Impact Driver - Lessons learned

This all started with a trip to the hardware store for a bolt for my bed stiffeners. I always wanted an impact driver so I got a deal on some cordless Makita tools. I was using it for the first time ever installing my new skid plates. It was fantastic removing bolts and I felt like the pros on the YouTube channels. They used the driver to install the bolts also, so I tried it. Worked great until the second to last bolt which didn’t feel right. Reversed it and tried again, cross threaded. Sucks! Got a tap and die and fixed it, but lesson learned on using an impact driver.

 

Always hand start bolts before putting a gun on them.

Props on the Greenlane skid though. Great company!

 

Always start by hand and finish with a tool.

At least it's a cheap lesson learned... and new tools!

 

A good tool to have! Read up and experiment with when to use the impact driver too. Lots of people use impact drivers in ways that end up bending material, tweaking your wrist, etc.

Starting by hand also informs you if anything is awry with the threads. Some bolts have trash threads and need to be aligned or swapped before going Maximum Force!

 

Learned my lesson for sure.

 

Yeah all of us learn at some point. I stripped a stud on my Explorer when I was 17 by gunning on a cross threaded acorn nut.

 

i was putting on my tube bumper and couldn’t get 1 of 8 bolts lined up to start by hand, so I just impacted it in slightly canted

totally fucked the threads and it’ll probably never come out, but the truck probably wont last long enough to where ill need to take the bumper off again

 

i have impact drivers attached to my hot and cold water knobs on my kitchen sink, it's just fun and i feel mechaniky

 

Great tools and I swear by them but they have their limits which is why makita makes 3-4 grades of them. Jury’s still out on whether retirement or breaking down and getting a “bigger hammer” comes first.

 

I always start a bolt by hand and make sure it is threaded properly before putting any kind of wrench to it. Impact, ratchet, box/open end, crescent, even pliers. Also don't over torque no matter what you're using.

 

It happens to everyone….eventually

It takes guts to admit ya screwed up and share it to hopefully save someone else the grief.

 

i want to see a picture of that!

 

What are you retiring now? Mine had a lot of life left. Patina.

 

Yep! Good lesson learned! I recently bought a used ‘22 Tacoma and did an oil change last week. One of the four bolts holding on the skid-pan was cross-threaded. Probably from some fucking minimum wage paid chimpanzee working at the jiffylube with an impact driver. The same type assholes at the tire places driving your lug nuts on with an impact. You don’t find out until you go to rotate your tires. FFS!

I’m sorry for my outburst but it appears that I’ve formed some pretty strong resentments against impact driver wielding chimps.

 

The impact still works though it’s missing the white & silver nose cone pieces and a good bit of rubber. The drill however is frozen in 2 (high) so it no longer has the leverage to drill with auger bits or larger hole saws. Yours looks merely well used next to mine. The new set just arrived today and both are ~1” shorter than their predecessors. With so many batteries already I opted for the 4AH set. We’ll see how they last. Only 2 of my current crop of batteries are newer than 10 years old and I utilize them a lot. To the point I needed a dual bay charger to keep up when I’m using 5 or 6 tools. The “bigger hammer” would be either a 3/8” or 1/2” drive impact. The 1/2” is huge and I’d really only use it for driving concrete lags but I’d hate to get the 3/8” only to have it be inadequate. I’ll make that choice when(if) the next job to come along requires it. I’d possibly be the one retiring first. I don’t have every 18V Makita LXT but 10 of them is already overcrowding my tool drawer in the bed. And that doesn’t include the 3-3/8” circular I use for cedar shingles converted to use 18v batts. I really like this truck and don’t want a bigger one since no truck could hold everything and still fit on the roads I travel.

 

I only own one drill. Makita impact! Tradesman here and it never leaves my truck.

 

It’s the one drill to rule them all. I have one as well. Love it! Burly.

 

Your spare tire and bottle jack prop rod takes 3/8" drive impact, in case you didn't know

 

They’re also good for travel trailer stabilizers but are a bit noisy early in the morning.