Pittsburgh tools?

[wythors]

I fairly regularly buy miscellaneous **** 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]

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]

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]

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]

Not even good for the kitchen drawer

 

[superautobacs]

x5


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

 

[Danglerb]

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.

 

[Harold Smith]

I fairly regularly buy miscellaneous **** 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

Pittsburgh Tools get a bad rap. I'm an Automotive Technology student at the University of Arkansas. To get though the courses to receive my degree, I had to have tools. I didn't have the money to run out and buy Snap on or any other name brands. I went Harbor Freight and got what I needed. We work in the shop as much as any full time auto tech would, and I was stunned on how well they preformed! The wrenches, sockets, screwdrivers, hammers are just as good as Craftsmen. I would push it and say the sockets are better than craftsman; I have not EVER busted one. I have seen Craftsman bust on meany occasions in the shop. To be truthful, a lot of Harbor Freight stuff is junk. You just need to look before you buy, you'll know if it is **** or not. Their Earthquake air tools are very, very good. Harbor Freight ratchets ****, they strip very easy. So with that said, buy good ratchets i.e. Gearwrench or better. I plan to use the tools I have when I open my own shop. Hey, why go out and buy high dollar Snap on tools, when Pittsburgh tools will do the job at a fraction of the price. I want to put money in my pocket, not give it to the Snap on man. I had some people I go to school with flat out tell me they would not buy Pittsburgh tools because they are junk, then run over to NAPA and buy a **** load of Evercraft tools. Evercraft and Pittsburgh tools are made by the same company, only Evercraft is higher because it is a NAPA product. Its your money, spend it as you wish.

 

[ex-x-fire]

Get the Pittsburgh Pro line of tools first.

 

[thebeekeeper1]

Get the Pittsburgh Pro line of tools first.

I've not seen any of the P "Pro" line that wasn't at least adequate. The PP sockets are HIGHLY regarded--even here. You just can't beat the cost-to-value rate on them.

 

[sparky7]

lol another old thread resurrected twice now!!! it must be the simple title

Pittsburgh PRO wrenches IMO are better than the garbage wrenches that come in the large plastic craftsman cases

The sockets, ratchets, other stuff, not so much

 

[Westly]

I went Harbor Freight and got what I needed. We work in the shop as much as any full time auto tech would, and I was stunned on how well they preformed! ... Harbor Freight ratchets ****, they strip very easy.

There's a HF Composite ratchet people here are prefering over their Snap-on ratchets. A cult ratchet


I've found that these days almost any tool is good enough. The other day I had an extension split on me but it was $1 new and looked stupidly rough and no name. Looked like and tore like zinc.

 

[cheechi]

another old thread with an easily searchable title resurrected by a first poster with a lot of easily searchable phrases.

Not so sure about this one.

 

[nicksnothereman]

Not a fan of the regular pittsburgh t handle hex (handles aren't solid), don't use them though I just use my other **** ones (husky). Those are actually good got a deal on those on holiday tools.

I use a decent amount of the harbor freight stuff (not necessarily hand tools though) and they tend to be good enough for occasional use. The pittsburgh pro stuff is consistently good though.

 

[Givl Reggin]

Don't you just like how they take the name of a city know for quality steel production and use it to brand their cheap china junk.

 

[healing]

Don't you just like how they take the name of a city know for quality steel production and use it to brand their cheap china junk.

Chicago electric, US General I am surprised they have kept the name china freight oops I mean harbor freight.

 

[oldtools]

Don't you just like how they take the name of a city know for quality steel production and use it to brand their cheap china junk.

Because Harbor Freight is an American company so it selected US cities for its brands.

 

[DekeT]

Don't you just like how they take the name of a city know for quality steel production and use it to brand their cheap china junk.

Who is "they"?

 

[NWphotog]

Don't you just like how they take the name of a city know for quality steel production and use it to brand their cheap china junk.

Huh, I thought Pittsburg was known for being a cesspool!

 

[gungatim]

how about the mods lock any thread with no activity in 6 mths or something...keep from rehashing ancient threads like this...

 

[sberry]

You want them to use the search and then complain when they do.

 

[Mechanical Noise]

Pittsburgh, of course! The greater home of George Romero's Night of the Living Dead.

 

[JohnTech]

I have done a lot of research online about the quality of tools for myself and others. This is what I have found: Sears/Craftsman was really good when they were all made in the USA. Now that most of Craftsman tools are made in China their quality has diminished unless you pay even more money and get their professional line. The Craftsman standard tools are still better then other house brand tools (Home Depot/Husky; Loews/Kobalt; Stanley, Harbor Freight/Pittsburgh) that are made in China and Taiwan. If you do not want to pay the Craftsman price then it seems that Kobalt is the way to go. If you need tool(s) that you will rarely use or cant afford Kobalt, Stanley or Pittsburgh is the way to go (except for Pittsburgh ratchets, everyone say they ****). Side note: Pittsburgh Impact tools are better then standard Pittsburgh. The issue with Stanley is that if you want to cash in on their warranty you have to mail them back to them and wait for a new one. If you go Stanley buy them at Walmart then you get at least 90 days to return them so you dont have to deal with mailing the warranty. Honorable mention: GearWrench seems to be okay but depending on where you buy it the warranty will work either like Stanley or Craftsman. Finally if your job requires using tools the consensus seems to be to buy either Snap on or Mac or Matco.

