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Hi all. Last Christmas my dad bought me this Craftsmen tire care kit that included a 1/2″ impact. I had been saying how I want a bigger air compressor and air tools. Last summer, I did use the impact once with my 3 gallon compressor. It was just enough to remove a nut from a pulley on the lawn mower. I also used it to put it back on. About 2 months ago, I bought a nice big 21 gallon compressor and 50′ 3/8″ hose from Harbor Freight. I know it’s not the best brand, but I’m not running a shop, just my hobby stuff. Last weekend, I sat down to do my brakes and busted out the impact. I found that at 120 PSI, the impact would not even come close to loosening the lug nuts. I broke them loose with a 4-way wrench with little effort. Without any load the impact spun fast and free. But I could hold it in my hand with little effort and that would stop it from spinning. The socket did jerk back and forth with the hammer inside, but it had not inclination to rotate.
After reading my little manual that came with the impact gun, I found three possible causes:
1) The hose is too long. 25′ is the recommended length.
2) Not enough oil in the air inlet. I put in two drops to start, but added a few more for good measure. It didn’t help.
3) Not enough oil in the hammer. I added maybe a 1/4 ounce of oil in it, still no help.The only thing I can’t try is the hose. I only have the one large hose. I did swap back to the 1/4 hose that I used last summer on my 3 gallon compressor. That compressor and hose was enough to loosen a bolt before, but that hose with the new 21 gallon compressor didn’t make a difference. The only thing I didn’t try was busting out the old 3 gallon. I didn’t do that because I’d wasted a lot of time already and needed to get to my break job.
So what I’m looking for is some suggestions of what to look for. I can’t verify that my new compressor is good as this is the only air tool I have. I can buy another hose, to test with, but it seems odd that it worked last summer with a little 1/4 plastic hose. Any ideas?
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