Electric Impact Wrench Review – Cordless

I’m really leaned towards getting a cordless electric impact wrench, specifically this Milwaukee 18-Volt Impact with Cordless Drill Kit.  The main reason I’m looking at a cordless one is well, cords suck and get in the way.  The reason I’ve been looking at this 18 Volt Milwaukee set is because of the user reviews on Amazon.  It’s currently got almost 170 reviews and is still averaging 4.5 stars!  Here is a comment from a recent review; “Milwaukee impact drivers seemed to outperform any others available”. I also love the fact that it only weighs 4 pounds and still has 400 inch pounds of torque.  Also because it comes with the second cordless drill you get two batteries.

Electric Impact Wrench Review – Corded

Milwaukee also makes this 1/2 Inch Corded Impact Wrench for about the same price.  The main advantage I see with getting this corded model is the power it has…300 foot pounds to be exact.  That is almost double the Milwaukee Cordless Version which is pretty important when you have some of the stubborn bolts that won’t come lose.  The one that comes to mind the most for me is the crank pulley bolts on most of the Honda’s we have.  I can’t even count the number of breaker bars we broke when we should of just got out the electric impact wrench.  This new model only has 13 reviews right now, but every review is 5 stars which is a really good sign.

So What Electric Impact Wrench Am I Gonna Get

As much as I love the 1/2 Inch Corded Impact Wrench I’m going to pick up the Milwaukee 18-Volt Impact with Cordless Drill Kit mainly because I’ll be using it a lot at the race track and finding a outlet to plug anything in can be a pain.  If I was mainly using this in my garage though I’d definitely go for the 1/2 Inch Corded Impact Wrench for the extra power you get with it.

Cheap Tool Boxes – Plastic Version

This Stanley 16-Inch Tool Box is almost exactly like the one I have and use the most.  The main reason I really like this one is the two top compartments for quick access to the sockets and other household tools I use most.  If you’re looking for the cheapest possible box this one is definitely for you.  Remember that this box is only 16 inches long though so if you have any really long tools it might not be the best sized box for you.

Cheap Tool Boxes – Metal Version

I know not everyone is a fan of plastic tool boxes which I totally understand, my Dad is actually prefers metal tool boxes.  Again for the money this Stack-On 16-Inch Metal Tool Box is my personal choice.  It’s got a really nice tough plastic tray insert and all the reviews have been really positive.  Of the 9 reviews it currently has 7 of them are 5 stars and the last 2 are four stars.  One reviewer even pointed out that this entire box is made in the USA.

Cheap Tool Boxes – With Drawers

This HOMAK 3 Drawer Tool Box is a little bit more expensive than the other two models listed above, but if you have a lot of sockets and hand tools that are flat this is a great option.  I have a model almost exactly like that I have sitting on my work bench in the garage.

From the looking I can do around the internet these are two of the cheapest tool boxes out there. If you want to search around Amazon for some of their other tool boxes that might also work for what you need click here:  Amazon’s Best Tool Boxes

You’ve also got to look into things like how much weight can the car jack lift as well as what material you want.  Typical weights include 1 ton, 2 ton, 3 ton and 6 ton.  For materials you really get two choices.  Aluminum and steel.  I wrote a good post about aluminum floor jacks just the other day that might be worth checking out.

My Favorite Low Profile Car Jack

Back to my reference about sports cans and a low profile car jack.  I happen to have a car like this and your standard jack doesn’t slide under the car.  it’s extremely frustrating.  That’s where the Torin 1.5 ton racing jack comes in.  I actually have this jack in red and LOVE it.  It’s my favorite one out of everyone car jack I’ve purchased or borrowed.  They even have a combo package with a low profile jack and jack stands at a deal!

