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Harbor freight tools

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M

Mutt and Jeff

Member
What have you sourced from harbor freight lately?

They built a store within an hour of here. It makes for a nice morning or afternoon junk tool junket.
Sometimes absent the value of the gas I can source what I want on ebay. I have found the items had been sourced from harbor freight and resold on ebay plus a buck or two.

Me? Some impact flip sockets for wheels/tires removal, wobble extensions, and some $10 torque wrenches 1/4 and 3/8. (I have stripped and broken enough to have a really good feel for that, but one step up is at least something. I can tell myself at least I tried.)

I enjoy the 50cent items at the checkout counter and grab a handlfull to pass around when I return. Like candy.

Cheap grinders can be handy just to have that 4th or 5th laying there with that "other wire wheel" or unique disc at the ready.
Some of the stuff has stood the test of time. Some has made the junkpile.

I probably don't want or need the free flashlight or parts dish though.
 

Ive had good luck out of several items from there. The tool carts are good, US General toolbox has been a good one, 4 ton low profile jack is handy. Small items at the counter are handy, especially the small clips. I use those as chip bag clips lol.
 
The last significant purchase I made from HF was an air impact wrench. It has 3 settings, the top one being 1190 ft. lbs of torque.

Years ago, I bought a high dollar Craftsman impact wrench, but it only has about 300 ft. lbs of torque. Many times I'd have to break a lug nut with a breaker bar before the impact wrench would spin it off.

Haven't used the one from HF much yet, but I'm impressed with it so far for $149.

HF is like any other store. They have good stuff and questionable stuff. You have to know what you're looking for. If you got one bad item from, say, Sears, would you condemn the whole store? Of course not. Same with HF.

A couple of years ago, I bought a laser measurer from HF. It was inaccurate. I took it back and they replaced it. The second one was just as bad. When I took the second one back, they gave me a refund and pulled the entire stack off the shelf.
 
I've got quite a few HF tools in my personal shop. They work for what i need. I will not buy their 4" cut off wheels again. Experience speaking here.
 
Never been in one. I had to go there Saturday and pick something up in the parking lot though. The boys bought my wife a greenhouse because it was on sale,then they didn't have a big enough vehicle to haul it home,so I had to make a hundred mile unscheduled trip to get it. It's still in the box. I told them I wasn't putting the darned thing together.
 
folks brought one of those years ago.. (notice the years) found out not ment to be up all yearr as it wont hold up.. guess there are u-tube vids on what you need to do to make it a year round structure..
 
visit couple times month.. I get their leather gloves summer and winter version.. they seem to wear as well as the expensive ones..I have bought some pittsburg tools..impact sockets, large braker bar,

Last thing was i bought a hand full of needle nose pliers as I use to have a few but couldnt find a onee the other evening so restocked with pittsburgh variety..

I bought a waterfall pump years ago and loved it so I went back and bought a second for backup.. havent never needed the backup as the original has been going for 12 years now.. NOT BAD..
 
Nearest store is 3 hours away, so I never make it past the catalogs. Always seem to find prices as good as or even better from elsewhere online.
 
I put one up for my grandmother about 4 years ago. We don't have maybe hail or snow, but it went together really well and wasn't missing anything. Everything labeled well, cut well, looked good when I was done. Still looks and operates like new. Hopefully you got the big one, the smaller one I have to duck my head to go in/out of.
 
I'm just a Home Owner Not anything Professional here,.... But I've never had any problems with any of their Tools, for occasional Use.. Larry in N.East
 
My dad usually buys their 3 peice automotive gauge sets for some of the tractors we?ve worked on. The water temp and amp are fine so long as your not concerned about originality. The oil works too, but since it?s for modern high pressure engines, the 20psi or so that is fine for old tractors looks kinda bad on a gauge that goes to 80, so sometimes end up with the repo gauge from one of the tractor suppliers.

Also use little brass ball valves they sell for fuel shut offs on tractors.
 
The boy's been watching videos on how to put it together. He said he'd heard the instructions that come with it aren't all that great. I just finished putting the Super 55 together and got it out of the shop so they can put it together in there this weekend.
 
I'm a fan and go fairly often. Coupons and free stuff... such a deal. Last trip was for a couple wrench sets to mutilate for hard to get to fittings on my tractors.

Have a bunch of the 4 /2 inch grinders, price is too good to deal with changing cutting/grinding/brushes as needed. Had one die from hard use, no problem when it cost $11.00 and lasted 3 years.

Bought the portable band saw for $99.00 with a coupon to cut up a 2 inch square tube frame from the scrap yard. So far so good, found enough other uses around the shop I quit putting it away.

Just have to know you get what you pay for, some of it is good enough for the use/need and some isn't.
 
I built a 24 inch half drive flex head ratchet from there 24 inch breaker bar and half inch flex head ratchet been using it 2 years now still can?t break it
 
I buy a lot of stuff there and horde the 20% off coupons. Like anything else I read all the reviews before I make any decisions and for the most part have been satisfied.
 
