The Jalopy Journal

wythors · 02-23-2005, 09:31 PM

I fairly regularly buy miscellaneous crap from Harbor Freight so, of course, I seem to get a catalog from them every other day or so. Has anybody bought any of their Pittsburgh stuff? I'm just curious if their quality is equivalent to their prices, or are they a good buy?

Thanks,

Dave

chevy302dz · 02-23-2005, 11:11 PM

Pittsburgh tools from Harbor Frieght are low end tools for the most part. If you're looking for cheap hand tools Stanley is a good choice.

eschoendorff · 02-24-2005, 02:36 PM

The Pittsburgh that I've used *so far* have held up okay. No real complaints. I think that the Pittsburgh stuff is about as good as anything coming out of China as far as hand tools go. If you can find Pittsburgh stuff that's made in Taiwan (impact sockets, socket adapters etc), that's generally a little bit better stuff. I have some of that stuff and it has worked out pretty good.

Weekend_warrior · 02-25-2005, 12:03 AM

I bought some mm allen head sockets for working on my bike. The tolerances were not that tight and it ended up damaging the puge that I was taking out (access plug for the crank so you can put the engine at TDC) Its pretty soft metal so I'm not sure that it would all the tool, but I could put my craftsman allen set in (stick kind with the ball on the end) and you could not wiggle it, but the with Pittsburg stuff you could. I didn't notice it until it was to late. Not bad though as I didn't totally trash the peice, but I don't use those to much. I orginally bought them for getting a rotor off the hub as I needed to use them with a breaker bar. Kind of messed that bolt up a bike, but I figured it was because they red loctited in (heat was used as well).

ratdoggy · 06-20-2010, 12:02 PM

Not even good for the kitchen drawer

arkangel06 · 06-20-2010, 12:19 PM

superautobacs · 06-20-2010, 12:34 PM

x5

+10 characters.... oh, that's a rad car in your avatar, ratdoggy.

Danglerb · 06-20-2010, 01:51 PM

If you can't look at a hand tool and know if its junk, HF is not for you. Some of their products are junk, some are fine, some aren't worth finding out.

Personally I would not use a Hex key that wasn't a tight fit, but that's mainly due to me rarely knowing what size to use.

02-23-2005, 09:31 PM	#1
wythors Red Foreman is my idol. Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Pacific Northwest Posts: 1,087	Pittsburgh tools? I fairly regularly buy miscellaneous crap from Harbor Freight so, of course, I seem to get a catalog from them every other day or so. Has anybody bought any of their Pittsburgh stuff? I'm just curious if their quality is equivalent to their prices, or are they a good buy? Thanks, Dave __________________ The bitterness of poor quality remains long after the sweetness of low cost is forgotten. Click here for pictures of my garage! Original GarageJunkies.net member #329

06-20-2010, 12:02 PM	#5
ratdoggy Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Akron-Canton area OH Posts: 2,393	Re: Pittsburgh tools? Not even good for the kitchen drawer

06-20-2010, 12:19 PM	#6
arkangel06 Banned Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: ontario Posts: 4,764	Re: Pittsburgh tools?

06-20-2010, 12:34 PM	#7
superautobacs Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Vancouver, BC Posts: 2,304	Re: Pittsburgh tools? x5 +10 characters.... oh, that's a rad car in your avatar, ratdoggy.

06-20-2010, 01:51 PM	#8
Danglerb Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: SoCal Posts: 7,750	Re: Pittsburgh tools? If you can't look at a hand tool and know if its junk, HF is not for you. Some of their products are junk, some are fine, some aren't worth finding out. Personally I would not use a Hex key that wasn't a tight fit, but that's mainly due to me rarely knowing what size to use.

02-23-2005, 11:11 PM	#2
chevy302dz Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: NE Posts: 844	Pittsburgh tools from Harbor Frieght are low end tools for the most part. If you're looking for cheap hand tools Stanley is a good choice.

02-24-2005, 02:36 PM	#3
eschoendorff Director of Bands Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Michigan Posts: 8,621	The Pittsburgh that I've used so far have held up okay. No real complaints. I think that the Pittsburgh stuff is about as good as anything coming out of China as far as hand tools go. If you can find Pittsburgh stuff that's made in Taiwan (impact sockets, socket adapters etc), that's generally a little bit better stuff. I have some of that stuff and it has worked out pretty good.

02-25-2005, 12:03 AM	#4
Weekend_warrior Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Lubbock, Tx Posts: 193	I bought some mm allen head sockets for working on my bike. The tolerances were not that tight and it ended up damaging the puge that I was taking out (access plug for the crank so you can put the engine at TDC) Its pretty soft metal so I'm not sure that it would all the tool, but I could put my craftsman allen set in (stick kind with the ball on the end) and you could not wiggle it, but the with Pittsburg stuff you could. I didn't notice it until it was to late. Not bad though as I didn't totally trash the peice, but I don't use those to much. I orginally bought them for getting a rotor off the hub as I needed to use them with a breaker bar. Kind of messed that bolt up a bike, but I figured it was because they red loctited in (heat was used as well).

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