Harbor Freight Tools that don't suck

   / Harbor Freight Tools that don't suck #3,011  
   / Harbor Freight Tools that don't suck #3,012  
   / Harbor Freight Tools that don't suck #3,013  
CBW1999 said:
View attachment 288567

48 inch 3.5 ton Farm jack- Purchased on line, sale and coupon for % off purchase, delivered to me for $46.98. Out of the box appeared to be built well for the most part.
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Just a heads up - From over on WeldingWeb:
Re HF Tools That Suck [hdt4ever]
3.5 ton farm jack. Broke very quickly under 20% of the stated load ability. Not worth it or safe. went and bought a hi lift extreme jack (exact same thing) and it easily performed what bent the harborfreight one to ****. plus the hi lift jack is made in the USA and only a little more expensive.
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Back to quoting CBW from here:
CBW1999 said:
The lever arm is round tube compared to solid cast on other brands. I actually like the tube better because you can see and feel any flex that may indicate exceeding its limits. Not sure a cast lever arm gives the same feedback. The tube likely will fail by bendingsharply as opposed to snapping. This would also be an earlier fail than having the whole jack fail/blow apart. ... Worked great, very happy with its performance. action up and down was smooth. I imagine with reasonable care it will last a while. Definately would by again, even if I didn't have the % off coupon.
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And my own comments: I have two old Hi-Lift jacks. (The US original that the HF Farm Jack is a copy of). Both are unsafe, apparently due to wear, since I have occasionally cleaned both. They lift safely - but often fail to ratchet up to the next step. Shifting to Down is scary. I've had the jack fall all the way to the bottom instantly after a couple of clicks in the Down position. This may be a function of excessive wear - I think Dad obtained both long ago at yard sales.

Incidentally a lightweight tube handle (conduit?) was standard on these. One of mine is bent about 20 degrees; the other is replaced with heaver water pipe.

I used to use these 30 years ago to unstuck my Willys Wagon. Just hook under the trailer hitch, raise it 3 ft high, then tip the jack to the side to let the Willys fall into fresh undisturbed ground. Under 5 minutes to get moving again. I used one last fall to raise my (disconnected) rotary mower to pressure-wash underneath before storage. It fell on the way down.
 
   / Harbor Freight Tools that don't suck #3,014  
California said:
Just a heads up - From over on WeldingWeb:

Back to quoting CBW from here:And my own comments: I have two old Hi-Lift jacks. (The US original that the HF Farm Jack is a copy of). Both are unsafe, apparently due to wear, since I have occasionally cleaned both. They lift safely - but often fail to ratchet up to the next step. Shifting to Down is scary. I've had the jack fall all the way to the bottom instantly after a couple of clicks in the Down position. This may be a function of excessive wear - I think Dad obtained both long ago at yard sales.

Incidentally a lightweight tube handle (conduit?) was standard on these. One of mine is bent about 20 degrees; the other is replaced with heaver water pipe.

I used to use these 30 years ago to unstuck my Willys Wagon. Just hook under the trailer hitch, raise it 3 ft high, then tip the jack to the side to let the Willys fall into fresh undisturbed ground. Under 5 minutes to get moving again. I used one last fall to raise my (disconnected) rotary mower to pressure-wash underneath before storage. It fell on the way down.
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I would tend to believe that the one that failed at "under 20%" of maximum load was probably faulty at the get go and or improperly used. IMHO- an odd failure like that is cautionary but i personally wouldn't condemn them entirely.

Mine too- slips down once the load is taken off completely. In the down ratcheting position there is nothing to keep it in place once all weight is removed. Quirkey- yes but, not much different than the old bumper jacks. i used to have several bumper jacks around for other uses of course, understanding they had significantly less capacity.

Sometimes not clicking into the next ratchet step is a sign that you have maxed out the capacity (not always). sometimes the lever pull is a bit more as the load/height increases. I've had the same thing happen.

The tube on mine is alittle heavier than conduit but not quite as stout as your replacement of water pipe.

I certainly respect the limits on any type of lifting device- thats why I have a bunch of 20 ton bottle jacks.

I know they are popular even today for off roading. Back in the day, being cheap- we would throw wooden pallets in the bed of the truck and have a couple bumper jacks too. Usually could jack up the truck to put a pallet under the tire, build a bridge over a deep ditch, ramp over rocks....
 
   / Harbor Freight Tools that don't suck #3,016  
   / Harbor Freight Tools that don't suck #3,017  
Hi guys,

Been up to my eyebrows in alligators. My BIL sent me his latest Christmas wish list of tools from H/F. I cracked up when I saw this so thought I should share.
My Apologies if this has already been posted somewhere in one of the 302 pages of this thread.

My Favorites are the "Muppet (r) Grade Gloves", 'Laser Guided paint Brush", 'Hydraulic Nail Unbender" and the "Manual Chain Saw" hope you enjoy this as much as I did.

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Some abrasives and most grinding wheels don't suck, that's about all I buy from them these days.
I do have about 7 free meters, a dozen screwdriver sets, and enough free scissors and tape measures to last a lifetime :D

Larry
 
   / Harbor Freight Tools that don't suck #3,018  
They didn't want to let me return it in spite of the lifetime warranty. I could return it if I had a receipt OR had bought the extended warranty... Now, how the **** do you extend a lifetime warranty and what the heck is the difference?

I asked the manager where else I might have purchased a Pittsburgh. She said there were several other places... I'm not too sure about that. But it still stood to reason that HF could warranty it either way. Finally, she agreed, "Just this once" to exchange it for a functional tool.
 
   / Harbor Freight Tools that don't suck #3,019  
hudr said:
This may be a little off topic, but....
I was surfing the HF website the other night and ran across a couple of things I wanted. There is a store about 25 miles from me and I thought I would run by there on day the following week and pick the items up. Well, I went ahead and ordered the items from their website. Shipping was only $9 for the couple of things I wanted. And no sales tax.
I put a pencil to it and just figuring my fuel I would have went $4 in the hole if I had gone to the store. And what is my time worth?
Crazy, eh?
Back to the original post.... I buy quite a bit of stuff from them but I don't know if I would get it there if I was making a living w/ my tools. But I see contracters in there buying stuff because the hired help usually tears it up before its worn out.
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hope your store isn't like the one close to me it is higher than the internet i'll find something i want and get to the store and see that the price is much higher so i just get something eles , only time i buy from store is if i need it now.
 
   / Harbor Freight Tools that don't suck #3,020  
Going to go down to the Harbor Freight store today. Can't wait to see what comes home!
rScotty
 
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