Top 10 HF tools

[Danglerb]

No special order, all are with a couple exceptions noted items I recommend to others;

1 ton shop crane.
Orange dead blow hammers.
24" 1/2 breaker bar.
Roto head ratchets, especially the 1/4 stubby.
Long pattern combo wrench sets in SAE and Metric.
Multitool.
Earthquake 1/2, and 3/8 impacts.
Earthquake 3/8 impacting air ratchet.
100 bit security bit set.
1000 lb engine stand.

 

[AV tinker er]

The 5 drawer (US General 5 Drawer) I awesome for the money as well. Any of the red US General toolboxes are great actually.

 

[MachYou]

Used the 1 ton engine hoist. 1 ton engine stand and 44" Box.

 

[bcradio]

The red toolboxes are great. Also the pro impact sockets. The nice inspection camera. Socket extensions.

I don't like the 100 piece security bit set though, but for the price its ok. The strip out fast.

 

[jjjrmx5]

I gave up on a HF list years ago.

Once they started to play around with quantity and QC, each year or quarter you purchase a tool, it's a new game.

Years ago, the lady foot pry bars/alignment tools came in a 4 pack. $19.99 and usually marked down to $9.99. Then I stopped back , bought a second set and they were only in 3 sizes. Same price. I still have both sets.

HF batteries are useless.

Sandpaper. Useless.

Standard orange grip pliers and vice-grips. Useless.

I can't recommend a tool there because I don't know if next week it will a shell of itself and value engineered.

5 dwr service cart and 44" 13 dwr roll cabs are still solid buys.

I miss the days of cheap Italian made fastener bins for $3.99 ea. and $2.99 USA made good sharpening stones.

I have several HF tools I wouldn't even give to my worst enemy.
Pure ****.

If they f&^k with the dead blows and several other items I will be mad.
But all in all, you really have to pay attention to what you are buying.

What used to be good may have gone bad yet some things have jumped or changed a quality factor.

Odd.

But the reality.

 

[91bronc300]

Have I even bought 10 things from HF that I've liked? Hmmm....

Red 44" roll cab and top
Red service cart
Rubbermaid style tool cart
Those little pen style compressed air blower tips
A few casters
Shop rags
Evaporust
Earthquake impact ( I mostly like it )
Manual air hose reel

Pretty much everything else I've bought I haven't really liked. I almost never go there anymore.

 

[bcradio]

"Earthquake impact ( I mostly like it "

Mostly?

 

[heepr]

Step bits. Press (minus the scary arbor plates). Not much else comes to mind.

 

[djjsr]

This thing. Works great and it didn't empty my wallet.

 

[kunkernator]

Torque wrenches
Those $0.99 orange picks
Wrench racks
Socket trays
Socket rails
Heavy duty test light
"aooga" horn

And I can't think of much more....

 

[472scout]

 

[chris142]

The plastic ratchets and drillmaster battery powered drill

 

[Big Johnson]

The professional impacts sockets and the Earthquake line of impacts are top notch. My 1/2 earthquake outperformed a IR and a Matco impact, which is just an Ingersoll Rand with Matco painted on it anyway. Ripped the lugs off a F650 faster than the others. I paid 69.99 with a coupon, not bad I'd say. I do agree some stuff there is ****, but what do you expect for 10 bucks?

 

[Tribalvision]

My earthquake impact and impact sockets
my Pittsburgh Pro wrenches. not the new ones. The ones they made 7 years ago.
3/8 x 50 retractable air line
step drill bits
forstner bits
radiator hose hook
2 razor blades
6" digital caliper
tape measures

*And my favorite tool I rave about to everyone(Believe it or not) the #2 phillips screwdriver. best one I've used. it just seems to fit the screwheads better.

 

[91bronc300]

"Earthquake impact ( I mostly like it "

Mostly?

Yeah, it might just be mine. Sometimes it has the grunt and sometimes it doesn't. I've had it snap rusty bolts straight in half before, and not small bolts either, or just spin them out. Yet a couple times it has fallen short and I figured I would have to get the blue wrench out but tried a half-inch breaker bar first and was surprised that I could muscle things off with a non-cheater-barred breaker bar. I dunno, I just go up and down with it. It's oiled every day I use it.

