The Harbor Freight PASS/FAIL Thread...

[Vinko]

Anyone use the furniture movers? I've heard good things and at these prices, why not:

http://www.harborfreight.com/movers-dolly-93888.html

they also have a few steel versions for about $20

I use mine all the time. As snowmobile dollies, one under each tire of the RZR to move it around the shop, etc.

Just be sure to check the casters before you leave the store. They are really hit or miss.

Just an update. Got 5 of the wooden furniture dollies (two at $8.99 and 2 (slightly larger) a little less than $12 on sale) and a dozen of the blankets (at about $8.99 each - maybe a little less with coupon) -- so far so good. I’ve loaded each dolly with about 150 lbs of weight. Blankets seem to hold up, though they haven’t been used too much, so I can’t say for sure long term on any of this gear.

 

[tlmartin84]

The 3" cutoff wheels with the green labels are not any count. They wear fast and leave a lot of dust.

They used to have some with Blue labels (Chicago Electric I believe) and they were pretty good. I haven't seen them in awhile.

 

[stage20]

Those furn dollies are pretty good. I stack them with tile every other day so I don't have to carry and move them. I get the casters @aked with mud and they don want to get started rolling easy but that's my own fault. Use them for moving furniture doing carpet too. They get tossed around and abused pretty hard.

 

[Jarhead0408]

Huge pass to the HF bearing splitter set, the 20 ton (Grey) shop press, and the 10-piece bearing race and seal driver sets.

I had to replace a wheel bearing on my 2001 Civic after driving on it for 6 months with it grinding. The three items listed below made it a breeze to change it out. This is the first time I've changed this style of wheel bearing, but it went very smoothly.

The only hiccup came from the bearing splitter. The rods that come with it are about 1/4" too short to allow the outer race of the old bearing to fit between the splitter. I found an easy fix and just bought a 2' length of 1/2"-13 Allthread and cut new rods that were longer. They flexed quite a bit, but they held up and pulled the outer race right off.

Bearing Splitter: http://www.harborfreight.com/bearing-separator-and-puller-set-93980.html

20-ton Shop Press: http://www.harborfreight.com/20-ton-shop-press-60603.html

10-piece Bearing Race and Seal Driver Set: http://www.harborfreight.com/10-piece-bearing-race-and-seal-driver-set-95853.html

 

[NC-Shaun]

Multi-Use Transfer Pump
Pittsburgh Automotive - item#66418

I bought this yesterday to assist in refilling my FJ Cruiser differentials and transfer case with 75w90 gear oil. Made the job much easier!

Pass Pass Pass

 

[skipnay]

Bought this Harbor Freight 20 ton shop press. I got it for a discount price of $125.00 I say it passed but a few of the welds only got a very little burn in. I would say it would work fine but I always seem to use stuff way pass it's limit so I did reinforce the one one weld. Like I said it worked fine I just wanted to make sure if I ever need it to go past it's limits it could...

P.S. Not my picture one I got off the internet for reference!!!

 

[BUILTTOLAST]

Yea, I am pretty sure Crescent had the original patent on that form of adjustable wrench. The name stuck, sorta like Skillsaw for portable circular saws, Channel-locks for all groove joint adj. pliers, Porta-Band, Sawzall, on and on.
-jp

This^^

 

[zx2slow]

Serched and coudnt find any review of the HFT dial indicator:
http://www.harborfreight.com/clamping-dial-indicator-93051.html

$28 after 20% off is not too shabby for a dial indicator as long as its reasonably accurate.

 

[Noland]

Ive had good luck with their small locking pliers and locking needle nose. They are alittle looser than vise grips but I use the mostly for holding sheetmetal patchs before I weld so it dont bother me. but the litle red handle cover does fall off. I own probably 5 of each with no problems. Im not sure about the larger ones.
http://www.harborfreight.com/hand-t...essional-curved-jaw-locking-pliers-94289.html

 

[600SL]

I understand the HF grinder stand like this is/was decent, but l don't see it on the HF site anymore. Did they do away with it?

It was OK once you replaced the 2.75" thin wall tube with a real 3" 0.120 wall piece of DOM. Unfortunately purchasing the DOM and having it shipped is more than the price of the stand. The 3" DOM fits in snug and the bolts wont crush 0.120" wall to make it sloppy.

 

[Man Cave]

Cordless 1/4" impact driver #68853 FAIL. I had it about 6 months before I really needed to use it and either the charger died or the battery. I bought the 2 year warranty and another lesson learned, the remaining year and a half on the warranty won't apply to the replacement driver. So when the sales clerk offered me another warranty for 20 bucks I declined. I will take my chances and when the replacement goes **** up I will throw it in the ohio river and buy a good name brand since I have grown to like the versatility of this tool.

