your worst tool fail

[toplessHO]

bought a pair of the very large tinsnips(not aviation snips the big ones)
from Harbor Fright. I had a coupon so they were cheap.
was walking out to the car with the box in hand and they escaped the box
fell a couple feet to the ground and broke in half.
I put all of it back in the box and went right back in for a refund.
Needless to say I didnt get a replacement. I think that sets the bar pretty high
for a defective tool exchange /refund at 20 ft out the door.

 

[1950mercury]

Stop it....hf makes a ****** tool?

 

[ex-x-fire]

Thorsen 1/4 breaker bar, first time I used it the ball fell out.

 

[bobcatdan]

SO channellock style pliers. So big, bulky, clumsy and with a handle spacing Shaq's hand couldn't wrap a round. They make a better hammer then pliers.

 

[vintage nut]

A 3 piece set of Chinese round head 3/8 ratchets. My uncle had them, and I tried them when I was doing some work on his hay rake. I had to install about 50 bolts. I completely stripped out all 3 and didn't even finish the job.... Grabbed either a snap-on or proto, can't remember, and finished the job

you can never have too many tools

 

[Triumph8]

My neighbor broke three different 6" C-clamps from HF replacing his brakes. Two were mine. All by tightening with his bare hands. Wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it.


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[panknuckshovel]

Craftsman RP 1/2" ratchet I had been using for 20 years. Putting extra oomph into it right as it decided to give up the ghost. My hand slammed into the table bruising the hell out of a few knuckles.

 

[Wizzard]

Cordless recip saw broke in half while cutting a 4x4 post just above the grass. Glad the bladed section didn't come back into my arm. The tool worked well up until the point of failure

 

[toplessHO]

Craftsman RP 1/2" ratchet I had been using for 20 years. Putting extra oomph into it right as it decided to give up the ghost. My hand slammed into the table bruising the hell out of a few knuckles.

maybe I should explain the guidelines of this thread

 

[toplessHO]

not that I havent had worse failures which Ive had plenty over the yrs but
this one was I barely got out of the store,didnt even get to use it!
Must have been the Georgia guarantee ,if it breaks you get to keep both pieces

 

[panknuckshovel]

maybe I should explain the guidelines of this thread

Ok, I guess you meant more toward fresh out of the box. Luckily I haven't had that.

 

[tjmonsen5]

harbor freight ball joint seperator threads stripped on the first control arm. returned it for a new one, no more impact gun usage... maybe that was my fault.

Craftsman 3/8 air ratchet only survived the replacement of my rear shocks and springs, locked up solid before the job was done. Junk. Tried to unscrew the housing and ended up bending the neck of the ratchet, into the trash it went. First time I used it after receiving it as a gift in the air ratchet/impact/air hammer/hose starter kit. Didn't have the receipt and well over 3-5 years old so couldn't return it.

Harbor Freight impact universal joints. Seemed to **** up all of the power, wouldn't break bolts loose. Gave them to a friend after the first use. Fail if you ask me.

Autozone fuel pressure tester rental ... gauge didn't work.. why do I rent cheap stupid tools?

Coleman cordless drill, used it for about a year, then dropped it on the garage floor. It exploded into 50 pieces. It was a good drill for me as a 15 year old when i first started tinkering.

Craftsman #2 phillips screwdriver chipped off the tip on an interior dashboard screw!

Craftsman professional vice-grips, I must have warrantied at least 4 of them.. They get really sloppy and hard to release.

Craftsman floor jack, i have gone through 3 of them in less than 6 years and they all fail. Either they dont hold the car up long enough to get a jack stand underneath, or the release mechanism seizes and you cannot lower the car. Putting a pipe wrench on the handle still wont give you enough torque to twist the handle when that happens... weird.

 

[OkRider]

Harbor Freight 5 piece retaining plier set. Fail from the word "go". Bend very easily. Worse than useless.

 

[G_P]

Bought a 3/8" drive socket set at Pep Boys for 99 cents about 10 or so years ago. Figured it would make a good beater tool set for the junkyard.
Tried the set out at home and the first few sockets I tried stretched and split right open like they were made of pure lead.
Clamped the ratchet drive in a vise and pulled gently with one hand and the handle bent like plastic and then the square drive broke off.

I threw the set right in the garbage. I didnt want to risk tainting a batch of steel by dumping them in the scrap barrel!

 

[arz71]

Correlation here 'UN-Honorable-Freight' connect the dots.

 

[thieltech]

More horror freight junk filling up the land fills .

Its the American WAY

Ive had a similar experience with there screw drivers 4 yrs ago we were broke down and did
not have tools , so we ran to horror freight for some hand tools . First tool we used was the flat head screw driver on a big hose clamp , and the handle cracked right in half .

lesson learned that day . never again .

