Slave cable powered tools?

[5tonman1971]

So I'm flicking threw flea-bay and I found 1/2 impacts connected to slave cables made for the military.

how do we feel about these? Are they worth picking up? Does anyone have any personal experience with these tools?

I feel like that would be a good thing to have in the tool box on the truck.

 

[NDT]

They won't loosen a Budd lug nut if it has been torqued to 1500 ft-lbs (air impact).

 

[gimpyrobb]

The 1/2 inch drive isn't even considered(by me) the 3/4 is a definite maybe. The drill I have no use for. I don't know what else there is, but I made a magnetic base work light that has been real handy 2 or 3 times. It is not high amp draw, so you can use the light duty slave cable head.

 

[Artisan]

I made some valved quick disconnects at the PS rear glad-hand area.

I carry a 3/8" and 1/2" and 3/4" Air Impact plus a myriad of other air tools.
and plenty of hoses AND I made all kinds of adaptors big to small small to big
etc. I have two floor jacks, one is air assist and it is SWEET! It is a harborfreight
special I painted 383 .

All of my lug nuts have been removed and reassembled to a reasonable torque and grease was used.
Do NOT wait till you have a flat, pull ALL lug nuts and make sure you can get them off
BEFORE you have a flat. Remember I told you so...
A few of them took an almost 6' cheater bar to get off w/ me JUMPING on it.I weigh 250 and I can still run... (well sorta)
(Be Afraid )

The truck in OE condition will give you maybe a good 3-5 second blast w/ the 3/4" Impact.
It is just enough to do the deeds usually.
I have plans to add a valved pressure vessel (tank) that I can open and let fill when
I do road side repairs so I have more volume of air although temporary. I just have
not run into the right tank and bracketry yet.

Those 24V tools are almost throwaways. The place that makes them will
not even repair them nor will they sell you the majority of repair parts.
for them.

Go w/ air tools and be done w/ it.

Here is how I plumbed my air QD's . The QD size is the same as the 3/4" Impact's inlet.
I use a Glad-Hand X Smaller QD for smaller air tools, or I can go Hollywood and use either, WITH
THE AIR HOSES I SAY THE A I R H O S E S! !

 

[SLOrazorsedge]

I have a 24V Robo 3/4" slave cable impact gun. It was issued with some MRAPs. It broke down the spring shackle bolts off of a deuce bogy unit no sweat. These were spring shackles that haven't been touched since I was a PFC in 1970 :0)

 

[5tonman1971]

Thank you guys for the replies! I'm glad I asked before pulling the trigger on those junk tools! Yea I guess I will stay with my strap-on impact.... I mean snap-on.... Hehe. And yes I have already broken down all my tires a couple times as I just put on my 16.00 about a month ago, my back is still recovering.

 

[tim292stro]

After reading a Robotool thread about a week ago, I got the idea to adapt Dewalt 18-20V tools to a 24V NATO plug. I'm still working on the idea, but in general it goes like this:

• Take a dead 18V Dewalt battery, remove batteries
• Drill hole for 12/3 water/oil resistant cable (UL SOOW type) and water tight cable strain-relief (would use 75' so I could get all the way around the truck or trailer)
• Put in small 14-cell capacitor bank where batteries used to be (Maxwell or equivalent small >10Farad total for start torque)
• Either in the NATO plug or in a water-proof box in-line near the plug, a small ~100Watt buck/step-down Constant Voltage regulator set to 18V, using the extra wire in the 12/3 as a "sense" return from the capacitors.

This type of adaptation would allow you to run any of the Dewalt 18V tools I might want in the wilderness by plugging in the modified battery pack to the tool and your truck. This defeats the purpose of "cordless", but it's better than nothing in a pinch. I see that Dewalt has car chargers, but none for 24Volt vehicles (only 12V), and those are chargers. The best "20V Max" battery they have right now is only 4 amp hours - a 24V military start battery set has at least 100Ah, and it your engine is running, you can keep going as long as you can fuel the truck.

It should be cheaper to do this than putting in a real "true sine-wave" inverter around 1000Watts and using the wall-pug type tools. I still want to get my hands on a Robotool though - nice to have high-impact guns in an emergency.

 

[Recovry4x4]

First, lets evaluate what the plans are for the impact. If you want to use it to run lug nuts on a deuce or 5 ton then it's not the best choice. They are great in the tool box of a CUCV. The impact is a little to bulky for common mechanic duties so not much value there. The cordless Milwaukee impacts I have are wonderful. Even 5 years ago, the 24V impact was a nice tool to have, not so much in today's world.

tim292stro, I did almost exactly that sans the capacitor bank. They work great and we used them extensively at the 2012 GA Rally. Here's a quick blurb on when I did.

http://www.steelsoldiers.com/showthread.php?52862-Ridgid-Power-Tools!-Love-Hate

 

[country]

we have these in stock

www.easternsurplu.net

(ALL-5062) BACK IN STOCK - JANUARY 2012! Impact Wrench, 3/4 inch drive, 24 volt - runs from the slave receptacle on your truck $545

 

[SCSG-G4]

I've got a 1/2 inch Robotool, and it came in handy when we needed to change a tire on a trailer. We did have to bust the nuts loose with a cheater bar, but the spin off and snug up went a lot faster, and that counts when you are sitting on the side of the road. I'm keeping mine!

