The Harbor Freight PASS/FAIL Thread...

[paulf]

HF 18v Impact wrench "Fail" picked it up, charged the battery 3 hrs the light indicated it was done.
Tried to remove wheel lugs from two of my cars the wrench could not loosen either one.
Brought it back the next day
Guess I will have to keep looking.
Any suggestions ?
Thinking of Bosch, Makita , DeWalt or Snapon,
I also want a 3/8 in cordless impact and it would be nice if both used the same battery I think Lion batts would be the best as I don't use them often

Thanks
Paul

 

[cide1]

The straps on their welding apron caught fire, and kept smoldering. I hung it up on the wall not realizing, and ran a 30 minute errand. When I came home, I open the garage to find it filled with smokey haze, when I finally figured out it was the welding apron. I'm lucky my house didn't burn down.

This was the end of me buying much from Harbor Freight.

 

[Danglerb]

HF 18v Impact wrench "Fail" picked it up, charged the battery 3 hrs the light indicated it was done.
Tried to remove wheel lugs from two of my cars the wrench could not loosen either one.
Brought it back the next day
Guess I will have to keep looking.
Any suggestions ?
Thinking of Bosch, Makita , DeWalt or Snapon,
I also want a 3/8 in cordless impact and it would be nice if both used the same battery I think Lion batts would be the best as I don't use them often

Thanks
Paul

Reasonable punishment for assuming the HF cordless impact would take off lug nuts would be buying the Snapon CT7850 $659.95

Nothing cheap is going to reliably take off lug nuts. Milwaukee high torque should also work, everything else pretty much is a maybe.

 

[787B]

Nothing cheap is going to reliably take off lug nuts. Milwaukee high torque should also work, everything else pretty much is a maybe.

Hogwash. I am an amateur road-racer and hi-speed track driving instructor. I'm constantly taking tires on and off my race car and street/track car. Hell, I take the wheels off just to clean them.

My weapon of choice for the last five years has been the $70 Goodyear-branded impact gun from Pep Boys (now branded as Great Neck?). After five years, the NiCD battery still holds a full-weekend's worth of charge and has no problem removing lug nuts from even my 3/4-ton truck. Only thing I've done to maintain it is yell "Who's your daddy!" at it every now and then.

Just because it's cheap doesn't mean it's ****.
Just because it's expensive doesn't mean it's not ****.

 

[gsport]

has anyone had any experience with their new Badland brand of winch??

 

[1984Datsun]

has anyone had any experience with their new Badland brand of winch??

Nope, but based on a review in a four wheel drive magazine article, they say the only downsides to the HF 9000 pound winch is the slow winching time. Expect the same for the rest of their winches... a fair bit slower than top name winches, but also cheaper and has potential to last much longer since the motor doesn't have to work really hard to pull a line really fast.

The upsides are low amp draw (you can thank the gear ratio), long expected life, and good reliability.

I will get the 12,000 pound version to bolt onto my custom front bumper once I get it done and mounted on my Ranger.

The reviews are enough for me, and given that an actual four wheeling magazine tested it and liked it better than most of the other high end winches, that tells a lot right there.

Just type in "is the hf winch any good" into the google search bar... you'll find a good amount of reviews and personal opinions on that winch.

 

[Danglerb]

Just because it's cheap doesn't mean it's ****.
Just because it's expensive doesn't mean it's not ****.

I didn't say its ****, I said reliably take off lug nuts. I understand some people have had good results with a number of cordless impacts in the same class as the 24v Goodyear, but I would still put them one step below reliable lug nut removers. Good luck with NiCads is also hit and miss, again NiCads are not in my list of things I would recommend as reliable.

Personally I haven't decided if I am going to try one of the $100 cordless impacts, jump up to the $200 range, and skip it for now and stay with air tools or a breaker bar.

 

[cderalow]

I didn't say its ****, I said reliably take off lug nuts. I understand some people have had good results with a number of cordless impacts in the same class as the 24v Goodyear, but I would still put them one step below reliable lug nut removers. Good luck with NiCads is also hit and miss, again NiCads are not in my list of things I would recommend as reliable.

Personally I haven't decided if I am going to try one of the $100 cordless impacts, jump up to the $200 range, and skip it for now and stay with air tools or a breaker bar.

i think the '24V' goodyear is made by the same folks who make my 18V ryobi, which will take lugs off my car (properly torqued) if I use the Li+ battery, but not the NiCAD.

 

[nuclearlemon]

but also cheaper and has potential to last much longer since the motor doesn't have to work really hard to pull a line really fast.

not necessarily. the motor may be working just as hard, it's just a cheaper probably smaller motor.

