The impact wrench is used to lose or tighten the lug nuts due to its high torque production and impact rate. There are dozen of impact wrenches available in the market. But its impact rate and torque are varied with the brand. When you buy an impact wrench, you must know how much torque does an impact wrench have?
Normally, impact wrenches have 500Nm-600Nm torque, which is sufficient for general purposes. But for the heavy-duty tasks, we can use a Makita impact wrench with a maximum of 2,050 Nm nut-busting torque and 1,800 Nm fastening torque which is a special design for heavy-duty works.
Normally impact wrenches are mostly used in domestic or DIYs. Hence it will not need high torque impact wrenches. The mid-range impact wrench is really useful for these projects. So let’s see what the torque that each impact wrench have and more detail about the torque is? Keep reading on!
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Impact Wrench Torque Production Mechanism
When considering the impact driver and impact wrench, the impact wrench has more torque than the impact driver. The impact driver has a hammer and anvil mechanism to produce the torque. It is really powerless and noisier. When the impact mechanism is activated, we can hear a clear noise difference in the impact drivers.
But impact wrench has a specific mechanism for torque generation. It is called an epicyclic gear system. There is a sun and planetary gears. When the sun gear is rotated, planet geares also rotate at a different speed. As a result of this, torque has increased more than impact drivers. There is no high noise. Some impact wrenches are combined these two mechanisms in order to have the best user experience.
More than electric impact wrenches, there are hydraulic and pneumatic impact wrenches. Those are really powerful and really used for heavy-duty tasks.
According to the power source, its impact mechanism is different. If you have higher diameter bolts or nuts, you can use these kinds of impact wrenches.
For light vehicles and DIY, you can use an electric, cordless, brushless impact wrench with a suitable tool head and torque.
Read More About – Impact Driver Vs Hammer Drill – Why they are Different?
How Much Torque Does Dewalt Impact Wrench Have?
Dewalt DCF899HB impact wrench has a maximum of 950 Nm (700 ft-lbs) max fastening torque and 1630 Nm (1200 ft-lbs) breakaway torque. More than that, Dewalt impact wrenches have been designed for different torque range and different tasks. Those can be easily used for the suitable torque range.
| Model Number | Collet Size | Torque |
| DCF880M2 | 1/2″ | 203 Nm |
| DCF897N | 3/4″ | 950 Nm |
| DCF894P2 | 1/2″ | 447 Nm |
| DCF899P2 | 1/2″ | 135/400/950 Nm |
| DCF902D2 | 3/8″ | 168 Nm |
| DCF813D2 | 3/8″ | 130 Nm |
How Much Torque Does Miluwaukee Impact Wrench Have?
Milwaukee high torque impact wrenches have 1000 ft-lbs fastening torque and 1400 ft-lbs breakaway torque with a maximum 2100 impact rate. It is the highest torque impact wrench that Milwaukee has. Milwaukee has different levels of impact wrenches designed for different tasks.
| Model Number | Collet Size | Torque |
| M18 ONEFHIWF1-802X | 1″ | 530/1020/1800/2033 – 2400 |
| M18 ONEFHIWF34-502X | 3/4″ | 702/1138/1627/1627 – 2034 |
| M18 ONEFHIWF12-502X | 1/2″ | 130 / 400 / 1356 / 1356 – 1898 |
| M18 FMTIW2F12-502X | 1/2″ | 475 / 610 / 745 / 47 |
| M18 ONEIWP12-0 | 1/2″ | 40/120/220/300 |
| M18 ONEIWF12-502X | 1/2″ | 40/120/220/300 |
| M18 FIW2F12-502X | 1/2″ | 102 / 203 / 339 / 34 |
| M18 FIW2F38-502X | 3/8″ | 102 / 203 / 339 / 34 |
| M18 BIW12-0 | 1/2″ | 240 Nm |
| M18 BIW12-202C | 1/2″ | 240 Nm |
| M18 BIW38-0 | 3/8″ | 210 Nm |
| M18 BIW38-202C | 3/8″ | 210 Nm |
| M18 BRAIW-0 | 3/8″ | 40 / 76 Nm |
Read More About – Can I use Regular Socket in the Impact Wrench? – Solution!
How Much Torque Does Bosch Impact Wrench Have?