 

[M813rc]

I have a 3/4" 24v impact tool that I find quite handy. It is not a replacement for air tools or cheater bars, but a useful supplement in many situations.

I particularly like it when it is 108*+ degrees outside, and I have a couple of tires to change or whatever. I'm not a young man anymore, so 6' cheater bars look less attractive to me these days, old men like power tools...

Cheers

 

[papercu]

I used a Swench (http://www.powerhawk.com/products_swench_kits_specs_accessories.html ) when needed, takes up very little space and I haven't found anything it wouldn't bust loose and can be used as a torque when reinstalling. No need to untangle/drag the cords/lines. Very simple and it works great
With dual rears and a empty truck/semi-trailers I've just driven flats home with no problems. Wayne

 

[gimpyrobb]

I used a Swench (http://www.powerhawk.com/products_swench_kits_specs_accessories.html ) when needed, takes up very little space and I haven't found anything it wouldn't bust loose and can be used as a torque when reinstalling. No need to untangle/drag the cords/lines. Very simple and it works great
With dual rears and a empty truck/semi-trailers I've just driven flats home with no problems. Wayne

I have both the 3/4" and 1" drive Swench wrenches. They certainly do make it easy to remove stuff, but man do those kits weigh a LOT!

 

[pmramsey]

I have three of the 3/4 Robo impacts. I keep them spread out among the vehicles. When you need them, they work. I've changed trailer tires, CUCVs, and Deuce tires with them. I have no complaints. However, I would never use them but for short periods and definitely not as a daily tool.

 

[wb1895]

Just keep in mind that these 24V impact wrenches were intended to remove armor plates/ side skirts from tanks/ BFV's/ Strykers. Net really intended for high torque.

 

[swbradley1]

After reading a Robotool thread about a week ago, I got the idea to adapt Dewalt 18-20V tools to a 24V NATO plug. I'm still working on the idea, but in general it goes like this:

• Take a dead 18V Dewalt battery, remove batteries
• Drill hole for 12/3 water/oil resistant cable (UL SOOW type) and water tight cable strain-relief (would use 75' so I could get all the way around the truck or trailer)
• Put in small 14-cell capacitor bank where batteries used to be (Maxwell or equivalent small >10Farad total for start torque)
• Either in the NATO plug or in a water-proof box in-line near the plug, a small ~100Watt buck/step-down Constant Voltage regulator set to 18V, using the extra wire in the 12/3 as a "sense" return from the capacitors.

I think you are over thinking it a little. While I'm impressed with the size of capacitors today Recovry4x4's simple solution works about as perfectly as you can get. Just get a tool of your choice and cut the battery pack apart and hook it to a cable with a slave end.

 

[gimpyrobb]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FXxZwrueOYY

 

[emmado22]

http://www.aircraftdynamics.com/robotools-1.htm Lots of info on the manufacturers website

 

[Rifleman]

I bought one of the surplus CDI 1200 torque multiplier from Uncle Sam's Retail outlet store for $140 bucks with free shipping. With only 15 foot pounds of input torque from a 3/8 inch drive socket wrench it will produce 1200 foot pounds of output torque to a 3/4 inch shank in both clock wise and counter clock wise direction. The only problem with this tool is it's kind of heavy, nice thing though, you can use it to not only remove your lug nuts but to reinstall them to the proper torque too, and it's alot more compact then carrying a 6 foot cheater bar. http://www.contractorstools.com/cdidpt.html

 

[tim292stro]

I think you are over thinking it a little. While I'm impressed with the size of capacitors today Recovry4x4's simple solution works about as perfectly as you can get. Just get a tool of your choice and cut the battery pack apart and hook it to a cable with a slave end.

I agree to a point, in a rush of I don't have a pre-modified battery, I'd do it that way (NATO plug direct). But since I'm doing this with time and patience, I have a different approach.

In general you can run a DC motor on +/-10% of its rating reliably over a long period of time. For 18v tools, this would be a range from 16.2v to 19.8v. You may be able to get a few months of intermittent use out of a drill if it is powered from 24v,but it's probably generating more heat than it can dissipate. If you use the tool for hours at a time and very hard, you may burn out the motor or motor controller in a single day.

The design I proposed is for continuous use. One further addition would be to put another slave port on the back of the plug so they could be stacked.