 

[91bronc300]

This thing. Works great and it didn't empty my wallet.

And apparently the new Bosch's are China made now too. Won't be dropping four or six hundred bucks on one of those now.

 

[RivennHewn]

I bought the panel welding clamps, but I haven't used them yet. anybody else buy them?

and some magnetic welding angles.

The mini needle scaler does what I intended to use it for, time will tell if it holds up.

Walked through there the other day, and couldn't talk myself into spending any money.

 

[ihateminimumwage]

Can't name 10 things I've bought from HF...

1000lb Engine Stand
Roofing Nailer
Flooring Nailer
Misc Air Fittings
Metal Socket Rails

Planning on buying a 5 Drawer Service Cart this month, and maybe try a 3/8" drive Earthquake Impact if the price is right.

 

[bimmerZ5]

i agree with jjjrmx; the quality from season to season seems to change. my absolute favorite HFT tool was their multi-function tool which i got for $20 on sale. the version i have was the very 1st one and that thing has taken so much abuse, every time i turn it on, I'm amazed it still works and it's been heavily used for over 2 yrs now. it has it's drawbacks; it's very noisy and the design isn't as ergonomic as the new ones. but the reviews for the new ones seem to indicate the quality has gone south really badly... lots of early failures being reported now. i'm keeping mine... it's come in handy in so many situations I can't praise it enough. i still have the spare motor brushes too... haven't needed them yet even after all the hours i've put on it. shame they cut costs so badly that now the new one really *****...

 

[FiendFX]

Anyone tried their A/C Manifold Gauges?

 

[acdc73]

44" roll cab (or is it 41"?)
3/4" drive 3' long chrome breaker bar (S-O knock-off, bought many years ago, and new ones are garbage)
coiled poly air hose (made in Taiwan, they don't sell them anymore)
black 32oz deadblow hammer, not too bad
old orange handle S-O knock-off xtra large flat screw driver, used it for a beater and it's pretty tough
everything else they have ***** LOL

 

[Danglerb]

Anyone tried their A/C Manifold Gauges?

Some have reported the valves didn't work right, others no issues. I paid $29 for mine during some sale with a coupon, but I lost it in my garage and couldn't find it when my wife's car AC was acting up. Hit it instead with a low side only gauge that came with a big can of 134a a Walmart for $15. Revived it twice before last time I took it into the shop and they found a leak. Min shop charge to hook up gauges is two or three times the cost of cheap set, but having gauges doesn't apparently make me any smarter.

 

[acdc73]

Some have reported the valves didn't work right, others no issues. I paid $29 for mine during some sale with a coupon, but I lost it in my garage and couldn't find it when my wife's car AC was acting up. Hit it instead with a low side only gauge that came with a big can of 134a a Walmart for $15. Revived it twice before last time I took it into the shop and they found a leak. Min shop charge to hook up gauges is two or three times the cost of cheap set, but having gauges doesn't apparently make me any smarter.

that's the reason I didn't buy them - I read complaints about leaking valves.

I got a good set of US made Y/J off craigs

 

[jhurless]

I like the extensions I got from them. You can throw down 50 bucks and get every extension 1/4 3/8 1/2 in impact and chrome including several wobbles and so far they are pretty solid. I bought over 25 extensions for that 50 bucks.

I also really like the cheap socket rail 3-packs if you are into making your own socket blocks with 2X4s, which i like to do.

Other then that, good for most things that don't make or break your day to day. Only problem with HF is you simply cannot count on anything. That said, you can also own 4 of everything for half the price you pay on a truck, sooooo yeah.

 

[DesertRatAutomotive]

Whats the difference between the pro and regular impact sockets?


Posted from Garagejournal.com App for Android

 

[acdc73]

Whats the difference between the pro and regular impact sockets?


