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After reading several previous posts about removing mower blades and the difficulty in removing the nut, I thought that the idea of using a cordless impact wrench seems like a great idea. I noticed that a Ryobi 18V at HD for $100 plus another $50 for battery and charger. One of the questions is adjusting the torque and I thought of what is called a Torque Stick like what is used in garages to tighten lug nuts. Any comments about using a cordless impact wrench and maybe a torque stick so as not to over-torque the nut?

Its actually called a torque wrench . I don't jack my mowers up much especially not high enough to use a impact wrench .I'll stick with my trusty 15/16th wrench but to each their own

I use the Ingersol, 1400 ft lbs air impact to remove all blades.
Even then some nuts have to be split or bolts have heads ground off.
Those commercials can self tighten like I could not have imagined, particuarly on the rough cut mowers where the blades rarely come off for regular sharpening.
A tension wrench to do up , always no exceptions .

bertsmobile1 said:

I use the Ingersol, 1400 ft lbs air impact to remove all blades.
Even then some nuts have to be split or bolts have heads ground off.
Those commercials can self tighten like I could not have imagined, particuarly on the rough cut mowers where the blades rarely come off for regular sharpening.
A tension wrench to do up , always no exceptions .

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Two questions: When you activate the impact wrench on one blade nut, do you have to hold that blade from turning? And do the other blades turn when loosening the nut or do you have to somehow stabilize them so they won't turn.

You hold the blade.
A glove would be a good idea.
Impact wrenches it hard but they only rotate a tiny amount.
Leave the belt on.
If it is a new mower with an electric PTO then the PTO has a brake built into it which prevents the belt turning.
Manual will show a blade holder or a block of hardwood between a deck baffel & the blade.
On the 60" + mowers where I can not the deck up high enough to get the impact driver under the deck it is a 6' length of 2" x 4" hollow steel tube and some very long spanners.

bertsmobile1 said:

You hold the blade.
A glove would be a good idea.
Impact wrenches it hard but they only rotate a tiny amount.
Leave the belt on.
If it is a new mower with an electric PTO then the PTO has a brake built into it which prevents the belt turning.
Manual will show a blade holder or a block of hardwood between a deck baffel & the blade.
On the 60" + mowers where I can not the deck up high enough to get the impact driver under the deck it is a 6' length of 2" x 4" hollow steel tube and some very long spanners.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the feedback. I will use a glove and the mower has a PTO. I also bought a mower jack from HF which allows at least 11 inches from nut to floor. A Dewalt 20 volt cordless 6.1" wide, then the nut should work. I also found a 15/16" Torque Limiting Impact Socket for 1/2" drive with 135lbs. torque. Not sure whether the length of the impact socket is short enough to fit with wrench. And I would prefer a 120 ft. Lb. torque socket but they seem to be difficult to find - but there are many torque sticks which may definitely make the length too long with regular socket attached.

I have always used anti-seize on my lawn mower blade bolts for over 20 years and it works great.

I purchased a wimpy air impact wrench to remove the blades. In fact it might be called a compact wrench. Works like a champ to get the blades off and fits easily under my deck with the wheels up on car ramps. Recently while restoring my mower after the flood I decided to purchase a torque wrench. My old one crapped out. After shopping a bit I ran across a ACDelco ARM602-4 1/2" Digital Torque Adapter (4-147.6 ft-lbs) -Audible alert.

I purchased it off of Amazon. Sweet little gizmo. You set the torque you want and then it beeps when you get close followed by a constant tone at the set value. Its only draw back is that in tight places it might not fit. Probably not as good as a high dollar unit but for my limited use it is perfect.

RhettWS said:

I purchased a wimpy air impact wrench to remove the blades. In fact it might be called a compact wrench. Works like a champ to get the blades off and fits easily under my deck with the wheels up on car ramps. Recently while restoring my mower after the flood I decided to purchase a torque wrench. My old one crapped out. After shopping a bit I ran across a ACDelco ARM602-4 1/2" Digital Torque Adapter (4-147.6 ft-lbs) -Audible alert.

I purchased it off of Amazon. Sweet little gizmo. You set the torque you want and then it beeps when you get close followed by a constant tone at the set value. Its only draw back is that in tight places it might not fit. Probably not as good as a high dollar unit but for my limited use it is perfect.

Click to expand...

I looked at the ACDelco Torque Adapter and it looks like a neat tool. But I really need a power impact wrench as I lack the strength to remove the nut from the angle of me lying on the floor.

bertsmobile1 said:

You hold the blade.
A glove would be a good idea.
Impact wrenches it hard but they only rotate a tiny amount.
Leave the belt on.
If it is a new mower with an electric PTO then the PTO has a brake built into it which prevents the belt turning.
Manual will show a blade holder or a block of hardwood between a deck baffel & the blade.
On the 60" + mowers where I can not the deck up high enough to get the impact driver under the deck it is a 6' length of 2" x 4" hollow steel tube and some very long spanners.

Click to expand...

