The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Tool Chest Harbor freight engine lifts & stands

Hi,

They have a some sales this month and I was wondering if anyone had experience with their 1 or 2 ton folding engine lifts? I can rent one for 25 a day (twice) or buy a HF for 150 or so.

Their 1,000 lb engine stand with 4 legs/casters is on sale for $40.00. Looks tempting.

i have the engine stand and like it.most of their stuff is good for occasional use.

I have a 2 ton folding lift, although from Northern Tool and am pleased with it. I have found other uses for it like unloading heavy objects from out of the pickup.

I have said it before....it boggles the mind how such a device could be sold for a mere $40.00 clams. Even at this price, I would guess they aren't taking a loss....so if they bought it for $30 bucks from the importer (themselves) and the importer (them again) bought it from the factory in Hung Chow for $20 bucks, what did the workers get paid for making it? Are they happy with their wage? :confused:

Stuart

Stuart, With HF the slogan is, "we lose money on every sale,but make it up in volume". Or something to that effect.

I've had their engine jerker for several years and it's fine, just had to replace the ram once.

I have a HF engine hoist and an engine stand. Both seem decent for the price. Right now the engine stand is serving as a frame rotisserie and I use the heck out of the lift and they both work great. I can't buy materials and build for what I paid for them. I say go for it!

The 1000 lb stand is unstable with a straight-six engine on it. The 2000 lb stand is much more stable and will hold a straight-six very safely. I have both sizes and have to be very careful with the 1000 lb stand.

Harbor Freight recently had the 2000 lb stand on-sale in their retail stores for $89.

I have a HF folding engine stand for $109 delivered. I have a full block 350 Olds Rocket on it now. I think my stand is quite sturdy.

I have the 2 ton folding engine hoist. I've had it for about 5 years, works great. They also sell the jack part of it if it needs replacement.

I did destroy a caster on it using it to roll my 302 over a concrete crack, but that was just abuse on my part.

Every engine hoist I've seen for sale in the last few years is an exact copy of the Harbor Freight design. The steel is very stout.

I use the HF 2000lb hoist...bulletproof...slings a 770lb 235 around easily. As an aside, I recently purchased the HF 1900lb utility trailer kit...and it is the best made little trailer I ever encountered. It went together perfectly, its stoutly built, all the parts were there and for $399. it was a great deal.

Oh my, lesse here. living down near Camarillo CA for a while, I made many trips to thier hub center there for the sidewalk sales. Was a serious love/hate relationship!

I have one of thier 3 ton floor jacks, has served me well for about 9 years & I use it alot.
I have the 1K stand, have used it several times with no issues, still works fine.
I have a truck bed hoist that folds down over the wheel well hump & it works like a champ. Have to get the under-bed braces welded to your frame tho, but very useful item to have.
I've gotten many things from them over the years, most of it is pretty shoddy when you look at it & wont stand up to shop use for long, but for the shade tree mechanics they work just fine.

I need to be the counterpoint guy in this discussion. I have a lot of HF tools...and I use them daily and have for years. I've never had one fail...I'm sure if I took a 4' pipe to the end of a 1/2 wrench or socket I could break one, but I'm sure I could break a Craftsman or Snapon tool as well. They may not look pretty but they work! I noticed that not one comment was made or example given about an HF tool that failed. I'm no shill for HF (I have craftsman & Stanley tools as well) but facts are facts and value is value.

In all the posts above, I see only one negative comment about HF brand value or quality.

I am going to check out that 2000 lb engine stand. In the picture it looks pretty stout.

John

I use the 2000 lb stand but find it a little front heavy with a engine on it. I mounted the four adjustable legs to the back of the head plate which moved the weight more to the rear of the stand. It works much better this way. Joe

I have a cherry picker I bought at Costco, it looks just like the ones I've seen from Harbor Freight, and has served me well for years. I use it more to save my back moving other big stuff than I do pulling motors.

Good high quality tools are always a pleasure to use. Cheap tools that will do the job often make the difference between the project fitting my budget and the project never even getting started. I love my cheap tools.

