Harbor Freight - Gems and Junk

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roadrunnerh

roadrunnerh

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The other thread started today gave me the idea of having a thread on which tools are Gems from HFT and which are Junk. If you make a blanket statement that they are all junk, that's just foolish.
While I own lots of Craftsman tools, I do own many Harbor Freight tools that have served me well.
Yes, it does bum me out that soooo much stuff is made in China, but my philosophy has become - why not buy a Chinese made tool for less?
Go check out some of the tools from Milwaukee, Craftsman, etc. Made in China! You may have some you thought were made in USA....

To start - The "Earthquake" 1/2" Drive Impact gun is great! 700 ft lbs of torque, and for $69.99 with their coupon. I also have the 3" cutoff wheel, 4" air grinder, and 3/8" air ratchet - all work flawlessly.
The 3 ton floor jack has served me well for 2 years so far.

How about you?
 
Floor jack...electric impact driver...socket extensions ....DA sander....4" cut off...die grinder....nitrile gloves...welder...and there are probably some more that I have forgotten
 
3" cutoff wheel for < $10 is hard to beat.... But I will say that their version of a sawzall is total junk...
 
A few years ago I bought a 45% angle die grinder, worked great for the first half hour and then zing!!! the gears inside were gone, but on the flip side I've been doing body work for over 20 years and every now and then I have to paint big items, farm equipment, tanks ect. I got hired to paint a 100' cat walk so I got a HFT 2 1/2 gallon pressure pot and gun and it worked great!! For the cash if you only used it once it was well worth it!
 
The infrared temp gun is well worth the money.I look for low abusive products from them as I am a little iffy on something that may take an industrial work load.
 
Have one of there small aluminum jacks in the back of my diesel truck. It strains picking up a front corner but it is small and light so it is ideal for me. Nitrile gloves are great. Have one of there Drillmaster 4" angle grinders, glad I bought the warranty with it. After about 10 minutes of lite duty work it broke. It is noticeably slower than my decades old Makita.
Had one of there fold up engine hoists, was glad to give it away. Have an air nibbler form them, for as little as I have used it it works well.....
 
That roll around service cart for $169 is nice.....just a pain to assemble.......also have a pair of the large blue aluminum floor jacks that handle the cuda just fine, not very well on the trucks though.
 
mopar410 said:
The infrared temp gun is well worth the money.I look for low abusive products from them as I am a little iffy on something that may take an industrial work load.
Click to expand...

Bought one of the infra red guns to replace the good one I lost....Before I used the HF one I found the other one, gave the HF one to a neighbor. He used the hell out of it until he ran it over with his trailer....
 
Well, regarding consumables, I have used many of the H.F. 3" cut off wheels and find they last a good while - at least as long as the name brands. I have the stud gun, it is good although the slide hammer that came with it was pretty cheap.
I do not like their quick couplers for air line, they don't seem to last long and I don't seem to be able to get the exact match the next time I go in.
C
 
Their "18 piece seal driver kit" is a total POS, plastic discs and cheapo handle doesn't handle much.

Solid rubber wheel chocks for $5 each - can't beat it.
HFT Impact sockets are great and only a fraction of the cost.
Their welding carts are nice.
Check these two links out....the EXACT same welding cart. Both made in China for sure, but with 20% off coupon, the HFT cart is $39.99
($50 cheaper)

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/sum-cart

http://www.harborfreight.com/welding-cart-90305.html
 
The electric and pneumatic Body saws are awesome. I like the electric one better myself.
Also have the 3 ton jack been a great one
And 4 12 Ton Jack stands because overkill is the only way. Had my Dart sitting on them for over 4 years straight
 
I've had great luck with their HVLP gravity feed paint guns. I've got a neighbor that does a lot of collision repair and this was all he used for years. For $15 a pop they do what they are intended to do.

Electric drills and grinders. I've burnt up one grinder in 3 years, and the drill finally shot craps on me (lost reverse). For $20 a piece I'll buy another of each and keep going.
 
Their cheap paint guns are good for spraying primer,impact sockets good,cut of wheels good,spot weld cutters ok,drill bits suck!
 
I have their top of the line sawzall, works great so far. Their 5" da sander with about 100 hours of abuse. I would run it for hours at a time. It got so hot I could barely hold it but still going strong. I like their 3" cutoff tool for $10 and the discs seem to tast ok. I buy everything with the 20 percent off super coupons and have lots of free meters and screwdriver sets fom magazine coupons. I am lucky go have one not very far from where I live.
 
I know the Earthquake series impact are expensive for a harbor-freight but they are very good impacts and pack a punch.
 
