Harbor Freight Tools that don't suck

[Gale Hawkins]

While there is no question about their ability to make things of the highest quality I to have noticed their movement to quality.

The 90 amp flux wire welder from HF that is about $90 still on sale has had its duty cycle rated boosted because they added a cooling fan for example.

I bet they do not get all of their tools from Germany to build their rockets and space hardware.

Over on the RV forums they blast the China 'bombs' (tires). I was watching/reading an interview of an China tire company exec. He stated they build cheap to high end tires. He also stated 80% of all tire orders from the US for trailer tires were for their lowest quality lines for tires.

 

[CompactTractorFan]

Yea, my dad always told me, "Son, NEVER say NEVER!"

This is not just a Harbor Freight thing, this is a made in China thing. For the past few years I have noticed a general quality improvement in Chinese goods. Yea, there is plenty of junk still coming in, but lots of is really getting better. You don't have to go to HF to buy Chinese. There is hardly a major US brand that doesn't have some/most/all of their goods "made in China".

But, having said that, I find it hard to agree that HF will evolve into a "premium" tool reseller. Their stuff may be better than it once was, but I just can't bring myself to put premium and HF together in the same thought

We have just lowered our standards. :thumbsup:

 

[Gale Hawkins]

We have just lowered our standards. :thumbsup:

You hit the nail on the head. Too bad it was not more so in tools than in schools.

 

[Scotty370]

I said that about the Japanese stuff back in the 1960's and lived to learn otherwise.

Sixdogs- My Dad instilled that in me back in the late 50's and 60's, that Japanese stuff was to be avoided at all cost. But thinking back, it may have been 'generational' in that he spent the 40's and 50's in an airplane factory, building aircraft to "kill the Ba$tard$" after Pearl Harbor...........~S

 

[California]

[1950s] Japanese stuff was to be avoided at all cost. But thinking back, it may have been 'generational' in that he spent the 40's and 50's in an airplane factory

No, the 'avoided' was real. Early postwar Japanese imports were nothing special. This tin toy is typical of what I remember as a kid. At the time an American toy boat might be made from thin mahogany, much better quality.

I think Honda mopeds then motorcycles, and Sony electronics, were the first top-quality Japanese exports but that was a decade later than their postwar reconstruction era.

 

[IslandTractor]

No, the 'avoided' was real. Early postwar Japanese imports were nothing special. This tin toy is typical of what I remember as a kid. At the time an American toy boat might be made from thin mahogany, much better quality.

I think Honda mopeds then motorcycles, and Sony electronics, were the first top-quality Japanese exports but that was a decade later than their postwar reconstruction era.

Don't forget Nikon, Canon, Pentax and Minolta which all popped up on the radar screen in the early 60's too. Those were so good they destroyed the German and US camera industries in just a few years.

 

[California]

You're right, optics were also a leading edge of the first wave of Japanese world class products in that era.

Japanese cars - not so much. Today they are top quality. But really, it was a rough start back then.

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[CompactTractorFan]

Japanese cars - not so much. Today they are top quality. But really, it was a rough start back then.

​

What about tractors???

 

[leeinMT]

I too remember cheap Japanese toys in the early 50's. I later learned that an American named Deming went to Japan to advise them on post war recovery because everything was so trashed. He advised them to go for the best quality possible and make it part of their culture. They actually listened and later erected a statue of him to show their gratitude.

My top of the line Milwaukee 18v Li-ion drill and driver set are made in China to Milwaukee's specs, and it is outstanding.

 

[California]

What about tractors???

That picture of a magazine is a clickable link to more pages in that 1960 (?) magazine. What I saw was that those early Japanese cars ran licensed clones of 50's (and earlier) British car drivetrains. If you ever owned a 50's British car - BTDT - that was a very rough way for the Japanese to start out. Brits back then worked on their cars each Saturday to prepare for a 35 mph Sunday drive.

I think Japanese tractors were 'walking tractors' for their rice paddies back then.

Here's a history article I found. Excerpt:

Though four-wheel "riding" tractors began to spread in 1960s, and are taking over primary tillage operations, 2-wheel tractors are still popular in Japan for primary tillage and inter-cultivation in vegetable production, transportation around the farm, etc. Most farm households that own a 4-wheel tractor also own at least one 2-wheel tractor.