OK: How About a POSITIVE HARBOR FREIGHT Thread???

bought a h f angle grinder once. after a month the off part of the switch quit..i used to tell people plug in and hang on!!!!

 

Int'resting.

 

Floor jack. After 3 craftsmans in 3 years decided if I was buying crap, then I was buying CRAP. It's at 5 years and ticking. I use the shit out of a floorjack, none of this once a month stuff.

 

Thats where a got my welder and i have no trouble with it at all and i payed 200 bucks for it a lincoln of the same size would have cost me 800 bucks even if it shits out in a year i just go up there and get a new one because it has a three year waranty.

 

I paint with a h.f paint gun. I have actually won best paint at goodguys with a car I did with my $12.00 harbor frieght gun. My planishing hammer is also from them. It works great. as is my 12 ton press, sandblaster, and cut off wheel. All great tools. Its kinda like speedway, or jc whitney, some of thier stuff is great, some of it isnt worth the packaging it comes in.

 

Same here, all the craftsman floor jacks I've seen end up leaking all over the place even with light use. We use the the HF floor jacks all the time, no leaks yet.

 

Hammers and prybars, and anything else disposable that I beat the shit out of.

 

So that's their secret.

 

I'm a big fan of the little ceramic lawn gnomes. My wife calls them the drag queen gnomes, because they have bright red lip stick.

I have plenty of HF tools at home that work great, not that many at work. I do have a small sledge that I use constantly at work with out any problems in the two years I've had it. I probably paid 410 for it and similar hammer from one of the tool trucks would have cost me $90.

 

They make great digital calipers, anything magnetic and disposable cleaning equipment. The rest of the stuff depends on what you are going to use it for, some good & some bad. I have come decided that the anti-christ is not the proprieter as some people think.

 

The Impala is currently tarped up with a Harbor Freight buy. Works like a champ, even when there was a foot pf snow on it.

 

Almost everything, hvlp paint guns have two got them both for under 20 bucks, can't tell the diff from any other I've ever had, air compressor, flux-core wire feed welder/helmet/ gloves/wire, diegrinders, ac servicing gauges, ac vac pump, drill bits, cutoff wheels, air hoses, gloves, transfer punches, timing light, dwell meter, multimeter, .......................hmmm. almost everything. Some stuff don't last, but for example a whole package of cutoff discs (on sale), isn't more than two discs at Sears. Drill bits are pretty good, and I have a Drill Doctor so when the dull bit bucket gets full I just take a couple of hours, sharpen up a hundred or so and be ready for another six months of fun.

 

I use the hell out of their 4.5" cut-off wheels too. Mine are the made in pakistan variety & a ten pack is like 3.99. They last longer than all the name brand ones from my local OSH that are 2.99+ each. Got 8 of their jackstands and I have friend who has a Mill from them & he uses it every day to make a living with no problems. Their zip-tyes suck, you can undo them with a gentle tug. I've also had a set of impact sockets I keep in junkyard toolbox that have been through plenty of abuse with no issues.

 

Thats interesting. I work for an auto supply company and about that time we sold C H compressors. I needed a compressor and asked about employee pricing. DC cost + 10%. The DC cost for a C H compressor pt. no. VT6727 was $385. Plus 10% = $423.50 to me. I was in H F a few days later and saw the same C H compressor for $389. Needless to say I bought it in H F. Its still working with no problems. I have bought a lot of stuff in H F and rarely have had problems. I hate buying stuff there as it is not American made. BUT if it was not for H F I wouldn't be able to afford to buy what I have. Its that simple.

 

The electric metal shears are Great. I really like the electric long shaft die grinder, the only bummer is the brushes run out after 3 to 4 months so you just get the warranty and they replace it.

Ian

 

I buy supplies and stuff that I want to abuse. I have had good luck with their air tools and the blast cabinet I bought 5 years ago is still going. I dont buy sockets, wrenches or ratchets
Their price on tarps is the best

 

wow i cant believe no one has mentioned the quite little girles always worken there,
the best part of hf if yu ask me ...

 

plenishing hammer bought 2 weeks ago is getting the snot beat out of it all this week, so far so good. That thing is running at least 3 hours running time a day. working well. The base was filled with Sand, bolted, & welded together, bolted to the floor, and is doing fine....so far, when it breaks, the hammer itself will be replaced and that's it.

 

The wife bought me a vise, bench and a sawzall from HF some 4 years ago. Both have had the snot beat out of them. Still working.

 

They made correct change for me last week when I went in to buy a cheap sawblade handle and electrical tape.

