Harbor Freight Tools

[skyhightree1]

Does anyone in here shop harbor freight tools alot? I go there and buy tarps hammers wedges and chainsaw chain sharpeners and grinding discs but never any hand tools even thought they have a lifetime warranty. If I bought some to keep on my tractors do yall think I will be disappointed or will they be useful and not break while trying to tighten or loosen a bolt ?

 

[melking]

I purchased a mortise and tenon machine from them 7 years ago and am still quite pleased with its service.

 

[skyhightree1]

Thats good to know I was skeptical of the low costs of there tools. I will give them. I also like the prices on there bottle jacks there. I may try one of them out.

 

[greybeard]

Depends what you buy. I wouldn't buy their lower end 3/4 drive stuff or their big (over 1") size combo wrenches. The wrenches are nice and pretty, and usually don't break, but I've bent a 1 1/8" harbor freight combo wrench into a U breaking loose a bolt on my backhoe.

I bought a set of HF bar clamps that have worked out good for the last few years, but also bought a chop saw for wood, a cutoff saw for metal, and a little pancake air compressor. Those 3 ain't worth a crap. The compressor will eventually air up a tire, but takes a long time.
Northern Tool is a little better it seems.

The "Harbor" in Harbor Freight is for Hong Kong harbor.

 

[lavacarancher]

Mornin', Sky

I have bought some things at Harbor Freight and have had mixed results. You mentioned bottle jacks and that's one of the things I bought. Two of the smaller jacks worked for several times when they were new but later failed. I have two 20 ton bottle jacks from HF and they still work after 10 years BUT they have been stored inside and not exposed to the elements. The ram is NOT chrome plated and will rust easily if not taken care of. Bought a 4 1/2" angle grinder which lasted about 2 hours. I bought a sheetrock handler and it lasted until we got one job done but the next time I tried to open it up two of the metal reinforcement brackets broke. I also bought a couple of air operated auto body sanding tools that failed about half way through the job.

IMO you get what you pay for.

Good luck.

 

[ALACOWMAN]

some of their stuff aint worth taking home.....i did buy a farm jack that works well...

 

[skyhightree1]

Thanks for all replies it seems as I should probably just keep buying tarps and simple failsafe tools. I do want to try the bottle jacks thought . I use to shop alot at northern but they have gotten outrageous with prices so I just normally go to sears for tools. I admit my tarps are a one season use and i gotta replace them but there so cheap i dont mind.

 

[greybeard]

I didn't buy any bottle jacks, but my b-i-l did. Worked till he layed them down on there side and they never would work again. Nothing leaked out--they just wouldn't pump up. ???

 

[M5farm]

I buy a lot there. I use there 4 1/2 grinders a lot and never had any issues. They usually burn up after a year or 2. There cut off disk are crap.

 

[slick4591]

The only things I buy from there are things I won't use often. They last a long time that way.

 

[skyhightree1]

the chainsaw chain sharpeners i have have been great and have had them for 3 years and get used atleast 2 times a weekend on numerous chains. Probably around 50 chains a week on each sharpener I like them.

 

[Bigfoot]

I'm not a fan of their stuff. I did buy a gravity feed hvlp paint gun there. It sprays "almost" as good as a binks. It really shocked me.

 

[denvermartinfarms]

I am not a big fan, but our 1" impact is from there, it has taken off and on a lot of truck wheels and seems to still be working fine.

 

[Commercialfarmer]

I get what I have to from there. Sometimes it makes economical sense to buy a cheaper made item for only a couple uses. I have bought a light weight trailer for couple hundred dollars.

It has its place. If I were a contractor and using something religiously, nope.