Collective Harbor Freight Tools Thread: The Good, The Bad

[xjwmx]

The bit second from right works perfectly with the BS34 pilot jet. Perfect size, clunks right in the slot with no slop, and...the bit just barely fits into the hole, which means it is always square. The red thing is a handle I've had for years that holds 1/4" hex bits.

 

[Bob Kelly III]

KOOL thanks !
....
Bob......

 

[fredintoon]

Us Canadians don't have Harbor Freight (and if we did it'd be Harbour Freight)
We have Canadian Tire and Princess Auto instead.
And if I was a professional mechanic whose living depended on using good quality equipment I wouldn't buy tools from either of them.
OTOH, the average weekend and evenings amateur don't need a $100 wrench to do what a $15 wrench will do for the limited times it'd get used.
And those lifetime warranties at a modest extra cost? The older I get the less they attract me.

 

[xjwmx]

^The professional mechanics I've worked around just use tools from anyplace, but in that context certain ones do have a good reputation and are desirable though, like Ridgid brand pipe wrenches.

 

[xjwmx]

Hand tools, I meant.

 

[fredintoon]

^The professional mechanics I've worked around just use tools from anyplace, but in that context certain ones do have a good reputation and are desirable though, like Ridgid brand pipe wrenches.

Hi xjwmx,
- - - and seen 'em flung into the trash when they didn't work right, eh?
Interestingly, certain mfr's tool names have turned into generic terms. Crescent wrenches for one and Visegrips for another.
And while most crescent wrenches are OK no matter who made them, visegrips not made by Visegrip are mostly total rubbish.

 

[TwoManyXS1Bs]

I've measured dimensional differences between close-fitting professional grade box-end wrenches and the cheap stuff, which also tends to spring open and round off hex heads. It's a heat treatment thing...

 

[hogtyed]

If I have to cut, bend, or weld a tool to make a specialty tool, I'd rather do it to an inexpensive Harbor Freight wrench.

 

[fredintoon]

If I have to cut, bend, or weld a tool to make a specialty tool, I'd rather do it to an inexpensive Harbor Freight wrench.

Hi hogtied,
oh yes, nobody takes a torch to my Sunday wrenches. Got a drawer full of "modified to suit" El Cheapo no name wrenches.
And those combination wrenches where the open end is damaged but the box end is still good?
Cut off the damaged open end and put a length of pipe over the wrench stem to get some serious leverage.