 

[bubinga]

Now that battery might hurt the fish if your really going to throw it in the river.

 

[doan]

Serched and coudnt find any review of the HFT dial indicator:
http://www.harborfreight.com/clamping-dial-indicator-93051.html

$28 after 20% off is not too shabby for a dial indicator as long as its reasonably accurate.

I bought the same kit. The QC on the dial indicators is not great. Some of them did not move smoothly, open it up before you leave to make sure you got a good one.

 

[Man Cave]

Now that battery might hurt the fish if your really going to throw it in the river.

Not to worry. I send all batteries from my house to the recycle bin at the local collection. The rest of the junk ends up in the river, like my last die grinder.

 

[bubinga]

not to worry. I send all batteries from my house to the recycle bin at the local collection. The rest of the junk ends up in the river, like my last die grinder.

lol, ok

 

[chicken89]

I have both. They are just fine for at home. The batteries don't last like my Dewalt nano set, but it's a couple hundred bucks less.
I'd give them a definite pass

You mean the red/black ones, right?
i have had them for 2 years now. they only get used during the summer, and then, probably just Saturdays and Sundays.
so for the occasional user, they have been great. i got an extra charger and battery (3 drills, 4 batts, 4 chargers) for backups.
so for me, PASS on all 3
Item # 68851 (hammer drill)
Item # 68853 (impact driver)
Item # 68850 (screw driver)

 

[Ronniexj]

I'm making the 3hr trip to HF tomorrow!

Any experience with the 14" 2HP and 3-1/2HP abrasive cut-off saws?

The "Heavy duty" 3-1/2 is on sale for $78.

 

[royesses]

I'm making the 3hr trip to HF tomorrow!

Any experience with the 14" 2HP and 3-1/2HP abrasive cut-off saws?

The "Heavy duty" 3-1/2 is on sale for $78.

I have the 68104 heavy duty not shown on the web page anymore. It does the job and beats the hell out of a hacksaw. I've had no problems with so far. If you need one at a low price it is worth it.

 

[AnEv942]

I understand the HF grinder stand like this is/was decent, but l don't see it on the HF site anymore. Did they do away with it?

It was OK once you replaced the 2.75" thin wall tube with a real 3" 0.120 wall piece of DOM. Unfortunately purchasing the DOM and having it shipped is more than the price of the stand. The 3" DOM fits in snug and the bolts wont crush 0.120" wall to make it sloppy.

On the HF grinder-pedestal-68321.html when I picked up mine they had similar one without the coolant tray that bubinga linked but there was a reason I picked up this one even though I wasn't going to use the coolant tray-honestly don't remember-seems had a different lighter top?
At any rate on the tube, yes way undersized, mine would not even stand up straight, kept slipping inside . In the base hole is stepped to smaller ID that the tube is supposed to set against. My fix was to lay the tube in open vise and 'bugle' out the end a bit, stretching it until it would set on the lip of ID.

Even thinking about snugging the bolts the tube just yielded, not sure how thats supposed to work. Instead of crushing the tube to get a resemblance of being secure (and cant imgine it would stay tight) I drilled thru the tube and used nuts..pulling it tight against base

I also drilled thru the top of tube. Not nutted but as top sets on tube, with the bolts going thru tube it cant move. Probably not needed but I drilled and tapped 2 additional holes on the top.

Out of the box Fail in my opinion-with some attention it work greats, definite pass. Id pick up another if I needed one. The suggested 'crush' assembly though is bizarre given the thinness of the tube.

 

[thefoobag]

Got bit recently, changed a leaking fitting with one bought from harbor freight and thought my hose was going bad, almost replaced the hose then found this

 

[Cobra96]

Good morning Everyone
Was wondering f anyone has had any luck with the pneumatic cut off tool or hammer?
Thanks
Chuck

 

[SteevoLS]

3" cutoff tool works fine but it needs a lot of air.

 

[Cobra96]

3" cutoff tool works fine but it needs a lot of air.

Excellent...., thanks

 

[wildbill23c]

3" cutoff tool works fine but it needs a lot of air.

I agree, it really pulls a lot of air...then again I have a 30+ year old air compressor LOL.

 

[stage20]

the table saw is a huge pass. it doesnt have a huge amount of power compared to a more expensive saw, but i use in on jobsite all the time. gets throwed around in trailer or in back of truck. rained on. been kicking for years.

 

[senginc]

The high speed metal saw and the coarse and fine blades really are as bad as the reviews.
The saw worked for about 30 min and quit. Blades are mush.

 

[wildbill23c]

the table saw is a huge pass. it doesnt have a huge amount of power compared to a more expensive saw, but i use in on jobsite all the time. gets throwed around in trailer or in back of truck. rained on. been kicking for years.

