Check your local HF stores for clearance items.

[kctyphoon]

With some items being discontinued, and others being sold under new brand names, alot of stuff is being clearanced out under the old labels.

I went in looking for the drill press table that's not being sold anymore, but left with the 10 piece bearing race and seal driver set for $19 after 20% off, and the small 19 piece bushing and bearing driver set for like $8...

They had the older model brake caliper kit, bearing press kit, slide hammer puller kit, pumps and a bunch of other stuff all being clearanced. One guy left with the floor model of the small electric cement mixer for half price..

The newer Maddox stuff is on the shelves, so all the Pittsburgh branded items of those are being clearanced out. Good time to pick up something that you've been meaning to get.

I also bought that new triangular magnetic led light for $10... It's bigger than I thought. it's by no means a Milwaukee light, but for $8 with coupon it seems pretty worth it to me.. it's made out of ****** plastic and has no weight to it at all, but the LEDs seem decent and from what I can tell right now throws an even flood of light.. runs off 3 AA batteries.

 

[WWheeler]

Yep.

Stopped by there today after work to see if they still had any of their now discontinued drill press tables (they didn't) but walked out with a Pittsburgh FWD Bearing Adapter set that I couldn't pass up. $50 clearance + the President's day sale 20% off coupon brought it home for just over $40. The new set they are now selling under the Maddox name looks to be the same set AFAICT but they are wanting $120 for it.

I have had this same set for years that I use with an OTC Hub Grappler puller and it's been great but my brother and/or my sons had managed to slightly cripple a few of pieces using them in the 20 ton press. Now I can leave that set just for the press and a set just for the Grappler.

 

[snowpro90]

Are the new Maddox brand made tools a better quality?

 

[gdocktor3]

I very rarely go to HF, 2-3 times a year maybe, but when I do, I always check the clearance section first and usually leave with something from there. I'm sure I'll get blasted for this, but once I found a 3/4" deep metric impact set in clearance that was missing a socket. I went to the socket section, opened up a complete set and put the missing socket in the clearance set. Full set for 1/3rd the price. Matter of fact, I did that for some extensions too. Twice actually. One impact set and one wobble set.

And they still made money off me I'm sure...

 

[WWheeler]

Are the new Maddox brand made tools a better quality?

I wouldn't know but just looking at the new Maddox FWD Bearing Adapter set on HF's site it looks to my eyes to be exactly the same as the older Pittsburgh set I just bought & posted pics of above. See for yourself:

http://www.harborfreight.com/front-wheel-bearing-adapters-63260.html

My bet is that they are just changing up the names on a lot of the new stuff and clearancing out the old just to give the appearance of better quality and raise the prices while they are at it to reinforce this perception. The few mixed reviews on it so far seem to be about the same as I recall also.

As I wrote above, I've had this same set for a good while now and while the adapters are nice and will hold up to some abuse but the bolt that comes with it is junk. I can't imagine what bearing it might actually be capable of getting out before the threads strip out but mate this set (or one of the generic ~$60 adapter sets off ebay or Amazon many of which also look to be the same thing) with a ~$110 OTC Hub Grappler puller and you essentially have the full $450 Hub Grappler kit.

 

[kctyphoon]

I wouldn't know but just looking at the new Maddox FWD Bearing Adapter set on HF's site it looks to my eyes to be exactly the same as the older Pittsburgh set I just bought & posted pics of above. See for yourself:

http://www.harborfreight.com/front-wheel-bearing-adapters-63260.html

My bet is that they are just changing up the names on a lot of the new stuff and clearancing out the old just to give the appearance of better quality and raise the prices while they are at it to reinforce this perception. The few mixed reviews on it so far seem to be about the same as I recall also.

As I wrote above, I've had this same set for a good while now and while the adapters are nice and will hold up to some abuse but the bolt that comes with it is junk. I can't imagine what bearing it might actually be capable of getting out before the threads strip out but mate this set (or one of the generic ~$60 adapter sets off ebay or Amazon many of which also look to be the same thing) with a ~$110 OTC Hub Grappler puller and you essentially have the full $450 Hub Grappler kit.

In my limited use of it, didn't have any issues with the bearing press kit.. grease the bolt, should be ok..

 

[bczygan]

Most everything gone at our local ones.

 

[Empty Pockets]

I'll be by a HF store next weekend, gonna have to check it out

 

[B_Bimmer]

I very rarely go to HF, 2-3 times a year maybe, but when I do, I always check the clearance section first and usually leave with something from there. I'm sure I'll get blasted for this, but once I found a 3/4" deep metric impact set in clearance that was missing a socket. I went to the socket section, opened up a complete set and put the missing socket in the clearance set. Full set for 1/3rd the price. Matter of fact, I did that for some extensions too. Twice actually. One impact set and one wobble set.

And they still made money off me I'm sure...

You are a thief. I hate thieves.

 

[Richard Cranium]

agreed, the reason that they were marked down was that they were missing pieces, all you did was steal the pieces from another set that they will not have to also mark down.

 

[rharman]

Too many adjectives to pick how best to describe gdocktor3's behavior.

"Disgusting" is the one I settled on.

See http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showpost.php?p=6323230&postcount=16

 

[SMKS]

Too many adjectives to pick how best to describe the OP's behavior.

"Disgusting" is the one I settled on.

Not the OP. Kctyphoon didn't steal anything.

