Sooner or later I am going to need a cordless sawzall for cutting parts out of cars in the local P-A-P. Does anyone have anything specific to recommend? Prices, brands, and battery voltages are all over the map. What would be best value for the price with good battery life for sheetmetal/body panels, floor pans, ect?

 

Thanks,

-Jeff

I have a 28v Milwaukee Sawzall that I love!! Has tons of power, long battery life and with a decent blade will eat through anything!! I would highly recommend it!

The last time I used one, I rented it from a tool rental place. Not worth my while to actually own one.

 

If you rent one, negotiate for a spare battery and make sure they actually fully charged the ones you get.

I bought a craftsman full set, drill sawzall, flashlight, Circular saw, jig saw, and a few other thigns. Its a 19.2 volt, with a spare battery, and a charger. Cost about 190 bucks. Lasts a long time with a full charge, came with a case, and a few other things. Got it brand new, just after X-Mas, from a pawn shop. Great place to buy tools.

I've always had good luck with the DeWalt 18 volt stuff, and Makita is generally very good. Though, recently, DeWalt doesn't seem to be as good as it used to be 8 or 10 years ago. We cut almost the entire roof off a schoolbus with an 18 volt dewalt sawzall (not all on one charge...). Ryobi is good for occasional use stuff -- seems to be better than most the other cheaper brands. But not on par with Milwakee or Makita or Dewalt.

 

There's also the option, if you get a 14 or 18 volt sawzall, to make an extension cord that goes over to your car battery with aligator clamps, and run it from that. It works pretty good, runs just a little slower than it does on the battery pack.

 

Z

if you just want the sazall check ebay.. allot of people buy the whole kit and sell off the stuff they don't need. I have a ridgid 18 volt, its killer. Milwaukee is allot better quality, bigger price too. ridgid is made in china. but i have had no problems, and they offer a lifetime service warranty even on battery's, I have used the warranty a few times

before you go getting up in arms about tools to take to the yard......i would ask if cutting utensils are even allowed.

 

not even our main yard up here allows them.cheers, brian

Battery powered tools are allowed here but not much else.

I use a battery powered impact. never thought about bringing a sawzall?

I use a battery powered impact. never thought about bringing a sawzall?

 

whats the make on that ivantruckman?

volts?

i'm shopping for one

Thanks!

I ended up with a Dewalt 24 volt recip that I found in a pawn shop for $60.00. This thing is awesome! I scored a nice rust free pair of rockers with it. A spare battery or 2 and you could cut up a whole car with it. The only down side is the 24 volt batteries are harder to find than the 18 volt ones.

the pawn shop is the way to go. i picked up a junky little ryobi sawzall at a pawn shop last year for 30-40 bucks. the battery was toast so i picked up two new batteries and its been working great ever since.

I don't think PAP allows saws, among with jacks and torches. They got a bigass sign in there with the rules. You gotta have an employee cut it off for a fee plus the part.

I don't think PAP allows saws, among with jacks and torches. They got a bigass sign in there with the rules. You gotta have an employee cut it off for a fee plus the part.

I've cut apart an early EA81 a while back and I see evidence that other cars have been cut apart recently. Not sure who is cutting them up. I know about their rule against jacks and torches; I haven't seen anything regarding saws. I recently asked about the cost for a pair of rocker panels and did not get an additional cost for having them cut it up.

Someone told me that but I'm not postive. Yeah, who got the rockers off the blue Hatch?