Harbor Freight????

I always laugh at the hoitey toitey "HF is crap" people. I bought a 40 gallon air compressor in 2003. That thing has been used a TON and is still going strong. Drives my entire race car servicing.

A hammer is a hammer. A wrench is a wrench. Sockets wrenches break, yes, but st the price I am still way ahead money wise than someone who bought a really nice one many years ago.

My HF fleet includes die grinders, cut off tools, an impact wrench, air hammer, river gun, screw drivers, hammers, etc. all worked fine for years.

Those that have broken are replaced cheaply. What more could you want?
 
JCranford said:
Yeah, the auto-dark helmets are nice. I have a HF one and a Miller one. The Miller is better but not by a huge margin. I do mostly TIG on aluminum but would like to get a MIG machine for some other stuff
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I've never learned TIG. My dad was a welding shop instructor at a vocational high school, and he taught me arc and gas when I was a kid, but that's where I stopped. Then I went 25 years without doing any welding at all.

When I started racing, I found it to be $tupid and expen$ive to run to a welding shop every time I needed a simple weld so I picked up the wire feed welder. Probably the easiest way to weld there is, so I don't have the problem with skill atrophy if I'm away for a while like I would with, say, gas.
 
SkyHog said:
A hammer is a hammer. A wrench is a wrench. Sockets wrenches break, yes, ...
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Well, sorta.

Cheap wrenches and sockets aren't made to close dimensional tolerances, and they sometimes fit poorly onto the fasteners they're tightening, causing damage. Same with screwdrivers, especially Phillips. Cheap hammers may not have square faces, causing you to bend nails more often.

It all depends upon your intended use for the tools. Fixing your kid's tricycle is a different game than rebuilding an engine. Nailing up a fence board isn't the same as cabinetry work.
 
ircphoenix said:
I've gone with my mechanic to Harbor Freight to get stuff. Sockets and specialty tools mostly... so they're okay in your book, obviously?
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Not for me. I think Harbor Freight is fine for you, though. Free market, you know?
 
Half Fast said:
Well, sorta.

Cheap wrenches and sockets aren't made to close dimensional tolerances, and they sometimes fit poorly onto the fasteners they're tightening, causing damage. Same with screwdrivers, especially Phillips. Cheap hammers may not have square faces, causing you to bend nails more often.

It all depends upon your intended use for the tools. Fixing your kid's tricycle is a different game than rebuilding an engine. Nailing up a fence board isn't the same as cabinetry work.
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Where does setting up, maintaining, and rebuilding/repairing a race car fit in that spectrum?
 
I bought my chop saw @ HF - but I bought all the blades quality - a saw is a saw, its the blade that matters- don't buy tools that require maintaining edges - like sockets -because a) they're not exact sizes and b) they are made of softer metal than alot of bolts - the free screwdrivers are ok. . . .
 
Like someone else said, HF's hand tools come with a lifetime warranty. For someone doing anything of substance it's not worth it. The only hand tool I bought from them was when I needed a ratchet extension. If it breaks, I couldn't care less. I needed a roofing nailer a couple of years ago and bought one for $59 - cheaper than I could rent one. I figured it was no biggie if it was junk and broke. It's still working fine. I bought an angle grinder there 10 years ago that didn't need replaced until just last month. I used the hell out of that thing, too. Same with a 2.5 ton floor jack that still works great.

With that said, I have 3 sets of tools. My main one which is almost all Craftsman hand tools and DeWalt power tools. My to-go box which is a mix of Craftsman/Stanley/Ryobi power. And the one I keep in the truck which is a collection of every brand known to man.

I was culling my tools a few weeks ago and gave away maybe a hundred extra screwdrivers, hammers, drills...you name it.

I'm not a brand-name tool snob. HF's stuff isn't something I'd go near if I used my tools for a living. But it has its place for cheap people like me.
 
comanchepilot said:
I bought my chop saw @ HF - but I bought all the blades quality - a saw is a saw, its the blade that matters- don't buy tools that require maintaining edges - like sockets -because a) they're not exact sizes and b) they are made of softer metal than alot of bolts - the free screwdrivers are ok. . . .
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Well, again it depends on what you're doing. The tolerances on the bearings/etc. in the HF saw may be fine for rough cutting 2x4's, but if you're trying to make fine cuts on expensive/exotic hardwoods, you get equipment that is made to do so (likely wouldn't be using a chop saw on that anyway). I like HF, they have a lot of good stuff that has quality on par with the big box stores, and it's convenient. If I'm getting a table saw, it isn't coming from HF. Pneumatic cut-off wheel that I'm going to use for an hour and then not pick up again for months/years? HF is the way to go.