I keep their solar battery charger on my car trailer winch battery. The battery is always ready to go when I need it. Everytime I've had to replace the unit, it's been my fault.(.I dropped sommething on it, etc) Even then most of the time, the extended warranty replaced it. Same with floor jacks and engine hoist rams. I always get the extra warranty. I have their high power air impact which for $79 has worked as well as the $300 Snap On that I used to have. Also, I really swear by their 110 lb pressure sandblaster, although I modified it and bought a tungsten nozzle instead of the cheap ceramics that it came with. The $10 die grinders and air chisels just can't be beat.
I bought the very cheap ($15) air powered ac vacuum pump which did draw down my ac system twice for an hour each time. It still works, but it has started making a "death rattle". I've also got their AC gauges.
 
They work well and seem to be quite durable.

BC
 

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HF Leak Down Tester was on the Junk side. Could only measure using 15 PSI and the cylinder side gauge was just a "good/bad" type instead of an accurate gauge. Returned it and got the OTC for $10 more.
 
The seal puller was junk, it broke at the top rivet on the first use.
I no longer buy anything that has an electric cord on it because of failures.
I have had good luck with their air tools, hydraulic items and jacks.
I have never bought any of their hand tools.
 
I have purchased the following from them that have worked well. Impact sockets, temp gun, $59 aluminum race jack, 6 ton jack stands, 3 ton jack stands, shrink wrap tubing, $10 heat gun that I have used the hell out of, numerous casters, very nice 2 wheel dolly, padded furniture moving dollies, pneumatic body saw and those $3 led lights. And as else mentioned the drill bits are junk.
 
I am not a professional mechanic and I usually don't have another pair of hands available when working on my vehicles.

I was telling my wife about how different some things are today compared to when I began working on cars in the early 1970s. To remove and replace an engine, we had to go to a rental store for an engine hoist, remove the engine, return the hoist, work on the engine, rent a hoist, install the engine, return the hoist. Hydraulic engine hoists were unobtainable for us back then. They seemed to be sold only by jobbers to professional outfits. Besides, they were probably way out of our price range, even if we could buy one. However, we weren't pulling an engine every week, so the purchase price wouldn't justify buying one. If I recall correctly, renting a hydraulic engine hoist in those days was about $12-$15 per day, which was rather expensive in those days when minimum wage was $1.80/hour.

Enter Harbor Freight tools. I bought one of their hydraulic engine hoists a couple of years ago on sale, something like $100. I told my wife that I couldn't build one for that price. Two weeks ago, I bought a load leveler for the hoist for about $25. I pulled the 'Cuda engine and trans by myself last week using those two HFT tools. They worked perfectly. I imaging that renting a hydraulic engine hoist would cost a lot more than $12-$15 per day these days.

I have also purchased a number of other "low use" items from them in the ensuing years. Some things seems rather cheaply made and might not stand up to the rigors of every-day professional use, but most compares well to my "good" Craftsman and SK tools. Some HFT items include:

Sheet metal bending brake (3 foot) - works just fine.
Sand blasting cabinet - haven't used yet.
Spark plug tester - plastic light housing separated from connecting probe (I fixed it).
Tire inflator with gage - seems accurate.
Hydraulic press - used a number of times - works fine.
Pneumatic brad nailer - piece of junk - brads keep bending and get caught in feeder.
Cut off wheels and grinding discs - work fine.
HVLP paint spray gun - not used yet.
Freebie multimeter - works fine.
Hydraulic floor jack - works fine.
Jack stands - work fine.
Mig and gas welding carts - work fine in the shop/garage.

It seems that I have actually purchased a number of their items over the years, some not mentioned here, and I have been, on the whole, happy with their performance thus far.

One of the best things is their free coupons. I have gotten one of their 9 LCD flashlights for each of our cars and my tool bags/boxes. They are small and bright and come in very handy.
 
Transmission jack has served me well... Porta power has also served me well other than it did bend the shaft but I was asking a little much out of it.. Load leveler for engine hoist is a must have. Hand tools seem ok.. All in all they have saved me lots of money over the years and allowed me to stock my shop very well..
 
I have the earthquake impact wrench works great.
Drop light works great.
Don't buy a welder from them.
I have the free multimeter works good.
I have the lightweight aluminum floor jack. I love it.
 
Among the other stuff I mentioned, I have the Harbor Freight cordless drill and for $15 It works well - light duty around the house.

Also, I use their CO2 Argon regulator for my Hobart MIG setup and their air regulator I use on my Campbell Hausfeld compressor - Both have been serving me well.
 
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