How to Oil an Air Impact Wrench?

As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

An air impact wrench helps you a lot in the maintenance work. However, we’ll see them in the garage or at the Workshop most. Nowadays, people are more likely to maintain their cars or machines on their own. As a beginner, you must be confused, about how to oil an air impact wrench.

Well, an air impact wrench is a power tool that makes your maintenance work so much easier. This uses exceptionally compressed air for tightening and loosening the nuts and bolts of the machine. Because of the extreme pressure of this tool, you can complete your task by spending minimum energy.

But you would need to oil the air impact wrenches regularly for better performance.

If You’re also confused and want to know how to oil impact wrench, You’re at the right place. Here we’ll explain the process step by step.

Before getting started, Let’s start with the basics.

Why Is It Important to Oil Air Impact Wrench?

Air Impact Wrench

Now you may ask, why should you oil air impact wrench? Doesn’t it come oiled when you buy it?

These are very valid questions. Yes, of course, It’s important to oil an air impact wrench, and It’s also true that it comes being oiled while buying. But the more you use the tool, the more it gets jammed inside it with time. 

An air impact wrench has rotating parts inside it for loosening and tightening the nuts of a machine. For the smooth and trash-free performance of the tool, you would need to lubricant this correctly. Without oiling the mechanism from time to time, it’ll make powerful sounds, and trash inside it can also make your machine punk.

How to Oil an Air Impact Wrench?

Though It’s nothing rocket science, you would need to follow some steps and know some basics before oiling an air impact wrench. First of all, you need to be sure that you’ve enough resources or ingredients. Here another thing to add is, that only oiling is not the step.

Before that, you need to make sure that your air impact wrench is cleaned correctly. Without the proper cleansing of the tool, you would fail to get its best performance. Also, by oiling the mechanism with junk, you’re wasting your time. Not only this, ignoring the junk removal process can harm your tool with time.

The cleaning process also needs extra attention. We might ask how you can clean the air impact wrench. Well, nothing to worry about. Here we’ll give you information step by step. Firstly, let’s know what the ingredients that you need to collect before starting the whole process are

Which Parts Do You Need for the Oil of an Air Impact Wrench?

Well, you know that you’re oiling the wrench. But do you know why and where the oil needs to reach for the tool’s better performance?

Before oiling the machine, you need to know which parts of the tool need this oil to reach. By knowing this, you can give attention properly while going through the steps. After all, this is a work of the mechanism, and you need to know what you’re doing. You obviously won’t want to harm a tool.

The air gun has two main parts that need to be appropriately oiled.

1. The motor

Firstly the vane motor of an air impact wrench requires to be oiled. For oiling this part, you would need an air tool. You can get this from the air-impact gun manufacturers.

2. The rotating hammer mechanism 

A hammer basically works as the driving force from the air motor to the anvil. You need to oil this part of the tool quickly by using motor oil. You can choose any brand that you prefer.

What Would You Need to Oil the Air Impact Wrench?

For the cleansing and oiling process, you would need a few ingredients. As for cleansing, you need to separate the tool body. You can’t do the steps without missing any ingredients. Also, for oiling, you would need some tools. 

Let’s know the ingredients for completing the further steps first:

  • To clean the air impact wrench, you would need another old one.
  • Air tool oil for the oiling process. If you want to substitute the product, use any air compressor oil substitute, such As Automatic Transmission fluid or ATF, Synthetic oil, or hydraulic oil.
  • Motor oil (weight=30). You can use any motor oil of the best brand near you.
  • Petrol/another spirit (for cleansing)
  • Align key
  • Punch tool
  • Hammer
  • Compressed air supply

If you’ve got all these ingredients, you can go for the first step of oiling, which is the cleansing one. Let’s know this process step by step.

For better oiling, firstly, you have to clean your air impact wrench. So, let’s move to the cleansing process.

How to Clean an Air Impact Wrench?

Air Impact Wrench

Cleaning the air impact wrench before putting oil in it is the most vital step to complete. Without cleaning it from the inside, you’re having risk of tool damage. For your tool’s smooth functioning, make sure you follow the right steps to clean the air impact wrench before oiling. Steps to follow for completing the cleansing of the device:

  • First of all, you need to remove a rubber jacket from the air impact wrench.
  • You’ll see the backplate of the tool. You need to remove this as well.
  • Now remove the alignment rod of the tool. You need to be extra careful while keeping it.
  • Here comes the use of a hammer and punch tool. Now you need to remove the back bearing.
  • You’ll find vanes in the air motor. So, remove the air motor and vanes. Remember, the vanes need to be appropriately cleaned for further steps of oiling.
  • You need to remove the air motor housing and the front bearings. With this step, you’re done with the air side of the tool.
  • Now It’s time to remove the hammer Assembly and the Anvil. To remove this, push the anvil from the font. This will separate the anvil and hammer assembly.
  • Now at this point, you have to separate the hammer along with the anvil. Here you’ll need a screwdriver to open up the gasket and remove the hammer and anvil.