One last question: I've never used an impact wrench so this is really new to me. When you mention using a glove, I assume then that there isn't a problem holding the impact wrench with one hand while holding the blade with the other? I'm now thinking that maybe both hands are needed to control the impact wrench against the nut - or is this not a problem?

An impact gun is a one handed operation when undoing because there is little torque reaction and the nut/ bolt gets easier to move.
Doing up is a different matter.
Air tools do not spin very quick, but electric ones can stop with quite a jerk.
The glove is to protect your fingers from the blade as you will be holding against the cutting edge.

RustyBoy said:

I looked at the ACDelco Torque Adapter and it looks like a neat tool. But I really need a power impact wrench as I lack the strength to remove the nut from the angle of me lying on the floor.

Click to expand...

I use the impact wrench to remove the blades, Torque Adapter after I have put the blades back on to set the proper torque value.

I purchased a Husky air impact wrench (model # H4435) from Home Depot. Produced more than enough torque (500 ft lbs) to remove blades and is very compact. For the amount I use it my tiny air compressor works just fine.

I second the impact wrench. If you already have an air compressor, get air tools. They are much cheaper than the Ryobi cordless setup (which I also have and love). My $25 Harbor Freight impact wrench never ceases to amaze me. I was changing bearings on my SUV, and had the wheel off when I realized I forgot to loosen the axle nut before jacking it off the ground. I tried to loosen the axle nut manually, but the wheel simply spun from the force on the socket wrench - both wheels were off the ground. Remembered the impact wrench, hooked it up to the compressor and it got the axle nut off without spinning the wheel at all.

But if you don't have a compressor or want to get started in the Ryobi cordless tools, go that route. I have 20+ Ryobi One tools and love them.

I have a number of Dewalt 18Volt tools so I waited for a sale on a 3/8" bare tool for $88. it works great, when taking the blades off my Grasshopper Duramax deck I don't have to hold the blade as the impact hits with quick hard blows and doesn't spin the blade. You will find many other uses for the cordless impact as time goes on, I did.

RhettWS said:

I purchased a wimpy air impact wrench to remove the blades. In fact it might be called a compact wrench. Works like a champ to get the blades off and fits easily under my deck with the wheels up on car ramps. Recently while restoring my mower after the flood I decided to purchase a torque wrench. My old one crapped out. After shopping a bit I ran across a ACDelco ARM602-4 1/2" Digital Torque Adapter (4-147.6 ft-lbs) -Audible alert.

I purchased it off of Amazon. Sweet little gizmo. You set the torque you want and then it beeps when you get close followed by a constant tone at the set value. Its only draw back is that in tight places it might not fit. Probably not as good as a high dollar unit but for my limited use it is perfect.

Click to expand...

Do you attach the ACDelco Torque Adapter to your impact wrench?

I've never seen something as simple as blade removal and installation taken to such an extreme level.

I'm bout as old as gravel maybe, but not quite as old as dirt and I do the blades on this John Deere with this blade blocker, a 14" long box wrench and don't even elevate the mower. Takes about 20 minutes to remove, sharpen and re-install with a drop or two of oil on the threads.

I've welded a 3/4" socket into the 1" end so it works on my Murray too. It is so simple I sometimes sharpen the blades every 2 hours of operation if the grass is tuff or tall.

If you don't know how to build a blade blocker, on some mowers a 3 0r 4 inch piece of PVC pipe will work.

BTW, 60-80 lbs. of torque is plenty to hold blades on a 5/8" fine thread shaft.

RDA.Lawns said:

Its actually called a torque wrench . I don't jack my mowers up much especially not high enough to use a impact wrench .I'll stick with my trusty 15/16th wrench but to each their own

Click to expand...

I think he was referring to this: http://www.torquestick.com/cart/30ft-lb-TORQUE-STICK-EXTENSION-BAR-Black.html

I see them at all the tire shops, each color coded "stick" is set to a different torque.
Tom

Make it simple take blades off sharpen reinstall tighten as tight as you can then go mow. No need to be so technical. I've never used a torque wrench on blades or lug nuts.

Being a workshop and being liabile to damages suits, blade nuts always get done up with a torque wrench.
Five seconds more time or 5 million in a damages claim, it is a no brainer.
For home users I always encourage them to have 2 or 3 sets of blades so there is always ( in theory ) a sharp & balanced set of blades ready to be popped on.
You can sharpen & balance blades in the comfort of your shed after dark but mowing after dark is a PIA and a tad more dangerious.

It's a no brainer an attorney would have you eating your torque wrench for lunch without documentation you won't have in the court room.