Side note: regarding sockets, the have a "Pittsburgh Pro" line of tools that is generally made of much better materials and seems to have good reviews as well. I have a set of their Pro shallow impact sockets in SAE and Metric, which was half the price of the Kobalt/Craftman/etc. brands and has been great when removing suspension components and lug nuts from the various vehicles. I still buy Craftsman for the other hand-tools (standard sockets, wrenches, pliers), but I have no problem grabbing HF tools here and there.
 
I bought a HF rivet gun. The nose piece cracked after driving less than 500 aluminum pop rivets. It was never dropped or abused in any way - just simple usage. The other things I've bought, like various hand tools, casters, gloves, knee pads - that stuff has been fine.
 
Bought a pneumatic rivet puller, failed after 20 rivets. Returned and the replacement also failed after 50 rivets. Gave up and bought one from ATS that's going strong after 1000 or so. OTOH, the tool chest mentioned earlier is a nice piece of equipment. The drill press also is fine for aluminum drilling so far.

Since they have a pretty great return policy, I check them first for almost anything that isn't electrical. Even then, if there's a big price difference for electrical stuff, I take a chance and take it back if it turns to doodoo.

Cheers
 
SkyHog said:
Where does setting up, maintaining, and rebuilding/repairing a race car fit in that spectrum?
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That depends.

If it's my racecar, it should be treated as a piece of precision equipment and only quality tools should come near it.

If it's my competition's racecar, I'd be perfectly happy for you to twist fasteners with a cheap pair of pliers and do suspensions settings with a sledge hammer.

upload_2017-2-17_12-5-5.png
 
comanchepilot said:
I bought my chop saw @ HF - but I bought all the blades quality - a saw is a saw, its the blade that matters- don't buy tools that require maintaining edges - like sockets -because a) they're not exact sizes and b) they are made of softer metal than alot of bolts - the free screwdrivers are ok. . . .
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I hate my miter saw I bought from HF. Not accurate at all and lots of play in the set points. Still works for junk cutting though.
 
I've bought a hand truck (seems fine even after a year of use) and a tool box (I use it go carry ammo and safety equipment to the gun range), furniture pads, tie downs, and tools I suspect I'll loose before I break. At least my local one in Virginia used to have pretty good deals on the "scratch and dent" table. If someone opened a sealed package even if it was all there, it would show up there on a substantial discount.

Now, I live in NC, and up the road from me in Hickory is:

Tractor Supply
Northern Tool
Lowe's
Klingspor
Home Depot
and Harbor Freight.

I figure if I can't find it there, I can probably get along without it. Actually, I've got some great deals on air tools (including the compressor) at Tractor Supply. I've bought some pretty good automotive stuff (portapower, etc...) at Northern Tool.

My company founder's brother who worked for us LOVED harbor freight. We got all kinds of useless stuff including a full size drill press you couldn't lock the table in place well enough to do anything useful with and a pair of bolt cutters that must have had the worlds softest jaws that bent the first time I tried to use it. I'd examine anything I bought there carefully.
 
Half Fast said:
That depends.

If it's my racecar, it should be treated as a piece of precision equipment and only quality tools should come near it.

If it's my competition's racecar, I'd be perfectly happy for you to twist fasteners with a cheap pair of pliers and do suspensions settings with a sledge hammer.

View attachment 51519
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Brings back some memories. I ran an ITA RX-7 in SCCA for a couple of seasons, around the turn of the century (1999-2000 :D:D:D).

But c'mon, it's an old RX-7, not an F1 car!!
 
SoCal RV Flyer said:
Brings back some memories. I ran an ITA RX-7 in SCCA for a couple of seasons, around the turn of the century (1999-2000 :D:D:D).

