HF do's and dont's

I have

• The 20ton press. it's a recent purchase, but so far I really like it
• 4.5 Angle grinder. honestly, buy 2 or 3 when they are $15 and keep different tools on them
• the matching cutoff wheels work great
• the pipe bender. bought this when I was working on a locost. Haven't used it too much since, but will adapt to the press (Pirate 4x4 has an article)
• Tarps. they have lots of them. Cheap.
• 90amp Mig welder. Jams a lot, messy welds, but stuff sticks.

Air tools are....meh.

The Pittsburg pro wrenches are probably better then craftsman and carry a lifetime warranty. Keep a set of each in the car.

If you are just looking at the store, don't forget that you can check out the reviews for every tool on their website. As far as I can tell the reviews are spot on and Harbor Freight doesn't edit or control them in any way. There are plenty of tools with bad reviews.

Every time i have had to buy hand tools (that were not gifts or inherited) i have bought HF stuff. I have not broken any of it yet. My metric 3/8 shallow socket set is 10 years old at this point and gets used on every single job. I may cry when i finally lose that little purple 10mm.

The free black handled screwdrivers are kinda handy because they wont strip screws very easily, the screwdriver gives it up first. For quality, buy the $2 apiece two colored rubber handle ones, green/grey or red/grey or whatever the color of the month is.

I assemble a tool kit for the trunk of each car. Cheapest small tool bag, their cheapest socket/ratchet set($4 on sale), cheapest mm wrench set($9?), and aforementioned free black screwdrivers. Add a roll of their off brand self vulcanizing rescue tape and you might be invincible.

For stuff like diagonal cutters and snips, look at the blades carefully before buying. Sometimes you have to pick out the sharp one, sometimes there are no sharp ones.

I've had and have a ton of HF tools...they run the gamut of being a good value to being junk...some of the time they are not tools but 'tool kits' you can modify to your liking.

They deliver UPS for $6 though, so I never go in anymore if I can help it.

Currently I buy pneumatic rivet guns from them that are good for about 1000-2000 rivets.

Like many other items, they are virtually identical to items bought elsewhere for a higher price.

Decent luck with the angle grinder, floor jacks (lightweight and heavy steel), sockets, c-clamps, welding hood, portable air compressor (for autocross and jeep adventures), and other simple tools.

For some reason the true garbage is their "vice grip" type tools. Won't even lock into place most of the time. And I've used a couple different friends versions as well. All garbage.

The little furniture dollies have supported several 13b engines in my garage.

The sockets are decent.

Now we have this thread, so I am going to link the other thread that has the link to the other-other thread here, too.

https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/grm/hf-tool-passfail/50437/page1/

I use my hand truck from harbor freight everyday at work, probably average 10k to 50k a day in product! The tires don't let long but nobodies do.

Someone once said on grm that the electric tools are like a quality to that's half worn out. Probably true.

I've had at least 4 different versions of their trailers. All have been fine.

I have a press, and an aluminum jack, and steel jack, all are fine.

Large band saw, kind of rickety but does the job.

I love the mechanic style gloves.

Nitrile gloves are good.

Trailer light kits are useable.

Garden hose valves seem perfect.

Auto darkening welding mask works as it should.

Obd scan tool seems to work fine, but I'm not sure I'm using it correct.

I really haven't had many bad experiences lately, to be honest.

I've had good luck out of the following:

4-1/2" angle grinders - they sound like they're going to fall apart, but still going for over 10 years of occasional use and I only paid $10, so they've surpassed my expectations.

diamond cutoff wheels for dremel - this one is really one of the better ones I've run across

Pitsburg "wobble" extension set - just don't use the impact on them

12 ton hydraulic press (I wish I had bought the 20 ton though)

I just purchased a 44" bottom box and it is very nice for the price and surprisingly well built. I diod a lot of research before I bought and other than buying an older used box, the 44" and larger HF boxes seem to be among the better ones on the market for an average joe to buy.

My wife has found a canvas "riggers bag" that she is using as a crafts bag and has seen a few of them of facebook and/or pintrest.