Some of there larger tools are okay with lots of TLC

 

[1978silverado]

I have absolutely no faith in harbor freight tools.they are all junk.

 

[Jarhead0408]

No, they're not ALL junk. Some of them yes, but not all of them. Not by a long shot.

Just like with any brand, you've got to be selective about which products you buy.

HF has a lot of ****, but they also have a lot of decent, and even excellent stuff.

This particular tool comes to mind: http://www.harborfreight.com/14-in-38-in-drive-long-reach-dual-flex-head-ratchet-67994.html

It was absolutely ideal for reaching in the narrow space in my Civics engine bay. It made changing the timing belt a breeze. Because the "shaft" of the tool is so narrow, I could maneuver it very nicely around obstacles.

 

[burnedzr2]

Tightening up a 1" black iron gas pipes using 2 rigid pipe wrenches 1 cast steel 1 aluminum. I was up on a ladder cranking down the pipe with the aluminum wrench and the cast one jammed up against the floor and the aluminum handle broke right off. Off the ladder I went, hit the floor and rolled right over on to my face. The other guys there were laughing so hard while they were coming over to see if I was ok. No more aluminum pipe wrenches for me.

 

[619DioFan]

No, they're not ALL junk. Some of them yes, but not all of them. Not by a long shot.

Just like with any brand, you've got to be selective about which products you buy.

HF has a lot of ****, but they also have a lot of decent, and even excellent stuff.

This particular tool comes to mind: http://www.harborfreight.com/14-in-38-in-drive-long-reach-dual-flex-head-ratchet-67994.html

It was absolutely ideal for reaching in the narrow space in my Civics engine bay. It made changing the timing belt a breeze. Because the "shaft" of the tool is so narrow, I could maneuver it very nicely around obstacles.

I have the one you linked as well as the short non flex version. use them all the time. absolutely fantastic tools that save many headaches for me.

 

[Scott r c]

I have never seen a Ridgid fail. Even with big cheater bars.

 

[Strouty]

Well this one time I was with a girl, things were getting hot and heavy. Her hands were so cold, well you get the idea. That was my worst tool failure ever.

 

[tylerlayne]

My worst tool fail was once after I painted a car I wet sanded the clear with with 1500 to buff the car. The speed adjuster switch on my makita buffer burned out and I had to buy a cheap buffer to finish the car I had just started to buff. Goes to show you even good tools break sometimes. I got the makita repaired and now have a dewalt as a back up. Second worst was the time I broke 3- 1/2" breaker bars in half trying to break the hub nut loose on my accord.

 

[IMCA38]

One time, I visited the "traveling tool circus" (Name I use for Cummins, Homier, etc.).
They had a hammer drill for like $10. I thought what the heck, might be handy if I'm trying to drill concrete.
Put it away and a few months later, had to put some conduit hangers on a concrete wall. The chuck kept working loose and dropping the bit. Grabbed the key and tried to tighten it up and the key just snapped off the teeth on the chuck.
Ended up with kind of a Hilbilly chuck!

 

[Jarhead0408]

I have the one you linked as well as the short non flex version. use them all the time. absolutely fantastic tools that save many headaches for me.

Glad to see they helped you. That really is a gem of a tool.

 

[nicksnothereman]

bought a pair of the very large tinsnips(not aviation snips the big ones)
from Harbor Fright. I had a coupon so they were cheap.
was walking out to the car with the box in hand and they escaped the box
fell a couple feet to the ground and broke in half.
I put all of it back in the box and went right back in for a refund.
Needless to say I didnt get a replacement. I think that sets the bar pretty high
for a defective tool exchange /refund at 20 ft out the door.

I use a lot of crappy tools. But none are quite as crappy as my original bunch of chinese retail tools. The worst failure was a 1/2" universal shrapnel everywhere but to fair that was at a "I'm a dumbkopf" angle and a hub bolt almost 10 years after the purchase. Meh all around.

I wouldn't necessarily pin it on the mfg, some things even if they're well made will disintegrate if you're not thinking. Side note:I actually like and use the pittsburgh hard handle screwdrivers because I know where they belong: for household use. Some of the stuff is awful though but eyeball test means you don't buy it.

 

[Jason280]

Cordless recip saw broke in half while cutting a 4x4 post just above the grass. Glad the bladed section didn't come back into my arm. The tool worked well up until the point of failure

Doesn't so much look like it broke, looks like the screws vibrated out and the two shells simply separated...likely a very easy fix.

 

[LordPsychon]

Craftsman Evolv precision screwdriver - tried to loosen a flathead screw and the tip twisted instantly.

