I just bought a craftsman air compressor and it came with a 300 ft./lb impact gun. A friend told me it does not have enough power to take off a lug nut, that I need at least a 600 ft.lb one. I should have tried mine out soI would know, but am at work right now and trying to decide what to do. Am planning some work over the next couple days.
I know I said I would never try to get another hub bearing assy off again, but I already am going back on that am getting ready to do ball joints and maybe other front end work. I got a quote of 1200 dollars to work on the front end and was pretty shocked, as I've been reading others have as well.
Thanks.

 

i think your friend is mistaken. most average, cheapo, run of the mill $25-50 impact wrenches will provide about 250 pounds of torque, which is generally plenty for bolts sizes up to an inch or so. lug nuts are only torqued to about 100 pounds. i think your 300 lb craftsman will be all you will ever need, including your front hubs, harmonic balancer, bumpers, shocks, etc. tip.. i remove lug nuts with the impact wrench, but i put them back on with a 4 way lug wrench. i want to be able to get them off on the side of the road if and when necessary.

 

I dunno, I've only used some 900+ ft lbs, and then the cheap ones that have to be like 50 ft lbs.

The bigger the better I say but they get pricy fast, you also have to look at how much CFM they need at 90 PSI and how much your compressor can put out, and how long your compressor can put it out.