The reviews are enough for me, and given that an actual four wheeling magazine tested it and liked it better than most of the other high end winches, that tells a lot right there.

again...not necessarily. have you ever known an 'actual four wheeling magazine' that bashed a product. nope. they are horrible places to get reviews.

that said, i know one person who has one and has said it's worth the money. i've run enough low end winches in the past that i won't anymore, so i don't have first hand experience, but brian runs his winches more than i do and he's happy enough.

 

[ishiboo]

Reasonable punishment for assuming the HF cordless impact would take off lug nuts would be buying the Snapon CT7850 $659.95

Nothing cheap is going to reliably take off lug nuts. Milwaukee high torque should also work, everything else pretty much is a maybe.

Not cheap, but the Bosch is rated for 50 ft-lbs (max) over the Snap-On, is cheaper, and the major advantage for those of us who don't need a dedicated impact wrench is the batteries and charger work with all the other Bosch Lithium 18v goodies.

 

[Alchymist]

Anyone have one of these? Any good? Bad?

http://www.harborfreight.com/media/...ab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/i/m/image_9042.jpg

http://www.harborfreight.com/solid-brass-router-inlay-kit-99552.html

 

[Dwn Cam]

Subscribed. Great Thread!

 

[wornoutoldman]

Used this kit to sort out two very ugly dents on a motorcycle fuel tank. Worked GREAT! Nice PDR solution. Anyone know if this uses regular hobby glue sticks or something special?

http://www.harborfreight.com/crossbar-dent-repair-kit-66957.html

 

[Hakcobra]

I just picked up a 800lb HF Transmission Jack today for $97 (gotta love the family discount as my cousin works there ) I am R&Ring my 2000 Expeditions 4R100 and will report back as to how it goes.

UPDATE---Pulled the transmission out the the expo today and the transmission jack worked great! Ended up fabricating an adapter bracket to bolt the transmission to the jack (similar to what Ford does) and it worked perfectly. Made handling this heavy transmission a breeze.

-Kevin

 

[larry4406]

Mod's - can we require that all posts use the part ID number/SKU from HF? Lots of good info here, but alot of not searchable stuff as well.

 

[econoaddict]

has anyone had any experience with their new Badland brand of winch??

I bought the 6000lb winch (#68141) and mounted it on a receiver at the front of my car trailer. So far I don't have anything but good to say about it.
As already posted it is a bit slow but I can deal with that for the money.

 

[wellpoison]

stopped down yesterday and got a set of "nutsetters" and two 1/4in socket rails.

socket rails - pass
only thing i see wrong with them is length, there too long. it seems that they use the same length rails no matter what drive holders are included. they have i think 15 holders on each rail, i ended up buying two and putting all the holders on one rail. cant complain when they were 79 cents each

"nutsetters" - pass (but just barely)
i bought these for 2.50 figuring i could use them as a cheap nut driver set. they do fit nicely into my wera kraftform kompact so that is a plus but what they lack is depth. inside every driver is a magnet to hold the nut in place. i wish i wouldve checked before buying

 

[rlitman]

"nutsetters" - pass (but just barely)
i bought these for 2.50 figuring i could use them as a cheap nut driver set. they do fit nicely into my wera kraftform kompact so that is a plus but what they lack is depth. inside every driver is a magnet to hold the nut in place. i wish i wouldve checked before buying

I don't think you realize what you have. Those things are awesome.
Nut-setters (not nut-drivers), aren't supposed to have any depth. They're supposed to be used to drive hex cap screws such as these. The magnet retains the screw just like a magnetic phillips when you're driving drywall screws, but these screws don't cam out.

 

[MNRZR]

I don't think you realize what you have. Those things are awesome.
Nut-setters (not nut-drivers), aren't supposed to have any depth. They're supposed to be used to drive hex cap screws such as these. The magnet retains the screw just like a magnetic phillips when you're driving drywall screws, but these screws don't cam out.

They are also handy for starting nuts and bolts in hard to reach areas.

 

[TAMPAGT07]

40 lb pressureised sand blaster. Failblast cabinet. pass (barely)
10" table saw. pass (use good blades)
4" angle grinders. pass

This was the only post I could find for the 40 lb sand blaster..Does anyone else have any reviews on it? I just bought one on CL for $85, complete with 90lbs of media...Gotta pick it up tomorrow morning...

http://www.harborfreight.com/40-lb-pressurized-abrasive-blaster-34202.html

 

[terry1769]

I have it. The inline dryer broke and was discarded but other than that it works. It's a delicate balancing act between the two valves. Don't just open them both all the way. Once you get it set though it works reasonably well. You'll have to bump it every now and then to get the media to settle. Not the best but a usable pass in my book.

