Milwaukee Impact Wrench

[tim walker]

My IR is about 10 years old but hasn't been used much at all. I have had a need to drive some hex head lag screws recently and the battery goes bonkers after 1-2 screws and stops powering the IR. I have a new battery and it does the same thing with it. Anyone else have this issue? My battery charger shows fully charged. TIA.

[Joe Jensen]

Sure sounds like a bad battery. Ideally you can find a way to either test the battery in someone eles's tool or test your tool with someone else's battery. Also I assume an IR repair facility would have the ability to test the battery as would one of the battery chains like "batteries plus"

[tim walker]

Thx Joe, I have two older batteries and that was my thought as well, however even the brand new battery dies quickly while all three batteries have longevity in my Milwaukee regular drill.

[Carl Crout]

My IR is about 10 years old but hasn't been used much at all. I have had a need to drive some hex head lag screws recently and the battery goes bonkers after 1-2 screws and stops powering the IR. I have a new battery and it does the same thing with it. Anyone else have this issue? My battery charger shows fully charged. TIA.

What do you mean by bonkers? Does the impact run the battery completely down after two screw? Or does the impact just not have the power to drive the screws?

I currently have two m18 3/8" impacts, one m18 3/8" heavy duty, one m18 1/2" and have had two other Milwaukees. The first one got sold after the nicad batteries failed. The m18 actually wore out to the point it had very little torque. It had brushes but I don't know if it was the brushes or the hammer mechanism itself. I noticed last week that it's replacement was feeling kinda weak itself. I use the m18 3/8" multiple times per week. This replacement is probably 5 years old. Other than that no problems with them besides the hog ring wants to keep coming off. I took care of that by taking a very short 3/8" extension and using loctite glued it to the shaft

[tim walker]

Bonkers may have been a poor choice. Just stops driving after 1-2 screws snd the holes are pre-drilled

[Andy D Jones]

The tool may be overheating and shutting down on its own. If it is reasonably clean inside, it may be worn out (or brushes may be worn and need replacement.) Especially if the batteries still show significant state of charge when the tool shuts down.

The brushless tools have more power and efficiency than the brushed ones. And don't get as hot. All good stuff for a power tool.

-- Andy - Arlington TX

[tim walker]

Thx Andy, the tool has been used maybe five times in its life. The brand new 18v battery has same issue and all of the batteries work normally on the standard drill that was part of the set.

[Jim Dwight]

Seems like it needs repaired or replaced. Cordless technology has been changing rapidly. I would replace it. I have a cheap HF impact I use for dock repairs and it works better than that. My M18 impact (compact) has only been used on the car so far but I am confident it would drive a lot more than 1-2 lags.

[Rod Wolfy]

Sounds like you need to replace it. I can drive a lot of lags even using my impact driver. I have 5 or 6 of 3 different brands. I prefer the Milwaukee "Surge" as it has an oil based impact, which lessens the noise of the impacts significantly.

I recently got an M12 3/8" impact 'wrench' and it will drive a lot heavier lags over a longer period of time.