The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Tool Chest Harbor Freight........What worked?.... What didnt?

There have been several posts recently on tools that worked well from H.F.
and some to stay away from. (I remember a floor jack warning)



If you have a recommendation or warning post here.

Maybe some of us can benefit from your experience.

No Shame, your Snap-on guy need not know.

When I was starting my weld repair on lower cowl and kick panel I needed a spot-weld cutter.

Went to my local H.F….Sales person said we don’t have anything like that. She was wrong
Found this cutter on the shelf for $5.00. Item #95343

I purchaes 2ea and crossed my fingers. Surprised to say one side of one cutter cut all the spot welds I needed.

The little $5.00 cutter worked well on 50 year old sheet metal.
..pic...

This was back in 2008

That picture has me baffled. Is that a rusty model of an old truck or a hole in your workbench to some real project?

BTW I have bought a lot of tools and supplies at HF and have very few complaints.

Blow it up Vern and you’ll see it's an old rusted out AD barn find with the hood in the bed with a spare tire. Looks like it’s complete though, right down to the broken down barn full of cobwebs where it’s been stored.

Cept it's in 1/25th scale!

Cool Gus, you must have a whole museum full of those things. You gotta put them all in an album one of these days.

I to spotted one of those spot cutters at HF and dropped it into my basket, couldn't beat the price compared to Eastwood. Taint needed it yet, but good to know it's gonna do the job when the time comes. Every once in a while you find something that does work as advertised in their stores.
I do have a 3 1/2 ton floor jack that I bought when you first started seeing Chinese tools imported, about thirty plus years ago. It is built heavy and has worked flawlessly all these years.

Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL

HF sawsall blades. I bought a package of bimetal blades for general cutting and they won't even cut aluminum without losing all of the teeth. HF angle die grinder. Got about 10 minutes of run time before it went to crap. HF pin nailer, I gave it away because it wasn't worth burning the gas to haul it to the dump (love the US made Senco I replaced it with). HF plate joiner. So far hasn't broken but all of the guide structure is flimsy plastic to a precise cut is difficult. HF drill bit sharpener, drawing dust on the shelf. It's more accurate and easier to use my bench grinder.

FGT. its a 1/24 diorama, I’ve been collecting them for some years now. ...pic...
Also other 1/24 trucks for my son
...pic...


Good Luck

Really enjoyed the video Gus, the high light of my evening, thanks for posting that.

Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL

Also enjoyed the video. You did a great job on the truck and an even better job on life. Thanks.

The only thing I have purchased at HF that was junk was a tap and die set. A couple of usefull things were a set of panel clamps for welding panels together. They look cheap, but work well. The other item was a mini touch up paint gun.

I tried the HF touch up gun also ...pic...

I was very pleased with the results.
the cfm requirements are low so I was able to run it off my pancake compressor.
Good for me because I dont have a big shop compressor....yet

Not show quality results, but good for side of house, garage, paint jobs
..pic...
...pic...

Option for the budget build

I Might try a DEVILBISS Startingline once I get a compressor to run it.

On welding web they have a forum specifically devoted to HF tools. It is the best resource I have found for honest opinions.
http://weldingweb.com/forumdisplay.php?f=28

I picked up an engine stand from HF that works pretty well. In the past I have avoided them (HF) but will buy more from them and see how it goes.

Small air tools, grinders, etc have served me well --- they were cheap and cut some stuff for me and I still have them and use them occasionally. I have a 1/2" HF air wrench I use for just lug nuts, and it works just fine every time. I dont use my stuff heavy so I'm ok with a cheap tool now and then.
On another note - I really enjoyed your video. Your Dad must have been a really good man- especially so when I see how good a Dad you are with that wonderful little boy of yours. Thanks for sharing your family story ----

I have one of their auto darkening welding helmets, got it on sale for $39 and it works like a champ, pretty happy with it.

Its not for trucks, but I also bought their bead breaker for motorcycle tires and it works really well.

Tire irons were a bad call, had several break due to bad casting.

Their cheap blue tarps are pretty good for light duty.

Welding cart was ok, castors failed pretty quickly. I would just buy one from Sears or the welding store instead next time.