Now, you’ve separated all the parts of the tool from one another. This is the time for cleaning. Here you need to use a powerful spirit as petrol. You can use the other ones too. Check out the parts and remove all the metal chips or solidified oil if you find any. This is an essential process before oiling. If you ignore any trash later, this might harm your air impact wrench.

Assemble the air impact wrench back

Now, as you’ve cleaned all the parts, you need to assemble the pieces back. So, get started with the process. Keep scrolling down to learn the following steps. 

  • To assemble the air impact wrench, start by attaching the anvil with the hammer. Here you can use the gasket for help.
  • Now go for the hammer assembly. You need to assemble it inside the wrench in front of the bearing. Then the air motor casing would be the next one.
  • Now, assemble the back bearing by putting it back and aligning by using the align rod.
  • Here you need to fix the backplate in place. Place the gasket on the tighten the nuts properly.

These are the simple steps you need to follow to assemble the air impact wrench back. With the assembling now, you’ve completed the cleansing process completely. This is the time when you can finally move to the oiling process.

Easy Steps to Put Oil in the Air Impact Wrench

The most challenging steps of the whole oiling process have been done. Now here comes the steps of inserting oil into the machine. Though the oiling steps are so comfortable and need a little time, you need to be careful while oiling. So, it’s essential to go step by step:

  • For putting oil in the air impact wrench, first of all, remove the oil plug nut carefully.
  • Now, this is the central part, oiling the machine. Find the oil port and insert about 1 ounce of motor oil. Now, this is the time to put air tool oil. Here you need to place it inside the airport of the tool. By doing this, you’re lubricating the air motor. For the whole process, you can take the help of a syringe.
  • Now, is the time of distributing the oil in a balanced way in the tool. So, run your air impact wrench after putting oil for 30 seconds to 1 minute. This will reach the oil everywhere in the device properly. This step works as the warm-up one for a machine.
  • Now that you’ve made sure of lubricating, drain the excess oil; For this step, you need to plug again and drain all the extra oil from the machine. With this, you’re done with the whole oiling process of your air impact wrench.
  • Lastly, put the rubber jacket on carefully. Putting it back will make your tool look like the new one, and the oiling process will make it work at the smoothest speed.

As you’re doing with the steps of how to oil and understand all the methods, still you might have other questions. As: How much oil do you need to lubricate the air impact wrench? How often should you oil the tool? Or the warnings and suggestions that you need to focus on. Time to know about them.

How Much Oil Needs to Lubricate the Air Impact Wrench?

Well, the amount of oil depends on the machine’s situation. If you brought the machine just now, then it’ll require around 8-10 drops of machine oil. Now here is also something to remember. You need to stop after every 3-4 drops of spirit or oil and again continue. Be careful and stay calm while doing the process. You may waste oil by rushing while putting oil.

How Often Should You Oil Your Air Impact Wrench?

Well, this is the most asked question. But if you’re using the tool regularly, then it can be said, to oil your machine after every eight hours of use. Also, you can clean and oil your machine after every use. This makes your tool work well and free from junk. So every electronic device needs extra care. This automatically increases machine life.

To take proper care of your air impact wrench, make a daily routine of cleaning it. Also, when you’re not using the machine, keep it somewhere dry and enclosed. So, for the proper maintenance process, you can’t ignore oiling the machine regularly.

When you buy an air impact wrench, they also suggest cleaning and oiling the tool after every use. If you’re using an old machine, this may give the same performance as a new one, if you just pay attention to the maintenance.

Warnings and suggestions for oiling an air impact wrench

  • Make sure that you lubricate the mechanism on both ends of your air impact wrench.
  • You’ll see multiple grease fittings. If you get confused, don’t hesitate to ask your dealer.
  • You can use an in-line combination air filter to clean and lubricate the air traveling through your air delivery system.
  • It’s important to oil your air impact wrench regularly. The most common reason for being machine dead is lack of moisture. So, make a daily practice of oiling your machine regularly.
  • Put the parts carefully while cleaning. Here it keeps a vast possibility of damaging the parts.
  • Keep your air impact wrench enclosed when you’re not using it.
  • Keep your air impact wrench in a dry place.
  • The proper maintenance keeps your machine safe and increases the tool’s life and performance. So it won’t be wise to not focus on the oiling of an air impact wrench.
  • While cleansing the machine, read the instructions of your brand carefully. They might suggest a specific cleanser or grease. Try to use the recommended one.
  • While using your tool, try to add a needle gun to the body of your air impact wrench for greasing.

Conclusion

When using an air impact wrench, it’s important to make sure the tool is properly lubricated. Too much or too little oil can cause problems. In general, a light film of oil should be applied every few hours of use. By following these tips, you can help ensure that your air impact wrench stays in good working order.

Leave a Comment