My first visit to harbor freight

[l_bilyk]

Wow... when people said it was all ****, they weren't kidding! I went in to take a look at their wood band saw and realized that it was actually a really poor buy at $300 because 1) It didn't come with a rip fence
2) A riser block wasn't available
3) No magnetic switch
4) Looked like I sand cast it in my backyard

Anyways, people always compare harbor freight to Canada's princess auto... I gotta be honest, harbor freight is way worse. It was a much cleaner store, but the stuff wasn't up to snuff. For starters, HF has very few "brand name" items, whereas PA sells chanellock, lisle, international, dewalt, delta, 3m, permatex, lincoln electric, etc. What they do have more of is the big machinery... cheap lathes, mills, and so forth. Oddly enough they didn't have layout fluid and the kid working there didn't even know what that was. The smaller stuff was pretty crappy though. I couldn't find a single 3 dollar ball pein hammer that wasn't lose. But I guess that's expected.

Anyways, I did end up picking up some oil filter sockets that don't seem to fit any filters I have on the shelf.

 

[l_bilyk]

Oh yeah, I also went to the hardware section of sears. Our sears is **** by comparison. Seriously the selection is awesome and the prices were very fair. Our sears has no selection, the place is a mess, and everything is unbelievably overpriced when compared to Canadian tire.

 

[goodfellow]

Most HF stores are plain dirty and their minimum wage employees don't know anything about the product line. Look at the equipment. If you went to my local store and looked at the mills, lathes, bandsaws, or any large equipment for that matter, you'd swear it was put together by an idiot and salvaged from a sunken shipwreck.

The fact is, that the equipment has been sitting in these stores for years and is just rusting away in place. Furthermore, everyone that goes through that store yanks, pulls, forces and plays with the equipment; after a few years, the stuff looks like **** with every knob and handle broken off.

I have the HF 4 speed 14" bandsaw. It's made in Taiwan and has very good castings. I compared features with Delta, Jet and Grizzly, and that saw was a much better deal. It has performed flawlessly for almost 10 years.

I also have the 4x6 inch metal cuttimg bandsaw (the green one). It's another nice Taiwan casting, and aside form the original blade being ****, this thing has run for 12 years without a fault

 

[l_bilyk]

Yeah that's the band saw I looked at. But the one I looked at seemed to be falling apart. And I figured $300 + 50 for a good fence and another + for a delta riser block that I would have to make fit... may as well buy the craftsman professional saw for 400-something and save myself the trouble.

 

[Joe B.]

My HF is clean... but the stuff in it is still junk. It is the kind of stuff you don't want to take for free.

 

[Jay H 237]

I have the HF 4 speed 14" bandsaw. It's made in Taiwan and has very good castings. I compared features with Delta, Jet and Grizzly, and that saw was a much better deal. It has performed flawlessly for almost 10 years.

I think I have the same one, a dark green Central Machinery, that I bought off a guy I used to work with back in '97. It's been a good saw since I've had it.

 

[Brandon_Lutz]

Ick. I feel dirty inside if I go into HF.We have one here locally, I've been in it 3 times but I've never bought anything. I go in to see if there is anything made in USA at all in there. Still haven't found anything. More than anything, every time I see Harbor Freight, all I can picture is loss of American manufacturing jobs, Red China, and the sad state of affairs of the tool industry.

Just say no to HF

 

[Coach James]

I've bought some stuff at HF. Two moving dollies that nobody else in our city had. Wheels for a hand truck frame I found. Plastic storage boxes that nobody else here had. And a few other cheap things like that. Those items were going to be made overseas weather I got them at HF, Mao Mart, Lowes or the romanticized "mom and pop" hardware store.

Coach

 

[Danglerb]

HF requires buying selectively and returning bad products. Wait for sales, know the product and its just fine. I wouldn't buy a table saw there though, or anyplace new, the good deals are on used table saws.

 

[Norton155]

HF is great for things like bar clamps, plastic funnels, tie down straps, etc. Big power tools, abrasives and anything precise I don't trust. I would never get under a car supported with a jack stand made in the quickest, cheapest way, out of the cheapest material avaible by an unskilled 12 year old. But that $1.99 magnetic parts tray will hold my nuts and bolts just as well as the one Sears sells for $9.99.
I will have to recommend the 4-1/2" electric grinder, my dad has had one for about four years and we just can't seem to kill the thing. Also the $40 electric 1/2" impact wrench saw a lot of use before we got the air tools.