 

[1950mercury]

Way old thread....2005 trolling newbie

 

[Steinmetz]

Huh, I thought Pittsburg was known for being a cesspool!

Pittsburg is a delightful little town in Oregon, on the Nehalem river.

 

[Exceller8]

You want them to use the search and then complain when they do.

Amen!!

 

[monomach]

I have done a lot of research online about the quality of tools for myself and others. This is what I have found: Sears/Craftsman was really good when they were all made in the USA. Now that most of Craftsman tools are made in China their quality has diminished unless you pay even more money and get their professional line. The Craftsman standard tools are still better then other house brand tools (Home Depot/Husky; Loews/Kobalt; Stanley, Harbor Freight/Pittsburgh) that are made in China and Taiwan. If you do not want to pay the Craftsman price then it seems that Kobalt is the way to go. If you need tool(s) that you will rarely use or cant afford Kobalt, Stanley or Pittsburgh is the way to go (except for Pittsburgh ratchets, everyone say they ****). Side note: Pittsburgh Impact tools are better then standard Pittsburgh. The issue with Stanley is that if you want to cash in on their warranty you have to mail them back to them and wait for a new one. If you go Stanley buy them at Walmart then you get at least 90 days to return them so you dont have to deal with mailing the warranty. Honorable mention: GearWrench seems to be okay but depending on where you buy it the warranty will work either like Stanley or Craftsman. Finally if your job requires using tools the consensus seems to be to buy either Snap on or Mac or Matco.

There's a bunch of wrong info in here. Better do more research.

 

[gdocktor3]

If you get the fiberglass handle you should be ok. Tools like this are the only kind I buy from HF. Stuff with no moving or mechanical parts. Hammers, pry bars, etc. Although I'd probably never buy one, for $7 I guess you can't go wrong. If you want something guaranteed to last and perform every time, spend the $20 more on a Fiskars at Home Depot. http://www.homedepot.com/p/Fiskars-14-in-X7-Hatchet-78506935/202681690

 

[sberry]

Reading opinions on the net isn't research.

 

[Outlander]

Hmm...I don't know about so many first posts in this thread.

 

[PJNJ]

Hey guys I was thinking about buying a Pittsburgh 1.25lbs hatchet.
Are they good or not? Will it break easily?

IDK - why don't you try starting a new thread and find out? Much better than resurrecting a zombie thread FOR THE THIRD TIME.

 

[thegroundpounder99]

IDK - why don't you try starting a new thread and find out? Much better than resurrecting a zombie thread FOR THE THIRD TIME.

While I totally agree, if he starts a new thread somebody will surely say "use the search function". Sick of these dinosaur threads.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[zendriver]

Ooops. Fell into the trap. It's still early here.

 

[B_Bimmer]

This is a weird thread, it just won't stay dead. Anyway, I have found harbor fright hammers to be very prone to chipping, plastic, rubber, or metal. Get an estwing, yeah it's a little more, but your grandkids will be proud of it someday.

 

[bobemmerich]

Hey guys I was thinking about buying a Pittsburgh 1.25lbs hatchet.
Are they good or not? Will it break easily?

First off, Welcome to the forum. Decent. Not as good as a Fiskars, but if kept sharp, it will do the job.As Gdocktor stated-"Get the fiberglass handle one".
As far as resurrecting an old thread, this probably came up while searching HF tools. I regularly get to old threads on here from searching, or even searching in the Search box.

 

[sberry]

It isn't **** and being cheap is a bonus and an asset. The stuff has got better, much of it now found under other brands with a label change at multiples of the price. As a young un said above it works, also have used it and seen it beat bad in rough industries, oilfield and ag and while its easy to be impressed by a 50$ wrench what is even neater is seeing a 5$ one take the same abuse.
30 yrs ago I may have been of the same opinion but some time and real experience have proven otherwise. Yools that were gifted or intended for simple use ended up in circulation and after a while we forget which is the "good" ones when we give a 1$ wrench a severe beating with a 20OZ claw hammer on rusted brake fittings out in the sticks and the thing is still a perfect fit, as good as any wrench I have ever used.

 

[brownbagg]

to all the people complaining bout resurrecting an old thread, you wasnt doing anything anyway so whats the problem.

 

[Weird Tolkienish Figure]

I buy their tools as I need them. Usually good enough for once in a while tools.

The vice grips are **** though. Don't buy them.

 

[bcradio]

just ignore the complainers... people complain for resurrecting old threads and people complain for starting new threads.

 

[zendriver]

I buy their tools as I need them. Usually good enough for once in a while tools.

The vice grips are **** though. Don't buy them.

Hmmm.

I have used the Ppro locking pliers large and small, for several years, same build and quality as any real "vice grip" brand I have owned,IMO.