Beat a lawer more than once about mechanical work.
Most don't know which side of a screwdriver you hold.
They tried to stitch me up twice over vehicle failures.
Way way back in a previous life I sub-contracted to a lecturer who had a contract to provide forensic evidence about metal failure.
It was a real eye opener, but taught me about keeping records and being methodical.
Probably gave "expert" evidence more than 100 times
It also taught me to be calm and ask for clarification when they start asking ambigious questions.
This throws them right off balance as dose beginning with "It is not nor can ever be a yes / no situation- I can not give a truthful and accurate reply to such an open question "
Or " The question you ask shows an extreamly poor knowledge of the physics/ engineering principles involved and any answer given would be inconclusive could you please reformat it in an engineering / scientific correct mannar so as to enlighten the court rather than create confusion ".
And yes I have been cautioned by judges on many occasions.
Even better is when they tried to challenge my qualifications.
Not one of them had ever bothered to check what was in the sylibus .
The killer was " in simester 3 we studied statistics in order to understand what is & is not a statistically representative of a population with works out at 1472 samples to be 99.9% certain that the sample you are testing is representative of the entire population so I could not possibly make any comment of your independant testing contradiciting my findings on the evidence based on such a small sample size.
I could not remember how many times I have trotted that one out in courts.
You have to remind the judge that it is a matter of technical competiantce and not the law.
So if the defendant has done everything that is in the manual he can not be negligent regardless of legal precident as he is a skilled technician following the instructions given by the manufacturers and any liability in shortcomings lies with the company who wrote the instruction you were following

Down here the plaintif has to prove negligence.
When I was in the hot seat I took my tools into court to be admitted as evidence , along with the service record of the vehicles and the service manuals.
I even invited the prosecution to have my tools independantly certified after reminding them that only tools used in specific situations ( aerospace-elevators-cranes-etc etc etc) are legally required to be certified
The judge actually took them into chambers and examined them and noted in his summing up ( in my favour) that were evidently well & regularly used.
My refusal to recall any torque figures simply stating that "it is high so I use the big wrench or it is a 6" wrench job after I check the manual because there are so many it is too easy to get confussed if you try to remember them all " ?
The judge summed that up as prudent & cautious.
Because I always worked alone on our vehicles there was no one to contradict my testimony , and that was very important.

When I do repairs with a customer observing I always exagerate things like tensioning like doing up bolts that are only at 14 ft lbs in 3 stages then checking the final tightening, the blades are always taken from a sealed package including new bolts ( swing back blades ) and I always check the tension figures in my parts catalogue so the customer sees all this happen. I have a big bin full of perfectly good used bolts and reciepts for selling the same as certified scrap to back up my side.
Threatening to call over 100 witnesses who will testify they they observed me fitting new bolts with a tension wrench usually blows any chance of questioning my proceedures right out of the water.

I did get fined once when a lawer was badgering me for quick answers and I responded with a "what are you in such a hurry for . you charge more per second in this court that I make in a year so the longer I take to ensure I give a truthful and accurate answer the more money you can extract from your client ".
That cost me $ 250, but I won the case against a QC so I did not really care.

Bert,
Sir would have loved to see you put a lawyer in their place. I too have been on the stand before and one thing that was told to me before I ever went to court was if asked "had I ever lied before" the answer is "yes, of course but never under oath" kinda sets the lawyer back a step as most people say never which is not true. I always enjoyed watching a lawyer ask a working man questions about which the person was an expert and the lawyer knew nothing about the subject.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nGQLQF1b6I

Tom

Mum had a saying
"Never argue with a fool.
They will drag you down to their level then beat you by virtue of greater experience in being foolish."

It applies 10 fold in a court room.
Lawers will try to turn the case into a debate about the law rather than an inquisition about the facts.
You just have to to keep the proceedings to the event in question
And yes been asked that question every time my bum was in the stand oft multiple times during my testimony.

The greatest number of times was from a barrister who also asked if I was profiting by being in court.
The reply, which was also strickened and got me another warning from the bench, killed the whole line of questioning.
"Unlike you who makes a massive amount of money lengthening this case by standing there asking me irrelevant questions I will get a set witness fee which as a member of the legal profession you would be fully aware of as would be the judge and the defence team. This amount is substantially less that I would be making if I was working and being a contractor I only get paid for the actual work I do. If you don't know that you should not be standing there asking me these irrevelant questions" ( words to that effect.).

The forensic examiner gave me some really good advice.
"Look to the ceiling or past the council to the back wall and count to 20 before you answer any question other than your personnal details & qualifications"
When asked for your qualifications list every degree, diploma & certificate you enrolled in.
When accused for delaying respond with "these are complex technical matters that are not taught as part of a law degree so I have to phrase them in a manner a person totally ignorant of the principles of ( physics-chemistry- etc ) will be able to understand using only what is in high school science.

Bert,
I always found that members of the jury would get angry at the lawyers who appeared to be "picking on" the witness. During cross examination it could get really ugly. Saw one "Technical Expert" basically say the opposite sides "Technical Expert" was a idiot who didn't know what they were talking about. Got rather testy there for a while.
How did the Judge take your last comment?
Tom

I have been finned about 5 or 6 times for contempt after getting numerous warnings from the bench.
We don't usually have Jury trials for damages cases so it is just a judge.
If it backfires and the plaintif looses a jury case, the costs are horrific.
Trials before a judge alone are heard a lot quicker than Jury trials so generally barristers leave juries for sympathy cases.
You know , small children or cutie pie young women, horribly dissabled dad with glamerious young wife + a couple of kids.
I could have and should have done law.
Had good enough grades but no enthusiasm.
OTOH the enthusiasm to do engineering did not pay the bills.:thumbdown: