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On air tools/compressor Posted by Notnoel [Email]  (#23) [Profile/Gallery]
(more from Notnoel) on Fri, 7 Oct 2011 07:19:43
In Reply to: Zen and the Art of Saab Maintenance, Noel, Fri, 7 Oct 2011 06:13:32 Members do not see ads below this line. - Help Keep This Site Online - Signup |
I replaced my engine a little over a year ago (1990 900T). This was the second time I'd pulled the drive train in 3 years, and I knew that I had to transfer a whole lot of things from the old engine to the new engine. I thought about it, and decided it was really stupid that I had an engine hoist, etc, but had never gotten around to buying air tools, and knew that the nut on the main crankshaft pulley was going to be a major PITA without an impact wrench.
I bought a VERY small air compressor and the basic Sears set up - I think it cost about $200 for both. The impact wrench sucked, but the air hammer and the air ratchet were worth it. I borrowed a really powerful (high torque) impact wrench from work and that took the main crankshaft pulley nut off effortlessly (that alone was worth the investment!).
You don't need much of a compressor. Even a tiny tank is fine for home wrenching because you typically have plenty of time between when you'll need it for the compressor to jack the tank back up to a suitable pressure. If I had it to do over, I'd have dropped another $100 on a larger compressor, mainly because it's noisy to have the compressor going on and off somewhat constantly.
The other downside to air tools is setting it up and taking it down when you need it (fooling with the hose, plugging and unplugging the compressor, etc). I solved that by installing a hose reel in the ceiling of the garage and setting aside a little parking space for the compressor in a corner where it is out of the way (and there's an outlet for power). I ran a hose to the reel and now it is a painless operation to use it. I just pull the tool I need out of a drawer (large rolling toolbox), pull down the hose on the reel and use it as simply as any other tool. I keep a garage quality metered tire inflation tool on it when I am not doing repairs to top off the tire pressure on our fleet.
I can disconnect the compressor from its perch and take it anywhere in 30 seconds, and if I need to work on the car in the drive way (which I prefer on nice days), I just extend the 25-foot hose all the way from the reel and snap on one of those 20' self coiling attachments. I also have a similar ceiling mounted 50' extension cord so I can do the same thing vacuuming, etc. Both of these are mounted in the front third of my 2-car garage, pretty much directly lined up with the engine compartments of the cars when they are pulled in. Ekectric in ceiling typically has an LED trouble light on it by default.
I highly recommend dropping the $250-300 it takes to set something like this up. Gives you most of the advantages of a professional shop, other than of course, having a lift. Makes home wrenching much more enjoyable, and there are flat some things that air tools are unique for (see post above about air hammer use on stuck bolts, that application is awesome!).
, Fri, 7 Oct 2011 05:26:01
, Thu, 6 Oct 2011 23:12:55
, Thu, 6 Oct 2011 12:38:21
, Fri, 7 Oct 2011 14:22:44, Fri, 7 Oct 2011 05:38:45, Fri, 7 Oct 2011 05:33:25, Fri, 7 Oct 2011 07:19:43 <-- Viewing This Message, Sun, 9 Oct 2011 09:11:20
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