But c'mon, it's an old RX-7, not an F1 car!!
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In all fairness, my racecar really only needs 8 and 10mm sockets and wrenches, 9/16 and 3/4 sockets and wrenches, and 1" socket for the lug nuts.

Oh, and a flathead to remove and install dzus fasteners. So I may have it a bit easier than others.
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JOhnH said:
Do they sell INexpensive stuff or cheap stuff. Or a mixture.

Sometimes a cheap tool is all I need. I needed a hammer drill once in my life so I bought their $29 hammer drill. By the time I finished my project, it was screeching and scraping and slipping and I threw it away. But it was cheaper than hiring someone to do the job. If I have another similar job I may buy another one and hope it lasts through the project. That is not what I usually expect from my tools, but I wasn't going to pay a couple of hundreds of dollars for a one-shot tool.

How about the rest of their stuff? Should I be wary of things like their security camera systems or air compressors? Does their stuff last? Does it generally work as advertised?
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The key to making any of the Chinese pnuematic tools last is to disassemble and lubricate them before you use them. Seems the Chinese don't believe in wasting lube at assembly. I have a couple die grinders, cut-off saws, punches, nailers and such that have lasted a good long time because I lubed the heck out of them before first use.

But I did buy a cheese-plate bearing separator that was just junk. They took it back though.
 
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I bought a roller stand a few years ago (the kind of thing with a wide roller to support the end of a piece of wood while running it through a table saw). Here's one the bolts that came with it:

screwed.jpg


Never could get it to tighten up.....

Ron Wanttaja
 
Non-harbor freight tangent... RYOBI SUCKS. I've burned out atleast 3 cordless Ryobi drills. Their circular saws are terrible. DeWalt however just keeps on going.
 
AvE tear down videos on YouTube are fantastic. The guy's Canadian dialect is more than a bit salty, but does some downright interesting teardowns of many of the common tool brands, good and bad. Love his stuff!

Here's a Harbor Freight right angle grinder that surprised him:

 
Mtns2Skies said:
Non-harbor freight tangent... RYOBI SUCKS. I've burned out atleast 3 cordless Ryobi drills. Their circular saws are terrible. DeWalt however just keeps on going.
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I always got that impression just looking at them in the stores, but I've never owned anything Ryobi other than a 2-cycle, 200mph leaf blower. The leaf blower is 10 years old and only recently started having issues.

I can't say I've owned anything unsatisfactory despite owning a hodgepodge of electric tool brands: Rigid Circular saw (great), DeWalt 18V drill (great), Craftsman Professional corded drill (good), Black & Decker FireStorm jigsaw (surprisingly good).


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
The Ryobi one line is amazing. I'm working on converting all my cordless stuff to ryobi now.

It's the only line that has a decent impact wrench (not an impact driver) that I could find.

My goal is to have my current cordless tools be my traveling tools for the track, so if I lose or break anything I still have the good stuff back in my shop
 
I concur that the Ryobi tools work very well for the price. A Contactor I did a bit of work for a few years ago gave me a couple of his old drills. He had replaced them with newer Ryobi cordless drills. I used them for a couple years until the Nicad batteries died and then bought another drill and impact driver with the lithium batteries. The old drills still work fine with the new batteries, one of them even sat in a bucket of rainwater for about a month. I dried it out and it still works fine.

Brian
 
Ryobi drills have always worked fine for me, and have lasted many years. I now have two because on sale sometimes it's cheaper to get the drill with two lithium ion batteries and a charger than to just to get the two batteries by themselves.

Then again a friend who swears by Dewalt can't say Ryobi without doing a fake spit afterwards
 
wanttaja said:
I bought a roller stand a few years ago (the kind of thing with a wide roller to support the end of a piece of wood while running it through a table saw). Here's one the bolts that came with it:

screwed.jpg


Never could get it to tighten up.....

Ron Wanttaja
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That's a taper pin. Just tap it in...
 
That was a great YouTube video, thanks. As for Ryobi, ten years ago I wouldn't have taken anything of theirs if it was free. Now their quality seems to be great for the price. I've got a couple of impact drivers, drills, various saws where the batteries are interchangeable. Not a problem with any of them. And I love that when one battery goes down I've got my choice of another half dozen to grab. One regret I have is that without thinking I bought a corded buffer for my truck instead of a Ryobi battery powered one.
 
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