Harbor Freight Tools that don't suck

[Travelover]

I was ispired by another thread with this link to Weldingweb:

HF tools that don't suck - WeldingWeb - Professional Welding Forum

The Weldingweb site is mostly about metal working tools, so I thought it might be interesting to share which tools / products we have found to be a good value at HF. I don't think anyone seriously thinks they sell good tools, but some are adequate for the need or usage we have in mind.

Some of my experiences:

1000# capacity folding trailer, about $250. Works great for my light duty needs and folds in half to stand on end in my garage, out of the weather.

4 1/2 inch angle grinder, $15. So far, so good for sharpening mower blades, dressing up metal projects

Welding magnets. Inexpensive (with the coupons I get nonstop) and fascinating for the kids to play with.

Diamond blade wet saw, $50. Works great and allowed me to do my whole bath ceramic tile project without renting any tools. Water tray is hard to remove without slopping water.

880# overhead hoist. Paid $80. Mounted to reinforced ceiling joists in barn. Extremely useful for horsing around 3 point attachments, lawn tractor, etc. A real back saver.

Box knives - not worth the $1 on sale - handle breaks on first use.

 

[ToadHill]

1. 10" carbide table say blades for $10, and they stay sharp as long as blades costing 3X as much.
2. Impact sockets I'v had a set for over 15 years and haven't broken any yet.
3. 4 1/2" grinding wheels. Last just as long as the $8 ones .

 

[charlz]

I only buy stuff that is on sale... 70% off usually seems to be about what their stuff is worth


Latex and Nitrile gloves
4 1/2" grinding wheels
4 1/2" cutoff wheels
Deep impact sockets
The heavy grinder stand.. although I had to put a rubber mat under it to keep it in one place.
Just got the metal saw horses... they seem pretty sturdy and strong
Little roll around chairs with the tray underneath (square not round ones)... at $9 I could get one for me and my 'helper' great for working on the dirtbikes
Same for the $2 ear muffs
The 'blue flame' auto darkening welding helmet is great for $50
The brass looking spring loaded center punch $2 and it does great on metal and wood
The compact bender does a pretty good job once you figure out where to make bends
Welding magnets - dang these things are handy!
Bigger rectangle magnet with an eyelet for string/rope has come in handy a few times
The wide crown air stapler
The brad nailer/narrow crown stapler... needs more like 100psi and misses once in a while but at $20 it is far cheaper than anything at Lowes/Home Depot
The big Sliver and Deming drill bits.... cheapest way to make big holes in steel (I trashed the step bits after a while) They do tend to grab once in a while though.

Can you tell I have a store not too far from my work?

Charles

 

[Runner]

9 inch angle grinder - lasted one use then the motor turned to goo - trashed

4x6 bandsaw - burned up motor on fourth cut, new motor, saw works good otherwise

three-shelf roll around cart for $35 is GREAT for shop use

600 lb-ft torque wrench works good

air tools have all worked good

step drill bits work surprisingly well

20 ton hydraulic shop press works good

3 ton hydraulic floor jack - leaks, sucks

3 ton chain hoist works great

cheap hand tools good for filling the boat toolbox, don't have to worry about dropping them in the lake

 

[Bird]

I haven't used my brad nailer/stapler enough to really know how good it is, but so far it's worked fine when I did use it.

My little pneumatic angle die grinder has sure been handy and worked well so far. Oddly enough, they did not have the accessories I wanted with it, but Northern Tool had them.

The 3/8" air ratchet valve tends to stick in the "on" position; possibly from lack of use.

 

[dillo99]

Chain saw sharpener - something like $40 bucks when I bought it.

Screwdrivers - Can never have enough of them cause they seem to walk off into the woods when I am not looking.

 

[Travelover]

I forgot to mention HF sells something they call rattlesnake eggs - really just a packet of extremely strong magnets. Two are egg shaped and two are spherical, but they are amazingly powerful. Played with them myself for a long time before my wife's 4th graders got 'em.

 

[Skyco]

My two most expensive Harbor Freight acquisitions have been a 30 ton log splitter and a Plasma Cutter..
Both have worked great except the OEM return oil filter on the log splitter clogged pretty early, I suppose from manufacturing crud left in the system, found a Purolator car oil filter that fit and all has been well since.
I own a lot of their hand tools and although the appearance can be poor on some of them they work great especially considering the money spent....I've had to return almost none of the stuff I've bought there.

I'm constantly amazed how inexpensive some of the stuff is, I don't see how the material costs are covered let alone labor to make it, even at 25 cents a day and then ship it all the way from China to my local store in SC

 

[jmfox]

Does anyone who depends on tools everyday all day long shop at Harbor Freight?

jmf

 

[Adiredneck]

I just bought (2) Grade 70, 5/16 chains for $25.00 a piece. Tractor Supply wanted $55.00 for the same item.

A friend just bought a 3ph Quick Hitch on sale for $69.00! It works great. Compared to the $215.00 one at TSC.

 

[hudr]

This may be a little off topic, but....
I was surfing the HF website the other night and ran across a couple of things I wanted. There is a store about 25 miles from me and I thought I would run by there on day the following week and pick the items up. Well, I went ahead and ordered the items from their website. Shipping was only $9 for the couple of things I wanted. And no sales tax.
I put a pencil to it and just figuring my fuel I would have went $4 in the hole if I had gone to the store. And what is my time worth?
Crazy, eh?
Back to the original post.... I buy quite a bit of stuff from them but I don't know if I would get it there if I was making a living w/ my tools. But I see contracters in there buying stuff because the hired help usually tears it up before its worn out.