 

[TAMPAGT07]

Thanx terry1769 for the fast response...I've got to blast my two lifts and basically the whole front of my house (to prep it for thin bricks.)

 

[soob]

http://www.harborfreight.com/23-gauge-air-pin-nailer-68022.html

23-gauge pin nailer: FAIL

So I got it and it didn't shoot nails, period. So I tried adjusting the depth, which has a plastic lever. Pretty hard to do it. It's set right but I'm not sure what's up, so I change it a couple times. Around the third time, the plastic snaps. Admittedly, I was pushing it pretty hard.

Ok, so why dosn't it shoot nails? I pulled the nose apart, something looks wrong. Hmm. OH! The friggen bottom of the nose was installed upside down. I righted it, but it still misfired every pin after the first. Once the nose was installed right the depth was very easy (much too easy) to knock out of place after breaking it. I don't think that was causing the misfires; the bottom nose was just too tight of a fit around the pins.

Anyway it was the last one the store had so I guess I'll have to wait a while for a replacement. I have the brad and 15-gauge nailers and they work fine.

I did get the replacement, and it works great. Well, I only put a hundred pins through it but there were no apparent problems.

I also can't say enough how much I like these pins compared to brads. They leave a hole but it's nearly invisible from a few feet away. It would disappear under paint without filling. They seem to have really good holding power, better than I'd expected. And if you're going to use glue anyway they're probably just as good as brads.

 

[rlitman]

My pin nailer is a Porter Cable, but I agree that I love pin nails. They're perfect to get something to hold until the glue has set, and because they go in so easy, using them doesn't disturb what you're nailing, so when I'm mitering molding, I can align the corners absolutely perfectly.

I have been warned that since pin nails have no heads, if you load the pins in upside down just once, it will damage the hammer enough to make the nailer unreliable after that.

 

[subarub4]

Has anyone tried the engine compression tester 92697?

is it a pass?

 

[Kaervak]

Has anyone tried the engine compression tester 92697?

is it a pass?

I bought one a while back. Definitely a pass from me, not sure how it compares to other brands though. When I did a compression test on my car, all the PSI readings were within spec and equal across all the cylinders according to the HF gauge. For the $13 price tag, it's hard to wrong.

 

[subarub4]

I bought one a while back. Definitely a pass from me, not sure how it compares to other brands though. When I did a compression test on my car, all the PSI readings were within spec and equal across all the cylinders according to the HF gauge. For the $13 price tag, it's hard to wrong.

Ok good to hear I was looking at the offerings on Amazon at the same time I thought about the ones that HF had.

 

[machine_punk]

EPIC fail...

the black and orange pistol-grip bar clamps.

Don't waste your money, even if they are on sale for $2. Every one of them I have used so far has failed at the trigger pivot point on that last squeeze to get it tight enough. My major-brand clamps will keep going until you cannot press any harder. The HF clamps just fail catastrophically. I suppose I can re-use the metal bar for some project, but other than that, they are a total waste of money.

 

[subarub4]

Got the last one off the shelf wont get to test it until next week or so.

 

[outcast]

hey guys. can i used a SUPER COUPON "AND" a 20% off coupon on the same item ?

 

[Kev442]

I have it. The inline dryer broke and was discarded but other than that it works. It's a delicate balancing act between the two valves. Don't just open them both all the way. Once you get it set though it works reasonably well. You'll have to bump it every now and then to get the media to settle. Not the best but a usable pass in my book.

+1 It's like I wrote this response myself. I didn't even bother installing that inline dryer, it looked like it slowed air flow down 50% to me.

 

[hoffmand]

hey guys. can i used a SUPER COUPON "AND" a 20% off coupon on the same item ?

Nope. Only one coupon at a time.

20% coupon will work on sale items though.

 

[rlitman]

EPIC fail...

the black and orange pistol-grip bar clamps.

Don't waste your money, even if they are on sale for $2. Every one of them I have used so far has failed at the trigger pivot point on that last squeeze to get it tight enough. My major-brand clamps will keep going until you cannot press any harder. The HF clamps just fail catastrophically. I suppose I can re-use the metal bar for some project, but other than that, they are a total waste of money.

I had the same issue, but I didn't waste my money. I got it with the coupon when it was free. It was still hardly worth it.
I did manage to fix it though. I drilled through the pivot point, and used a 20 penny nail as the new pivot. Cut it a little long, and peened over the end.
It works ok now, but still doesn't have the grip of a real one.

 

[Kaervak]

1/2" Electric Impact Wrench Item #68099 PASS

Picked it up earlier today. It's a bit loud and bulky, but it had no trouble spinning off my lug nuts that were torqued to 100ft/lbs. Going to come in very handy for tire rotations and other general maintenance.