 

[danarn17]

As my Daddy used to say, "You get what you pay for!"

 

[Jononon]

Seriously the selection [at Sears] is awesome and the prices were very fair.

People don't know how lucky they are. To get that kind of selection and quality here (England), I have to go to a specialist tool supplier, which won't be at the mall, open all hours, or anywhere close to as cheap.

Harbor Freight, otoh, is such a collection of s**t. I'm sure Danglerb's right, you can hunt down items worth having, and I know there are items that can form the basis of a useful tool (eg. the English wheel kit) but I wouldn't feel positive about supporting somewhere where so much of the stock is such utter rubbish.

The only store I've seen with an equivalent (lack of) quality here is a stall on the local market, and even they have a reasonable stock of Draper and Stanley tools that you'd be willing to give house room to.

 

[Chris Adams]

Gee, this thread is giving me flashbacks to a party I was at a few weeks ago.

The subject wasn't tools, it was wine.

The consensus was that any wine that cost less than 100 dollars a bottle wasn't worth washing your feet with. And even 100 dollar wine was only good for drinking with dinner, never for guests...

What really worked them up was Domestic wine.
Everyone agreed that only defectives and people who work with their hands (synonymous in Academia) would buy a California wine.

Heck, they would feel right at home here.

Guys you do know that some people don’t have 6-7 figure incomes? And are reading these threads?

I have bought junk tools from top of the line manufacturers, and very serviceable tools from HF.

 

[jay50]

I went into a HF store several years ago and the quality of their tools was sickening; went outside and vomited twice before getting into my truck (I had not been drinking)

 

[babyjay8495]

I read most of your posts and think of this study. http://news-service.stanford.edu/news/2008/january16/wine-011608.html

Just because it's cheap doesn't make it ****. I have lots of harbor freight tools, along with snap on, craftsman, apex, proto etc. The harbor freight hold their own just fine. Is there some stuff I won't buy from harbor freight? of course. But the vast majority of things are fine. I work on cars on the side and use harbor freight jack stands every time for years and they hold up just as well as stands that cost $100+. Many of you are going on a bias opinion, not facts. It's time to get out of the old, “macho man" thinking. Grow up and realize just because it's from china or harbor freight doesn't make it bad.

 

[Yotaforce]

Some would say that "The craftsman is only as good as his tools" but I can see that the other way around as well. I use alot of Craftsman tools and HF tools. I can break either jsut as easily as the other. I have found that every company makes some bad tools. I also believe that how you use them makes a difference as well. Kinda like some guy beginning his music career playing a $50 guitar, yet making millions in the end. I used to hustle pool against guys toting around $1000 pool sticks. I'd take $500 a week from those same guys using my $20 Service Merchandise stick. If you work for NASA or just need that kind of precision, sure, go get the right tool and spend the extra cash. Most guys I know can do the same job with a little more enginuity because they cant afford to buy every tool brand name. I can recognize a tool that will fail, and not work for my purpose. Just use your best judgment, but also realize that they're alot of things that HF sells that you DO have a use for.

 

[wrenchr]

Gee, this thread is giving me flashbacks to a party I was at a few weeks ago.

The subject wasn't tools, it was wine.

The consensus was that any wine that cost less than 100 dollars a bottle wasn't worth washing your feet with. And even 100 dollar wine was only good for drinking with dinner, never for guests...

What really worked them up was Domestic wine.
Everyone agreed that only defectives and people who work with their hands (synonymous in Academia) would buy a California wine.

Heck, they would feel right at home here.

Guys you do know that some people don’t have 6-7 figure incomes? And are reading these threads?

I have bought junk tools from top of the line manufacturers, and very serviceable tools from HF.

Wine under $500.00 a bottle and all cheap tools are so below my standards!!!

To tell the truth, My drink is BEER and I hang in my garage. I do prefer a "FINE PILSNER" though
HF has it's place like you said everyone on this sight is not loaded.

 

[wrenchr]

Every time I walk in all I smell is rubber. Anyone else smell this??

 

[geaugafletcher]

I quit buying things at Harbor Freight, even stuff like hammers and zip-ties. Too many times, the quality of the stuff has been lacking so much that it wasn't worth buying in the first place. Pretty funny to compare zip ties and see that even at that level, the HF product was junk.

