The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Tool Chest HF tools that quit working

Here's an idea. Everyone just list what broke and whether or not it was past its time or not.

I'll start. I also made a list for what works.

1/4 angle die grinder-died early
4.5" angle grinder-die early
cheap approx 8' air hose-Returned same day, leaked at fittings.

That's all I can think of for now.

110V welder. Died after 3 months. Replaced under wty. Replacement died 1 month later.

220V welder. Toast after 4 months.

7" Sander/Polishers. Both still running after 2 years but had to replace brushes which were supplied as spares.

Metal Shears. Lasted about 18 months. User malfunction caused premature death

2 1/2 ton jack. Dangerous to say the least. Still works but take your life in your own hands when lowering.

Sawzall. Problems after 3rd time using it.

Pretty sure I got some imitation vise grips there.
I was using them to hold the bed would bolts so I could take the nuts off with my air impact and they literal twisted. Real POS.

i took it in the teeth yrs ago on HF tools , i just toss there catalogs an fliers when they come , it pretty much ALL JUNK...just my thoughts

My impact wrench sockets have performed just fine. I'm not a daily user of them, but for what I spent, they've performed just fine. Same goes for the pneumatic brad nailer. I've shot thousands of staples through it and it still works okay.

I treat HF like a casino: I only bring what I can afford to lose. The odds at HF aren't much better than a casino, and there is a lot less "eye-candy."

I had a boss who told me, "If you don't expect anything, you're never disappointed." I bring that mentality with me to HF.

Bill

I don't buy any HF tools that my life or livelyhood depend on.

I agree with Bill about the casino analogy, I have a nail gun that I used for my baseboards & door casings worked great. I also have a 220v mig welder that I use often, no problems so far, I've had it for a few years.

James

The HF impact sockets are great. As far as I'm concerned, they are as good as anything this side of Snap-On.

Another tool I have been very pleased with is the disc brake caliper tool, especially good now at half-price ($19.99). I've used my HF and a Blue Point, and about the only reason I would prefer the Blue Point is a hex head on the screw instead of the skinny sliding bar. Both work fine.

My HF body hammers and dolly set still far exceed my metalworking capabilities.

There are also differences in the different models of the 4.5" grinders. The one I used to buy is no longer available. We'll see if my newer ones hold up. One great thing about them is you can afford to buy extras so you don't have to switch attachments. I have one with a wire brush, one with a flap wheel, one with a cutting wheel, etc. Also, if you drop one and break the housing (as I did with my first one), no big deal. I think the price/performance ratio is very good on these.

Writing off all HF tools as junk makes no more sense than saying all Craftsman or Snap-On tools are the best bang for the buck. You have to pick and choose but there are some incredible bargains to be had at HF. But if you choose not to consider them, that's OK with me... it isn't my money!

My HF 4.5" angle grinder is on it's last legs after almost 2 years of a full frame off restoration, using it on almost every piece.
I'm amazed it has held up this long.

Best $9 I've spent on a single tool. I think I'll go buy a replacement soon.

i've bought quite a few things from there. but they get occasional use .not like i use them to make a living.all air tols are still working . no hand tools broken. we did purchase for work a 1" sds rotary hammer that was on sale for $59.00 and we have beat the everlivin pi## out of it and it keeps takin the abuse. but but like said prev ious expect nothin. i'm sure my time is coming....dave

Hard to beat those prices. And for something like a hammer, how much better could a Snap-on hammer be?

I was off to buy a 4.5 grinder and my buddy
said he'd give me his old new one. When I saw it was
a HF model, I figured I would use it a week and toss it. I have beat on this thing for days on end and it still works great! Needless to say I'm shocked!

heres a funny on HF hammers , my brother works under me in my maint. dept ...he figured heck for that price ill get a set of them fiberglass handled ball peen hammers ...he doesnt like to buy really expensive tools for work ...since stuff has a habit of walkin off .
well new set arrived ...used each a few times at most an the heads all got loose an flew off in use !...so he got a good set of hammers NP'S now ....Go Figure ?

I've got a band saw, it works pretty good IF the blade is perfectly tensioned, otherwise, it falls off every 2 minutes...

It's fun to shop there, and find the occasional good deal... there are items that are quite worthless, and even appear to be POS!! but people buy them...

Here is my bad HF tool list:

air blow gun attachment, fell apart during the third time i used it.

framing hammer (wood handle) broke the FIRST time i used it...

One way to fix that is to paint all the tools pink! Not only does someone not want to work with pink tools, it can be easily spotted from a distance!

( Other bright colors work also.)