Bosch impact wrenches have a maximum 1000 Nm (740 lb-ft) fastening and 1600 Nm (1200 lb-ft) breakaway torque with a 2,100 impact rate with 1,750 RPM. Bosch has introduced a wide range of impact wrenches with 18 Nm-300 Nm impact wrenches.
| Model | Collet Size | Torque |
| GDR 18V-160 | 1/4″ | 160 Nm |
| GDS 18V-200 C | 1/2″ | 200 Nm |
| GDS 18V-300 | 1/2″ | 300 Nm |
| GDX 18V-180 | 1/4″ | 180 Nm |
| GDX 18V-200 C | 1/4″ | 200 Nm |
| GSR 12V-20 HX | – | 18/20/- Nm |
How Much Torque Does Makita Impact Wrench Have?
Makita impact wrench has maximum 2,050 Nm (1,510 ft-lbs) nut-busting torque and 1,800 Nm (1,330 ft-lbs) fastening torque. It is the most powerful impact wrench that we can see in the market. Makita series of products are with 60 Nm- 1,800 Nm torque for different kinds of tasks.
| Model | Collet Size | Torque |
| TW001GM201 | 3/4″ | 1,800 Nm |
| TW007GZ | 1/2″ | 730 Nm |
| TW004GM201 | 1/2″ | 350 N·m |
| DTW1001RTJ | 3/4″ | 1,050 Nm |
| DTW1002RTJ | 1/2″ | 1,000 N·m |
| DTW800RMJ | 7/16″ | 800 N·m |
| DTW700RTJ | 1/2″ | 700 N·m |
| DTW450RTE | 1/2″ | 440 N·m |
| DTW300RTJ | 1/2″ | 330 N·m |
| DTW251RTE / RFJ / SYE / Z | 1/2″ | 230 N·m |
| DTW181RTE / RFE / Z | 1/2″ | 210 N·m |
| DTW190JX6 / RFE / SYE / RTE / Z | 1/2″ | 190 N·m |
| DTW180RTE / RFE / Z | 3/8″ | 180 N·m |
| TW160DSAE / DSME / DZ | 3/8″ | 160 N·m |
| TW141DSAE / DSAEX / DZ | 1/2″ | 145 N·m |
| TW140DSAE / DSAEX / DZ | 3/8″ | 140 N·m |
| TW060DSAE / Z | 1/4″ | 60 Nm |
How Much Torque Does Ryobi Impact Wrench Have?
Ryobi 18V ONE+ impact wrench has 1,170 ft-lbs. of Breakaway Torque and 700 ft-lbs. of Fastening Torque. It is with 4 mode speed and the most powerful impact wrench that Ryobi has. For the wide usage, Ryobi has a 150 Nm – 300 Nm range of torque products with different collet sizes.
| Model | Collet Size | Torque |
| Ryobi P261K 18V | 1/2″ | 300 ft-lb |
| RYOBI 18-Volt ONE+ | 1/2″ | 300 ft-lb |
| Ryobi R18IW3-0 ONE+ | 1/2″ | 400 Nm |
| Ryobi 18-Volt ONE+ P263 | 3/8″ | 150 ft-lb |
| Ryobi P1833 3-Speed | 1/2″ | 300 ft-lb |
| RYOBI P261-P163 3 Speed | 1/2″ | 300 ft-lb |
| Ryobi P263K 18V | 3/8″ | 150 ft-lb |
How Much Torque Do Lugnuts Need?
Lug Nut Torque Specs
| Hardware bolt or Stud Size | Typical Torque Range ft/Lbs | Minimum Number of turns of hardware engagement |
| 12 x 1.5 mm | 70-80 | 6.5 |
| 12 x 1.25 mm | 70-80 | 8 |
| 14 x 1.5 mm | 85-90 | 7.5 |
| 14 x 1.25 mm | 85-90 | 9 |
| 7/ 16 in | 70-80 | 9 |
| 1/2 in | 75-85 | 8 |
| 9/16 in | 135-145 | 8 |
How to Use Impact wrench for Lug Nuts?
When you have the proper tool for lug nut operations, you should follow the crisscross sequence for the available number of nuts. This sequence will tight the wheel and nuts properly. If you do not follow this, you will see there is a small inclination of the wheel. Remember to tighten all nuts until they reach their recommended torque.