 

[losabio]

Pittsburgh Pro 1/2" locking extensions (Item No. 67977) - PASS

These extensions are crazy good. The knurling is nice for spinning a loose bolt with your off hand, the locking function works great, and the chrome is nicer than you'd expect out of a $15-$20 set of extensions. The smallest one is good for giving a torque wrench a little clearance, and the second smallest one makes a cool nutdriver for starting/spinning off bolts. I've used these for 2-3 weekends' worth of repairs and I wound up buying another set for my friend's birthday and a set of the 3/8" for myself.

Pittsburgh Automotive 4 ton bottle jack (Item No. 66450) - PASS

This is a super handy little jack. Mine was on sale for around $15 I think, and it's proven to be just great for supporting/pre-loading various bits and pieces under my VW. The small size makes it easy to grab and reposition. The top saddle unscrews out of the piston for increased reach. I <3 this jack so much, you guys.

 

[porphyre]

Sometimes you know you shouldn't buy something.... but you do anyway...

HF brand Blue Painter's Tape #95512

http://www.harborfreight.com/2-inch-x-60-yards-painters-tape-95512.html


Holy. Jumping. Jesus. On. A. Pogo. Stick.

This stuff is HORRIBLE. It's like they took blue toilet paper and sprayed some craptastic adhesive on the back. You have to be very careful pulling it off the roll or it tears. It only sticks for about 8 hours before coming down. It doesn't work well under 60 degrees.... I tried to mask some stuff out in my semi-heated garage and it wouldn't stay stuck for more than about 30 minutes.

Something so simple... how do you **** up tape? HF did it. I've bought some good stuff from HF and some bad stuff. This is by far the WORST. BY FAR.

 

[thesilverone]

EPIC fail...

the black and orange pistol-grip bar clamps.

Don't waste your money, even if they are on sale for $2. Every one of them I have used so far has failed at the trigger pivot point on that last squeeze to get it tight enough. My major-brand clamps will keep going until you cannot press any harder. The HF clamps just fail catastrophically. I suppose I can re-use the metal bar for some project, but other than that, they are a total waste of money.

I had the same issue, but I didn't waste my money. I got it with the coupon when it was free. It was still hardly worth it.
I did manage to fix it though. I drilled through the pivot point, and used a 20 penny nail as the new pivot. Cut it a little long, and peened over the end.
It works ok now, but still doesn't have the grip of a real one.

1 of mine broke at the same place. The other one didn't break. 4 bucks (total) for a one time use.

 

[diernosaj]

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/newreply.php?do=newreply&noquote=1&p=1964913

1/2" Drive 25" Breaker Bar

Sale: $9.99
Inside track membership: $7.99

PASS!!!

Im trying to take the axle nut off an old car. First of all the finish on the breaker bar is nice and consistent no scratches gouges blemishes or anything. It is sturdy, stout and tough. Im standing on the bar on the axle nut trying to get it loose and nothing is budging, not the nut, not the bar, nothing.

I got a 3ft piece of steel piping that juuuuust slips onto the handle of the breaker bar and im cranking down on the pipe. The bar is taking every thing I'm giving it with no problems. I wish I would have bought it a long time ago.

 

[IONH]

Sometimes you know you shouldn't buy something.... but you do anyway...

HF brand Blue Painter's Tape #95512

http://www.harborfreight.com/2-inch-x-60-yards-painters-tape-95512.html


Holy. Jumping. Jesus. On. A. Pogo. Stick.

This stuff is HORRIBLE. It's like they took blue toilet paper and sprayed some craptastic adhesive on the back. You have to be very careful pulling it off the roll or it tears. It only sticks for about 8 hours before coming down. It doesn't work well under 60 degrees.... I tried to mask some stuff out in my semi-heated garage and it wouldn't stay stuck for more than about 30 minutes.

Something so simple... how do you **** up tape? HF did it. I've bought some good stuff from HF and some bad stuff. This is by far the WORST. BY FAR.

AMEN! Your post was so funny. I just helped my Dad strip his kitchen's wall paper and then paint the walls. I explicitly said "DO NOT BUY HF TAPE" because I know he's a cheap SOB and he has to go to Home Depot for paint anyway so just get some damn tape there. What'd he buy?... HF tape!

No lie, 10 minutes after he finished taping, the tape was falling down. I pushed it back up as it fell and rubbed it into place for the first 20 minutes or so and then I said F it and just ignored it to let him deal with it. Ended up without tape on most areas and was just careful with the edging brush.

 

[soob]

I bought some of the painter's tape and used it to install a glue-down wood floor. Worked fine for that.