MNSMITH,
he tried bright orange ......but folks found out that a little Acetone ...wich is all over the plant for thining the putty /filler we use makes a great paint remover !lol
mostly he has a problem with a worker that needs a hammer or wrench to fix somethin very easy ..an his tool box is settin the shop why he is not there an they borrow with every intention of returning but get caught up with production an forget to return a tool and then it goes amoung the missing ,so he just started buying Stanley tools an such that he can afford to walk off an keeps his craftsman and snap-on hand tools at home .

Anything I had from H F that broke, I took back and they gave me a new one.

I'm a technician at a GM dealer, I saw a service bulletin yesterday that I thought might be of interest. It's Bulletin ##07-08-45-002 , it warns about the use of aftermarket fuses, specifically ones sold by Harbor Freight. apparently some of these fuses won't blow even when shorted straight across a 12 volt car battery.

My uncle owns a farm and he says if not for HF he could not run his farm as his workers lose stuff faster than he can replace it...so he buys sockets, drills, and grinders they are junk but are lost after one application so HF works for him. For "his" tools only the best he can buy! Funny stuff...he bought a set of twist drills from HF they got one of twist drills stuck and reversed the drill motor and the twist drill un-twisted into a straight bar...its now on his fireplace mantel as a testimony to HF products.

i bet that twist drill is something to see. i swear they don't even use hardened steel for their drills. it should break before bending, how is it going to keep an edge cutting metal??? ha ha

I learned my lesson with cheap bits when I tried to drill out a broken bolt for easy outing. When the bit brakes off in the broken bolt what do you do?

I wouldn't buy a tool from HF for my four year old.

If big-boy tools are a bit expensive for you may I suggest going back to school, getting a better job and then re-evaluating your choices.

Please don't bother your neighbor when your HF garbage breaks at eight pm.

Thanks,
Your Neighbor.

Good Post Neighbor!

As a bloke with quality tools.........constant lending to other mates with failed HF quality gear tends to get annoying after a while.

Do they ever wonder why I don't annoy them at 8 p.m. after a [censored] tool has left me stranded!

I have a few tool from HF, some are good some are bad, I know I get what I pay for but I want to spend most of my spare cash on parts for my truck and not tools that will last me longer than I live. In most cases if I spen $10 on a grinder and it breaks half way through the job I can still by another and be better off than spending $100 on a good one that will sit on a shelf collecting dust when I am done using it.
I agree good tools are nice to have but in the long run the do cost a pretty penny
Ed

As I can see from reading here,some guys prefer to buy junk at low prices. Not the way I do things,but if it wasnt for guys like this HF would go out of business.One thing for sure,this is a free country,and we are all free to spend our hard earned money any way we see fit. As for me I will bypass HF and buy quality tools,my choice.

Hey Dale, I hope we didn't offend you by buying cheap tools, but if it is a one time tool that is not going to make a difference if it cost $100 or $10 I am going to go cheap so I can buy another part for the truck. Unfortunatly I don't have a whole wad of money to buy the biggest and best tool on the market. You are correct it is a free country and at the same time if it wasn't for the folks that buy the over priced tols they would go out of business as well.
This response is just my jutifing 2 cents worth.

Ed

I bought a $10 dollar 4 1/2 grinder 5 years ago, expected it to last long enough for me to save up the money for something good. 5 yrs later and countless jobs it still going strong. Will I buy another one when this one finally goes south, probably. Will I buy a screwdriver, probably not. There are bargains and then there are just plain cheap tools. we are all free to shop where we want and for me it just makes since to shop around and compare the price/quality against my expectation for the tool.

When I made my living with my tools in the body shop business I got only high quality products.(Snap-on, Matco, etc.)

Now that I use them as a hobby, if I need something for a small job I will get something cheap. If I think it is a tool I will need for any length of time I will spend the extra money and get a better product.

I don't like getting this crap from China either, but thanks be to our political pea brain leaders who think its good for us, we are not going to see an end to the flood of garbage any time soon.

I think I would rather buy U.S.A. and employ someone state side than a 6 year old in China.

I think what ttodd said is makes a lot of sense. HF is not a place I would ever think of buying a power tool or drill bits or anything made of hardened steel. Then again, Craftman power tools, lawn mowers and chain saws, etc. are made in asia and in my opinion are crap these days; not what they were 25 or 30 years ago. I bought and took back 3 Craftman chain saws within 4 days. The crap was terrible to start and would not start after it had run for 5 or 10 minutes. Finally found online a Popular Mechanics top 10 saws. I bought an Echo, more expensive, yes, US made and it's a trooper. Stiehl is also very good but a lot more dough. Yeah, I looked at a MacCoulgh chain saw at HF. Good price, but I'd all ready bought and returned one at Home Depot. It was as bad as the Crapsman saws.

Cheapest place to by cotter pins, woodruff keys, clevis pins, etc.