It's hilarious to compare the attitudes of the stubbornly snobbish with that of the stubbornly 'low brow'. Truth is, most of the time, you really do get what you pay for, but different people are satisfied by different levels of quality. For me, buying HF products is like shopping for half-price kicks-in-the-head (what a bargain!).

 

[l_bilyk]

Gee, this thread is giving me flashbacks to a party I was at a few weeks ago.

The subject wasn't tools, it was wine.

The consensus was that any wine that cost less than 100 dollars a bottle wasn't worth washing your feet with. And even 100 dollar wine was only good for drinking with dinner, never for guests...

What really worked them up was Domestic wine.
Everyone agreed that only defectives and people who work with their hands (synonymous in Academia) would buy a California wine.

Heck, they would feel right at home here.

Guys you do know that some people don’t have 6-7 figure incomes? And are reading these threads?

I have bought junk tools from top of the line manufacturers, and very serviceable tools from HF.

I don't have a 6 figure income... I work at napa
Sure I would like to have all fancy snap-on tools, but I can't afford that. Having said that, I would rather spend $10 on a craftsman hammer than buy one for $3 at HF and have the head fall off

 

[Jononon]

If I buy a bottle of Tokaji Essencia or a bottle of Two Buck Chuck, I still get drunk. One is more pleasurable than the other, but both do the job.

If I buy a Lowbuck tools sheet metal brake or the Harbor Freight item (to look at tools I've personally used), one of them won't work well without reworking the clamps. The other will work straight out of the box, and last almost indefinitely. One is Chinese, the other is made by a bloke in a shed in CA. One will come with support if it breaks, probably from the guy who made it, the other will involve negotiating with a teenager on $10 an hour.

The respective prices are $180 and $410, so, unlike with the wine, I'm hardly comparing unattainable luxury with the cheapest brand available.

So, please, tell me it's all snobbery, particularly as the Western industrial sector collapses in on itself, I'm all ears

 

[caspian65]

Ick. I feel dirty inside if I go into HF.We have one here locally, I've been in it 3 times but I've never bought anything. I go in to see if there is anything made in USA at all in there. Still haven't found anything. More than anything, every time I see Harbor Freight, all I can picture is loss of American manufacturing jobs, Red China, and the sad state of affairs of the tool industry.

Just say no to HF

+1

 

[Chris Adams]

A straw dog argument is one where you set of a fake comparison and then knock it down.

To address some of these dogs;
I looked at Craftsman hammers yesterday, HF today.
Price was 25.99 VS 5.99 24 Oz. hammers.
The head does not come off the HF hammer. It’s forged. It might on the 25.99 hammer.

The one for 9.99 at Home Depot was not as nice, but a much better brand (Plumb) than either Sears or HF.
HF had 20 different models of claw hammers, all priced well below the 5 choices at Sears and the 7 at HD.

NONE of them looked likely to fail in normal use, say, building a house with only one hammer.
Other qualities?
Best balance was one (34.99) at HD.
Second best balance was at HF 9.99
More comfortable? One at HF, followed by one at HD. Sears wasn’t in the running.
My cheap hammer I bought in 85 is still working fine, but I wanted one a little heavier.

Some things at HF are pretty terrible;
Wire ties at HF are horrific.
However;
Wire ties at HD are lousy.
Wire ties at Sears, saw some pretty cheap ones there this week.
You want good ones? Get aircraft grade from surplus Aerospace. You can’t buy those at cheap stores. Like Sears, HF or Home Depot.
If you do need strong ones you can get metal wire ties at HF. They work great and cost very little.

Wire ties, bungee cords are the lowest quality stuff HF carries.

They carry super cheap ones because for those cheap items the competition is Wal-Mart and K-mart.


I've used HF impact sockets. We 'broke' two both were abused to the max. Both could have been warranted, but come on, who would bother?
I bought a new set for 5 bucks.
A single Sears socket cost twice that.

Were the impact sockets from HF poor quality? Don’t think so. The damage came from using 3/8 drive 14 and 15 mm sockets on my Chicago Pneumatic 1/2 impact gun set to 300 lbs.
I didn’t do it but I often work with a friend that could screw up an anvil with a rubber mallet.

The 15mm cracked, the 14mm was used on 9/16 bolts. It just hogged out, you could still use it, but why?

