Harbor Freight Hand Tools

[packpride85]

Do you guys find the harbor freight hand tools to be decent quality? As in, the sockets and wrenches are within tolerance etc....

Something tells me these days they shouldn't be much worse than regular HD, Lowes, Sears hand tools considering I think those are all made in China now anyway?

 

[jobo1004]

Sockets are decent. Haven't tried the wrenches.

 

[Davefr]

HF has improved. HD, Sears, Lowes have declined.

The net affect is that they're all about the same for quality theses days.

However I'd rate HF ratchets and Kobalt wrenches above the others. Sockets are all pretty close.

 

[bcradio]

The Taiwanese hand tools are generally pretty good. Stick to that and you should be ok. The Chinese tools are hit and miss.

 

[Farmall450]

There are a LOT of threads that cover this and item specifics.

 

[dede2897234]

The Taiwanese hand tools are generally pretty good. Stick to that and you should be ok. The Chinese tools are hit and miss.

packpride85,

I would go with bcradio's advice above. Most of the Pittsburgh Pro tool line is made in Taiwan and high quality. If you would like to read specific Harbor Freight socket and wrench reviews by fellow Garage Journal members, I would suggest looking at the following thread: HF Pass/Fail Thread. I would suggest reading it from the most current thread page on back. The thread began in 2008.


Dave

 

[brook41]

I generally stick to the Pittsburg Pro only.

 

[sunshineFC3s]

I try to stick to the Pro stuff too. I really think their stuff is getting better. Here is the real irony...with HF's warranty is better than Craftsman's these days, and I have more HF stores near me than Sears.

 

[shampoop]

I'm really impressed with their high polish long pattern wrenches. Got them a long time ago when i needed larger sizes but had no money. I later tested them in a very demanding task (alignments) and they surprised the hell out of me.

Also have some 12 point chrome sockets, seem just fine to me.

 

[ChrisLS8]

The majority of my sockets and ratchets are from them. I also have their Earthquake air tools and extra long wrenches. Im completely satisfied with them.

Stay away from the pliers, even the Pro ones with the exception of the hose pliers.

 

[LordPsychon]

The majority of my sockets and ratchets are from them. I also have their Earthquake air tools and extra long wrenches. Im completely satisfied with them.

Stay away from the pliers, even the Pro ones with the exception of the hose pliers.

Their mini-pliers (the cutting ones) seem to work pretty well though. I agree with the rest, their regular pliers are serviceable at best and scrap at worst. I love their sockets, most of their ratchets are good, most of their Taiwan wrenches are good. The ones made in China are hit-and-miss and the ones made in India, well, frankly I've seen them rust on the shelf.

 

[RedneckWelder]

The only thing I can truly endorse are the Pittsburgh Pro impact sockets. I don't trust any of the cheaper chrome vandium impact sockets.

The ratchets are servicable if not absolutely wonderful (although the new comfort grip ratchets don't look too bad)

The wrenches. I don't trust HF wrenches at all.

Taiwanese sockets seem OK but I don't use them frequently as they are my truck kit.

generally if it's made in taiwan and labled Pittsburg pro it'll be decent other than pliers. Everything else is a gamble.