Stopped in HF just yesterday. The idiot kid from the neighbor must have gotten P off and threw a 3/8 Pittsburg ratchet in my yard. Burried in the grass and rusted a bit. He most likely threw it cause it was stuck and not working. I put it on the counter next to the cash register and the guy told me go get another. They only had the real fancy ones like a craftsman type with the push button release. I up graded!! Bought a weed flamer tourch for the summer season. List is $30.oo. Pulled out my smart phone and went on their website. Push the coupon button- pull up the 20% coupon- and the guy scans your phone. Now it cost a little over 26 bucks. Nice thing is this store is right on the way to work.
 
Here ya go.
cvphoto20252.jpg
 
I was there last week, no flat tires for the yard cart . You have to watch their stock numbers. One thing might be great and the next time it is a different supplier and junk, different stock numbers
 
Over the last several years I've been replacing most all my name brand tools with Harbor Freight tools for my remodeling business. Like any other place there are a few lemons but they will take them back with no questions asked. Out of probably a hundred tools I've probably taken back only three or four tools.
 
(quoted from post at 02:39:51 04/19/19) I buy a lot of stuff there and horde the 20% off coupons. Like anything else I read all the reviews before I make any decisions and for the most part have been satisfied.
Click to expand...

A new HF store is opening in a week are so in this one hose town I been clip'N those coupon's... Not that I need their junk but will take the fee stuff....

BTW I have a bud that say's their generators are the real deal he loves them... He is into drag racing and tells me most races use HF gen's...
 
Tip #1: If it comes in a box and requires assembly, always open the box at the store and inspect before going home. Sometimes you find broken parts due to rough handling. Sometimes parts are not machined all the way.

Tip #2: If it has a gearbox on it, take the thing apart when you get home and clean and re-grease. Everything I've opened up has barely any grease in it. Also you're likely to find debris and/or chips left over from machining. I believe that accounts for a significant portion of the short lived power tools. Most of the designs are sound because they simply copied something that already worked. It's the execution that's hit or miss.
 

BOught one of their "Earthquake" 1/2" air impacts. Very nice upgrade from a Walmart IR. Has some real power to it. Gotta buy a set of torque sticks next! Also bought a big 120V 1 3/4 (I think) SDS rotary hammer drill based on a friends experience with one drilling in Tee post holes in Texas. He's put in thousands of holes over 2 years and the tool is holding up great. The bits are not HF though and are expensive. I get them on Ebay for about 10% of the list price.
 
I own a few of the wrench sets.I keep them in the tool boxes on the tractors.That way if one gets lost I don't feel bad as my good snap on tools can stay in the shop.I look at it this way.If you need a tool more than 6 times a year than buy the good tools.
 

HF has really upped their game as far as quality and quality control. They are as good now as an "store brand" type tool.

My boys have a mini bike with a HF "Chonda" 5 HP Predator engine. Runs absolutely great. Will love to see how long it lasts because it seems to be a very good engine. They just got it at Christmas so time will tell.

I have basically a whole set of HF hand tools up at my farm. I wanted to have a good selection of tools but you never know when somebody could break in and steal them so didn't want to spend big bucks. Well, they all work, nothing bad to say. Have an angle grinder, drill, and a few other electrical tools.

Am about to buy the 3 HP water pump this week. Handy to have a water pump for a variety of reason and that little baby looks perfect.


Know 2 people who have the Predator inverter generators and they have been great so far. Both have had them over a year and have run them for ice fishing and camping extensively.

Bottom line is the stuff HF is selling is not high tech. No reason they CAN'T make stuff like this that is good and gives reasonable service.

Grouse
 
I have used dozens of the 4.5" cutoff wheels with no problems. Better than name brand I had got. Yes they wore down fast but I did a lot of cutting with them and did not wear as basd as the name brand. Plan on buying a pack this weekend along with a grinder.
 
If you forget to bring your coupon, you can bring one up on your smart phone. They just scanned my screen at the register. (Google HF 20% off coupon)
 
Always pick up a ten pack of their cutoff wheel if they have a coupon, they work just as good as any other. Usually just watch the coupons and get small stuff like a pick set for a buck. Got a set of driver bits for the cordless drill and they have held up well.
Have most of a set of ball pein hammers I bought over 20 years ago and they are still my go to hammer. Have a wire strippers I bought many years ago and it is the one in my pouch for daily use and I have several for backup in my toolbox, very comfortable and easy to use.
Most stuff I buy is used at work as an industrial electro/mechanical maintenance tech so it gets a workout.
I have had several grinders that didn't work for very long and at one place I worked they bought the plastic zip strips and they were worthless junk so it's not all peaches and cream.....
 
worked at a cheese slicing place and the boss bought a bunch of those magnetic dishes to hold stuff while we worked on the machine, he was so proud of himself...problem was everything was stainless so the dish wouldn't stick to anything and the parts wouldn't stay in it when it fell.....
 
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