If I'm a professional contractor, mechanic, etc, I wouldn't be caught dead using any tool from HF. What would you think if I showed up to work on your house sporting tools from HF? But for the home guy, I just don't care about image. How you can stop yourself. You look at the tool on display in the store and you can see pretty quickly if it's junk or if it will work. As a woodworker, I don't buy many of their tools. Their jointer (among others) looks like a piece of c**p! On the other hand, the 12" disc sander is IDENTICAL to the one sold by Grizly in all respects except the price!!! It's a very good tool that I use all the darn time and I love the fact that I spent a fraction of the cost of a Delta or some such. I bought a mortiser there and while I was able to get it to work adequately, the handle bent, so I replaced it myself with a scrap of steel rod I had. Works fine. Their pneumatic grease gun did not work. It could not work. No way the pad on the piston would fit inside the diameter of the grease cartridge even though it said it would. So I took it back and got my money back. I would think that something as low tech as an engine stand would be a no brainer. You buy it and even if it's tippy or something, you just beef it up yourself with some scrap steel and a welder. It's still a dern sight cheaper than fabrication from scratch.
There you go. Another country heard from.

How good are the lifts from harbor freight

Its easy Stuart-slave labor. Sad but true. Brian

Does anyone have a chain hoist from HF? Where is the best buy for a 1 ton hoist?

ridgeview,

I have the 5 ton chain hoist from Harbor Freight. Larger than the item you asked about, and a different design, but it is well made and finished, and works well.

Stuart

Bought a 20 ton air over hydraulic jack. Dang it works good. I could jack up the whole truck at once.

there stuff is a good as anything else out there today

I have to disagree with that statement. For the home guy, the HF stuff will fit the bill. It is cheap and will last long enough to do the job, over the life of a home mechanic. For the professional, the HF stuff just wouldn't hold up. Side by side it just can't keep up with the good tools. It can't keep up with the abuse of use daily, over time. They just aren't built for production use. Lincoln, Blackhawk, etc are made to last under constant use.

I've had the 2,000 pound engine stand from HF for about 4 years. Works great and have never had a problem with it. I bought an angle air grinder there for about $5 3 years ago because I needed the tool quickly and didn't want to drive all the way to Sears. It works fine. On the other hand, I won't buy their wrenches, screw drivers or most other hand tools. Their brass drifts are fine. I buy my electrical connectors, cotter pins and that type of thing there. I bought a huge vice about 6 years ago for $35 and it has worked great. I have 4 of their jack stands and they work great. Same with their arbor press. I use their impact sockets and was pleasantly surprised that they work fine. If you are looking for precision, long-lasting hand tools, stick with the brand names. Mine are all Craftsman. It isn't all junk, but some of it is. Be selective and try a few things.

I have their 1000lbs. engine stand and am very happy with it. On the other hand, I bought a 3/8" drill and a pitman arm puller that have both broke on their first use. Some things that they sell are great, while others are pieces of junk. Really inspect what you buy and make a judgement call.

Guess I'll step in here. I purchased stuff from HF and use all the time. Amateur home use though. I also have tools I inherited from Dad and of course they are US made and the best. The old stuff is just good.

Now due to my location the nearest HF is a 100 miles away so I only go there when I have to be in the area for work.

Consequently I'm limited to Cummins traveling tool carnivals. They come in one day and move on to the next little burg. But they're great to deal with. I purchased a 3/8" click torque wrench about a year ago and just tried to use it the other day for the first time. It wouldn't adjust, just spun. At the same time I purchased their last big vice from the floor. It was missing one of the chocks on the bottom that hold pipe(someone forgot to tighten the bolt holding it on).

So yesterday I'm crusing home and there they were in Graceville. So I popped in and explained my situation. The manager said bring them in and they would make it right. So I drove to the farm and returned with them and they replaced no questions asked with new stock. Can't beat that.

And of course I bought some stuff; I was there. Some deep impact 1/2" sockets to finish out my selection and a load leveler for the engine hoist. (the engine hoist came from Advanced Auto sale, $150).

The cheap stuff is good for the home guy. Its does make the diffence between a project being affordable and not even getting started.

I think it all comes from the same place in china.

Wade

PS I have a Goodyear Racing engine stand that came with a 350 I purchased. And other than pretty 2 color paint(blue/yellow) and decals I can't see a difference from the HF, Craftsman or Cummins stuff. And it probably cost double what the HF one is.

