Harbor Freight Tools that don't suck

[Rodiron]

I am now a believer in the HF grinders. I went on a pipe job with a company from out of town and in the gang box I seen a orange grinder, and right off knew where it came from. I ask the "Pusher" on the job what he had that piece of s... for? He said he had bought 2 of them to see how they would hold up. Now I don't normally do this but I tried my damnest to burn that grinder up, I was still working after the job ended. The last Milwalkee 4-1/2" I bought I gave $159 for and have 3, but also nowI have 2 HF 4-1/2 and 1-7" grinders. I've had them for over a yr. now and all are still going strong. Live and learn I guess, just wish I could learn alttle quicker. lol The reason for so many is I have a weld truck so have enough for the shop and truck. Hey, I hope some good Holidays for everyone.

 

[Gary Fowler]

I have had the heavy duty 7" HF grinder for a couple years and it works great. I just wish now that I had bought the 9" since my brother, who inspects on a pipeline, just gave me a box of 9" discs that he picked up off the right of way. The welders grind on bead with them and throw them away and get a new disc. Lots of times, if you walk a pipeline prior to backfilling, you can pick up new discs that have been dropped along with almost full cans of welding rods.
I also have 3 of the 4.5" grinders. They only difference I find in the 4 and 4.5 is the size of the safety guard.

 

[SPYDERLK]

I am now a believer in the HF grinders. I went on a pipe job with a company from out of town and in the gang box I seen a orange grinder, and right off knew where it came from. I ask the "Pusher" on the job what he had that piece of s... for? He said he had bought 2 of them to see how they would hold up. Now I don't normally do this but I tried my damnest to burn that grinder up, I was still working after the job ended. The last Milwalkee 4-1/2" I bought I gave $159 for and have 3, but also nowI have 2 HF 4-1/2 and 1-7" grinders. I've had them for over a yr. now and all are still going strong. Live and learn I guess, just wish I could learn alttle quicker. lol The reason for so many is I have a weld truck so have enough for the shop and truck. Hey, I hope some good Holidays for everyone.

I have had the heavy duty 7" HF grinder for a couple years and it works great. I just wish now that I had bought the 9" since my brother, who inspects on a pipeline, just gave me a box of 9" discs that he picked up off the right of way. The welders grind on bead with them and throw them away and get a new disc. Lots of times, if you walk a pipeline prior to backfilling, you can pick up new discs that have been dropped along with almost full cans of welding rods.
I also have 3 of the 4.5" grinders. They only difference I find in the 4 and 4.5 is the size of the safety guard.

Glad to hear theyve improved them. I burned up two of them in 30 minutes about 9 yrs ago. Never been back on those.
larry

 

[Gale Hawkins]

China is on a tear to improve quality from what I can see. If they can not keep exports high the people will become very restless sooner than later.

A few years I read a story about a German company rep finding a knock off of one of their machine tools at a trade show. When he told them who he was with he was shocked by their response. He stated while it was a quite good knock off the China manufacturer reps instead of running backwards just got excited and started hitting him with questions on what they needed to do to get it more like the OEM product.

We have worked some of the large wrench sets hard working on the old BH and we are talking 2" size wrenches being hit with a hammer to break nuts loose. So far the HF 800 watt 2 stoke gen set on sale for $88 has performed quite well. China will replace USA, German and Japan in the hand tool markets world wide going and coming. They will take so many sales the other three countries will not have R&D funds and China factories will mirror the high quality hand tools then own both the low and high end tool market.

When we read posts about about contractors buying HF tools you know the end is near for non China tool makers. Every where I go I see HF tools today but our store is only 50 miles away. Their labor costs are much less than just our benefits only cost I expect. Not a level playing field but they are helping make our SS checks not bounce.

 

[deerseeker001]

i have mine 2 years and they work great,wish i had bought years ago.

I bought one of these a few months ago. Already paid for itself in sharper chainsaw blades

 

[California]

I've owned the HF 7 and 9 inch angle grinders for about five years. I haven't put enough hours on them to predict reliability but they work fine.

I find the 9 inch one dangerously heavy (and powerful) for working where I have to lift it after a few minutes as my arms become tired. I don't think I would assign this one to an employee. It works great when its weight rests on the work. I think just owning the 7 inch grinder would be sufficient for most uses.

If anybody is interested here's a thread I posted showing the 9" angle grinder used to hog out a cavity in cast iron wheel weights. I modified the weights to make clearance for the valve stems.
Wheel Weights for YM186D
The grinder worked great for this heavy continuous grinding.