Little stuff like cutting discs and zip ties are pretty hard to mess up, they tend to be pretty good.

I don't have one, but a freind that owns a motorcyle repair shops says their angle grinders are decent.

Finally, I bought a set of aluminum motorcycle ramps, they were cheap and work great.

Had bad luck with most of their power tools
their uni-bits have worked well for me
their drill bits have been hit and miss, had one twist like a pretzel, guess it was never hardened?
have one of their plasma cutters has been working very well

My favorite harbor freight tool is their pneumatic high speed cut off tool
http://www.harborfreight.com/air-tools/specialty-air-tools/3-inch-high-speed-air-cutter-47077.html

I have had it for 4 years and I use it a lot.
I have had bad luck with their electric tools and will buy no more.
Chris

I bought a cut off saw and drill press that I have had for several years now with no issues. Bought a transmission jack today from them that I tried out tonight. It worked well.

Which transmission jack did you buy? Was it the hydraulic one or the mechanical scissor jack model?

John

My Bottom Line on the value of Harbor Freight Tools:

Over the past 13 years, I have spent several $Ks on Harbor Freight tools. I have broken less than $100 worth of HF tools over this time. Since most of the HF tools cost less than 1/2 the cost of an equivalent name-brand tool, I am more than a few $Ks ahead.

There is a lifetime warranty on hand tools and a 30-90 day (or a year) on the other tools. I buy the non-lifetime warranty tools when I need them and I work them hard during the warranty period (in case they might break from being cheaply made). No problems.

I bought the hydraulic one 800 lbs for $138. Funny thing she asked if I wanted the 2yr warranty for 19.95 I said no just the jack. She marked the jack down to $119.00 added the 2 yr warranty at 19.95. A bargain in my book.

They've done that with quite a few things that I've bought from HF, don't understand it but I'm not complaining cuz I would never buy an insurance policy on a tool.

DG

Some of the tools I have bought that were working well are a throatless metal shear. It looks just like the one from Eastwood, and works well. I also bought a 5,000 pound rated tow bar for moving my 2 ton on my property and it worked like a charm. I also bought two different brake line bending tools because I needed to make a very tight bend near a connector. They were the only ones to have them small enough. One was the regular two handled http://www.harborfreight.com/1-8-eighth-inch-to-1-4-quarter-inch-tube-bender-94571.html and the other was the pliers type, http://www.harborfreight.com/tube-bending-pliers-95782.html. I bought a pneumatic high speed saw that works well, http://www.harborfreight.com/high-speed-metal-saw-91753.html. I also like the hardware boxes with things like o-rings, shims, shrink tubing, c-clips etc.... The best was the copper washer assortment. I had a heck of a time even finding one copper washer around my area. One thing I did not find to be any good were some brass air line couplers. They leak like a sieve. I went to get the spot weld cutter the other day when I bought the tow bar, but they were sold out. Must be all the stovebolters buying them up.

Just got a heat gun and some shrink tubing from them, both work great. Gun was $9.99 on sale, cheapest I found elsewhere was $28 and neiother one is made in the USA anyway...

I buy pretty much all my tools from my local HF store.
I know some of their stuff is cheap made, but for the basics, it's hard to beat their prices.
I like that my recent purchase of a 1/2" drive socket set with ratchet and break-over bar is lifetime guaranteed.

Jerry

HF...i have mostly snap-on with some proto in the mix but ive had a 3/4"half inch drive impact wobble socket for 4 years and it still works great (but mabe is. A 13/16 now)and this is used everyday on heavy equipment it has out lasted my snap-on,matco and SK . I love it oh dont buy HF rachet binders not even worth weight in scrap

I shop HF first, and usually get decent quality stuff.
Burned up a 4.5" angle grinder in 1 hour, so they replaced it no questions asked and the new one has been working fine.

Spot Weld Cutter bit is worth the $5. I should get about 40 - 50 cuts from it. It works well.

Their Poly Carbide 4.5" Abrasive Wheel works as well as the 3M Abrasive Wheel and is only $5. It erases paint with hardly any metal removal.

Has anyone tried their small hand sandblaster for small spot blasting small jobs?