I have a set of 'Geartech' flexible head gear wrenches. I also have a Gearwrench flexible head gear wrenches. The cost was 25.99 vs. 89.99 (on sale). You can not tell which you are using.

They sell lots of cheap stuff at HF that is perfect for use once or twice, then store forever, which is what happens to most specialty tools.

I needed a very large socket for one job. The socket was 26.99 at Lowe’s. 25.99 at Sears. The whole set was 19.99 at HF. I’ve used other parts of that set maybe four times. So the huge sockets are cheaper, won’t handle real abuse, the chrome would peel if you dropped it dozens of times on a garage floor.
So what?
Only a rich person or a spendthrift buys true professional grade tools to store in a box for the rest of their lives. Or a collector, but that’s a different story.

 

[Danglerb]

BevMo next to a HF, now that would be sweet.

Here is a little list of some good points at HF.

Excellent customer service, never an issue so far on any return.
Wide selection of things you can actually use, no dead shelf space.
Sale prices that are a LOT, not just a little less than other places.
Many things are EXACTLY the same as sold in other stores for much more.
Easy and fast to shop at, open 7 days a week.

 

[Chris Adams]

If I buy a bottle of Tokaji Essencia or a bottle of Two Buck Chuck, I still get drunk. One is more pleasurable than the other, but both do the job.

If I buy a Lowbuck tools sheet metal brake or the Harbor Freight item (to look at tools I've personally used), one of them won't work well without reworking the clamps. The other will work straight out of the box, and last almost indefinitely. One is Chinese, the other is made by a bloke in a shed in CA. One will come with support if it breaks, probably from the guy who made it, the other will involve negotiating with a teenager on $10 an hour.

The respective prices are $180 and $410, so, unlike with the wine, I'm hardly comparing unattainable luxury with the cheapest brand available.

So, please, tell me it's all snobbery, particularly as the Western industrial sector collapses in on itself, I'm all ears

Just to address your issues, no one says you can’t do what you want. It’s your money.
But don’t sneer at people that can’t afford to do as you want to do yourself.

On the support issue. Um, never asked a ’10.00’ an hour guy how to use a hammer, but on the plumbing questions and such I have asked guys who make less than that and guess what? They had better answers than the 99.00 an hour plumber.

What a man gets paid has little bearing on his abilities, personality, and willingness to help another.

If this was the case the best people would all be rich, the idiots would all be poor. Don’t work that way in the real world.


The shed in California building the tool is staffed by illegal immigrants working under the table for money to ship back to Mexico.
And it is owned by Saudi Arabians.
And the profits go overseas as often as not.


How exactly does this help the US?
I live here in California and the more you support the illegal the lower the quality of life becomes.
I would rather give money to a hard working lawful Taiwanese than an illegal getting medical, food stamps, rent subsidized by the taxpayer while he works under the table to send money to encourage more illegals to take those American jobs you are ‘protecting’.

 

[wrenchr]

Just to address your issues, no one says you can’t do what you want. It’s your money.
But don’t sneer at people that can’t afford to do as you want to do yourself.

On the support issue. Um, never asked a ’10.00’ an hour guy how to use a hammer, but on the plumbing questions and such I have asked guys who make less than that and guess what? They had better answers than the 99.00 an hour plumber.

What a man gets paid has little bearing on his abilities, personality, and willingness to help another.

If this was the case the best people would all be rich, the idiots would all be poor. Don’t work that way in the real world.


The shed in California building the tool is staffed by illegal immigrants working under the table for money to ship back to Mexico.
And it is owned by Saudi Arabians.
And the profits go overseas as often as not.


How exactly does this help the US?
I live here in California and the more you support the illegal the lower the quality of life becomes.
I would rather give money to a hard working lawful Taiwanese than an illegal getting medical, food stamps, rent subsidized by the taxpayer while he works under the table to send money to encourage more illegals to take those American jobs you are ‘protecting’.

Agreed!!

 

[eschoendorff]

I make a small income an instead of other luxuries, I spend what little play money I have on tools. i have stuff from HF and the premium brands. I guess you just pick and choose your priorities.

I live in a crappy house, I have a cheap old TV, my truck is a1994 Chevy... I put in a **** load of hours at work and doing work stuff at home (I don't want to know what it amounts to per hour)... and when something breaks, I usually need to learn how to fix it myself. Thus I buy the nicer tools, because chances are that I'm going to use the tools more than any other "toys" that people normally buy.