Don’t Forget About Car Jack Stands

The biggest mistake you can make is getting a car jack and not purchasing a set of car jack stands.  That’s why I have the funny title reference at the top of this site.  Do me a favor and pick up at least one set of jack stands so you don’t drop a car on your face.  Amazon has a great set of Torin 3 ton car jack stands at an unbelievably price. Believe me when I say that no matter how expensive a set of jack stands you buy, it’ll be so much cheaper than even one visit to the emergency room with a crushed arm, leg, or worse.  I actually have two full sets of these for the simple fact that they always come in handy.  If you don’t like the Torin ones, Amazon has a full line of decently priced jack stands.

Lucky for you, a motorcycle jack is much less expensive than a lift table and ironically, usually supports a heavier weight. An immediate upside to jacks, compared to lift tables, is the manual hand crank you usually have to operate. With plenty of torque factor, other than breaking a sweat, it is no problem lifting your bike into the air for some much needed work. When you begin shopping, be sure to read the motorcycle jack reviews to get a feel for what customers liked and why.

Best Motorcycle Jack

Amazon.com is the first place you should stop when you begin to shop. By simply narrowing your search to “automotive” and looking for “motorcycle jacks” in the search bar you will be taken to a list of the most relevant products. If you want to see what sells, change the search criteria to “bestselling.” In this search, the first product you will land upon is the Torin T64017 1500 lb. Hydraulic Motorcycle and ATV Jack.

As one of the most competitively priced jacks on the market, its nearly one-ton lifting capacity is just the beginning. The Torin Hydraulic jack is also one of the few available that has a foot operated hydraulic lift rising up to fourteen inches, fully extended. With two locking clamps and open access from both sides of the workspace, you will have an easy time maneuvering around your bike while you replace the stator or tune your gearbox without concern of the bike tipping while you work.

Black Widow Motorcycle Jack

You may enjoy the power and ease of using the Torin Hydraulic jack, but still feel that you need more. The Black Widow Hydraulic Motorcycle and ATV Jack is just what you are looking for. A major benefit to the Black Widow motorcycle jack, is its ability to be used either with the foot-operated hydraulic petal or manually jacked up by a two-handed, pole to sixteen inches high. If you are working on your bike in the garage, near an outlet, using the foot pump is easy enough, and if you need a change of scenery, you are not limited to places with electricity.

Both tables are built with spacious workspaces to anchor a bike and lock it in. Both are built affordably with your needs in mind so you can funnel every extra cent you earn into buying the upgrades for your bike that fill your dreams. Because a motorcycle jack can usually lift a greater weight than a lift table and have many of the same features, most people prefer to make the purchase that leaves them with leftover cash.

Because I haven’t had to many aluminum floor jacks I can’t tell you which ones are better than others, but I can show you were to buy the one I bought and am really happy with.  I decided to purchase the 1.5 ton model, but they make a 2 ton with jack stands and also a 3 ton model.

Aluminum Floor Jack

The picture on the right is the exact aluminum floor jack I have, except in blue. It’s the Torin 1.5 Ton Aluminum Racing Jack (See all Engine Hoists & Stands & Vehicle Lifts and Jacks). I’m really happy with the 1.5 ton model, but I know a lot of people are probably going to want one that can lift more.

3 Ton Aluminum Floor Jack

This Torin 3 Ton Low Profile Aluminum Floor Jack is a great option and probably one of the best priced 3 ton aluminum jacks out there right now.  It also have over an 18 inch lift range which is really good.  I think my 1.5 ton one has around a 15 inch, but I’d have to check to be sure.  People who already purchased the floor jack said it “operating really smooth” and “lifted the car extremely easily” which is a good sign.  All of the reviews have been 4 and 5 stars.

Best Aluminum Floor Jack

This is my recommendation for the best aluminum floor jack; the OTC Aluminum Racing Jack Pack with jack stands.  For the money it’s by far the best option at 2 tons with aluminum jack stands.  Every review has been 5 stars except for one with was still 4 stars!  It’s extremely low profile with a lowered height of only 3.5 inches and has over a 15 inch lift range.  One reviewer even said he choose to replace his broken craftsman jack with this new one and couldn’t be happier.