I paid $199 for the HF 2.5 ton folding cherry picker. It assembles quickly and did a great job removing the cab from the chassis. I like it!!!

x2! It doesn't hog space in my garage, either.
I'd like to see how you used it to lift the cab, Timmc.
I will be doing that same thing in the near future.

I also bought the engine stand. Had a little trouble making it fit the L6 but it did what it was supposed to do.

Jerry

I will link some pics in the next couple of days.

https://www.stovebolt.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=610755#Post610755

If pictures are not posted soon, I'll post some.

Kewl! I'm always interested in seeing different approaches of achieving a task.
Jerry

I recreated my lift tonight to demonstrate the HF picker and the method I used. This method I've seen before so it is not original but the support is my own design....LOL

Move beem out to max length at 1/2 ton and flip it so that the chain bolt hole is on top.
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-jMGiW_SyORM/Tuf3QtZBvDI/AAAAAAAAANU/49MVxvYG2ak/s320/IMG_0167.JPG
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-4B6JRtZg-P0/Tuf3Tx90JCI/AAAAAAAAANc/pYZhrSSJwMc/s320/IMG_0168.JPG
6ft 2x4 fastened as a channel for strength
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-suNJ9HG_jGc/Tuf3XDMORuI/AAAAAAAAANk/dg3QD22if1U/s320/IMG_0169.JPG
1/2 inch anchor hole drilled 1-1/2 from bottom of 2x4 and centered at 3ft fron ends
Anchored together
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_69fYdywPDw/Tuf3rTQxyPI/AAAAAAAAAOM/pOVOjH43YUw/s320/IMG_0176.JPG
Jacking to meet the front of door jambs with extra 2x4's fastened at the end for extra support and scotching
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-O7b5a7szbyo/Tuf3-gNkFXI/AAAAAAAAAO0/eZc3swrIMF0/s320/IMG_0186.JPG
And the lift...
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3O5cDBrm79Q/Tuf4DVppXeI/AAAAAAAAAO8/jP_RI__X8Wo/s320/IMG_0189.JPG
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-PBs_ziyz91I/Tuf4O3YkNuI/AAAAAAAAAPM/Ss7ztVZL7fw/s320/IMG_0187.JPG

Good job, timmc!
I like it, especially that the end of the lift has a pivoting action to distribute weight equally at the door openings.
Finding the center of gravity in the other direction might be a hit and miss a couple of times but that's easy enough to work out.
Thanks for posting the pictures!
Jerry

Update to what I have posted earlier. I purchased a solar powered outdoor light. It worked fine for about 6 months. So I bought one for my brother in law and two more for my property. Well the one I bought for my brother in law, never worked. Instead of turning on when picked up the motion detector it just makes an annoying clicking noise. Of the three on my property now only one is working. The others are doing the same thing as my brother in laws. I would hold onto my receipt better than I did if you plan on buying one. So that you can return it easily.

I buy a good bit of HF tools in my Fiberglass shop,, the dust kills stuff fast,, there stuff is cheap so when it croaks I am not out a fist full,, I do have the vibration multi tool and have had great success cutting cured glass ! for many months

This high speed saw is great and is on sale right now for $9.99

Anyone ever use the HF 16 gauge air nibbler tool? Looks like a useful addition to my air tools.

bought an air saw and blades. the saw never worked and the blades couldnt even cut aluminum with the new cp i bought. i did get a little 1/4 inch air angle die grinder that has been working very well. might try some more tools from here but will be very wary. i would buy any tool that isn't air or electric though if i needed it.

Lug,
I have that nibbler and it has worked OK for me. It eats out about an 1/8th inch when it cuts/nibbles. The remains are small quarter moon shapes that will stick to shoes,clothing and most importantly to skin. And hard to remove. Other than that works fine for me. Have fun and good luck
Dan

I use the 1/4" die grinders, parts washers, 3/8" air drills, 20 ton press, and a 2 ton chain hoist. I don't use their wrenches or sockets. I have a bead blaster cabinet, but I had to put in better lighting. I bought a PTO driven 60" finish mower for my tractor for less than $500 delivered. That is pretty cheap but seems to work OK. I also have the foldup engine stand that works great for around $100.