I've pften wondered about their tourque wrench, I saw one there Sunday for $15.00. Anything else I have bought there has worked but when I'm tourqueing down on something I want it right. Any experience?
Pete

$15 sounds a little cheap for a good torque wrench.

Engine stand? Yes. Torque wrench? No.

I bought a 2000 lbs engine hoist with a bonus engine stand from Kragens (auto parts) for 150.00. Ive had them for 2 yrs now and it worked great putting my engine into my 57 .

Just my 2 pennies , If ya shop around ya can get a good quality stand made in the USA ..for not a bad price ....I personally do not trust or use import Chinese junk like HF , there stuff may be AMAZINGLY CHEAP ! ...but now think back to your Gran Dad ,,would he have bought that tool for its price or would he have bought a tool that was tested an proved ..in the USA?
he may have payed a few more $ for it ..BUT ..well ya all know where I am goin on this so enough said , BUY AMERICAN FOLKS !..the frigin oversees market is killin the American Worker !...soo spend a few dollars more !an save a few jobs

I try to buy USA made, but it is getting VERY hard to find anything made here, esp truck parts. I haven't seen a USA made engine stand(unless homemade) in years. Brian

Buy some U.S. steel and build your own and you will never have doubt the quality.

Depends on how much extra time you have, what equipment that you have to work with, and how good you can weld.
Unless you have access to a metal working, or machine shop, do your research and buy the best that you can afford. You can get good quality items made from most countries. You just need to look at what you are buying. It's getting more difficult to buy items made in the US.

John

I agree 100% about buying American and do so when it is possible. I sheepishly admit to buying some things from HF, but as others have said it is getting harder to find US made alternatives.
I bought my engine hoist from PepBoys. It's called a Red Devil by Toro. When I bought it, Toro claimed it was American made. It's a fold-up, air/hydraulic unit with remote button for about $190. I couldn't have built it for much less. Six steel wheels, air/hyd ram, a bunch of pins, clips, nuts, bolts, plus the steel, chain, hook, paint, weld rod, Argon,,,.

I first got their cheap model on sale and took it back the next day. The pivot point for the boom was just too low. Its first use would have been to take the bed off my '67. Just hooking it up to the chain and spreader bar had the boom at a bad angle. It would never have given me enough height. Lifting a 292 over the radiator support promised to also be a chore.
The air/hyd lift is much taller and has worked very well.

I haven't checked to see if Toro is still American made. Every time we buy from HF, an American company has to start importing, in order to compete.

My engine hoist is from Manny, Moe, and Jack - the Pep Boys. And my engine stand is from O'Reilly's. Both work great on everything I pick up, hold, and work on. My 216 is on the engine stand right now. I wheel it all around and between my garages like a good KMart shopper. I have had no problems at all. I am a hobbiest, not professional.

I think the hoist was around $120 and the stand was around $40.

I used to own a contracting and manufacturing business in cal., I have/had air tools that I bought from HF, drills and grinders, that had hard use in the shop by employees that by definition didn't take as good of care or as seriously abuse them as I did, and they have lasted 20+ years. I've also bought high quality U.S. tools and one of the habits I've noticed about myself is that when I'm working in the shop on something new and/or clean I like my American tools ( like a 12" Crescent wrench with my Grandpa's signiture engraved on it!!!), but when out in the mud ,rain ,snow or serious grease etc, cheap tools get used - 'cause I don't have to care about 'em.
Jeff

has harbor freight really been around for 20 years? wow!! everyone likes cheap stuff, i try to get most of mine used. i would rather spend more money on a wore out used tool and try to referb it than a new one from china. i have a friend who buys stuff from them. he got a sawsall that is single speed and took 20 min just to cut thru a tailpipe, a pack of jigsaw blades wouldn't even make it 2 ' before they were dull, and the vise that flew apart under the pressure of tightening it and hit my nose, and the bearing that growls so loud on his miter saw. i don't know about even for the hobbiest. i guess if it is impact sockets or something that surley the bolt will break before the socket. i would give the stand a try though if it was cheap enough, if it fails you can always beef it up of fix it, it doesn't have many things to go wrong. hr