I finally figured out why my impact gun kept stripping lug nuts

Been fighting this issue for about 6 months on SUVs and trucks at my shop in Portland. Turns out I was using too high of a torque setting with a 6-point socket instead of letting the gun's friction ring do the work. Anybody else run into this after switching from a regular ratchet?

3 comments

3 Comments

amy_anderson27d ago

Oh man, I actually see it a little differently than @linda114. I mean, backing off the torque setting can help but in my experience the real fix was switching to a 5-point or 12-point socket for impact work. Those 6-point sockets grab too hard and transfer all the shock to the nut instead of letting the hammer break it loose. I used a 12-point on a Ford F-250 lug last week and it spun off smooth where the 6-point had been rounding it for months.

linda11427d ago

Have you tried backing off the torque setting on the impact itself? That fixed it for me, I just let the gun's hammer do the work now.

jason_lewis327d ago

Wait, isn't that kinda how everything works in life though? Like with cars, tools, even people - you try to force something and it fights back harder. I noticed that with my old pickup's lug nuts, the harder I cranked on the impact, the worse it got, but once I backed off and let the gun do its job, everything just clicked loose. Same thing with a stuck drawer in my workshop - kept yanking on it and it wouldn't budge, then I just tapped it sideways a couple times and it slid right open. It's like you gotta work with the way things are built instead of trying to bully them into cooperating. My buddy tried the 12-point socket thing too and he swears by it now, says it's like the difference between fighting a stuck bolt versus just asking it nicely to come loose.