 

[SpringHollow]

I have lots of their stuff for occasional use tools - they seem to be getting better. I have an SAE and Metric 3/4" socket set I bought from them probably almost 20 years ago- they have been great. I gave some to my brothers and a friend as well. No problems.

Ken

 

[CamshaftLF]

I buy there stuff mostly on sale never been disappointed, the automatic darkening welding helmet works great, the 3/8 and 1/2 inch swivel adapters I use very hard with my air guns never broke one yet, have friends that have the trailers that fold up they over load them with fire wood haven't broke them or welded on them either. all n all just satisfied.

 

[diyDave]

I bought a shop vac there, and it don't suck Just kidding! If its a tool that doesn't get much use, I'll buy it at HF, if it breaks during typical use, I'll replace it with something better. You get what you pay for, so don't expect much, and you won't be disappointed!

 

[George2615]

I have had several years use out of the following HF tools.
4 1/2" grinder
Porta band saw
Impact deep socket set metric and std.
12 Ton hydraulic press
500A battery / charging system tester
1/2" impact air gun w/650ft lb of torque

 

[dfkrug]

Hey, DETROIT, good post. It is easier to complain about HF, but I
am a happy customer of theirs, for the most part.

I have bought lots of stuff from HF, mostly quite serviceable and
mostly very inexpensive. I am not hard on my tools, however....no
"production work", no leaving them out in the rain, no lending them
out, etc.

I have also bought a refurb DeWalt 7" angle grinder and Makita screw
gun for great deals, so it is not ALL Chinese stuff at HF.

If you get a chance, see the warehouse in Camarillo....that is impressive.

I have also purchased repair parts several times...they are cheap and come
in just a few days.

Biggest things I bought were:

gas engine-powered winch
20T press ($170)....about equal to the cost of materials to make one myself
20" large (350#) drill press. came in only one box, if you can imagine
880# 120V hoist ($72) and beam trolley...excellent!
440# hoist, only $50....so cheap, it is dedicated to my camper shell storage
manual tire changer ($34)
18V NiCad battery packs, $9....buy these for the cells
several very cheap Chinese battery drills....all still work
small angle grinder
many many cobalt drill bits, bimetal bandsaw blades
air/hyd 20T jack ($50)
1300 psi 120V press washer ($79) sold when I got gas PW
1800 psi 120V press washer ($110) I have not tried this yet...it replaces gas PW
biscuit joiner ($55) cheap tool, but wks fine for limited use
15A 120V gear redux D-handled electric drill ($40) very nice!

and tons of other stuff.....

 

[Skyco]

Hi dfkrug- how well does that gas powered winch work?

I ordered one but it was backordered for months, I finally cancelled it. I still kinda want one though, assuming they are available...

 

[Lasgambler]

I use tools everyday to make a living, and can be hard on them "asking them to do more, quicker then they are designed to do."

I enjoy going in their stores to look around and buy expendable items like drill bits, sand paper and so on. I once tried a 4 1/2" grinder that did not hold up that well. I bought a funiture dolly with 4 casters that is great. I too, Like the welding magnets and the impact sockets.

 

[dfkrug]

how well does that gas powered winch work?

.

I bought this one about 8 y ago for over $400 and it is not what HF
currently sells. Mine was called "Walt's Game Reel" and was designed
for hunters to suspend their big game to drain. It is a PTO and
gearbox system that uses a modified chainsaw. It workd OK for my
use: dragging skids of building materials up a 100% slope so I could
build my concrete water tank.

I could not find one to rent and I had no power up on my mountainside.

 

[RichZ]

I have quite a few HF tools. My favorite is my T-post puller. For $19.95, I got probably the most backsaving hand tool I have. I also have an assortment of HF hand tools. They're not the best, but they're functional, and very cheap. I'm a farmer, and I use my tools often and hard. I also use them in odd places in all sorts of weather, so I often lose them. So I don't mind so much losing a HF plier, if I only spent a few bucks for it, and I usually have duplicates of the more common ones. I have a few sets of HF screwdrivers. How good does a screwdriver have to be???

For power tools, HF can be OK for homeowner use. I got one of their 18 volt cordless drills for my wife, so she wouldn't keep taking my Hitachi cordless from my shop. For the small things she uses it for, it's fine. I had a HF reciprocating saw (their "heavy duty" one), and it was fine for small stuff, but when I used it to cut metal roofing for a barn project, I used it all day, and towards the end of the day, the head fell apart. If I had just kept it to occasional use it would have been fine, but I really pushed it with that one.

Our farm is a goat dairy, and I have a HF wheeled stool in my milkhouse. I'm on my second one, the first lasted 2 years, which isn't bad with goats jumping on it and it getting wet twice a day when I have to clean out the milk house after each milking. It sure saves my back to roll around sitting on this stool as I hook up dozens of goats twice a day to the milking take offs. And since you can pick them up for $14 on sale, I don't mind if this one lasts only 2 years, as well.

All in all, I really like HF, you just have to know when their stuff is good enough or you really need a more professional grade tool.