Amazon.com’s most popular offering is the “Black Widow Air Operated Premium Pneumatic Motorcycle Lift Table”. It accommodates up to one thousand pounds with a hands free system for raising and lowering the vehicle. You will be hard pressed to find a bike that exhausts this jack’s weight limit. In addition to having a heavy lifting hydraulic ram, customers love this machine for its simple design. Driving the bike or even manually wheeling it into place on the center of the motorcycle lift jack is safe and simple.

If you are worried about your bike tipping, the integrated wheel clamps will put your mind at ease. When your bike’s wheels are in place, the cramps clamp on tightly, keeping your bike upright and fastened to the table. At 24” wide, you also have plenty of room to be close to your workspace without worrying about centering the vehicle.

If the “Black Widow” is too expensive for your budget, customers also found the “HANDY LIFTS Complete Foot Valve Assembly” to be a helpful tool when working on their motorcycles. This motorcycle lift does not have the same weight capacity, safely carrying about seven hundred pounds instead, but it maintains the same easy foot-operated pedal and a wide tabletop for propping a bike on its stand.

Beyond these two motorcycle lifts, customers opted for tools that either suspended the bike from its belly or lifted one wheel at a time. A few manually operated, hand-torqued tools are relatively popular, though not everyone enjoys the hard work of cranking the levers to suspend a chopper. For a modest price, anyone can find a lift that suits his or her needs.

If working on your own hog is a nonnegotiable part of owning it, you cannot suffer the lack of a lift. Hunching on the ground to work on the engine may be comfortable for a limited time, but larger repairs will take a toll on your knees and back. Even professional mechanics have the help of lifts for their daily jobs. Take it from the pros; it is worth saving your body to get your machine on the same level as you.

1. Material – You have two popular materials that I’d say 95% of all jacks are made from, steel and aluminum.  Most cheaper jacks are made from steel because it’s a cheaper metal to get than aluminum.  The downside to steel is that it’s a lot heavier and there for a smaller steel jack will weigh more than a much larger aluminum version.  The downside to aluminum however is that because the metal costs more, aluminum floor jacks cost more.  In my opinion they are worth the extra cost however.
2. Pump To Travel Ratio – The what?!  All automotive floor jacks aren’t created equal when it comes to how much the jack will rise based on one full pump.  The more expensive the floor jack is, the more the arm will raise up with a single pump.  This comes in handy more than you could possibly imagine.  Instead of having to pump, pump, pump over and over just to get the jack to the bottom of the car you can pump once and it’s to the bottom of the car, another two or three pumps and a good automotive floor jack will already have a car or truck tire off the ground.  This isn’t an advertised number however so it’s something you’ll have to test on each of the floor jacks you look at.
3. Name Brand – This is a tough one for me because I own both a no name and a popular brand name of automotive floor jacks and mine both work great.  I have quite a few friends that that while working in their garage with a cheaper jack have found them to leak over time and eventually fail much sooner than the name brand counterpart.

The only other big thing I’d look at is to make sure any of the automotive floor jacks you are looking at can actually jack up your car.  The jacks are rated in tons of weight they can hold, most are between two and three tons which should  be plenty for any standard car.  Guys with a truck or larger vehicle though so check to see if their automotive floor jack is strong enough to raise and hold their vehicle.

1. One Craftsman 3 Ton Jack – This is the main floor jack we use when we need just one.  It’s extremely heavy, was fairly expensive, and works very well.  If you are only going to get one automotive jack this is the one to buy.  I even write a review about it in an earlier post.
2. Two Harbor Freight 2 Ton Jacks – These guys were Christmas presents from my Dad and they are actually my favorite automotive floor jacks.  They are only 2 ton jacks which are fine, but they are 100% aluminum which makes them so incredibly light it’s just amazing.  They also are some of the lowest floor jacks I’ve ever used.  For example my brother has a Honda Civic that is lowered just a bit, but the front bumper is extremely close to the group and this jack slides right under it without any problems at all.  These jacks do have a downside however and that’s quality of the piston used on them.  It’s in my experience that if you are careful using them they last a lot longer, but rough use will shorten the lifespan considerably and they will start to leak.
3. Two Craftsman 2 Ton Jacks – These automotive floor jacks are pretty old and they both work very well even after 5 years of constant rough use.  They have never leaked, not worked, or had a single problem.  The problem with these automotive jacks is that the pump to lift ratio is really really really short.  You pump multiple times and the jack only raises up 1 inch.  It’s not a disadvantage as much as a point to let people know about.  The quality of this floor jack is amazing though and both have been very reliable.