I have some decent stuff from HF. Actually now taht I think about it, I can count on one hand teh stuff I've bought from HF that I've actually broken or had issues with. Then again, I try to use my head when I'm at HF. A tech friend of mine once told me that "if a tool looks and feels cheesey and cheap, then it probably is."

 

[T56 Impala]

As I have posted before, I have some of the Pittsburg Pro wrenches from HF. Full polish and feel pretty good. Both full sets of stubbies. I don't use them that mich, but when I do, they hold up to the task every bit as good as my Craftsman stuff. As for the chrome, I don't know how well it will hold up. Maybe in a few years I can report back on that.

FWIW, I have a few SO sockets. Not real sure where they came from to be honest. They are rusty and the chrome is awful. Does that make them not work as well? Heck no! Tools, for the most part, are not for show anyway. I use my tools for working on "stuff" not for showing off. Again, I am a hobbiest, that does not mean my tools don't see hard work.

HF in general is the bottom of the bucket for me. Well, I guess an auto parts store would be the real bottom for tools, but thats just me. Every one of the stores I have been in, is a total garbage can. Nothing is neat, nothing is in its correct spot and yes, some of it is total ****. That said I will say that the people working in the store are much nicer and better to the buying public than those at Sears. Both have about the same level of knowledge about what they sell. ZERO!!!!!

 

[OldCarGuy]

Several years ago I drove 20 miles to look at Harbor Freight's U.S. General combination rolling tool chest. Never again! It took me but a few minutes to determine that it wouldn’t even be worth the effort to put it in my truck to take it home. Let alone pay any money for it. Since I was there I spent some time looking around at the tools and equipment they offer. Now here’s a guy that cannot walk out of a tool store empty handed, and I could find a thing that I would want to own. The quality was unbelievably poor. The only items worth owning in the whole store were some American made Pliers and such. And they were locked in a glass case! I can only wonder in a crook’s mind of view nothing else in the store is worth stealing, so they only lock up the good USA made stuff!

 

[wrenchr]

Several years ago I drove 20 miles to look at Harbor Freight's U.S. General combination rolling tool chest. Never again! It took me but a few minutes to determine that it wouldn’t even be worth the effort to put it in my truck to take it home. Let alone pay any money for it. Since I was there I spent some time looking around at the tools and equipment they offer. Now here’s a guy that cannot walk out of a tool store empty handed, and I could find a thing that I would want to own. The quality was unbelievably poor. The only items worth owning in the whole store were some American made Pliers and such. And they were locked in a glass case! I can only wonder in a crook’s mind of view nothing else in the store is worth stealing, so they only lock up the good USA made stuff!

Dont hold nothin back let us here it!!

 

[sjsfire]

Gee, this thread is giving me flashbacks to a party I was at a few weeks ago.

The subject wasn't tools, it was wine.

The consensus was that any wine that cost less than 100 dollars a bottle wasn't worth washing your feet with. And even 100 dollar wine was only good for drinking with dinner, never for guests...

What really worked them up was Domestic wine.
Everyone agreed that only defectives and people who work with their hands (synonymous in Academia) would buy a California wine.
Heck, they would feel right at home here.
Guys you do know that some people don’t have 6-7 figure incomes? And are reading these threads?

I have bought junk tools from top of the line manufacturers, and very serviceable tools from HF.

Ha, my high school sweeties back in the late 70's didn't mind that $1.99 bottle of Boones Farm Strawberry Hill..........that always got them in the mood

 

[Jononon]

But don’t sneer at people that can’t afford to do as you want to do yourself.

I wouldn't dream of it. Seems to me that the 'sneering' is comparing choosing a somewhat more expensive tool with people who believe that any wine under $100 is foot wash.

On the support issue. Um, never asked a ’10.00’ an hour guy how to use a hammer, but on the plumbing questions and such I have asked guys who make less than that and guess what? They had better answers than the 99.00 an hour plumber.

What a man gets paid has little bearing on his abilities, personality, and willingness to help another.

If this was the case the best people would all be rich, the idiots would all be poor. Don’t work that way in the real world.

That's a fair comment. I would, though, suspect that the guy you asked plumbing questions had a little more training and experience than most shop assistants.