 

[WWheeler]

In my limited use of it, didn't have any issues with the bearing press kit.. grease the bolt, should be ok..

lol, believe me I know to grease the threads and they failed on me on the very first bearing before it even budged (a few days later the same bearing came out super-easy using the same adapters with the OTC Grappler's bolt). Went to post a review about it on the old Pittsburgh FWD bearing adapter set on HF and only then did I notice that the threads had failed on that bolt on ~1/4 if not more of the 100 or so reviews it had. Just looking at the 10 reviews so far on the otherwise identical 'Maddox' branded set HF has now and 3 of them have had the same issue with the bolt failing.

 

[oldtools]

Several year ago, HF has clearance on discontinued tie-rod tool set for $1. Brand new still sealed in plastic. Bought 5 of them and give away as gift. I will check out new week to see what they have.

 

[ChevyEFI]

I got a handy soda blasting tank from their clearance area.

 

[rharman]

Too many adjectives to pick how best to describe the OP's behavior.

"Disgusting" is the one I settled on.

Not the OP. Kctyphoon didn't steal anything.

Yes, you are correct. My comment was directed toward gdocktor3.

My apologies to the OP - kctyphoon.

Will edit my original post to reflect that.

 

[jrockford]

I'm sure I'll get blasted for this, but once I found a 3/4" deep metric impact set in clearance that was missing a socket. I went to the socket section, opened up a complete set and put the missing socket in the clearance set. Full set for 1/3rd the price. Matter of fact, I did that for some extensions too. Twice actually. One impact set and one wobble set.

I don't make money with tools. I save money with tools.

You save money by stealing..

I sure hope you aren't one of the first to squeal when they raise their prices.

 

[Barty]

You are a thief. I hate thieves.

I absolutely hate thieves too and I can’t believe that he confessed to doing it. I wonder if he would have done the same thing in a Snap On store?

 

[AJ1978]

Thief is a Thief Period, I am sure he will steal from someone at work if he needed it. Disgusting.. And you wander why prices raise, and people lose jobs

 

[gdocktor3]

You guys are right. I looked at it as beating the system, but it is the same thing. And interestingly, I'm the one shaking my head when I see people talking about or encouraging other members to buy items like tile saws, jack hammers, etc and using them, then returning them when the job is finished.

 

[Al Borland]

If you look in the clearance bin at HF, you will usually find several sets of the same sockets, each missing different sockets. Not uncommon to see other people (i.e. not me) pick thru to fill one set, never understood why store employees didn't do that and sell at full price.

 

[kctyphoon]

Just FYI, all the stuff I'm talking about wasn't in the normal clearance rack at the back of the store, they were set up in the front of the store, or on back end caps.. some of the newer Pittsburg models were there as well, like some automotive kits that I'll assume switched over to black cases before the Maddox stuff was introduced. I was tempted to buy one of the caliper kits too, but I have a caliper compression tool from Lisle for my dual piston calipers on my Honda I still haven't needed yet.

IMO some of these things are just worth buying "just in case".. for the $30 I spent on the actual tools I bought when I was there, if I need one of them one time, it was worth buying. Some of the items on clearance were sump pumps too. Might be a good investment in case you have one and it dies.. it can save your basement and buy you some time to find a better model if you don't trust the HF models.. I already have two pumps, one being a backup for my house, otherwise I would have considered picking one up also.. hopefully you guys can find something you had on your want list.. they had a bunch of circular and miter saw blades on clearance too, but I have no idea if they are worth it or not. It's only a saw blade, how bad could they be?

 

[sbduncan]

The newer Maddox stuff is on the shelves, so all the Pittsburgh branded items of those are being clearanced out.

Some of the percentage off coupons now exclude Maddox branded items.

 

[Syberia]

The stuff on the clearance rack at my store if never worth buying. Minimal savings but always something missing.

 

[emeraldcoupe]

just bought the 19pc bushing / bearing set for $7.17 with the 20% off coupon. going to need it soon and it's a no brainer for that price.

 

[fordgasm]

The stuff on the clearance rack at my store if never worth buying. Minimal savings but always something missing.

pretty much the story at my HF too

 

[kctyphoon]

Some of the percentage off coupons now exclude Maddox branded items.

The one on the HF website doesn't yet, (when I posted this) but the new ones in the flyer do

 

[kctyphoon]

The stuff on the clearance rack at my store if never worth buying. Minimal savings but always something missing.

These are NOT missing parts, incomplete sets. If you read my postings I clearly state these are not items on the one clearance rack at the back of the store. These are new (boxed) items on clearance due to product or packaging changes.

 

[flathead dave]

Our HF in Riverside, CA. on Adams St., is changing location to La Sierra Ave. They will be having a liquidation sale. I'm going by there tomorrow to see what they have going on.

 

[redsand187]

Displays are changing. They are clearancing out many of the old displays, including all of the large Drill Presses. They have the 20", 17" and 13" drill presses at my local store marked down and were willing to make a deal on them.

 

[gungatim]

our HF with the clearance rack is just full of overpriced ****, but I did find out this weekend that if you ask, they will sell you "open box" merchandise that is not on display.

never knew that until Saturday when I went to buy the newer welding cart--the enclosed black one with the drawers. on sale for $169, coupon for $149 but they didn't have any. I asked and she told me she had an open box return they have to sell at a discount...got it for $135 and they let me use a 20% off on it as well (first time ever since it is one of the exclusions)...the gal said to always ask if there is an open box/return and if there is they "have" to discount them...

btw, the cart is only OK, definitely not the quality of the larger toolboxes but the drawers and storage is better than the open blue carts...