasionally but if your working at say a dealership and you have a lot of cars coming through and of the same make. A majority will have the same torque specs so you could use this to save time and prevent doing any damage to the car. But yes I can understand your point as well
some dealerships will require their tech to use them and log it on the order just to mitigate liability in case something happens. but me personally it would be like one of those tools you where just talking about in your last video I`d be looking to sell cause i just don`t use it.lol
Hand thread to reduce cross-threading, lightly tighten with impact driver and then final tighten with torque wrench. Re-check after 100 miles (usually 1 day). Never fails.
Hey Tony great to see you. Back in the day when I changed tires I could get a feel for the impact gun and not over do it. Never use a torque stick ps. Tho cars had steel wheels we didn't have to worry about aluminum wheels I worked at a Firestone tire shop back in 1978
Martin Schaffmeir hey. Thanks for watching and ya with a lot of experience you can feel the lug nuts snug up. Now a days with the new impacts being so strong it would be a little more difficult lol. Thank you
Another tuber come to the conclusion that some different impact guns made them not perform accurate. It was the difference I think in two different dewalt impact one rotated the anvil faster with less power but the faster impacts didn't allow enough time for the stick to regain and it overtorqued
This is to keep you from completely overshooting the spec and to get you close so you don't have to sit and turn your torque wrench. It's very easy. Use torque stick then turn torque wrench one time. Instead of coming up short and turning alot or over torque and snap the bolt.
My experience with these, they don't seem to work well with Milwaukee Fuel cordless impact wrenches, the impact will make a strange clunking noise and they are not too accurate.
Another great video! I appreciate & value your advice, I would rather be safe & spend the time making it so. When the safety of loved ones or just other people’s safety is on the line, a few extra minutes is worth it! I need to ask advice now, I need your suggestion for a cordless impact gun. I need to be able to take the lugs off of my 2005 Ford F-350 diesel wheels. I’m a diy not a pro. So, I don’t need a high end tool. I value quality. Can you give me some suggestions? Thanks!
Thank you and I really enjoy Dewalt and Milwaukee. But there are a lot of other good brands. But for you application I would probably go with a mid range torque impact. It also depends on if you have any other cordless tools. If you get the same brand then you won’t have to by the battery and charger and everything so you can save money. Dewalt mid range without battery 330 ft lbs. www.amazon.com/DEWALT-DCF894B-Mid-Range-Cordless-Impact/dp/B078WDTV2F Milwaukee 250 ft lbs. www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B07HCM1HKG/ref=psdcmw_552820_t1_B07HCTXHZZ Milwaukee 750/1100 ft lbs. www.amazon.com/Milwaukee-276620-Torque-Impact-Wrench/dp/B076RRCV7L/ref=mp_s_a_1_26?ie=UTF8&qid=1538956115&sr=1-26&refinements=p_4%3AMilwaukee&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65 But those are just a few options of many. And depending on brand you will find them cheaper but also depends on if you need the full kit or just the tool.
One big advantage of having these torque sticks, you won't have to worry as much about over tightening the lug nuts on your while on the side of the road.
I have used a Bluepoint set for years. I pretty much keep the 65lb stick on my lift. My MG725 on its lowest setting provides about 80ftlbs through the 65lb stick on my shop air. I hit everything that way and torque to spec once on the ground. I never want to be responsible for a wheel leaving a car while in motion!
