The Harbor Freight PASS/FAIL Thread...

[waterppk]

Post on the official review site:
http://www.hfreviews.com

[Danglerb]

Originally Posted by waterppk

Post on the official review site:
http://www.hfreviews.com

Congrats on your new site, but I see ZERO reviews for anything.

If its your site you really should fully disclose that when posting a link to it as your first and only post.

[nissan_crawler]

Originally Posted by waterppk

Post on the official review site:
http://www.hfreviews.com

troll reported

[Marty256]

Over the weekend I bought the aluminum racing jack style motorcycle jack from HF. Got it home and opened the box only to find one of the wheels broken off of the front support bar. The bar is threaded on each end for the wheels to fasten to. It looked as if they may have torqued the wheel nut too tight and twisted the bar at the end of the threads. I took it right back and got another. Hope this one holds up. The jury is still out on this one.

[WSMC633]

I used that Aluminum jack to lift up the rear of a '40 caddy and drag it over a couple feet. Bent the hell out of that jack. Honestly I didn't expect it to survive :/

[Dust]

16" x 30" Steel Service Cart

Bought this puppy yesterday when it was still on sale for $44.99 and with a 20% off coupon. Put it together in the back yard, and took it to work this morning. It went together really easy, taking about an hour to sort all the hardware and assemble the cart. When I tightened down all the fasteners, it felt quite solid despite the thin gauge metal. There is no discernible amount of flexing because of fastener slop or poor fit. The paint is vibrant, and would go quite well with a standard red toolbox. The five inch casters are smooth, and roll over most minor bumps and obstacles.

Pros:
Cheap, even at full price.
Sturdy when all the fasteners are tightened.
Lots of space with three trays.
Casters are quite large, and roll very easily.

Cons:
Somewhat thin gauge sheet metal.
Metric fasteners.
The caster fasteners create an unlevel surface on the bottom tray.
Only two swivel casters.

For a budget service cart, this can't be beat. I plan on making extensive modifications to it, such as an air supply manifold, tool hangers, and magnetic racks.

Pass!

[WSMC633]

Originally Posted by Dust

16" x 30" Steel Service Cart

Bought this puppy yesterday when it was still on sale for $44.99 and with a 20% off coupon. Put it together in the back yard, and took it to work this morning. It went together really easy, taking about an hour to sort all the hardware and assemble the cart. When I tightened down all the fasteners, it felt quite solid despite the thin gauge metal. There is no discernible amount of flexing because of fastener slop or poor fit. The paint is vibrant, and would go quite well with a standard red toolbox. The five inch casters are smooth, and roll over most minor bumps and obstacles.

Pros:
Cheap, even at full price.
Sturdy when all the fasteners are tightened.
Lots of space with three trays.
Casters are quite large, and roll very easily.

Cons:
Somewhat thin gauge sheet metal.
Metric fasteners.
The caster fasteners create an unlevel surface on the bottom tray.
Only two swivel casters.

For a budget service cart, this can't be beat. I plan on making extensive modifications to it, such as an air supply manifold, tool hangers, and magnetic racks.

Pass!

Slightly off topic, but why are Metric fasteners a "Con"? My SAE tools hardly come out of the drawers these days unless I'm putting in a carriage or Lag bolt around the shop.

I have been thinking about grabbing a couple of those for the shop. Glad to see they're decent. The ones at the store are put together so poorly, I was wondering how much it would stiffen up if assembled properly. Thanks for the Detailed write up!

[Chris Adams]

Originally Posted by WSMC633

Slightly off topic, but why are Metric fasteners a "Con"? My SAE tools hardly come out of the drawers these days unless I'm putting in a carriage or Lag bolt around the shop.

snip

They are a 'con' because you can't buy them super cheap in bulk.
What that means is if you need a metric bolt/nut you have to PAY big for it. So if you lose a nut or bolt from the cart, or anything else metric, you are either going to replace it with a low priced SAE, and have mismatched bolts, or pay 15-30 times as much for the 'correct' replacement bolt.
Which you can't find anywhere.
When I need a specific size metric bolt it can take two hours of running around town to probably NOT find it.
We do have places that carry large selections of metric bolts/nuts etc. but usually don't have the one you want, but will order a box of them for 10 times the price charged by the local hardware/Lowe's/HD/Osh, or whatever.

[Art From De Leon]

If you are short a bolt or nut, why not replace it with a standard one? If appearence is a problem, simply trade places and place the standard threaded one in a less noticeable location.

[curdy]

All PASS

2-1/4 Ton Heavyweight Floor Jack: ITEM 50183
*Works perfect, I've been very happy with it.

Snap Ring Pliers with Interchangeable Heads: ITEM 3316-4VGA
*Work well. I think they're a great value.

2 Piece Magnetic Paper Towel Holders: ITEM 98162-D
*AWESOME product. Magnets are very strong, and the surface is non-marring.

Mechanic's Roller Seat: ITEM 3338
*Been very happy with this. I find myself using it WAY more than I ever thought I would. Can't imagine not having it now.

