jerseykat1
Well-known member
I just did a full review kind of a revised opinion on there 3/8" drive metric swivel sockets. Below is a copy and paste of the review.
The full Review is located HERE with pictures.
The copy and paste review from my site.
Update to – Did Harbor Freight fix there Crappy 3/8″ drive swivel sockets – Review
OK so i did a post on X-mas about Harbor freight’s crappy 3/8″ drive swivel sockets because they made a small improvement to them (original post click here) by making the swivel pin retaining spring thicker and a little more durable. Well the short answer is NO. They are still crappy, But they are much better.
I though for that the problem was solved up until Tuesday (1/12/16) when i attempted to remove a motor mount bolt and the bolt was rusted into the mounts metal center core. The bolt would only move a little but the rubber around the bolt made it act as a sort of spring causing the bolt to bounce back with each blow from my impact guns impacting mechanism and this wreaked havoc on the retaining spring of the swivel socket causing the swivel pin to dislodge and almost come apart. I was able to easily put the pin back in place, push the retaining spring back in place and keep on keeping on. The spring did not loose its tension which is a good thing. But i can’t endorse these sockets fully after that incident.
My verdict on these sockets: Even with the improved swivel pin retaining spring they are still inferior to swivel sockets that use a metal collar to keep the swivel pin in place (that’s just about EVERYBODY) and definitely inferior to pin-less swivel sockets. You can get by with these sockets and they do work quite well. Just don’t expect them to last long or if you want them to last long don’t use them on anything where the bushings center bolt could be stuck in place. I have used them on Many other jobs and they had no issues. So yes they are sort of a good buy at only 25 dollars, But they are not good for everything. Save the coin and buy a sunex set for a good budget swivel set.
The full Review is located HERE with pictures.
The copy and paste review from my site.
Update to – Did Harbor Freight fix there Crappy 3/8″ drive swivel sockets – Review
OK so i did a post on X-mas about Harbor freight’s crappy 3/8″ drive swivel sockets because they made a small improvement to them (original post click here) by making the swivel pin retaining spring thicker and a little more durable. Well the short answer is NO. They are still crappy, But they are much better.
I though for that the problem was solved up until Tuesday (1/12/16) when i attempted to remove a motor mount bolt and the bolt was rusted into the mounts metal center core. The bolt would only move a little but the rubber around the bolt made it act as a sort of spring causing the bolt to bounce back with each blow from my impact guns impacting mechanism and this wreaked havoc on the retaining spring of the swivel socket causing the swivel pin to dislodge and almost come apart. I was able to easily put the pin back in place, push the retaining spring back in place and keep on keeping on. The spring did not loose its tension which is a good thing. But i can’t endorse these sockets fully after that incident.
My verdict on these sockets: Even with the improved swivel pin retaining spring they are still inferior to swivel sockets that use a metal collar to keep the swivel pin in place (that’s just about EVERYBODY) and definitely inferior to pin-less swivel sockets. You can get by with these sockets and they do work quite well. Just don’t expect them to last long or if you want them to last long don’t use them on anything where the bushings center bolt could be stuck in place. I have used them on Many other jobs and they had no issues. So yes they are sort of a good buy at only 25 dollars, But they are not good for everything. Save the coin and buy a sunex set for a good budget swivel set.