Five floor jacks may seem like a lot, but when you’ve got a garage that my Dad, brother and I all use quite often, having that many really is a nice thing to have.  You’re probably wondering why we don’t just have 5 floor jacks that are all the exact same model, etc.  The reason is each automotive floor jack has a distinct advantage that is unique to that jack and helpful when working on certain cars.

One perfect example is when I was swapping out a transmission on my Acura Integra race car last year. I used two automotive jacks to raise the car rather high up off the ground on both front/side jack points. At this point I could of slid jack stands under the car and set the car down on them, giving me both floor jacks back, but since I had the extra ones I didn’t have to worry about it. I still put the stands under there for safety, but then grabbed my extra floor jacks.

Now I can support the actual motor with one jack and a 2×4 of wood long enough to loosen all of the motor mounts and remove the ones attached to the transmission. That last open jack is perfect for sliding under the transmission as we removed it from the motor. Now instead of having to lug the transmission down to the floor, taking a chance of hurting ourselves or dropping the transmission and chipping the case, we could let the automotive floor jack take the weight and slowly lower the transmission to the floor, then tug on the jack to easily slide it from under the car.

I have some friends who don’t like doing it this way because they say it’s faster to just grab on to the transmission and pull it out, but when it comes to safety and doing things right, those extra floor jacks really did help. It’s important to note that not all of my automotive floor jacks are really high end expensive ones. The ones I used to let the transmission down for example was an extremely cheap 1 ton jack that I got for around $35 dollars.

I did spend quite a bit on 2 of the jacks I used though simply because when it comes down to being under the car, I want to make sure I’ve got a floor jack I can trust holding the car up. Same goes for the jack stands. I have two sets. One cheap set and one really nice steel set with large holding teeth so I know it can take the weight of even the heaviest trucks. So there you have my quick story on why I have way to many automotive floor jacks.

If you only read or remember one tip this is the tip to remember.  Never trust a jack no matter how new it is. I don’t care if it’s the first time you’ve used it or the one hundredth and you trust it completely, don’t.  Automotive jacks can fail at any time and this includes when you’re under the car.  That’s why it’s so important to have at least one set of jack stands around at all times to stick under the car after you’ve jacked it up.  That way if the back does fail you won’t be crushed by the car.

The second tip isn’t quite as important, but still is worth mentioning and that’s to always have another person around when using an automotive jack.  I know it sounds like when you’re a kid and your parents tell you that you need to be supervised, but it really could be a matter of life or death.

Doom and gloom aside, a nice set of jack stands is really important when working on your car.  There will be times when you need to leave you car up over night, whether you’re having some parts refinished or are waiting for a part to be delivered.  It’s important not to leave the car held up with the floor jack over night.  This is when having the jack stands is great, you can put them under the car to support it and then relieve the pressure on the automotive floor jack.  Having that weight on the jack for extended amounts of time, as in over 24 hours is bad for the jack and greatly reduces the lifespan.

Hopefully I haven’t sounded to much like a parent telling their kids what to do.  This post comes from me seeing automotive floor jacks fail many times, luckily nobody has been under the car when it happens in my case.  Companies like Craftsman have seen how safety is important and they actually make a great package that you can purchase that comes with an automotive floor jack, set of jack stands, and a creeper for just over $100 dollars.  If you take nothing else away from this do your family a huge favor and use jack stands when you’re under the car.