Parkside Impact Wrench - any good??

[Donkey Basher]

Oh the joys of owning a ‘green oval’

After crawling under the D2 to remove the front propshaft with spanner & ratchet I got to thinking how much easier it’d be if I had an impact wrench. No way I can justify buying one of the name brands but for c.£80 I’m tempted to give one of the Parkside ones a go.

Anyone got any first hand experience of these? - are they any good? - would I just be chucking the money away?

TIA

 

[enfieldspares]

I think that most Chinese stuff is ess 'aitch one tee. That's NOT the fault of the Chinese who can make anything to any require quality. But the fault of the person that places the order and wants the cheapest possible price. Happily with Aldi and/or Lidl that's not them and so Parkside isn't usually bad quality. Having said that I only ever in the late 1970s and early 1980s bought Facom (when they were still Made in France) and Britool. I wouldn't give "Jack" for Snap-On. Nowadays I've no idea but I'd guess mostly the price difference is label snobbery. Old established names but...yep...Made in China or Made in India by drop forging like Kennedy spanners used to be.

 

[Lever357]

I think Lidl give them a good guarantee, a few years, so may be worth the risk

 

[Skietindiekop]

Using power tools on U/J’s is very risky. Having been in the green oval dealer workshops for some years, those who tried usually ended up with using a power ratchet as it doesn’t throw the socket into their cheek or forearm.
Thin wall spanner and a 3/8 drive 9/16th knuckle socket is the best option.

 

[Donkey Basher]

Using power tools on U/J’s is very risky. Having been in the green oval dealer workshops for some years, those who tried usually ended up with using a power ratchet as it doesn’t throw the socket into their cheek or forearm.
Thin wall spanner and a 3/8 drive 9/16th knuckle socket is the best option.

See where you’re coming from but I don’t use a standard socket, I have one of the 6” long propshaft sockets made so you can get a straight shot at the nut/bolt.

 

[nocturnaldave]

I bought one a couple of years ago…. Been faultless and quite a bit of grunt with it. Hard to beat for the price …. I have had other brand name ones in my time and to be honest they were very little better

 

[nocturnaldave]

Might see the difference if you were making your living with it but perfect for part time use keeping a shooting bus going!

 

[robgal]

If you even think it might do the job it’s worth buying, they don’t quibble on returns (full refund) and they stand over the 3 year guarantee on their items. A lot of it is barely diy proof but you do get the odd gem

 

[Klenchblaize]

Think of a Lee press and one from RCBS.

K

 

[weblyish]

I have a battery grinder and a battery SDS drill both from parkside bought when I needed something cordless and cheap for a one off

Both still going strong after a few years and no complaints

Parkside generator has run nearly 500hrs with no complaints or servicing - again grabbed last minute for and emergency job to be sold on or trashed after but still going strong

It's not workhorse stuff but of you need a job done once and can't borrow one then it's a sensible choice

 

[enfieldspares]

I bought, on Thursday, their parquet floor repair set. Already used it to fill drilled holes in a model field gun. Worked well. Bought for filling "shakes" on gunstocks.

 

[Drum123]

A guy on YouTube ' shifting metal' is his channel did a review on these. Suprising results against a big name impact wrench.

 

[eldon]

Using power tools on U/J’s is very risky. Having been in the green oval dealer workshops for some years, those who tried usually ended up with using a power ratchet as it doesn’t throw the socket into their cheek or forearm.
Thin wall spanner and a 3/8 drive 9/16th knuckle socket is the best option.

I still have the Snap on 9/16 and 1/2" double ended thin wall ring spanner for such shennanigans.

 

[Pedro]

Specifically about their impact wrench I don't know. But Parkside stuff isn't all that bad. For something I'd be using a lot, I'd rather go for something more up market, but if you need a tool for a one-off job or for something you hardly use, then it'll be fine.

 

[disco_ike]

I ended up with the Ryobi one. I had a D2 and same issue with rusted ass boots. For the cost of the kit the Ryobi is fantastic and really worked on the old landy. I recommend them for a little bit more than the parkside

 

[Mr Tree]

I have a friend who has Parkway everything, he is a boat builder, totally reliable. I bought a battery drill on his recommendation, outlasted Metabo & Hitachi. You pay more for the name. They seem to be heavier than the competition but probably aint a bad thing.

 

[Donkey Basher]

Thanks all, think I’ll be dropping by the local Lidl store later today - probably on my way between the breakers yard for a s/h propshaft & the LR specialist for the parts to refurbish the old propshaft! Hopefully have the old girl mobile again tomorrow

 

[Skietindiekop]

I still have the Snap on 9/16 and 1/2" double ended thin wall ring spanner for such shennanigans.

Much safer

 

[Donkey Basher]

Thanks all, think I’ll be dropping by the local Lidl store later today - probably on my way between the breakers yard for a s/h propshaft & the LR specialist for the parts to refurbish the old propshaft! Hopefully have the old girl mobile again tomorrow

Well that didn’t go as planned… I’m beginning to think I’ve taken over the mantle of unfortunate Land Rover owner from @Stalker62 - I certainly seem to be getting his luck at the moment!

The breakers said they had 3 propshafts on the shelf when I phoned them, which they did, but…

Two of them had seized double cardan joints so were worse than the one I need to refurbish. The other one had good joints both ends, but, the slider was jammed - probably bent as it would go in or out despite some ‘keen persuasion’ from the vendor.

Fail number one!

Oh well, I’ll just refurbish the old one with a kit from the local indie. Except they didn’t have the heavy duty one in stock & couldn’t get it till the New Year.

Fail number two!

Then I had a flash of inspiration desperation - I’d just buy a new one while I was at the indie… first they gave me the price for a genuine OEM one (made by GKN) Then they gave me the price for the alternative ‘cheaper’ one… cheaper is a relative term I now understand!

So to Plan C, place an order online for the heavy duty repair kit & see whether it turns up between Xmas & New Year.

But it doesn’t end there dear readers…

I popped into the Lidl store just down the road from the breakers, well I say into the store - it’d be more accurate to say I queued around the car park for a bit then drove off as there was no way I was going to queue to get a space!

Not to be deterred, after visiting LR indie I went to the Lidl in the town there, had parking spaces to chose from & waltzed into the store feeling very pleased with myself. Straight to the tool area only to find they only had the ‘bare’ impact wrench, ie no battery or charger & they had neither the battery or charger

No do I count that as fails three and four, or just as one fail???

 

[Dunwaters]

Oh the joys of owning a ‘green oval’

After crawling under the D2 to remove the front propshaft with spanner & ratchet I got to thinking how much easier it’d be if I had an impact wrench. No way I can justify buying one of the name brands but for c.£80 I’m tempted to give one of the Parkside ones a go.

Anyone got any first hand experience of these? - are they any good? - would I just be chucking the money away?

TIA

Why on earth would you need an impact driver to remove the front prop shaft on a D2?
It’s a simple 2 spanner job, but mind your head when it drops.
If your disco has a diff lock you can drive home on the rear shaft. Get the one you took off refurbished, the local agricultural machinery maintenance shop should be able to do it, they won’t charge a fortune and are used to dealing with farmers in a hurry.
Don’t do it yourself unless you know what your at, it’ll need balancing.
Parkside tools come with a 12 month warranty, they’re fine for the talented amateur and I know a couple of professionals that use them, the professionals buy 2 or 3 at a time and don’t worry about breakages.