I can't think of all the things I've had bad luck with...

I LOVE me some Harbor Freight. Having amassed my tool collection from nothing, mostly on a high school/college student's budget, over the past 9-10 years they have been invaluable. Certainly hit or miss, but if you read the reviews and apply some common sense where necessary the good far outweighs the bad.

Some of my favorite hits:

-$99 tool cart - quality legitimately feels as good as anything I tried out in Lowes.

-$99 flux core welder - Bought this to do the floor pans in my Jeep last fall and expected to be fixing wire jams every 3 min and generally cursing the existance of the crappy welder - but was pleasantly surprised (running Lincoln wire, FYI.) Never jammed once and works great, aside from the crappy duty cycle.

-El cheapo 1" ratchet straps - bought a set to keep in my parents truck years ago and have used them well over the rated load many times, still holding up.

-Impact screwdriver - Invaluable for removing JIS machine screws from old motorcycle engine cases.

Some "OK stuff:

-Auto darkening welding helmet - just a tick slow in the time it takes to react to the flash. Start seeing stars after a few hours of use.

Pickle fork - Cheap metal, deformed the ends of the fork doing something with it that it wasn't designed for.

And some misses:

-I've killed 3 HF angle grinders. They do not hold up to prolonged, aggressive use, like stripping a large area of paint with a wirewheel, and as soon as they start getting that "hot electronics smell" they're goners.

-Snap ring pliers - worst tool I've ever used.

-Tin snips - dull and broke the tip of the straight ones almost immediately.

-mini welding magnets - not even powerful enough to hold themselves to my tool box.

-Tarp - Grommet where bungee cord fastening it to truck bed was attached tore out in about 1/2 mile of highway driving. Flailing bungee proceeded to wreak havoc on tailgate.

The sawzall I bought was crap with plastic gears. Digital scales for parts/cooking/etc wander. A lot. I actually own the $15 spring compressors and have no complaints. My aircompressor has been awesome, and until I got rid of the outlet, the stick welder didn't suck, for a stick welder.

I'm eyeballing a drill press at the moment.

Hadn't even remembered the HF pass/ fail thread, good to know.

I'm actually thinning out the garage for a teardown and rebuild so I been gettin' rid of stuff not draggin' it home. I'm pretty set w/ hand, power and air tools and tool storage.

If that aluminum jack is low profile that'll save a lotta time. 3 other floor jacks but still hafta run the lowered S197 up on 2X6's to get under it. Could also keep the aluminum jack in the truck as 32 lbs. is light enuf. Hose reel would be a time saver too, have enough hose now but winding hose is gettin' old.... first world problem huh. Really liked the ReelCraft hose reels at my last workplace but Grainger has 'em listed over $300 to start. Another 'if the HF is good enough' deal.

Well, those two items are on my list for now, sure I'll find other items as well once I start kickin' around and I live only a few minutes away, that could be dangerous... I'll try to restrain myself.

Thanks all for the input.

I love my HG engine hoist and engine leveler. Yanked the engine/trans from my old Ranger with no problems. Folds up and stays out of the way in the garage. I paid $160 plus tax.

I've been happy with the portable garage. It was also about $160. I set it up behind my real garage as a place to store all the kids outdoor toys. It is also where I part my utility trailer. Yes it is pretty much just a tarp with a frame, but it freed up SO much room in the real garage.

Zip ties, I buy all my zip ties at HF. Same for hardware assortments (for non stress applications).

I also built my son (6 years old) his first toolbox from HF stuff. I just used my freebie coupons all year to pick up all stuff.

Yard stuff is okay. The rake is holding up for season 3, and the water hoses work fine. Same for the brass sprayer and hose splitter. The limb saw is great.

I use the drill-to-socket drive adapters a lot. Same for the impact socket size adapters.

Always check out the coupons on their site before going. I've found that almost everything is on sale at some point.