I have a bunch of cheap tool's,some hf,some crap jap stuff I bought when we first got married,Now I have alot of Good quality tool's.When someone want's to borrow a tool,they get the jap crap,I don't care if it break's or get's lost.Strangly they alway's bring em back,Mabe they don't work right for what they are doing so they go somewhere else to borrow better tool's?Well anyway they don't ask as much as they used to!!LOL Tom

The last time I was in Wichita I stopped at the HF store and bought a package of sawsall blades. It has metal and wood cutting blades in the package. The first time I used one of the "metal" cutting blades it cut about 1/16" deep and all of the teeth wore off. I changed it out for another and it did the same thing. HF is not a place I'll be buying sawsall blades again.

I hear yah... I don't even buy the Ace Hardware blades... They lasted pretty good, the teeth wouldn't wear off. But the offset of the teeth would go away and they'd start cutting reaaalll slow. I started buying Milwaukee blades, and they cut all the way up until I break em. Or until I try cutting some stainless.

As for HF, We've got an impact wrench that we got there that's been used regularly, (but not occupationally) and it's still going strong. But, from the outside, it's identical to the Ingersol-Rand that sat on the bench right beside it... Gotta wonder sometimes.

Some HF stuff is crap, some is surprisingly good. It's a toss up. If it's something you want to last awhile, buy quality. If it's something you only need for one job, go for the cheapy...

No one offends me by buyinmg stuff at Harbor Freight.Hey its your money,spend it as you see fit.I too dont have the assets to buy the really expensive tools,I sort of buy middle of the road.But one thing I learned many years ago is,that you get what you pay for.When I walk thru a Harbor Freight store and see what they are selling I have to laugh. Oh yeah I did purchase some sanding blocks there that seem to be OK.Course,its kinda hard to screw up sanding blocks and sandpaper.

I have bought quite a few things from them.

220v dual mig welder (gas or flux) - used countless hours on body work and has yet to fail me (I did get a year free replacement when I got it so if it does decide to go on me, I will just take it back
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=94164

4.5" electric grinder - used to grind down the welds from the above welder, once again still running, no problems
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=91223

3" air cut-off tool - used many many hours, still no problems, I just make sure to squirt a shot of wd-40 into it before I use it.
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=47077

air powered angle die grinder - also used many many hours without any problems, like above I give it a shot of wd-40 before every use.
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=93088

air shears - no problem except it needs a set of replacement shears, broke during regular use, normal wear.
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=36568

and last but not least
hvlp spray gun - used on everything from primer, high build primer, color and clear with no problems. Used it to paint areas that will not be seen much, for a more quality paint job for exterior paint I bought a expensive hvlp gun, but for places that barely sees the light of day the hf gun worked just fine.
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=43430

the one tool that I did buy from hf that failed me was a set of ratcheting wrenches. 2 out of the 7 in a pack just froze up. I half way blame that on myself for using them to break bolts loose and over tightening.
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=96654

Ive had good luck with the their tools so far and I will continue to get things from them until I see different. Most of the tools I bought from them I only had planned on needing once or twice. They far exceeded my expectations. Tools that I can see needing down the road, I go else where and pay more. Id rather spend the money saved by buying hf tools, on parts for my truck, which will get used alot more than the tools that sit in my box.

I picked up a set of pry bars from harbor freight, considering how I use them, they work fine. I have a few of their bin racks sitting on the workbench with various hardware in the bins. I also have a few deadblow hammers, and a cheap blast cabinet. Beyond that I have used a few of their die grinders which failed as quickly as other brands I have purchased. My hose reel that I purchased 5 years ago still works well.

The electric tools and the rest of the stuff looked too cheesy. As many have stated, HF is a crap shoot. I would not be buying hardware such as fasteners, cotter pins, etc. from there for fear of the stuff falling apart when needed

Scott

2- Auto trickle chargers( similar to battery tender) Deceased less than 2 months.
All in one sheet metal shear, brake and roller. Shear bed broke on the first cut 18 ga. mild steel sheet. They gave me a replacement and was never able to get it to adjust good enough to cut all it did was fold the metal over on one end of the blade. Retuned the unit got a refund.

I just took a chance on a $50 (down from $75) auto darkening welding helmet. Worked great for a while until suddenly I'm looking at the arc in full daylight! That's nice... nothing like going blind trying to dave a couple bucks. Took it back for a refund and bought a Hobart at TS.

But I have to admit that this is the only "meaningful" tool I've bought there that has failed.

Harmonic balancer puller. It last a whole 1/4 turn with a half inch wrench before shattering into a dozen pieces.

Just had a 4 inch angle grinder malfunction. I found that by moving the power cord back & forth where it goes into the housing I can make it work. I'm just glad it didn't electrocute me. A guy I know had one and it caught on fire while he was using it.