I'd still use it. Most of them have a ring that you have to wiggle the socket over and I haven't seen one of them yet that stays in shape after a couple years. The worst that will happen is the socket will spin off. You can control that by not hitting the trigger until you have the socket over the nut or bolt.
I have 2 3/8 drive guns and neither one holds the socket in place if I point it toward the ground. But I'm not spending a hundred plus while they still work good. Remember sockets are somewhat heavy and aren't designed to fly. If it spins off it won't go far. It will dance around on the floor but you're certainly not going to get hurt from it. Just wait for it to stop spinning and start over again... ----- Original Message ----- From: Robert j To: Blind Handyman Sent: Monday, June 02, 2008 9:09 PM Subject: [BlindHandyMan] business end of an air impact All this talk reminds me that I have an air impact that I got free some time ago. I have not used it very often. It would be considered unsafe to use in its present condition but I take great care and I am aware of the problem and have not had a problem with it. Now here is the deal. The ball that is designed to stick out with a spring on the back side to hold the socket on, is no longer there. it is not worth having a shop repair it and probably not worth buying parts and trying to rebuild it myself. Does any one have any ideas short of making it another contribution to the scrap iron pile. Robert. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