8 piece "Professional" screwdriver set: pretty soft tips

3.25 heavy duty electric planer: Surprisingly decent so far

3/4 in pipe clamps: excellent

24 in aluminum bar clamps: OK

50 in clamping cut guide: so far so good

Titanium nitride coated drill bits: broke a few of the small ones after only 2 uses

Trim and molding tool set: served the purpose

AA batteries: pass on these

I don't know how my grinders are surviving. Bought five of them and have different wheels on all of them and rotate quite a bit. Still haven't burned through one.

Also, the tool and welding carts seem to be holding up well to hobby use.

Basil Exposition wrote:

novaderrik wrote: what is that smell that is in every Harbor Freight store? i can never quite place it.

China

You are 100% correct. I was in south China and walked into a hardware store - imagine everything in a standard HF crammed in a 1-1/2 car garage. Smelled exactly the same.

Then I realized why the general smell in China seemed familiar - It's like watered down HF fragrance everywhere. Kind of like shrimp and machine oil.

But on the tools...

3 ton steel floor jack has been a trooper

4.5 angle grinders sound like hell but just keep going

14" abrasive chop saw - the "HD" one - Has done what I asked but not with much authority. Satisfactory but not great.

Ball joint Press - did several cars befor breaking. Might have been my over-zealous use of cheater bars.

tie rod tool - seems good so far. Survived the TooFiddy and an air gun

1/2" impact - don't bother

3-8" air ratchet - ehh...not impressed. slow, awkward, heavy.

clamps - pretty happy with all of them I've used

Auto-dark welding helmet - works okay but I second the earlier comment of seeing some stars at the end of the day. I think if I were doing a lot of welding I'd look elsewhere but it's not a bad starter.

Mechanics gloves - pretty good for the price and you can throw them away when they get greasy.

Chip brushes are ridiculously cheap with the coupons. I have had good luck with my buffer, (came with extra brushes because they know you will need them!) Aluminum jack has been fine, and mine isnt leaking. I too have been eyeing the hose reels, although the reviews say the hoses are garbage.

I have bought so much stuff from HF over the years I have really run out of things to buy. My next need will likely be an impact driver (electric). My last buy was four of these truck bed anchors:

I don't think anyone has mentioned the air nailers (18G). I bought one for a fence I pre-nailed before I screwed it and it really works great. Probably wouldn't want to make a living with it but for my projects I love it. I actually have no complaints about my HF stuff. Most of my hand tools are older Craftsman, but I have some HF sockets ratchets. Bought the 2 drawer work bench with peg board and light, not the sturdiest thing in the world but for the price it has been OK, got a little bent up in a move though. I picked up the 18V set with the circular saw, saws all, drill and flashlight. The drill has done tons of work. The saw is actually OK for small things like fence pickets, etc., the reciprocating saw is worthless and I've actually used the flashlight way more than I expected. The corded reciprocating saw however has been great for small trees and branch cutting. One of the worst things you can get at HF in my experience is drill bits.

Yes, chip brushes by the box is a good time.

I live near HF headquarters, my tools have been migrating from Craftsman to Harbor Freight due to quality, price and ease of warranty return (more HFs closer than Sears)

Watch the coupons, they'll send out a book, have different flyers, what is advertised on their website and email plus various magazines and all can have different prices for the exact same item. For examples; looking for an engine hoist, 1 ton, website had $179 and use 20% coupon, mail catalog had coupon for $130, and Motor Trend had it for $99. Welding helmet, plain black sometimes gets down to $35, right now seems to be at $39, the more expensive blue flame design one can be had for $41.

Love their black nitrile gloves. Usually get multiple uses out of them vs the dark blues or even less light blues that break while putting them on.

Pocket hole jig was a great value compared to the Kreg.

Rubber wheel chocks at $5 are great.

Breaker bars and rubber mallets too.

Torque wrenches are solid, so is the heat gun.

The flaring tool doesn't get great ratings but works ok if you set it up right.

O-ring assortment, zip ties, heat shrink and cotter pin assortment have been alright with me.

Older yellow non ratchet straps have gotten my monies worth and then some, will be "upgrading" to the ratchet straps next time I swing by.