Posted from Garagejournal.com App for Android

about 5 bucks LOL


no, I believe the regular are chrome vanadium, and pros are chrome moly

 

[woody 73]

Orange dead blow hammers, darn things can dish out abuse and come back for more.
Chrome Moly impact sockets. (look for it to marked as such).
Any pro marked wrench (from just a few years ago).
HF Earthquake air tools.
Plastic tubes of synthetic grease.
Goodyear rubber air hose.
Red shop rags.
20 FT. log chains marked with a high grade #. (real beasts that can take some heavy abuse).
Wrench racks.
Box of screwdriver bits (they must be marked Chrome Vanadium) great for cordless impact guns if you don't want to kill your good screwdrivers).

 

[DesertRatAutomotive]

about 5 bucks LOL


no, I believe the regular are chrome vanadium, and pros are chrome moly

Do the pro have the ball retention slots? i know the regular dont and they **** at staying on the impact gun:/

 

[adamsredlines]

44" Roll Cabinet
Earthquake
Engine stand (the bigger one)
Folding engine hoist
flip socket set
Deadblow

I've been very selective there and very happy, although I feel sleazy going in there lol.

 

[acdc73]

44" Roll Cabinet
Earthquake
Engine stand (the bigger one)
Folding engine hoist
flip socket set
Deadblow

I've been very selective there and very happy, although I feel sleazy going in there lol.

LOL
I feel the same way going in there - wouldn't want my friends to see me...

 

[Daniel Dudley]

Pretty fond of my 2 HP 8 Gallon compressor. Really like the rollaways.

 

[TipsyMcStagger]

This thing. Works great and it didn't empty my wallet.

Can this be used with a bit capable of drilling 1 1/2" holes into rock?

I have a bunch of rocks in the canal behind my home I've been trying to remove to no avail. I'm considering using expanding grout (expanding cement) which requires a series of 1 1/2" holes to be bored.

Tipsy

 

[acdc73]

Can this be used with a bit capable of drilling 1 1/2" holes into rock?

I have a bunch of rocks in the canal behind my home I've been trying to remove to no avail. I'm considering using expanding grout (expanding cement) which requires a series of 1 1/2" holes to be bored.

Tipsy

I doubt that thing can even drill its rated capacity of 1"


your best bet is to rent a Hilti Combihammer from homecenter and get the job done!

 

[ozyborn]

Zip Ties
A few casters
Shop rags
Evaporust

Ya, that is about it

 

[cheechi]

Rather than saying 'my favorite' I will list some HF tools that I have used and seen other real people (as in, not tool snobs) do real work on a daily basis for a long time period (I want to say about 5 years or so)

Engine stand & hoist
Impact gun & sockets
several pullers (pulley, steering wheel, etc)
brake bleed kit
oscillator tool
rotary hammer (I know plenty of cable installers who keep one on the truck)
air hose/reels/fittings
drywall square, levels, speed squares, general framing measuring tools. Can't say I'm very kind to tape measures but they're on par with the rest.

There's plenty other stuff that may be fine for a home garage, some guys want to say the tool storage won't hold up to all day every day auto shop, that's fine i'll give them that. Plenty others use the cart, drawer inserts, socket trays, so I just call it a toss up.

 

[joedodge]

Socket rails and thumb ratchets use them all the time at work never had an issue

 

[JSGAuto]

The tire mounting fixture. It isn't the most complicate tool...but it works!

Between using it on cars, and on motorcycle tires, It has saved me probably $1K's of dollars. The racecar and motorcycles go thru many tires!

 

[creativecars]

The tire mounting fixture. It isn't the most complicate tool...but it works!

Between using it on cars, and on motorcycle tires, It has saved me probably $1K's of dollars. The racecar and motorcycles go thru many tires!

Which one?? I have been thinking about getting one.

 

[JSGAuto]

Which one?? I have been thinking about getting one.

http://www.harborfreight.com/portable-tire-changer-69686.html

With the motorcycle clamp that goes on top.

I don't use that stupid bar thou. Regular tire spoons make it easy, and no scratches!

 

[creativecars]

When I do recommend tools to friends and family I used to say, get Craftsman for what they offer, but now I start with HF.
301 tool Set
22 pc wrench set
SAE and Metric long wrench set
pry bar set- SO copy
44” box
18v impact driver
Palm sander
Air dryer/regulator- Sharpe copy
29 Piece Titanium Nitride Coated Drill Bit Set for 9.99
FREE STUFF- I give away screwdrivers, lights and tape measures