Air Compressor & Tool Recommendations

[Evan]

What kind of air compressor and tools should I buy to work on my E34?

I looked at Home Depot today and saw a few different models of compressor... how much HP/CFM/PSI do I need?

What kind of tools should I buy to go with it and can I use my Craftsmen sockets and extensions on my new air gun?

Cheers,
Evan

[joshua43214]

If your only spinning some nuts with it, get a little pancake compressor, the air tools will have the required cfm/pressure on the instructions. Air tools are meant to use impact sockets(this includes air ratchets). Impact sockets are softer so they save wear on the air tool and don't crack under use. Impact guns have a ring retainer instead of a ball retainer, using crome sockets will damage the ring retainer. Air ratchets have ball retainers so you can use the crome sockets, but it will eventualy wear out the nose on the ratchet.

Craftsmen should be fine for an air ratchet unless you have a good one from snapon or mac. Expect broken sockets from time to time with an impact.

[Evan]

Thanks, Joshua. I bought an electric impact and I'm going to try it out and see if it has enough balls. If not, I'll mmove up to air.

Cheers,
Evan

[Blitzkrieg Bob]

Is best for taking apart the car. Don't put it back together with pnuematics...it's real easy to cross thread, over torque or snap something. need the human touch there.

The Air wrenchs are cool and fast for quick strip down, but sometimes I find them too big to get into all the spaces.

The most valuable pneumatic tool, would be a 1/2 or 3/4 dual hammer impact gun and sockets, Saving hours of sweating, swearing and busting stuff...well worth the $$$.

If you plan to get into painting, get the biggest compressor you can handle.

[joshua43214]

LOL, I think you mean 1/2 or 3/8. I worked in a shop that had a fire truck repair shop down the alley, they had a 3/4 impact gun, the thing weighed about 30 pounds and had 2 big handles. The SnapON sockets they had for it cost a frightening amount of money even to me. They had a 130gallon compressor that could run it for about 20 seconds before it started to run slower, those things are for drilling rigs and locomotive engines. They used it on really stubborn bolts that they couldnt break free with a 6foot extension breaker bar. definately don't use air tools for assembly, it takes lots and lots of experience with them to do that.

[Blitzkrieg Bob]

wasn't thinking about the big machine gun type 3/4 impact guns.

I was thinking about the 3/4 ones that looked more like a 1/2 drive on steroids. Used to use one on rotary mazda gland nuts 2 1/8 inch nut on with 300lbs.

1/2 inch is probably the best choice after hearing the crank nut stories, and frozen suspension bolt nightmares.

Oh, yeah...A couple other little gems that come in handy. Die cutter, this is so cool like a dremal tool but sounds like the Dentist's office, and so much more power. Air chisel with the right bits. Not just for cutting, find a set that has ball joint forks, punches, and of course blades.

[Kalevera]

I use a 3/4 impact gun all the time. Only way to dismantle a large case LSD unit.

[winfred]

hard to go wrong with ingersol rand on air tools, it depends on what you are going to do with it on compressor capacity, they usually have charts on the boxes of the air tools on how much compressor you need, waiting for a compressor to spool up sucks ass in a major way, sanding painting and grinding take major cfm, stuff like air ratchets come in a close 2nd and if you don't have a good sized tank to work from you need a serious pump, my home single stage twin cylinder 30 gallon whipps the ass of the 80 gallon twin stage two cylinder at work (had to use my comp as a back up a couple times) on keeping up after a die grinder, don't be taken in with absurdly high max psi ratings, like sears puts 175# a lot of their units now, anything over about 125# is just hard on your equipment 90-110 is a good range, i've been using chrome craftsman sockets with air tools for years (actually broken more of them with a breaker bar) including using 3/8 drive sockets on my hopped up 1/2 drive impact, it's not the best thing but it can be done and i do this for a living, generally i find if i split a socket right away it probably wasn't forged right and they swap em out anyway, i have some 3/8 craftsman deep that i use a impact on almost daily for the last 10 years

What kind of air compressor and tools should I buy to work on my E34?

I looked at Home Depot today and saw a few different models of compressor... how much HP/CFM/PSI do I need?

What kind of tools should I buy to go with it and can I use my Craftsmen sockets and extensions on my new air gun?

Cheers,
Evan

[Derek A.]

1/4 air rachets are nice - and its a bit more difficult to screw stuff up.

[SRR2]

Buy more compressor than you think you need. The $100 range 4-5 CFM @ 90 psi will come up short for many tasks, particularly cutting and grinding. Those tools take quite a bit of air. If I had it to do over again, I'd probably spend the bucks on a two-stage, belt drive, 230V, 4hp with minimum 30 gallon tank.

Harbor freight has a wide selection of compressors at aggressive prices. Another place that you should also check out is Tractor Supply. I was surprised to see genuine I-R compressor sets there for prices that were close, and in one or two cases, lower than HF. I was kicking myself last time I went into TS because they had a closeout on an I-R much like I mentioned above for $200. Only one available, and it was the floor model, but for that price.... jeez.