Harbor Freight Tool/Product Review

[smurph20]

I have a lil over 12 grand in Snap On tools and if I have a broken tool when he shows up on Mondays he either fixes the tool or orders the replacement right then and there. Ive never had a problem getting something replaced or fixed. Hell I even bought a power steering pulley removing kit from a pawn shop that was KD tool brand which Snap On carries and my guy warrantied the when I broke a piece of it. He knows I didn't but it from him but still honors the warranty.

 

[RetroC10Sport]

Some will and some won't.

 

[AJ 3]

I have a Harbor Freight 120 volt electric impact wrench that I bought on a whim for $40 about 5 years ago. I have beat the crap out of that impact. Removed tons of lug nuts and the flywheel gland nut on my VW motors that are torqued up to +250 ft/lbs. Its still going strong today.

I also own a $15 5-1/2" angle grinder that I bought from HF that has out lasted my buddies Dewalt.

 

[HotRodPC]

So far I have found the Chicago brand power tools are OK, but the Drill Master brand drills, AVOID them. They might not even make it through 1 project. I went thru 2 on rivet and finally after exchanging it for another good one, just decided to use it for light wood only and bought a better drill for the rivets.

 

[willwinchforfoo]

I have the three micrometer set, dial indicator, 6 in caliper and a ton of metric hand tools. My dial indicator ,calipers, and mics are run across a cal bench at work and they pass as tight as starret every year. I'm an aircraft mechanic and they aren't doing a half assed cal check. Don't be afraid to buy these things.

Run away from the torque wrenches. The calibration tech at work was literally laughing at each point. I think the 3/8 wrench started 10 ft/lbs off and got worse as it went higher. Same with 1/2 and 1/4 torque wrenches.

The craftsman kobalt and other brands cal fine every year.

I don't buy anything electric, abrasive, cutting, or drilling from them except the air tools. Those air tools work fine for me.

Why is this not a sticky thread?

 

[mtnmankev]

When I went to replace my front disc rubber brake hoses, I realized I only had metric flare nut wrenches in my toolbox, and needed SAE.
HF had these on sale for $9.99 and I used a 20% off coupon that made the set $7.99.
Has 1/4" through 13/16"
I wasn't too worried that they were made with inferior steel as most chinese wrenches have been up till recently, I was worried more that the tolerances wouldn't be close and they would just round off the fitting.
I was amazed how well they fit, I had one fitting that had been rounded off a tad previously, and that was a big concern.
I had no trouble getting the fitting off and back on.
I would say an excellent deal compared to what the tool trucks would charge for just one wrench.

 

[Swims350]

I've got their hvlp paint gun, the purple ones, and did the upgrades as mentioned on youtube, basically remove the silicone thread sealant junk and replace with teflon tape.

Thing painted good, as good as my old school suction/siphon devilbiss gun from lowes. I think it would lay down really nice paint jobs, it did on dads but it was single stage actylic enamel and had some orange peel, which was my fault.


Next up I got a hf portable tire changer and several tires I need to break down and change with it. I'll let you guys know how it does asap.

 

[Stewzer55]

I have a fair amount of HF tools in my toolbox and generally, I go for the Pittsburgh Pro for stuff, they cost more than the standard Pittsburgh, but they appear to be made much better. I've used my HF steering wheel puller several times and its great, I haven't used it in maybe 2 years but I know I will again. I also have GM Door spring compressor which is one of those things that pays for itself the first time you use it.

 

[robert8096]

Next up I got a hf portable tire changer and several tires I need to break down and change with it. I'll let you guys know how it does asap.

I have one, just make sure you mount it securely to the floor. It works great for motorcycle tires and so-so for car/truck tires.

 

[Swims350]

got some 4 inch tapcon's to attach it in the concrete.

 

[HotRodPC]

I've got their hvlp paint gun, the purple ones, and did the upgrades as mentioned on youtube, basically remove the silicone thread sealant junk and replace with teflon tape.

Thing painted good, as good as my old school suction/siphon devilbiss gun from lowes. I think it would lay down really nice paint jobs, it did on dads but it was single stage actylic enamel and had some orange peel, which was my fault.


Next up I got a hf portable tire changer and several tires I need to break down and change with it. I'll let you guys know how it does asap.

Do let me know how the tire changer works. I've had one of those for about 4 years now. I've made about 5 different attempts to breaking the beads with no luck, so I've had no luck at all with it. I figured it was probably more me than the tool. What am I doing wrong?

 

[HotRodPC]

When I went to replace my front disc rubber brake hoses, I realized I only had metric flare nut wrenches in my toolbox, and needed SAE.
HF had these on sale for $9.99 and I used a 20% off coupon that made the set $7.99.
Has 1/4" through 13/16"
I wasn't too worried that they were made with inferior steel as most chinese wrenches have been up till recently, I was worried more that the tolerances wouldn't be close and they would just round off the fitting.
I was amazed how well they fit, I had one fitting that had been rounded off a tad previously, and that was a big concern.
I had no trouble getting the fitting off and back on.
I would say an excellent deal compared to what the tool trucks would charge for just one wrench.

I have found that the Pittsuburgh polished wrenches are all pretty good so far. Seem to be almost identical to the polished Craftsman wrenches too.

 

[ScottyB]

Do let me know how the tire changer works. I've had one of those for about 4 years now. I've made about 5 different attempts to breaking the beads with no luck, so I've had no luck at all with it. I figured it was probably more me than the tool. What am I doing wrong?

I gotta play with mine every time I use it, but I have used mine to dismount and mount about a half dozen tires. I did 4 in one shot. Not my favorite tool but patching my own tires saves me about 4 hours in hassle.

 

[HotRodPC]

I gotta play with mine every time I use it, but I have used mine to dismount and mount about a half dozen tires. I did 4 in one shot. Not my favorite tool but patching my own tires saves me about 4 hours in hassle.

All I need it for is getting tires off of wheels to keep the wheels or scrap the wheels and get rid of the tires. Not many left. I've been throwing 4 bad rims and bad tires in the back of every vehicle I scrapped, like the Burb and the Bent Frame 85 C20 with burnt cab.

 

[ScottyB]

Should work fine for that but it wouldn't hurt to "find" a couple spoons to help you out. (I assume you let the air out of the tires before trying to break the bead. )