Acceptable and Unacceptable Harbor Freight Tools

[mrsleeve]

anyone have a air compressor from them?

my brother did. When the 2ed or 3rd one blew up (just out of warranty) he went out and bought a Quincy and plumed the tank from the H/F in so he has something like a 120gal of air the comp only runs once in a while when using high volume tools

[cuchullainn]

^



I have this little bastard. I gotta say, I'm pretty damn pleased with it. Had it for 3 years, with the exception of my Snap-On Boat anchor 1/2 inch impact it'll run anything I have. Sandblasters, sprayguns, not a problem unless you run them all day. Needed a couple tweaks but for $100 new, you can't beat it.

That being said, I now have a 60gal IR.

[efficient]

anyone have a air compressor from them?

[MoparJ]

Surprised no one has mentioned their shop presses.....they are horrible. The frames flex with very little pressure and there is no room to fit anything under it anyway. Someone with even basic welding skills can make a better one with some steel stock and a bottle jack.

I had one of their drills shock the shit out of me and catch fire right in my hand...I'm lucky that thing didn't kill me. :p

Other than that, they always have cool stuff that no one else has locally; even if it is cheaply made. The hand tools are perfect for junkyard toolboxes or extras to keep in the trunk.

[Nygdup]

Love this:

[Swanny]

I have been eyeing that at HF for a long time now. The long version of that wrench is like $30 though, but it has all the features I need: Length for torque, extremely low profile (which is super important sometimes), swiveling heads, and both 1/4 and 3/8 drives so I don't have to keep switching wrenches. heck, I would just keep a 10mm socket on the 1/4 side at all times.



uh-oh. I bought one of these and haven't used it yet. What exactly failed on yours?

DEFINITELY picking up that wrench. I have the load leveler and had no problem monkeying around an M20 to get onto a HF 1000lbs engine stand (seriously spend the extra 10 bucks and get the 1000 over the 750).

Who has their rolling boxes? I know FrankM has a great set up but it's their higher end set. Anyone have experience with the sub $300 boxes? I'm in dire need to tool organization especially with my engine build slowly coming along.

[lambo]

Am I the only one who soaks cheap tools in oil and then they work okay? Had a pop rivet gun from HF, never released the shaft of the rivet. Got plenty of air tool oil in it and now it works like a charm!

I'll keep this in mind...

[GunMetalGrey]

^ I have one that I have used at least 15 times with motors (6cyl. and 4cyl.) and have had no issues whatsoever!
Given you do need to soak it in either air tool oil or WD-40 to be able to crank it with a load on it.

Am I the only one who soaks cheap tools in oil and then they work okay? Had a pop rivet gun from HF, never released the shaft of the rivet. Got plenty of air tool oil in it and now it works like a charm!

[AndrewBird]

uh-oh. I bought one of these and haven't used it yet. What exactly failed on yours?

It is just very flimsy and not well made. Any amount of weight on it makes it almost impossible to crank because it flexes and binds. Spend a little extra on the other one I posted. Well worth it.

[mrsleeve]

Be Careful:
http://www.harborfreight.com/media/c...mage_12294.jpg
First time I used it, it worked great. The second time, a 1in section of the lower clamp part broke off. Sounded like a shot gun blast. I was lucky the chunk didn't hit me anywhere.

there is a reason I have a couple of variants of this but made by O.T.C. seems you may have found it

[iamsam]

This little guy is great. Super thin for a ratchet and multipurpose with both 3/8" and 1/4" drive.

I have been eyeing that at HF for a long time now. The long version of that wrench is like $30 though, but it has all the features I need: Length for torque, extremely low profile (which is super important sometimes), swiveling heads, and both 1/4 and 3/8 drives so I don't have to keep switching wrenches. heck, I would just keep a 10mm socket on the 1/4 side at all times.

BAD:
DO NOT buy this piece of crap. Absolute garbage.

uh-oh. I bought one of these and haven't used it yet. What exactly failed on yours?

[hfabricius]

This is both GOOD and BAD. It works alright if you live in an area with low humidity and being that I live in Georgia, I can use it alot in the winter but hardly ever in the summer. It will take off paint to bare metal but the small pickup tube clogs up with the soda media when it gets a little bit of moisture. Also, the fill mouth is complete shit, its a little smaller than the opening on a water bottle and it seems like it takes all damn day to fill it up only to blow through it in 20 minutes. If your looking for a soda blaster, save a little extra and buy an Eastwood blaster. Sooooo much nicer.

[chadthestampede]

Be Careful:
First time I used it, it worked great. The second time, a 1in section of the lower clamp part broke off. Sounded like a shot gun blast. I was lucky the chunk didn't hit me anywhere.

I've used mine a million times and it works fine.

[brianao34]

Be Careful:

First time I used it, it worked great. The second time, a 1in section of the lower clamp part broke off. Sounded like a shot gun blast. I was lucky the chunk didn't hit me anywhere.

It's always worked for me to tighten it to the point where it starts to get sketchy and then bang on the joint with a ball peen hammer to get the taper to break loose. Much safer than tightening the tool an insane amount and hoping the joint breaks loose before the tool.

I've actually seen where people just use two hammers and smack two opposite sides of the tapered joint at the same time and it break loose.

Impact>>Steady Force

[slammin.e28]

Word. Was eyeballing exactly that.