 

[woody 73]

I needed a magnetic pick up tool and the craftsman one I bought failed on the first try darn thing broke in half; the telescoping part was held together with two small wedges that failed.

Stanley screwdriver first screw and the tip turned to butter; don't get me wrong they make some great screwdrivers but the homeowner grade I bought was ****.

 

[Ratchet.]

Cheap made in china vise (cant remember the brand, may have been draper) I was trying to undo an m10 bolt from part clamped in it and the moving jaw broke clean off at the slide only had a 3/8 drive ratchet and socket on the bolt too, cant find the pictures i took sadly.

It got replaced by a proper old made in England Record one which will outlast the sun

 

[ex-x-fire]

I have absolutely no faith in harbor freight tools.they are all junk.

My Mac guy keeps trying to sell their caliper turn back tool, its the same one at HF. He's selling it for $140-150. If I use a 20% coupon at HF I can get it for $100 less then Mac.

 

[97fordsuper]

Cordless recip saw broke in half while cutting a 4x4 post just above the grass. Glad the bladed section didn't come back into my arm. The tool worked well up until the point of failure

I've had the same saw and the same failure

 

[jimmybread]

Great Neck Oxygen sensor wrench. It was in a bonus in a toolbox i bought. Broke first time i used it. Looked them up and they are 29.95 at autozone.. Junk. Glad i didn't pay for it.

 

[lakota]

Family bought an electric WEN jig saw in the early 60's. The set screw was a national course and continually fell out. The saw was worthless.

 

[m.breen]

Powerfist speed handle. Did'nt even get one nut off. Did not realize how delicate these are.

 

[Fordman7795]

My neighbor broke three different 6" C-clamps from HF replacing his brakes. Two were mine. All by tightening with his bare hands. Wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it.


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Cheap clamps are easy to break by hand.

Since I do not own any harbor freight tools I cant share any 'tool falling out of the box and breaking' stories. I did have a t72 ratchet shoot the retention ball out on the first use. And i also bent a craftsman pro wrench, the hard way. Rather than breaking at the beam it bent to a 90 degree like an obstruction wrench. The clueless salesman at sears asked "whats wrong with it?". He thought it was a style they sold.

 

[2mJps]

I am not makeing this up and not sure what i can do about it. I had a 3/8 long black plastic handled SO ratchet that i realy liked but some how i lost it on a job. I was at the bank cashing the check from that job and spoted the SO truck. All he had was a reguler long handled one so i bought it. I have never been hard on it but its broke 3 times. Some thing is wrong with the way its made.

 

[justanengineer]

My old Cman pry bars were getting worn, bent, and I was missing several of them so I was looking for replacements. In the meantime I had a set of HF ones that were a present a few years ago stuck in a drawer so out they came. I used them on a few odd occasions then happened to drop one onto the concrete and the handle shattered. I pulled out the others and noticed the handles were all somewhat loose and seemed rather brittle so I replaced them with the Richard ones from Ollie's. A couple weeks later a friend showed me the stitches he needed when one of the handles on one he was using came off in his hand, was really glad I replaced them when I did. This may be only a hobby anymore but cheap Chinese tools can definitely hurt you.

 

[Wizzard]

Doesn't so much look like it broke, looks like the screws vibrated out and the two shells simply separated...likely a very easy fix.

The plastic screw sleeves snapped in half...no fixing it.

 

[FullRaceMerc]

I worked for a hardware store. We were at a hardware show where they try to sell all the new products to stores like us.

There was a new ratcheting ball screwdriver being demonstrated. It looked somewhat like the pic below, but had a huge hard plastic handle with small ridges. The concept was supposed to be that the larger diameter handle gave you more leverage.

It was the usual type setup. A very pretty woman running the demo. An inferior tiny handled screwdriver to represent the competition. A scale that young guys like me were invited to turn with both screwdrivers to demonstrate the added turning power of the new product. It was planned out perfectly. Almost.

When I got to the scale, of course I had to impress the pretty woman with my incredible strength, even with that tiny competitor's screwdriver. She stood very close & watched over my shoulder as I moved the scale with the first silly little screwdriver. Then my dream girl handed me the new miracle tool. I was inspired to sell her product. Time to make her screwdriver shine. But by that point my hands were so sweaty that I could not grip the slick plastic handle with the tiny ridges.

No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't turn the scale as far as I had with the silly screwdriver without my hand slipping. She said something about me joking around, & to really turn it. I couldn't. She looked at me as if I was purposely undermining her financial future. I didn't want to admit to her that my sweaty palms were the cause. So I mumbled something about the grip slipping & I slipped off into the crowd. I went back to my hardware store a lonely man. The tool was such a failure that I can't even find a pic of it today.