The King Tony America M7 1/2" Drive Air Impact Wrench, No. NC-4232Q, features 700 ft/lbs of maximum reverse torque, weighs only 3 lbs, and is quiet at only 83 dBA. This unit is small enough to fit in tight areas, comfortably light and quiet enough to limit hearing loss. Other features include a front grease port and a forward/reverse lever that can be modified for left- or right-handed users. This tool comes with the company's three-year limited warranty.
The review
Because it only weighs 3 lbs and it has the ability to fit into confined spaces, Phil Fournier is impressed with the King Tony M7 1/2” Drive Air Impact Wrench. Fournier, the owner of Phil’s Auto Clinic in Hemet, Calif., says an alternative to heavier tools is especially important to him because he has chronic arthritis in his hands after 40 years of working on vehicles.
“The impact is the lightest 1/2” drive tool I have ever used,” says Fournier. “It has the power of a tool three times its weight.”
“This very powerful, yet very small, impact is able to fit into very tight spaces where I would normally be forced to use a standard hand-powered ratchet or wrench,” he adds.
Fournier used the tool to service a Chevy Malibu’s brakes, which had rear calipers that had never been removed.
“The bolts were very tight and with my limited strength, I could not break them loose with a 13mm wrench,” Fournier explains. “I was very happy to find that I could fit the M7 between the coils of the rear springs, and the impact easily spun the bolts out.”
The tool, which Fournier says has a trigger that’s light to the touch and easy to control, also was used to loosen head bolts on a 7.5L Ford F-250 V8. The rear head bolts could not be removed with a standard impact because the heater case was in the way, but Fournier says the King Tony M7 1/2” Drive Air Impact Wrench “zipped the bolts out with no problem.”
Occasionally, Fournier says, it is difficult to remove sockets from the impact, which comes packaged in a standard cardboard box without any accessories or instruction manual. When this happened, he used a screwdriver to pry off the socket.
“I would like to see a different socket retaining mechanism,” Fournier says. “It is irritating to have to fetch a screwdriver to remove a socket.”
Fournier had not used a King Tony impact before, previously choosing to use wrenches from a competitor. “But this tool has me sold on King Tony impact guns,” he says.
“It’s the most powerful small-size, lightweight impact I have every used,” adds Fournier. “This tool amazes me with its weight-to-power ratio.”
