Collective Harbor Freight Tools Thread: The Good, The Bad

[Travis]

Capt_Zoom already mentioned this, but the tap and die set at Harbor Freight gets a huge thumbs down. I bought a set a few years ago, and tried to use it a couple of times. They are junk. I keep it around for some reason, but I really should throw it in the trash.

60 Piece Alloy Steel SAE/Metric Tap and Die Set, Item # 35407

 

[I am Carbon]

Capt_Zoom already mentioned this, but the tap and die set at Harbor Freight gets a huge thumbs down. I bought a set a few years ago, and tried to use it a couple of times. They are junk. I keep it around for some reason, but I really should throw it in the trash.

60 Piece Alloy Steel SAE/Metric Tap and Die Set, Item # 35407

I keep mine too and I don't know why they are crap

 

[leggers]

This is a piece of shit, $90 dollar paper weight. When the keyless chuck goes out its worthless (it will go out).

Love this stand for working on my motor:

 

[gggGary]

Their ultrasonic cleaner has a heater that works well. but a crock pot full of pinesol is cheaper and works better.
The Leak down tester has instructions that are less than useless I have never figured out if it will do anything related to an engine cylinder. The stud extractor works well. Hint; heat your studs before trying to remove them.
The ratchet box end set meh, they WORK fine but the ends are so big and clunky it's a rare bolt head you can use them on.
Bearing race extractor? broke that, but it might have been my own fault.
I love the lift platform you need to file the corners of the platform or you will tear your jeans on them. and the cheap tire clamp is barely useful.

 

[Hoperator]

I back it.

 

[gggGary]

I got one of these with different paint I have the legs longer on one side so the solvent heads to one end of the tank and the pump or switch died years ago.

 

[Junkyard Johnny]

I think I have one of everything from there crammed into my shop. Had the ATV/motorcycle jack then sold it and got the table lift. Other than the crappy wheel vise it's done its job. Also have the tubing roller, throatless shear, grinders, step bits, sawzall blades, wire wheels, paint guns, teardrop hammers, all kinds of shit. Havent had a whole lot of my stuff from HF fail, but I also read into what Im lookin for. Read up on threads like this and read the reviews on their site.

 

[Junkyard Johnny]

The 2 best things ive gotten from there are the table lift and the oxy/acetylene cutting torch. Both have worked as advertised time and time again for a few years now.

 

[Poverty]

I use the shit outa this thing .. works great ..

This works ..Ok I guess .. You have to shake it constantly and it doesn't like play sand .. runs soda wonderfully

this is my fave so far .. all the wheels were way lose but by far my fave "tool" of all time

Just picked this up .. Haven't used it yet . in the reviews alot of people where saying on the lower end of the torque setting the "click" wasn't noticeable .. Mine Is so far

Picked these up when I got the blaster .. no use yet .. seem legit though

I use this welder alot .. I have the blue one (discontinued??) only complaint is I flash the shit outa myself all the time with it .. seems its always has a live wire .. major pain in the ass

These just suck

this is the one thing Ive have no love for .. I wouldnt use this thing to paint farm equip .. its horrid .. I should have saved my money

 

[emzdogz]

anybody here have this lift? am seriously thinking of getting one. Would make a decent table to work on the engine, once I have it out, too. In fact I bet it could be used as an overhead upward pulling device to help pull the engine up out of the frame, before being shifted over to another platform.
Only thing is, with my relatively low hanging pipes, I'd have to make an adapter of some kind so the frame would contact the lift before the pipes.
Was wondering if any of you all have this one. Right now I have a 20% off coupon, and a birthday coming up.
http://www.harborfreight.com/high-position-motorcycle-lift-99887.html

PS: while I'm at it I'll add a couple of pluses and minuses from HF. Bad = a reciprocating saw I bought there a long time ago. It's decent for wood, I suppose, but useless for metal (which is what I wanted it for) Could be their newer ones are better. Also in the minus column, that multi-tool that they always advertise at $29, it's like a shaper sander with a triangular shaped head. Mine died right away. Oh one more bad thing, an air grinder...cheap thing - I believe it was $10. I bought for use in tight spaces where I can't get the 4.5 angle grinder into. It needs way too much air to really be able to grab. The discs would fall off or break. Let's put it this way, my old Dremel with reinforced cutting discs proved MUCH more capable for tight work.

In the plus column, a set of deep metric sockets I bought. Awesome! and I believe the 3/8 torque wrench I have from there is just fine, as well. Also, a wrench set of the type used to tighten the steering neck rings - cheap and works great.

 

[PHeller]

I've got the torque wrench, had it for a few years now. It still work fine.


I just picked up a $9 4.5" Grinder that while it works fine I can tell that I'd want a paddle. The switch isn't exactly smooth and I hate to need to turn it off quickly.

Also got a circular saw that works fine, but is underpowered.

 

[gggGary]

I have looked at lifts like that several times because they take up little floor space, BUT it seems like the lift assembly is going to block easy access to the bike on one side, kind of the whole point of it being up in the air.....