 

[Rodiron]

Good morning Mr Fowler and thanks for the msg. about the grinders and I know first hand about the pipe-lineing, I've done some miles of that back in the 80's in Wyo. dureing the "oil boom" of that time like is going on in N.D. now. Wish I was about 20yrs younger I'd have to get some of that easy money, lol I found yrs. ago that I could do just as good with a 7" as a 9" and not wear myself out. I think the Black and Decker wild-cat grinder weighed about 50# or felt that way after a short time riding one. I found if you put a Pipe-liner disc on the 7" you can cut and grind pretty quick and to me seems like the Pipe-liner last longer, may just be me though. If you have never tried one check it out. They're 1/8th in. instead of 1/4, or maybe 3/16th, just know they are thinner. You don't by chance have kin-folk in W.Va do you? I am kin to some Fowlers up there, ****, we might be kin, lol Have a great day and again, thanks. Eddie

 

[PhysAssist]

I have a similar Bluetooth adapter that I got on Amazon and Touchscan installed on my laptop (which has a bluetooth adapter in it). $40 total invested and it works well for most gas vehicles. Touchscan doesn't read many codes on Diesels (or at least not on my parents '99 E350 w/ the 7.3L diesel).
Touchscan lists for $35, but some sites (I think I used mp3car) have it on sale for $25 with great regularity.

Aaron Z

Hey Aaron,

Thanks for the link.

Now if it would just reflash the performance module so we could tweak the HP, MPG's and other parameters- though I'd probably screw up something playing around.

Du-oh!?!? Ooops!

Thomas

 

[Pixguy]

Here's another source for the 20% coupon in store, online or by phone.
Affiliate

 

[sixdogs]

Does anyone own the electric impact wrench? I got a $39.99 super coupon in my email today and it's tempting, especially considering the good angle grinder reviews recently.

Electric Impact Wrench - 1/2"

Also, I thought HF made a 7" angle grinder but I can't seem to find it. Anyone know if they make one?

 

[bcp]

Does anyone own the electric impact wrench? I got a $39.99 super coupon in my email today and it's tempting, especially considering the good angle grinder reviews recently.

Electric Impact Wrench - 1/2"

One impact every 2 seconds?

Impact Rate: 25-30 BPM

 

[California]

Does anyone own the electric impact wrench? I got a $39.99 super coupon in my email today and it's tempting, especially considering the good angle grinder reviews recently.

Electric Impact Wrench - 1/2"

Also, I thought HF made a 7" angle grinder but I can't seem to find it. Anyone know if they make one?

I have their electric impact wrench that looks like that but from 15 years ago. It won't loosen lug nuts unless you first break them loose with a socket and breaker bar. I estimate maybe 80 ft lbs for unscrewing. Mine may be defective, since it tightens lug nuts to spec ok. I suggest wait until you hear that other owners' more recent wrenches work better than mine. (or not). It's not 30 bpm; feels like 30 bps.

After writing that I went and read the reviews on HF's site. Sounds like the current ones are as weak as mine. There really isn't a practical application for this item when it won't break loose lug nuts.

Most Liked Negative Review

What?

One description lists 230lb/ft, another 184lb/ft of torque. Both should be enough to loosen lug nuts that were torqued to 105lb/ft of torque a week earlier. This machine could not loosen any of them. Once I broke them loose, the machine worked as a time saver to remove 24 lug nuts from 4 wheels.
I can not recommend this as a serious tool for lug bolt or lug nut removal. I will return it for a refund. It does not work well for my needs.

And I can't find the 7" angle grinder on their site either. Phone the store, I expect they have them. I bought one about 5 years ago and it works fine (in my non-commercial use), I would recommend it.

 

[Gale Hawkins]

Well we finally put the LONG HF 1/2" drive breaker bar/pull handle after having owned it for a couple years last night. We were using a long 1/2" drive ratchet trying to remove the anode out of the 80 gallon hot water heater that must be pushing 10 years old.

The water heater is installed against the wall and was mainly full of water so the son was able to push against the wall with all of his weight against it. I was really concerned with him bouncing on it that it was going to pop at the swivel connection. Finally after repeated pushes there was a pop and thankfully it was the aluminum plug starting to turn and after it popped we turned it about 1/8 of a turn and still it was all I could do to turn it with the long ratchet drive.

Thankfully there was still some aluminum left on the steel rod but it was really looking chewed up. When flushing it there was a lot of aluminum flakes coming out and I was concerned it may have been all used up and had been eating on the steel tank. Of course at its age one can assume it is close to failing.

We replaced it with the bendable 42" anode from Amazon for $21.50 with tax and it got here overnight so it must have shipped from near by. The old one was at least 48" long but it was now thin enough so I could bend my way out because there is only about 18" of head room to remove it installed in the basement.

This time we doped the threads well so hopefully if the tank does not fail in the mean time we can get this one out to inspect it in the future. From This Old House type videos on Youtube if the anode is replaced before it fails the electrolysis will eat the aluminum instead of the steel tank/fittings.

