Snap-On Tools VS Harbor Freight Tool Shootout.

[tremek]

first part is a bit boring.

but once the pulls out the Chain Hoist and a vise things get fun to watch.

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[shanny19]

Oh noes. I love Toms videos. I hate this topic. What to do?? IBTL.

 

[Hiball]

LOL.. I was a Nervous Nelly watching that Video, I kept expecting the Worst. I Keep the HF breaker bars in all my trailer boxes, but that Video shows my exact experiences, They flex like a bish.. I kept going back and looking at the comparison, at 100lbs the HF had some serious flex in the Video, It seemed less so on the Snap on till you hit 200. I'm not knocking the HF, It is what it is and its Cheap insurance in my Trailers versus the alternative.

 

[TheEuronater]

Yeah the first time I used my HF breaker bar I though it was going to snap. But it held up for another day.

 

[TerryH]

I'm with shanny19...IBTL.

 

[Tron]

I'm shocked, shocked I tell you, that the HF wasn't as well made as the snap on. Oh well, the HF still helped me break very stubborn suspension bolts with no drama.

 

[lightning02]

I'd like to see him try the new HF breaker they have out. Has the same head setup as the snap on.

 

[dledmo]

I posted a comment to his Youtube about what it would look like in real life to apply 300# of force to a breaker bar. 300# with a hoist and 300# with your hands are two very different things. I would be curious to see how much effort and how big of a person it would take to break a breaker bar.

 

[RedneckWelder]

I posted a comment to his Youtube about what it would look like in real life to apply 300# of force to a breaker bar. 300# with a hoist and 300# with your hands are two very different things. I would be curious to see how much effort and how big of a person it would take to break a breaker bar.

It takes less than you'd think. That ******* little pissant 1/2 drive square isn't that strong...

 

[ssdave]

I've broken a craftsman 1/2" one. Doesn't take all that much; it broke like that HF one, and didn't bend nearly as much or take as much pull. I've not broken my Indestro, my Plomb, my Proto, my Williams, nor my Snap-on.

 

[DBendr]

That's 300 lbs of force on the handle. How many of you mouse( or touchpad) toids can dead lift 300 lbs ?
If you can I promise not to call you a mouse toid any more.
That's an assload of force.I know I can pick up 200 with my nuts screaming. Any more than that and the air impact comes out.Bars are OK but landing on my old *** is a crisis.

 

[zkling]

I posted a comment to his Youtube about what it would look like in real life to apply 300# of force to a breaker bar. 300# with a hoist and 300# with your hands are two very different things. I would be curious to see how much effort and how big of a person it would take to break a breaker bar.

An 8' cheater pipe and my 89 year old grandma could snap one easily.

That's 300 lbs of force on the handle. How many of you mouse( or touchpad) toids can dead lift 300 lbs ?

Last set (ramped) of 5 last Friday was 385lbs. It was a long day though. Plus, dead lifting with a conventional grip is different than single point lifting on the end of a bar, closer to a sumo. But the point has to be why bother? Get a cheater bar. Few years ago a friend and I had a good ~6' pipe on a kobalt 1/2" breaker bar trying to get a Honda crank bolt off. The female portion of the extension exploded. Bar was fine.

 

[BK13]

I dunno about lift, but I can apply about 340 lbs. of downward force....


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[Loscaldazar]

600 Ft-lbs is impressive still (300 Ft-lbs 24/25 inches away from the drive end=600 applied). I wouldn't be using a 1/2 drive breaker bar at that point anyway. The 40" 3/4 bar would come out.

I've got one of these HF bars in my car for lugnuts if needed. Otherwise got a nice 24" and 30" SK one for regular use.

 

[PJNJ]

That's 300 lbs of force on the handle. How many of you mouse( or touchpad) toids can dead lift 300 lbs ?
If you can I promise not to call you a mouse toid any more.
That's an assload of force.I know I can pick up 200 with my nuts screaming. Any more than that and the air impact comes out.Bars are OK but landing on my old *** is a crisis.