 

[emzdogz]

I have looked at lifts like that several times because they take up little floor space, BUT it seems like the lift assembly is going to block easy access to the bike on one side, kind of the whole point of it being up in the air.....

yeah I thought of that too, but then I considered that for most things I seem to be working from one side, rather than going back and forth, plus you can still somewhat access the other side from the back side of the lift, plus, hopefully it would be easy enough to take off and on that it wouldn't be that much of an issue. Like, say I were working on brakes - that would (on my bike) be only the right side I need to access, etc.
Or if working on carbs, the vast majority of stuff is done (for me) from the left side. (I do hope to never have to mess with carbs anymore though)

My concern though is how easy or hard it would be to make nice sturdy adapter blocks to get past my low pipes issue, and still allow access to the the oil plug(s).

I may get it - if so I will be sure to report back any bad things about it - or if the one-sided thing is a total PITA.

 

[1974jh5]

I have the large and small HVLP paint guns. You have to mess with them and learn how to set them up, once that's done they work surprisingly well. Beats spending $300 on a SATA or etc when you paint as seldom as I do.

Have two of the jacks, the small one is still working but the big one is leaking internally. That's not its fault, I killed it when I used it to jack up a shop roof (don't ask) and it did a good job, it doesn't owe me anything.

The Chicago Electric stuff in orange/blue is crap. If it's dark red, it's actually not bad. I bought a orbital sander to do some stuff around my house and it did great.

I would never buy a welder there. I used a couple that belonged to friends and no way would I put my own money into one of those. Same goes for the Campbell-Hausfelds etc, put another ~$150 with the cost of one of those and buy a Lincoln/Miller/Hobart. You will thank yourself a hundred times over.

The ratchets are shit. I had a 1/4" needle bearing ratchet literally EXPLODE. I was tightening a hose clamp using a 1/4" socket.

Sears/Craftsman tap and die sets are decent value for the money, far better than the HF. Irwins are made well but they have such a limited number of thread diameter/pitches in their 'hobbyist' box store kits that they are not worth it. I have a Blue Point tap/die set that's about 25 years old, it's good stuff.

 

[5twins]

Something I've been using the heck out of lately is this 3-way splitter for my air line .....

It allows me to have several air tools hooked up at once. Currently with all the buffing and polishing I'm doing, that's several HF die grinders (which I also like) with different buffing wheels and Roloc discs attached. About $7 on sale and using the 20% off coupon. Heck, you can't hardly buy the 3 quick disconnects for that .....

http://www.harborfreight.com/air-tools/air-tool-accessories/3-way-uick-coupling-manifold-68195.html

 

[Travis]

Picked these up when I got the blaster .. no use yet .. seem legit though

I use mine almost daily. It works great and holds its zero very well. One of the nicest things I own from HF. Get them on sale when they're $10. I've went through 3 batteries in one and it still works great.

 

[xjwmx]

Capt_Zoom already mentioned this, but the tap and die set at Harbor Freight gets a huge thumbs down. I bought a set a few years ago, and tried to use it a couple of times. They are junk. I keep it around for some reason, but I really should throw it in the trash.

60 Piece Alloy Steel SAE/Metric Tap and Die Set, Item # 35407

I bought this, although it was in a red box. Maybe it is better. Real inexpensive. I've used it several times to restore threads, both male and female and it does a great job for me. For example I bought a master cyl that the the mirror hole was really messed up in. Fixed the hole right up. Then I hammered one chain adjuster screw straight again and fixed the threads with it. Several other things. Clutch lever screw threads (special screw).

I've seen you badmouthing this set before, but mine works fine Maybe it wouldn't work so great cutting threads into a blank, I don't know, but I don't forsee myself needing to do that.

 

[Travis]

Maybe the ones in the red box are better.

I tried to use mine to cut new threads. The dies aren't even cut straight. They wobble as you thread them down a rod. The taps aren't cut clean and don't look sharp. I should get a picture.

To restore threads, I use a thread restoring set. This is the one I have: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000P6UNHE/ref=asc_df_B000P6UNHE2036888 From my understanding, they don't really cut threads, but kind of push the metal back to where it needs to be.

 

[jd750ace]

Hansen makes tap and die sets for Mac and Snap-off. They are good stuff, but as mentioned, you need the master kit to cover yourself well with multiple thread pitches in the same diameter.

I pretty much prefer Northern over Harbor Freight for cheap tools. For that matter, I'll go to Home Depot and buy Husky hand tools before I would buy them from either one. I already have a mountain of Mac and Snap-On hand tools, so don't really need them, just the odd item here and there. Always like to make the rounds at Northern and even look at junk I don't need.

 

[visimpact]

I have that shitty tap and die set too but in a black box I think. I'm not sure why I haven't thrown mine out either. It's almost worthless. I've chased some threads that had paint in them with it. Forget about cutting new ones though.