I have one and the bearings are shot in it already and I have only used it a couple times. Wasn't impressed. I've had mine for about 5 years, maybe the newer version is better IDK, but I really don't have any use for a portable saw anymore LOL.

 

[ChrisLS8]

Just an fyi to those that like the ratcheting wrenches, grab the taiwanese ones while you can. The next batch are China and they look awful. The casting lines arent even, finish is gross and markings are off center and poorly done in comparison.

Taiwan

China

 

[AmishFury]

the funny thing is the non flex ratcheting wrenches the chinese **** is starting to get replaced with better looking taiwan wrenches

 

[customcab]

The ball joint press for 4x4 axles. (Jeep) At least in my case a big fail. First one I used bent so bad it wouldn't fit back in the case after two ball joints. Took it back and got another one to do the other side. It too bent but not as badly. I suspect they had a bad batch judging by some of the other GOOD comments on here. It looks like the body of the clamp is just cast iron and not forged. It looks beefy, but it's awfully soft. The jack bolt held up fine.
Took it back though and got a full refund.
Later, Phil

 

[DoyleDee]

I used the ball joint the press recently on my 98 F150 recently, I give it a pass. Although I will say that I didn't stress the big C - I used a few whacks with a hammer to the a arm to induce vibration to help break the ball joint loose, it made removal and installation easy.
I like the roto ratchets quite a bit now after using them too... my new favorite. (I have bought numerous ratchets to use/try out recently)

 

[AmishFury]

big pass on the 3/8" swivel head ratchet

it does have it's flaws... it's very stiff with quite a bit of backdrag, the chrome isn't very durable (oddly enough just keeping it in my pocket with my keys has scratched the chrome on the handle noticably but a 6' drop onto the shop floor barely scratched the head) and the obvious can't take it apart to lube it

i seriously had a little bit of buyer's remorse after buying it because i seriously have a crapton of 3/8" drive ratchets and didn't think i'd find much use for the swivel head (plus the stiffness of it is still a little offputting) but once i started actually using it i don't know what i've been doing without a swivel head in my life...

the handle is a good length, easy to grip, and the direction is easy to change one handed

 

[owenst7]

big pass on the 3/8" swivel head ratchet

it does have it's flaws... it's very stiff with quite a bit of backdrag, the chrome isn't very durable (oddly enough just keeping it in my pocket with my keys has scratched the chrome on the handle noticably but a 6' drop onto the shop floor barely scratched the head) and the obvious can't take it apart to lube it

i seriously had a little bit of buyer's remorse after buying it because i seriously have a crapton of 3/8" drive ratchets and didn't think i'd find much use for the swivel head (plus the stiffness of it is still a little offputting) but once i started actually using it i don't know what i've been doing without a swivel head in my life...

the handle is a good length, easy to grip, and the direction is easy to change one handed

You should be able to adjust the friction in the joint by adjusting the screws.

 

[Bagherra]

Yeah, bough 1/4 and 3/8" swivel head ratchets...Not sure how I survived this long without them!!

 

[lightning02]

big pass on the 3/8" swivel head ratchet

it does have it's flaws... it's very stiff with quite a bit of backdrag, the chrome isn't very durable (oddly enough just keeping it in my pocket with my keys has scratched the chrome on the handle noticably but a 6' drop onto the shop floor barely scratched the head) and the obvious can't take it apart to lube it

i seriously had a little bit of buyer's remorse after buying it because i seriously have a crapton of 3/8" drive ratchets and didn't think i'd find much use for the swivel head (plus the stiffness of it is still a little offputting) but once i started actually using it i don't know what i've been doing without a swivel head in my life...

the handle is a good length, easy to grip, and the direction is easy to change one handed

Are you referring to the roto head ones?

 

[larry4406]

Would be nice if folks would cite the item number of the tool being evaluated. Would be much more useful.

 

[stage20]

I have one and the bearings are shot in it already and I have only used it a couple times. Wasn't impressed. I've had mine for about 5 years, maybe the newer version is better IDK, but I really don't have any use for a portable saw anymore LOL.

had this one since 07 or 08. its old as dirt. i just use it for ripping cuts for wood and laminate floors. i dont cut sheet goods, so that may help. it gets abused, though.

 

[SantaAna12]

Is there a compiled list?

 

[soj]

Is there a compiled list?

If not, are you volunteering? If you are, thanks for stepping up!

 

[NC-Shaun]

Would be nice if folks would cite the item number of the tool being evaluated. Would be much more useful.

That is what is actually supposed to be happening in this thread. I just copy and paste the item title and number from the Harbor Freight web page, then copy and paste the link to it as well. Then add my review.