Best Slide Hammer Reviews 2018

Because they’re specialty tools and aren’t as common as other types of hammers, the slide hammer is a little bit on the pricey side. Since you’re here, it means you really do need this piece of equipment; therefore, we sincerely recommend that you go for the best, as much as you can afford anyway.

The slide hammers reviewed here range from $75 to about $250, a price range that covers both the high-end, mid-range, and low-end categories of slide hammers from top-rated and reliable brands. While carrying out our research, we came across some cheap slide hammers that didn’t look like they could get the job done, so we decided not to bother with them but to concentrate on bringing you quality and reliable slide hammers that are worth the price.

To select a great slide hammer that will suit your needs isn’t an easy task, but the following features are guaranteed to help make your search much easier. The factors include:

• Construction material
• Size
• Number of pieces
• Jaws
• Extra features

Slide hammers consist of a long metal shaft with an attachment point at one end, a heavy weight slider along the shaft, and a stop point at the other end to prevent the weighted slider from sliding out.

Slide hammers are made from metals. The metal of choice is usually steel, which may be in chrome vanadium steel form or malleable steel. A few manufacturers use cast iron in constructing their slide hammers, as well. The steel construction of slide hammers makes them extremely durable, rustproof, and highly efficient in carrying out their functions. They don’t break or bend easily and have high tensile strength needed to pull out whatever it is that needs pulling. Although the steel material is lightweight, it’s perfect for heavy-duty jobs.

Most slide hammers don’t weigh much on their own but with the addition of the heavy weight slider, they become quite heavy. Slide hammers come in different sizes which are designed for different levels of work, from light to heavy-duty jobs. The size of slide hammer you choose should be a reflection of the main reason you need it; so, while checking out the specs of the slide hammer you wish to buy, you may want to also check the size of the unit. It’s important to note that the size of a slide hammer is oftentimes directly proportional to its weight. The average weight of the slide hammers featured in our individual product review section is from 5.5 pounds to about 23 pounds.

Slide hammers are typically equipped with different accessories to increase their versatility. A good slide hammer should come with at least two different pieces of attaching accessories that’ll enable the user to carry out some jobs effectively. These accessories can be 6-piece hasp iron, long tube hammer, circular angle flat steel, tapping screw, a rubber cover, and a piece of cast iron H. A product that contains this array of accessories will be a definite go-to slide hammer that’s capable of carrying out any job thrown at it.

Like we pointed out earlier, slide hammers are special tools used mainly by professionals. It’s not a tool that you just pick up and intuitively know how to use, although once you’ve mastered the technique involved, it becomes super easy to set up and use. Luckily for you, most brands include illustrated instruction manuals so you can quickly get the hang of it. If you’re a do-it-yourselfer and it happens to be the first time you’ll be using a slide hammer, then it’s recommended that you go watch one or two YouTube videos about how to use a slide hammer.

One major feature that greatly affects the performance of a slide hammer is the jaw attachment. Most of them have multiple jaw attachments of maybe 3 or 5 and different jaw settings, both on the inside and the outside. These jaws render the slide hammer much more versatile and well-suited to a wide range of applications.
Almost all slide hammers come in a hard, plastic molded carrying case. This case serves dual purposes of safely storing the slide hammer and its accessories, and serves as a convenient means of transportation when you want to move the unit from one location to another.

Slide hammers come with little or no frills, but a few of them feature rubber-clad and ergonomic handles that let you hold firmly to the slide hammer when you’re working with it to prevent accidents. Most slide hammers have a smooth finishing that protects them and keeps them from getting marked or scratched when work is going on.