So, there has been an arms race in the world of electric battery-powered impact guns. They used to be barely capable and now they are delivering insane amounts of power and for a fair price.

My best friend bought a Harbor Freight electric impact, this one in particular -

https://www.harborfreight.com/20v-br...ger-70954.html

Currently $250 as-is. Of course HF always has coupons, sales, deals, etc. so you can probably get it cheaper. This is a full kit with battery, charger, and the 1/2" drive impact gun.

Add to that a high-mass 19mm socket. Here is an example:

There are many others out there.

So, list of wins for us with the HF gun:
- Rebuilt his RX-8 engine. It EASILY removed the front pulley bolt. This was a factory engine which is typically a chore to remove.
- We did a timing belt job on my wife's Honda Odyssey. Hondas are notorious for having front pulley bolts that are SUPER SUPER hard to remove. I've done some in the past where I was BENDING a breaker bar trying to get it to move. This gun zipped it off with zero drama.
- Finally the front pulley bolt on my RX-7. I had rebuilt it but it was installed properly with a full load of Loctite on the bolt. Again no drama, came right off.

There are other options so if you want to have one that works with your other tools' batteries (Milwaukee, Dewalt, etc.) you can do so. But the HF is a great price, seems to be well built, and delivers the goods.

Dale

 

I bought the Earthquake Electric Torque wrench in 2019 after failing to remove the Flywheel nut with a breaker and a longish (2 ft I think) pipe extension.
After putting well over 200 lbs on the end of that pipe and failing to budge the nut, I made a trip to HF.

That wrench zipped the nut off so easily it felt like magic,

 

I think there are other high torque options out there but that HF impact is a good value and does the job.

Also that will do the flywheel nut no sweat.

Dale

 

I hope I don't have to do this any time soon but it's good to know the HF impact will do it, maybe my old 19.2V Craftsman will too with a chunky socket. I usually heat them up a few hundred degrees with a propane torch and they come out easier that way since they get a little longer in the shank, but the 13B bolt is sunk down into the hub and the BMWs I've spent the last decade playing with have a nice hub which the bolt sits proud of, makes it a lot easier to focus the heat on the head of the bolt. At 450°F over ambient you get about .003" of expansion per inch of shank which really knocks the clamping load down a lot. I think the torque spec on the M50 I built last year is 300lbft...

 

Torque spec on the front pulley bolt is like 180 foot-pounds or something but it is slathered in Loctite and gooped up with RTV under the head.

The flywheel nut is supposedly 350 foot-pounds but it's always WAY easier than the front pulley bolt for whatever reason.

Heat does help but it's also nice to just hit that dude with the gun and big socket and you're done

Dale