Didn't care for the 20 ton press, but I bought when they were switching designs, maybe better now.

The fluid transfer hand pump isn't great but still sorta works.

Had the square hand sanders fail on me pretty regularly, surprisingly the last one I bought is still trucking.

Returned the plug in impact wrench it didn't work well for me. Black impact sockets have gotten better and have lasted several years.

The air connectors and fittings were meh, the quick connect ones never lasted.

I use the go throught socket set a lot more than expected.

And make sure to take full advantage of the free stuff coupons, I'm swimming in flash lights, screw drivers, tape measures and multimeters.

Use caution with HF pneumatic nailers/staplers. The steel they use is really low grade and the fastener has a bad tendency to bend or wad up in harder wood (harder than pine). This can be exciting when the nail you just shot into a cabinet exits at a 90* angle from where you shot it.

Not all of their tools use a style of nail (the degree of the "clip" for instance) so you are locked into using their product only. After getting name brand fasteners for my narrow crown stapler it was a decent tool, the HF staples were as stiff as al dente pasta.

I keep looking at the big tool chests. anyone own one?

In reply to Grtechguy:

I had the 44" chest for 8 years. Solid unit. I outgrew it, added the side cabinet and then bought the 56" chest to replace it.

My only gripe with the 44, besides its size is the lack of real drawer latches. It uses detents to hold the drawers closed. When heavily laden and on a very slightly off level surface the drawers tended to slide open.

I mounted the side chest to the new box.

It is a darn nice chest. The storage space per dollar cannot be beat. I picked it up on sale for $699.

The main drawback is the drawer lock location. If you are used to snap-on latches you will despise this. They are tiny and located at the far right of every drawer. If you have something in your right hand and reach for a drawer with your left you will be angry. After a few months I don't even notice it anymore.

I have had one ball bearing slide become damaged. Not sure how it happened but the lightest loaded drawer is very stiff . I can see a dent in the slide when I take the drawer out. I probably jammed something into it. I called HF corporate and it is a special order item. It will take them 10 weeks to get it in stock, at which point they will call me, bill me and ship it out. Seems excessive. Only $14 for a pair, just shocked they aren't in stock. Were it a snappy I could have had new ones the next day, but if it were a snappy I would have had to add a zero at the end of the purchase price

It is a lot of storage for the money, thicker gauge steel than it's more expensive competitors. Some dude on garagejournal has a breakdown of frame structures, steel gauges and caster styles of all the cheaper boxes and the high end HF stuff wins in every area.

EDIT:

I used to use the 44" chest to pull motors out of Porsche 911/912's. I was the perfect size to slide under the engine and transmission, lower the car on the lift until it was resting on the tool box, pull the motor mounts and lift the car up and wheel the drivetrain out. That thing took a beating and kept asking for more.

In reply to mattmacklind:

I have been interested in the work bench. When I looked at one in store I was put off by how flimsy it felt. I wondered if it would be better if properly assembled at home.

Brian wrote: In reply to mattmacklind: I have been interested in the work bench. When I looked at one in store I was put off by how flimsy it felt. I wondered if it would be better if properly assembled at home.

It is a little flimsy. I bent one of the legs when I moved it to a new house by myself. I lifted it off the tailgate of my truck, and I set it down one one leg first, which bent it. I bent it back but you know it will never be the same and its even flimsier.

I use this bench more for tool storage than for working on things and for that its fine. If you want to use the surface as a working surface, you might want to spend more on something a little more heavy duty. If I were to do it again, I'd get something like the Kobalt work bench with a wall mounted peg board and a cabinet underneath. Much more expensive though. I got the bench on sale with a coupon for like $100, tough to beat.

ultraclyde wrote: Then I realized why the general smell in China seemed familiar - It's like watered down HF fragrance everywhere. Kind of like shrimp and machine oil.

This fragrance was also the least popular Yankee Candle ever.

I also had pretty good luck out of the dead blow hammer and the engine stands (but I wouldn't want to put a fully dressed Cummins on it )