I was deadlifting 335 last year at 57 but I had to stop as I have problems with my lower legs and feet - I couldn't take the pain the day after. Four years ago I was up to 365 before I had to take a break after injuring my left foot. Used to deadlift a lot more when I was younger. Right now I am taking it easy and using a back machine at my gym since I had to take last two months off due to some ongoing heart and circulatory issues. Going to concentrate on my bench press, military press and one arm dumbbell row among others for awhile.

 

[zkling]

Weighted pull ups and chin ups FTW.

 

[ProCharger]

Not saying it would change anything but this should have been done with the pro version.

 

[DennisH2014]

Before I began transitioning, my maximum deadlift was 405lbs. Guess I wasn't a mouse!

 

[four.cycle]

okay... so other than taking away 30 minutes of my life that I'll never get back, was this video supposed to tell me something I didn't already know?
i.e., an American-made Snap-on is probably going to put up with more abuse than a Chinese-made Harbor Freight unit?

I noticed he didn't bother to make an apples-to-apples comparison between his Snap-on and, say, an American-made Proto or S-K or Wright or Williams or maybe an old Indestro or Duro-Chrome or Thorsen or KAL or any number of other US-made breaker bars that most likely would have done equally as well as the Snap-on.

but then, that would be a fair test and the results might shatter some illusions.

 

[youngunn2008]

I think the point of the test is to prove to the people who say oh what's the point of snapon HF is the same stuff... That it's not.

 

[four.cycle]

I would venture that it's a foregone conclusion that any Chinese-made **** from Harbor Freight is not going to perform as well as an American-made Snap-on, ergo: the video (and the "test") serves little purpose other than to reinforce the illusion that Snap-on is the superior product, when there are other options available (at a much lower cost) which would perform equally as well.

But, as I mentioned in another post earlier today HERE:
http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?p=5508879#post5508879 not many have actually explored those other options, and most of the pro-Snap-on arguments are based on conjecture and firmly-held belief systems rather than actual experience.

 

[oldtools]

~ 600 ft-lbf of torque for $10 (on sale) is pretty darn good. SO is $130. 13 times more expensive, but I don't think it will be 13 times stronger. I have both breaker bars. The SO does feel higher quality. The SO stay in my toolbox and the HF in my car trunk.

 

[jmarkwolf]

I posted a comment to his Youtube about what it would look like in real life to apply 300# of force to a breaker bar. 300# with a hoist and 300# with your hands are two very different things. I would be curious to see how much effort and how big of a person it would take to break a breaker bar.

I broke an S-K 3/8in breaker bar when I was a young stud in my teens. Can't remember what I was wrenching on, but the "handle" broke right where the pin went through the knuckle.

I threw it in the tool box drawer, where it sat for some 40 years. I sent it in to S-K, just last year, and they sent me a nice new pretty one free of charge!

 

[bart1]

I'm glad he didn't break a Plomb, but I wonder how it would have held up. I have a Plomb 19" and HF 24" (several years old, it has the SO, clevis style, head on it) and the HF actually seems heavier and beefier. 2 occasions it didn't seem up to the job due to excessive flex (both axle nuts). At that point I used a 3/4" Craftsman bull bar/sliding T, which should be able to turn anything on a car! I haven't ever used the Plomb on anything that frozen.

 

[sberry]

~ 600 ft-lbf of torque for $10 (on sale) is pretty darn good. SO is $130. 13 times more expensive, but I don't think it will be 13 times stronger. I have both breaker bars. The SO does feel higher quality. The SO stay in my toolbox and the HF in my car trunk.

This,,,,,,,,,,, I had a guy break an HF bar, had a 6 ft pipe on it, to stupid to use a large drive with an air gun. For 10$ I think its extremely good and only marginally less than the 130$ one.
I never buy something like that thinking it is exactly the same as the uber premium one but it does work adequately and a guy can afford to have a couple around.