 

I got an air hose from them last year and it exploded the minute I hooked it up to my air compressor. I only run 160psi and the hose was rated for way more than that. I seen now that they carry goodyear hoses, so I might give em another chance.

I buy all of my consumables from HF and most of my air tools, especially now that my HF cutoff tool has lasted 3 times as long as my POS Blue Point that I bought from Snap On for 10 times the money.

 

I DO NOT buy "REAL" tools from them; and the only stuff I buy, I really don't expect it to last. They do have some nifty junk, and it's always fun to look around. BUT, "JERKY?", woof-woof, meow-meow! AND, the other day, I found something that WAS, "MADE IN THE U.S.A." ( I did a thread on that ). Butch/56sedandelivery.

 

zip ties and a nifty statue of a SOHC ford engine, didn't know about the jerky.

 

i got a cheap sand blaster there last year and its kindof slow but gets the job done. blasted some wheels not long ago and did a nice job. also have a roller stool that goes up and down that ive used the shit out of for over a year with the only thing goin wrong is a wheel came loose so i just tightend it.

 

The star bits I got there were junk - but I also snapped a craftsman right off too, on the same damned bolt. I guess trying to use them to pull the top bolts in a T5 trans was a bad idea.

I've had good luck otherwise, and one good thing about clueless little girls is sometimes you get a better tool on the replacement when you break one. My 3/8 breaker bar became a 1/2 because they were out of 3/8, and my ratcheting chain tie-down went up a size for the same reason - even though I ran over the damned thing. I wore out one grinder and I'm on my second - and the last time they were on sale for $9 I bought two of them and put them up, which pretty well ensures this one will last until it gets dropped in a puddle or run over by a vehicle. The first one lasted three years and only died I think because it got some sand in it cutting bolts to pull the motor out of a '47 Cadillac.

Their magnetic trailer light set has been no problems, either, I use them every time I move a car. Just have to kind of pick and choose what you buy.

 

All my airtools are from HF.

Butterfly ratchet/impact whatever it's called is cool
Air nibbler works great
3" cutoffwheel for around $5 is still going strong
air hammer is a-ok for under $10
air die grinder, angle grinder , both fine
I had an $8 impact that suuuuuucked, but I've got another one that works OK, just not as good as my friends Sears brand(made in taiwan I think)
impact sockets are fine
I bought a package of wiring connectors that were made in taiwan. Gardner/Bender connectors are made in Taiwan as well, and the stuff I've bought from delcity.net a lot of the stuff was from Taiwan, so I figure short of super high end they're probably pretty good.

I've got a tarp, like everyone else evidentally
I've got a floor press that works fine
my paint gun is fine even after the crap I've put thru it like glue LOL
I got a set of long punches I really like

I *don't* like their cotterpins/grommets/screws/clamps

I killed one angle die grinder but got a good year of use out of it, then dropped another $15 on a new one

my air drill I use all the time and it stands up
3 pc step drill bits!!!! About the best thing there!!! Absolutely worth the $9 on sale!!!

 

bought a reman Wagner Paint Crew sprayer there last summer,no price on the box..dude punches it up and says $99.00 plus tax.
I ask how much for a new one to see the difference and he looks at the screen and says "looks like the same price."....I asked how they could be priced the same when the one I had had "remanufactured" stamped on the box.
he agreed and punched in a 20 percent off coupon from under the counter and it ended up $92.00 with tax out the door.
later I saw the new ones were over $200.00..lol
great sprayer btw,
shot 55 gallon thru it and its cleaned up for the next abuse.

 

I just bought the magnetic tow light set for 9.99 a couple of weeks ago and picked up another 4-1/2 inch angle grinder to go along with the one I have been abusing for the past 8 years.
I've had one of the floor jacks for five years and it works ok but is starting to bleed down if you leave something held up on it. It doesn't get used every day but gets some use every week.

I've got a 12.95 set of end wrenches off the Cummins tool truck that go up to something like 1-1/4 or so. I don't use them often but am sure glad to have the cheapies available when I need to use them. I bought that set to carry in the truck when I was working on a dairy and the workers were always borrowing a wrench.
I would hazzard a guess that a lot of us wouldn't be able to do the work we do on our own cars and maybe the cars of others if we didn't have a few HF tools to get the job done as the so called really good tools would be out of our budgets.

When I was working as a mechanic and had to depend on my tools to make a living and better tools helped to make a better living I wanted and bought the best I could get and still have most of those but now that I just twist wrenches as a hobby or to repair my own rigs I don't need the best of the best as far as tools go. I still buy Sears on sale when I can and find that Ace hardware's top line is pretty good for the price.

 

I like the HF stuff that doesn't endanger life and limb