All the 'flexible' anode is the best I could tell from my machinist experience is just a stock aluminum anode (preferred metal for hard water usage) that was chucked up and under cut in two places. In the old one the steel wire is about 1/8" steel and the under cuts were still at about 1/4" of the 5/8" anode on the replacement anode.

The standard hex head uses a 1 1/16th " socket. Cheater bar could be helpful.

Not sure will we will delay spending $500 at Lowes for the exact same model and size but working with it let the 15 year old son learn some things most will never be taught about home repairs. At this point life is about passing down skills to the next generation for me.

 

[BigE_]

Does anyone own the electric impact wrench? I got a $39.99 super coupon in my email today and it's tempting, especially considering the good angle grinder reviews recently.

Electric Impact Wrench - 1/2"

Also, I thought HF made a 7" angle grinder but I can't seem to find it. Anyone know if they make one?

I have the Northern Tool version and it works great. I no longer use my air impact wrench. Looks identical to the HF wrench, but I'm sure HF can find a way to screw it up.

 

[California]

re the HF Impact Wrench-

I went and bought the latest version of Ryobi's little impact driver to do the tasks I had intended that heavy, wimpy HF impact wrench for.
Ryobi P236 Cordless Impact Driver - $69 at Home Depot. Claimed 1600 inch-pounds, I assume that translates as 133 ft lbs. This tool isn't as strong as the HF impact wrench, it needs lugnuts started with a breaker bar same as the HF tool, but at half the weight and cordless it is a lot more convenient to pick up and put down throughout a project such as assembling some kind of kit with a lot of bolts. Its light enough that its like a hammer, you just pick it up at arms length without thinking about it, instead of considering a two hand grip when its in an awkward location. I recommend this instead of that $39 (w/coupon) HF tool IF your application is mostly common nuts and bolts. If breaking-loose capability equivalent to a breaker bar is the primary need, then buy something stronger.

 

[BigE_]

I have the Ryobi impact driver as well. Mine is pretty weak compared to my Northern Tool electric impact. I seriously doubt they can meet their 1600 in lb claims. But, it is a decent little driver. Used it to drive all the 3/8" thick 6" long lag screws for my fence a few years back. Worked great.

If you do want an electric impact that works as well as an air impact, get the Northern Tool one. Sounds like the HF one is a two thumbs down.

 

[BigE_]

Dupe post

 

[kensnelling]

Does anyone own the electric impact wrench? I got a $39.99 super coupon in my email today and it's tempting, especially considering the good angle grinder reviews recently.

Electric Impact Wrench - 1/2"

Also, I thought HF made a 7" angle grinder but I can't seem to find it. Anyone know if they make one?

I've had one of the3 electric impacts for a couple of years now, and though I don't use it often it has always loosened any nut i've used it on (including lug nuts on a R3500 Dodge and on a 18' 10K# trailer). I used it last Saturday (not expecting it to do the job) to loosen the axle nut on my Grand Cherokee so I could change a u-joint. The reason I say I didn't expect it to do the job is the torque spec is 275 ft lbs and the book for the impact says it is rated for 230 ft lbs. What the actual torque was on the nut I'll never know now, but I do know it loosend the nut.

Maybe I got lucky and got a good one, or maybe I just have my shop wired right and use the right extension cords so I have full power going to it. Dunno, but I haven't had the problems with the impact others have mentioned.

Ken

 

[California]

I've had one of the electric impacts for a couple of years ... it has always loosened any nut i've used it on (including lug nuts on a R3500 Dodge and on a 18' 10K# trailer). I used it last Saturday (not expecting it to do the job) to loosen the axle nut on my Grand Cherokee so I could change a u-joint. The reason I say I didn't expect it to do the job is the torque spec is 275 ft lbs and the book for the impact says it is rated for 230 ft lbs. What the actual torque was on the nut I'll never know now, but I do know it loosened the nut.

Maybe I got lucky and got a good one, or maybe I just have my shop wired right and use the right extension cords so I have full power going to it.

You definitely got a good one. Mine won't loosen the lugbolts on this little watering trailer. While plugged into a 20A, 12ga circuit 10 feet from the breaker panel.
It's less hassle to use the breaker bar, then the little Ryobi Cordless.

 

[crazyal]

I never had a HF 1/2" impact but I did have one by Chuck Homier. Total piece of garbage. The first thing that went was the socket retainer. After that the guts inside stripped out. I do have a Sears (had it for 15 years now) and it works well. It'll handle lug nuts without issue. If you own a 18v Milwaukee cordless drill I would look into getting the cordless 1/2" impact wrench that will work with the batteries. I have one coming after using a friends and it put my corded electric impact to shame.