 

[SignalZero]

I have a USA Kobalt 3/8 breaker bar that has been through hell. When I was young and dumb and only had 1/4" & 3/8" drive I'd put a jack handle on that little breaker for a cheater. It's held up.

Now I have some Gearwrench 1/2" drive breaker bars I bought at Advance when they went on sale. My guess it they're probably similar build quality as HF; 24" has a little more play than I'd think is ideal. But it did the job on the rusty bed bolts on my pickup.

 

[B_Bimmer]

The slop in the handle alone is enough to make me never want to go back to harbor fright tools. It looks like wasted time and frustration. I only use a breaker bar when things are pretty tight, so virtually every time I'd be expecting a snap... That doesn't sound productive, it sounds dangerous. I've bought three or four good brand bars at pawn shops, always for less than $10, although granted they were never quite 24 inches, usually 18.

 

[mechanical turk]

I doubt anyone is surprised that the HF bar isn't as strong or as well made as the Snap On. As Tom said in the video though I am surprised the square drive was the mode of failure. I was expecting the swivel joint to fail, especially with the slop there.

300 lbs is pretty good, too. I have a 40 inch Titan 3/4 breaker bar that says 1000 ft-lbs limit on the head, which is 300 lbs at 40 inches too. And the 3/4 square drive is twice the volume of the 1/2 drive. For $10 I throw them in the trunk and use them as lug wrenches with some HF chrome sockets which are also surprisingly nice. The chroming and stuff actually looks better than some later USA Craftsman I have.

The real problem with HF tools is the consistency, because they changed to whatever manufacturer is cheapest so often. The one in the video was made in China, mine are all Taiwan. The alloy is probably different, the heads on mine might be stronger. Who knows.

 

[DBendr]

I have a USA Kobalt 3/8 breaker bar that has been through hell. When I was young and dumb and only had 1/4" & 3/8" drive I'd put a jack handle on that little breaker for a cheater. It's held up.

Now I have some Gearwrench 1/2" drive breaker bars I bought at Advance when they went on sale. My guess it they're probably similar build quality as HF; 24" has a little more play than I'd think is ideal. But it did the job on the rusty bed bolts on my pickup.

My old 3/8 tootsie roll gets scared when it sees me and hides in the back of the drawer.
I just ordered a kit for it a couple weeks ago.Yeah. It's an old single leg. 1966 date code.The girl at Wright asked what happened ? I said it's a 1966.Never been apart( that's a sin here isn't it ?)
You mean what happened to me or the ratchet ?
"Give me your address."

 

[kctyphoon]

I believe I paid $9 for that HF breaker bar.. If that's not worth it - I dunno what is..

 

[anndel]

Instead of buying SO prybars, I looked at HF but read the comments from many users saying they flex, a lot. I looked and bought Mayhew and they are the next best thing to SO. They flex but not a whole lot. Looking to buy more Mayhew stuff when I get paid.

In terms of breaker bars, there was no question in my mind and I didn't even consider HF. I bought Snap On and Armstrong.

 

[rjohnson]

I would love to see a test with cyclic loading, to see how many cycles each would hold up to applying say 250lbs at 2ft, as well as an impact (shock) test to simulate someone jumping up and down on it.

 

[oldtools]

The slop in the handle alone is enough to make me never want to go back to harbor fright tools. It looks like wasted time and frustration. I only use a breaker bar when things are pretty tight, so virtually every time I'd be expecting a snap... That doesn't sound productive, it sounds dangerous. I've bought three or four good brand bars at pawn shops, always for less than $10, although granted they were never quite 24 inches, usually 18.

I checked mine and it is not as loose as his. Of course, he could have tighten the screw a little bit to reduce the slop. Since the beam tapper down at the joint, it make the breaker bar very flexible. That is the thing I dont like about it. I have used it quite a bit and so far so good.

