Air tools

[Bradford]

Alright guys looking for some advice. I just bought an air compressor a few weeks ago. 60 gallon 5hp 175 psi max. Will run just about everything and anything. Now I've been given a $200 go buy air tools play money. I thought about going to Harbor frieght/Steve's wholesale tool and buying a bunch of stuff since it would be cheaper. Is this a good idea, or should i use the money and buy 2 or 3 better brand tools for $200? I know you get what you pay for, but I'm a shade tree mechanic this stuff isn't for making money with. Thanks for any input.

[CKTA]

If you aren't using it every day the cheapy stuff is fine as long as you oil it every time you use it. Oh yeah, put filters in the line too.

[JWolfe75]

IR :rocking:

[BadChevyZ-71]

For someone who doesn't work on vehicles daily or for money some of the cheaper air tools will work fine. IR and Craftsman are two good ones off the top of my head. I use mainly Matco, Mac, and Snap-On air tools, but i'm a mechanic and work on vehicles 5-7 days a week.

[FinalBreath]

Craftsman is made by IR. IR and CP are decent brands. I prefer Matco impacts over snap-on. Ive got matco 1/4, 3/8 and 1/2 drive and IR 3/4 drive and an old CP 1' drive. Your tools will last as long as you maintain them well.

[budhayes3]

I've had nothing but bad luck with cheapo air tools, they don't last very long and don't seem to have the balls that a quality tool does. Best bang for the buck is Ingersoll Rand IMO, they're reasonably priced and can take abuse. I have or have used SnapOn, Mac, Matco, IR, etc, and for impact guns I like IR the best. (SnapOn makes some kickass air rachets). BTW, IR makes air tools for Mac, not sure about Matco though.

If it were me, I'd start collecting IR stuff piece by piece, instead of buying asian made air tools that you'll have to repair or replace after the third use...just my .02

[$ilverado8405]

I have nothing but good things to say about the IR air tools. 90% of the guys at work have them and they seem to last the longest in our dusty dirty environment (foundry).

[GreaseDog]

if you're going to buy cheapy air tools, do yourself a favor and splurge on the impact. i wouldnt trade my IR 2135Ti for anything.

[GMC Era]

I used to work doing maintenance on air tools at a manufacturing plant. We used IR and those things ran 3 shifts 5-7 days / week. Didn't have too many problems with them.

[vekster101]

$200 aint goin to get you much.
ratchet, 1/2" impact gun and some impact sockets.

[Black90Sport]

i didnt read too much but id say spend good money on the impact, mos of the rest u can get away with harbor freight.. mines lasted for about a year and a half now starting to show some wear on the angle grinder cause i wasnt oiling it nearly enough.. make sure u oil cheapies daily.

[Bradford]

I actuallt have an impact and sockets I got from a buddy that moved into an apartment and sold his tools. So i have his impact 1/2 drive ratchet, and da. I'm looking for a 1/4 and/or 3/4 rachet, and striaght and/or 90* die grinders mainly. Sorry i should have said that in my first post.

[red4x4chevy]

In my high school machine shop class we had a hf die grinder and a nice ir the hf would always have stuff come loose no matter what you did but as long as you checked it often it was a decent tool.

[Stratosman]

my brother has broken countless snap-on air ratchets, but the snap-on guy come sby his shop often enough to give him a free replacement. He said that's the only reason he buys them. just my .02 on those

Like you, I don't use my air tools all that much, so I just have a Walmart CH impact that's served me well, and a used unknown brand ratchet from my brother. I do oil the heck out of them every time.

[Bradford]

Thanks for the input guys.

[beatty97]

I R 2135Ti all the way no bolt to rusted or to tight

[Hybrid240ZXT]

The cheapos are a waste of your money. IR is awesome for the price. The IR2135 is a little out of your price range, but the IR231 is about the minimum you want to get if you want any real power. You should get a 3/8 impact too, thats definitely my second most useful air tool. If you want something a little better than IR, try Cornwell. I've had more success with their air tools than any other air tool I've ever used. Much cheaper than Snap-On, Matco, and not too far off from IR.

[kev2809]

hey stratosman, how long you been using those? i been thinkin about getting the cheapie walmart ones too cuz i hardly ever will use them. only when i find something new to cut up or sand down on my suburban. so they are basically for short periods of time. would i be fine with those? and sorry to jack the thread, just wanted to see if the walmart ones would be fine for a guy like me that would hardly ever use them. :thumbup:

[wm-webb]

Oh man, do not buy that Wah-Mart junk. I bought one thinking the same thing, good enough for me. That thing couldn't back the lid off a jar of peanut butter. Trying to rotate the tires on the truck, sat there two minutes and it could not break the lug-nuts loose. Noticed a fine metallic dust coming out the exhaust. Bought a Craftsman, had no problem with the lug-nuts, but it did break the Wal-Mart sockets.:banghead:

:fsg:

[AdamKashner]

For someone who doesn't work on vehicles daily or for money some of the cheaper air tools will work fine. IR and Craftsman are two good ones off the top of my head. I use mainly Matco, Mac, and Snap-On air tools, but i'm a mechanic and work on vehicles 5-7 days a week.
are you serious??? I dont know anything about you but you sir are a idiot. I have a mac, matco, and snapon truck that comes to my shop evey week and guess what all 3 of them are IR guns thy just put their pretty little cover on them to up the price a little. and the craftsman "IR" guns are not really IR guns they are discontinued or crap made "IR" guns put together for 5 bucks. Story time... When i first got a job at meineke i bought a IR 1/2" impact for 370 something blew up in 3 weeks. The matco guy that comes to my shop is also a IR rep. I asked him if he could rebuild it. IR will not touch a sears/craftsman gun. they are not even made in the same plant as real IR guns. So i returned my gun to Sears got my money back and bought a IR4500 and had it for years now with out a problem. ohh and a suggestion to all u pneumatic gun owners. matco makes this wounderful air gun oil called marvel mystery oil which is very good oil but the best part is that once it runs out you hand it to a matco rep and if gets replace for free for life.

[AdamKashner]

sorry badchevyz71 i accidentally replied to you but i ment it to be to final breath

[jimmy_dong]

matco does not "make" marvel. it is a damn good oil though. IR is the best by far, thundergun is what i own, love it, hammers like hell.

[performabuilt2]

I bought a 3/8 air ratchet ffrom cornwell that will break your hands it takes lug nuts off lol not sure who makes it but paid 175 for it had it for 1 year so far everyday use no problems

[kev2809]

so what you end up buying bagged 04?

[Bradford]

Sorry it took so long to respond. I honestly forgot this thread. I bought IR stuff, impact, rackets. My in-laws bought me some IR for christmas also die grinder, hammer. So i have almost everything i need now.

[toomanyballs]

campbell hausfeld makes some pretty good stuff , thats what they sell at tractor suppply and they seem to hold up pretty well but IR is definately superior to anything else for the price

[DJ.]

i have a $20 air impact 1/2" drive ive been using for lugnuts for a little while without fail. sometimes it just isnt strong enough but it does its job and hasnt failed me yet. i use it every other weekend