The shed in California building the tool is staffed by illegal immigrants working under the table for money to ship back to Mexico.
And it is owned by Saudi Arabians.
And the profits go overseas as often as not.

The particular shed in question is staffed by a chap called Dave, but I take your point.

 

[Danglerb]

Ha, my high school sweeties back in the late 70's didn't mind that $1.99 bottle of Boones Farm Strawberry Hill..........that always got them in the mood

Good old Boones Farm, tastes great both ways, going down and coming back up.

Thats how memories are made.

Now for some cheap "good" wines ... Click on hot wines under $10
http://www.bevmo.com

 

[Chris Adams]

Of course you are right; I was using a rather extreme example. Real though, it happened on the 2nd of this month, academic get together my wife dragged me to.

The sneering I’m referring to is comments about the total garbage that is everything by HF or any of the low price stores. True there is lots of junk in those stores, but also lots of tools that let a working class guy do the job.


I’ve asked questions of lots of Home Depot employees and had very knowledgeable answers. And to be fair, some really stupid ones.

They do not get paid well, but some are quiet knowledgeable despite the pay scale.

The plumber I was referring to (at 99.00 an hour when that was real money) was wrong, then lied to cover it up. Then a 6.45 an hour HD employee showed me the real problem and how to fix it. Needless to say, I never called that plumber again.

That was years ago, but this week I am replacing a pressure regulator on my house. The plumber my wife called assured us we needed a new hot water heater, even though it’s only two years old, a new temperature/pressure valve and a pressure tank.
He wanted 145 an hour to fix all these things. Estimate in the 1200 dollar range for labor.

I tested the line pressure 130lbs on the house side.
The plumber was either stealing or just ignorant.
So much for professional advice.


On the shed in question I’m sure that place, who ever it is, does good work, if you’ve delt with them and are satisfied.




However;
Most manufacturing in California is done by illegals.
As is virtually all construction. I honestly don’t recall the last time I saw Anglo’s building a house. It was quite a few years ago.

Just as an example
There is an ‘American made’ tool box company that I recently bought an intermediate box from.
Picked it up in person and found no one there speaks English, except for the very nice Vietnamese lady that does phone and e-mail. The owners are Saudi.
While we were chatting it came up she was the only citizen in a 120 person facility.
Well, her and one of the janitors.

 

[wilbilt]

I make a small income an instead of other luxuries, I spend what little play money I have on tools. i have stuff from HF and the premium brands. I guess you just pick and choose your priorities.

I live in a crappy house, I have a cheap old TV, my truck is a1994 Chevy... I put in a **** load of hours at work and doing work stuff at home (I don't want to know what it amounts to per hour)... and when something breaks, I usually need to learn how to fix it myself. Thus I buy the nicer tools, because chances are that I'm going to use the tools more than any other "toys" that people normally buy.

Wow...we have a lot in common. My truck is a 1988 Chevy, though. 306,000 miles on it. It's days may be numbered, as it won't pass smog. I don't have $2K for a new engine, so I might buy another $800 truck and move on.

I was doing (unpaid) work at home this evening when I decided to take a break and surf in here for a few. A funny thing about universal connectivity...it means that your leash can always be tugged.

On another note, California wine is not too shabby. The unwashed masses drinking it are generally capable of making a pot of coffee or changing a flat tire, too.

The pseudo-intellectuals can go pound sand straight into their superior attitudes. I'll make sure I honk and wave as I pass by. It's a lug wrench, genius. The next time you design something, make sure you know how to use it first.

 

[Hip2u77]

Hey all,

Just found this site tonight and had to subscribe to see OldCarGuy's hellanice garage.

After spending a couple hours reading that thread I ran across this one.

It reminded me of the same type thread on (I think) Pirate 4x4 (sorry if that wasn't allowed), and I remember I started getting upset at all the haters.

I'm just a guy that always worked on his own things, but I'm not rich enough to where I can always buy the best for backups, and especially can't afford to spend big bucks for all the little tools that I'd only use once or twice a year, if that.

So. . . I hit up HF a lot, and it wasn't til I started reading that thread that I realized just how much **** I've bought from HF that has been junk.

Just off the top off my head.