 

[Greg85mcss]

I own both brands & they both perform how I expected them to so no bias. I still find it ridiculous when people claim anything from hf is as good as snap on or feel the need to pick on hf tools to prove how good their $100 hammer is. Whether it's a tool box or a prybar you go to one for the best of the best & the other for the best value. To be honest I've had better experience with mac boxes but used that example because hf boxes are pretty tough to beat in their price range. I was going to say truck brands instead of snap on in my argument but I've seen a couple things that didn't belong on some of the other trucks.


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[lightning02]

I own both brands & they both perform how I expected them to so no bias. I still find it ridiculous when people claim anything from hf is as good as snap on or feel the need to pick on hf tools to prove how good their $100 hammer is. Whether it's a tool box or a prybar you go to one for the best of the best & the other for the best value. To be honest I've had better experience with mac boxes but used that example because hf boxes are pretty tough to beat in their price range. I was going to say truck brands instead of snap on in my argument but I've seen a couple things that didn't belong on some of the other trucks.


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i have to agree. i also own both brands.

im not sure what there is to compare or what there is to learn. a $9 dollar breaker bar broke and a $150 dollar snap on didnt? ok and what point was made? that something that cost ALOT more and has a ALOT of R&D behind it didnt break. i think we knew that from the start lol

when snap on builds a tool thats comparable in price to HF tools and is just as strong as there (snap on) highend stuff then we have something to compare.

all we see here is any given tool that cost alot more with alot of R&D behind it out lasted one that didnt. nothing more or less.

this is like comparing and racing a 1987 toyota corolla VS 2016 bugatti veyron lol

 

[dledmo]

An 8' cheater pipe and my 89 year old grandma could snap one easily.



Last set (ramped) of 5 last Friday was 385lbs. It was a long day though. Plus, dead lifting with a conventional grip is different than single point lifting on the end of a bar, closer to a sumo. But the point has to be why bother? Get a cheater bar. Few years ago a friend and I had a good ~6' pipe on a kobalt 1/2" breaker bar trying to get a Honda crank bolt off. The female portion of the extension exploded. Bar was fine.

No doubt with a cheater pipe it would be easy to snap a 1/2" bar. I do have the 25" HF at work, my buddy Don was using it a about a month ago and he sheared the head off a 1/2" maybe a 5/8" bolt "I can tighten it a little more". He's 62 and in good shape, I still tease him that the treats my wife baked for us put too much sugar in his system. The breaker bar wasn't bending and he didn't lose his balance but a little bit. This was an aircraft grade bolt. I would be amused to see some guys over torquing one of these breaker bars with just their hands, maybe because I think it's funny to see people fall on their ***. I'm a bad person.

 

[DBendr]

I would love to see a test with cyclic loading, to see how many cycles each would hold up to applying say 250lbs at 2ft, as well as an impact (shock) test to simulate someone jumping up and down on it.

Yes. That would be a "real life" test.The best kind.
Like the video guy said he's been real life testing the Snap-on for 25 or more years of steady abuse. That says a lot. Especially since it's just pinned and still tight.Think about 25-30 years ago not many of us ran air either.
Breakers were a daily tool before all these plastic battery powered chuck vibrators came to the show.So were good old speed wrenches.They're still great once in a while. Especially tearing down an engine or transmission on a stand or bench.

 

[TomB19]

I dunno about lift, but I can apply about 340 lbs. of downward force....

lol!

 

[1969]

HF vs SO, thats a relatively new topic, right?

 

[oldtools]

HF vs SO, thats a relatively new topic, right?

As someone mentioned early, it is hardly Wright (or other industrial brands) vs SO that would show same performance at half the price. That is just too boring. It is usually the cheapest (HF) vs the most expensive (SO) either to see HF tool fail or for justify buying SO. I guess it is also more interesting than Wright vs SO. I would like to see a rematch using new HF Pittsburg Pro breaker bar for $20.

http://m.harborfreight.com/12-in-drive-25-in-professional-breaker-bar-62729.html