6 Piece Star Bit Set: ITEM 93316-0VGA
*Nice small size torx bits. Perfect for the small screws on some ratchets.

8 Piece Right Angle Screwdriver: ITEM 92630-0VGA
*Neat little tool. Comes in very handy. Seems very well made to me.

Five LED Magnetic Head Lamp: ITEM 93549
*This thing rocks. Another one of those 'how did I ever get by without it?' tools. I wouldn't call these heavy duty enough to be tossed around a lot in really tough conditions, but you'll have to pay at 4 times as much to get something like that.

3-1/2" Nine LED Flashlights, 2 Pack: ITEM 97036
*I've never paid full price for these. I have several sets that I got for $4 and they are great.

3 Piece SAE Socket Tray/Organizer & 3 Piece Metric Socket Tray/Organizer: ITEM 95595 & ITEM 95783
*Nice sets. Little disappointing in the way the numbers skip, but I'll just have to redo the numbers.

I have more, but I'll have to get back later.

[Bull]

"3 Piece SAE Socket Tray/Organizer & 3 Piece Metric Socket Tray/Organizer: ITEM 95595 & ITEM 95783
*Nice sets. Little disappointing in the way the numbers skip, but I'll just have to redo the numbers."

I was looking at these just last night. How do the numbers "skip" that is disappointing?

Also, the part number for the paper towel holders does not yield a result on the HF website...?

On another note I have purchased metric bolts from Boltdepot.com before...you can buy singles or boxes, but of course there is shipping to consider. They have a large selection and have always given me good service the handful of times I have ordered.

[72chevy]

[QUOTE=Bull;517704
Also, the part number for the paper towel holders does not yield a result on the HF website...?
[/QUOTE]

Try this site...

http://www.harborfreightusa.com/usa/...+Towel+Holders

[Bull]

Thank you. Why do the two sites look different i.e. harborfreight.com and harborfreightusa.com

[Scotto]

Originally Posted by Bull

Thank you. Why do the two sites look different i.e. harborfreight.com and harborfreightusa.com

It really is the strangest thing. The logos are even different.

[Chris Adams]

Originally Posted by Art From De Leon

If you are short a bolt or nut, why not replace it with a standard one? If appearence is a problem, simply trade places and place the standard threaded one in a less noticeable location.

After all, what says competent mechanic like mismatched bolts…
Or how about just using bailing wire?

Mickey Mouse works, is cheap and guys working under shade trees for the last 100 years have put mismatched bolts in anything that moves.

However;
Not all of us would do that by preference.

The real solution would be ready availability of metric bolts but it seems it is not economically feasible for anyone sell these at this time.

[Big_John]

24" x 36" Industrial Polypropylene Service Cart

PASS for this one. I use one all the time for a service cart when working at different factories. Its heavy enough to get the job done, but light enough to toss in the back of my van. The wheels are a little iffy for the 500 lb weight rating though



Movers Blankets are another PASS. Lots of uses for these including laying under a car.



I bought a 4HP Pressure Washer a few weeks ago. I'll give it a PASS because it works good enough for what I need and it was cheap. It was on sale for $250 and when I turned down the extra "warranty", the clerk offered an even bigger discount that took it down to $200 with $35 for the warranty for a total of $235!!

[Chris Adams]

Originally Posted by Bull

"3 Piece SAE Socket Tray/Organizer & 3 Piece Metric Socket Tray/Organizer: ITEM 95595 & ITEM 95783
snip
On another note I have purchased metric bolts from Boltdepot.com before...you can buy singles or boxes, but of course there is shipping to consider. They have a large selection and have always given me good service the handful of times I have ordered.

Singles would cost a bundle. Plus shipping times as well as costs. How many people want to wait 10 days (average for UPS here) to bolt something together?
And since minimum shipping would run the cost of a single bolt to something like ten bucks that may not be the best solution.

[Bull]

Originally Posted by Chris Adams

Singles would cost a bundle. Plus shipping times as well as costs. How many people want to wait 10 days (average for UPS here) to bolt something together?
And since minimum shipping would run the cost of a single bolt to something like ten bucks that may not be the best solution.

Since you don't have a location under your name, I don't know where "here" is. If it's 10 days average for UPS, I'd guess you are in the middle of nowhere. At any rate, I just looked at prices for metric bolts in steel grade 8.8 on Boltdepot and did not have a heart attack or anything. They have a huge assortment of types and sizes, too. Smartest thing to do would be to order an assortment so you have some of the most common sizes on-hand, then shipping is not such an issue.

But whatever, if someone dislikes metric bolts, that's their business. I'm just offering a possible solution that does not involve mismatching hardware or using bailing wire.

[makgreens]

storehouse cotter pin set - PASS
storehouse heat shrink set - PASS
4" cut off wheels - PASS(i go through em pretty quick though)
1/2 torque wrench - FAIL...built an engine with it then went back with a buddys SO and it was way off....threw it in the garbage after that

[Markgyver]

HF Nitril gloves (Pass)
HF 20 ton Shop Press (Pass)
HF Uni Bits (Pass)
HF 4.5" grinder (Major Fail) The wheel spins in an orbital pattern.