Disc Brake service kit. The roll pin fell out of the end while spinning the piston back in on my wife's Grandma's Lincoln. (First use.) Strike One

The little 4-way disc brake piston tool I bought as a backup wouldn't fit the piston. Strike two

The 3 piece fuel line disconnect tools wouldn't work to pull the lines apart on a '97 Contour I was changing the motor in. (A set of either lisle or KD from O'reilly's has worked perfect numerous times since then.) Strike three

The 3/8" one in the 3 piece "ratchet thumbwheel set" wouldn't work out of the package. (Bought it to keep in our new JK Rubicon for pulling the bolts on the hardtop loose.) Strike four.

Speaking of our JK. Last week I put a new bumper / winch on the front and while I was at Ace I remembered I need to buy a 3/8-16 tap to finish mounting it. They had the tap, but were out of t-handles, so I drove 2 minutes to HF to buy one. They don't sell t-handles by themselves, but I was able to pick up this 40 piece tap and die kit for a whopping $10, and figured I'd keep it around in case I ever needed another tap. Uh. . . no. Out of the 3 taps, and 2 dies I tried only one was actually machined correctly. (I'll admit I wasn't expecting any of them to be right at that price.) Strike five. . .

My buddy's has this usually praised band saw, in green, and his works great. . . as long as you like diagonal cuts, sloppy bearings and a vise that like to open itself every time.

I can only think of a few things that I've been having decent luck with.

The backup 4 piece socket adapter set worked all one times that I used it.

The "3 piece impact universal joint set" has held up as a backup set also.

Finally, the US General "roller cabinet top box" has been working fine so far. Sure, it's no SO box, but it was cheap enough to always have some type of use.


So, not much luck with HF stuff with me. I'll probably buy the bottom box, and that will be it.


Though, thinking back to the thread on Pirate I do remember 4 things that got almost universal praise.

First, The 4" or 4 1/2" grinders.

Second, the Silver and Deming drill bit set.

Third, The Carbide grinder

and finally, some of the 4" cut off wheels, but on these I'm not sure which, so no link. (They did say their flap discs, and well. . . all other consumables were pretty much ****.)

That's enough for one night. . . and too much for a first post. No, I'm not normally this "talkative", just bored this morning.

 

[nissan_crawler]

Getting tools at HF just requires common sense. Some are fine, some are obviously ****.

My hf cherry picker is just fine.
hf die grinder - fine

hf micro die grinder-fine (same one snap-on sells, btw)
hf 3" cutoff, a little weak, but no problems
jackstands - fine
hf unibits - will drill frame rails, no problem
$3 digital meter - darn close to being as accurate as my $450 fluke
battery load tester - as accurate as any parts store one has been
expanded metal flatbed cart - works fine
hf impact sockets - lasted for years under farm use
hf sandblaster - ditch the water separator (blows the bowl off) and it's fine
hf drill press - came with wrong belts, got new ones at the parts store, works fine
hf pipe bender (that most dislike) learn how to use it and it works fine, here's the mailbox it did:

hf abrasives- won't touch them after putting two 14" chopsaw wheels into my sheetrock


I have never broken a hf tool without first thinking that I was probably going to break it, and I wouldn't have thought differently with another brand of tool. 98% of the problems are a very obviously crappy tool, or misuse/abuse. I break very few tools, and have plenty of craftsman/snap-on, also.

 

[kidney]

hf pipe bender (that most dislike) learn how to use it and it works fine, here's the mailbox it did:

That'll show those kids knocking over boxes who's boss. Just looking at that makes my hands hurt.

 

[eschoendorff]

That'll show those kids knocking over boxes who's boss. Just looking at that makes my hands hurt.

No kidding. Nice work!

 

[kidney]

The sneering I’m referring to is comments about the total garbage that is everything by HF or any of the low price stores. True there is lots of junk in those stores, but also lots of tools that let a working class guy do the job.

I agree with you on this point. Growing up money was tight, so taking cars somewhere wasn't always an option. Cheap tools did have their place. Mainly b/c it was a one time "in a pinch" type of situation. Once they did there job they were completely forgotten about.

It's been a while since I bought anything from them. I've found that unless I'm in a pinch and need it now, I end up paying the same price as a better tool, b/c the cheap one broke. For instance, cut off wheels, I used to buy them from HF, but they didn't last as long or they just fell apart. I figure I might as well cough up the cash now, instead of buying more of the ones that fail. I will admit, I'm waiting for their shop cranes to go on sale. Unless someone here has a on-line coupon they might want to send my way.