Harbor Freight Tools that don't suck

[weldingisfun]

Seems to me that if you knowingly go to a "junk store" and buy something, why would you be surprised if it turns out to be a piece of junk?

The 20% "restocking fee" must be a result of the very low profit margin associated with selling junk. The junk dealers have to make a profit to cover their overhead and so they can stay open and continue to sell junk.:irked:

 

[luvmexfood]

I have purchased a few thing from HF that were always on sale and use online ordering only. Nearest store is hour and half away. Purchased the 12,000 winch and have worked the heck out of it loading and pulling logs. The chainsaw chain sharpener and after a little adjusting it does a pretty good job. Third was an airpowered cutter. It was on sale for like 8 bucks and is better than a hacksaw. Other than that a few screwdrivers. Got a 25' tape free with order. Ok but the metal is pretty thin and you cant extend it very far without it bending over. But it was free so what do you expect.

 

[Scooter78]

I purchased this to use with my fourwheeler to keep back end strapped down to floor of trailer. Have another cable winch welded to front to keep it from moving around. However after just two uses the last 3' of strap would not retract up when I put tension on it. It would just spin so after rigging up something till I got home from deer camp I hopefully solved this issue. I went and bought 20' of 1/8 winch cable that already had hook attached. Bye bye strap and hello cable. I did not like the strap anyways always worried about it getting wet and messed up sitting in front basket of fourwheeler when not in use.

 

[daugen]

Seems to me that if you knowingly go to a "junk store" and buy something, why would you be surprised if it turns out to be a piece of junk?

The 20% "restocking fee" must be a result of the very low profit margin associated with selling junk. The junk dealers have to make a profit to cover their overhead and so they can stay open and continue to sell junk.:irked:

If you substitute low price/low margin for "junk", I'd agree with you completely.
we have to remember we are an amazingly wealthy country compared to most of the rest of the world, and
China has done quite well outfitting the poorer nations. Not everyone can have the best of the best. For some, that "junk" would be the
neighborhood's most prized possession.

I try to find value, and I bet Weldingisfun you do too. There is value to be had at the lower end, and value to be had at the upper.
If one's expectations are reasonable, and we all know Chinese goods are often lacking in QC and final testing, then it's just a matter of finding the right
mix of cost and performance. And let's face it, a lot of the stuff that comes from China has been abandoned by North American manufacturers.
And who caused that? We did, the consumers. They gave us what we wanted, more for less. Or at least less for much less.

I can't buy an American made clock radio (I think...) because there simply are none. 90% are likely to come from China.
So GE has them built there and their label goes on. The difference is that Sears and GE and all the other importers back up their products with
good warranties and service, and all that, plus bricks and mortar cost, has a real cost to it, and up goes the price. By two or three times.

But wait you say, I don't want a ten dollar Crescent wrench, I want a 2 dollar wrench to put under my tractor seat.
China does cheap iron and steel well, but don't expect CNC precision in your cheap Chinese wrench. If you do expect that, you are the unreasonable person,
not the manufacturer.

As long as I get value, it's up to me to set the price on what I want to pay and can afford to pay for say a new generator.
I tend to like quality tools, so I try to stick with US brand names, but so many of them are built in China it's almost becoming a moot point any more.
These folk were making Ming vases before we ever set foot in North America, and just landed on the Moon.
they know how to make "good stuff", but their niche has always been on low priced goods, and boy have they marketed well.

Long way around of saying I think "junk" is the wrong word. But I understand the emotion behind it from a skilled craftsman.

 

[Gary Fowler]

I don't buy the cheapest of the cheap in HF electrical tools. I have 3 of the $20 4.5" grinders and have had them for several years with no problems. My Dewalt I have to beat on it occasionally to make it come on but the HF have been flawless and I use them heavily. I also bought one of the 7" grinders for $30-40 and use a 9" blade on it that my brother gave me a box full from a pipeline project. It handles them fine with plenty of power. I was wishing I had bought the 9" grinder after seeing it a few months later on a trip to HF but I think the only difference must have been just the guard size. I cant use the guard when using the 9" blade and even had to beat out a modification on the 7" guard for a 7" blade to fit on but the motor is very good so far in the year or so that I have had it, but I only use it for heavy grinding when I don't want to use up several of my 4.5" blades.

 

[California]

I don't think you need the 9 inch grinder until you are grinding objects as solid as railroad rails etc.

I have one. Its too heavy and powerful to grind for very long at waist height or higher. Forget overhead. It might be the quickest tool to clean up sloppy welds, but long sessions removing a lot of metal are more than I would want to do.

Here's a thread where I hogged out a groove in cast iron wheel weights to make clearance for the valve stems. I had to do the two weights in two sessions, before/after lunch. The weight and especially vibration of the grinder wore me down to where it would be unsafe to continue. This grinder might be more suitable to mount in some kind of cutoff apparatus.

Summary - I like the 7 inch grinder better. It's nearly as productive overall because I can run longer sessions - and don't need a chiropractor the next day.


(added) The HF 9 inch and 7 inch grinders aren't the same thing with a larger guard. The 9 inch feels at least 50% heavier, 50+% more powerful, and is larger in all dimensions.

 

[JRobyn]

Thanks guys, for the tips on the generator. I had read about the questionable spark plug, and thought that might be part of the hard starting issue, but with a little squirt of fuel directly in the carb, it starts right up and runs smoothly, so I rejected ignition as the problem. It just acts like the choke/low speed fuel delivery is non-existant. But I can see the choke plate close when I have the air filter cover off. I DO shut off the fuel valve and run the carb dry after I use it, which may not be the best way for this particular fuel system. The fuel valve is a bit difficult to turn, so it may be that it has casting flash or some other sort of internal restriction. I'll try leaving it on and see if it makes any difference. Hope so, since after finding my receipt, I see that it has been over 6 mo since purchase (90 day warranty). I thought that this was ONE item I had opted for the extended warranty, but evidently not since it is not on the receipt.

Interestingly, the manual for it says that the "Emissions" equipment, including the carburetor, has a 1 year warranty! Wonder what HF would say if I tried to exchange it based on a faulty carburetor?

- Jay

 

[California]

Interestingly, the manual for it says that the "Emissions" equipment, including the carburetor, has a 1 year warranty! Wonder what HF would say if I tried to exchange it based on a faulty carburetor?

I expect HF would ask for your formal test results.

The emissions guarantee probably just means it could be subject to a recall.

 

[Travelover]

Thanks guys, for the tips on the generator. I had read about the questionable spark plug, and thought that might be part of the hard starting issue, but with a little squirt of fuel directly in the carb, it starts right up and runs smoothly, so I rejected ignition as the problem. .......
- Jay

I would not rule out the spark plug so fast. I have the HF 3" water pump with the Chonda 6.5HP engine and it would only run with gas shot into directly the carb inlet. A new spark plug fixed it entirely.

 

[JRobyn]

OK, so I'm torn between not junking up the thread with little details about ONE HF item (this little generator), and providing "closure" as admonished in other threads. Guess it's a little hard to junk up a thread that already has almost 4k posts! SO....

Did a little more investigation as part of emptying out all fuel in preparation for attempted return/exchange. It starts much easier if it is left with fuel in the carb. Still takes about 10-12 pulls with full choke. It runs great for minute or two, then dies and is almost impossible to start. Thinking maybe I wasn't getting fuel through the valve, I tried tipping the whole gen up with the valve at the lowest point for a few secs. Starts right up! When it starts to falter again after 1-2 min, tipping it up immediately makes it recover. So I pulled the tank off to drain, and it flows just fine out of the valve/hose. To me this is more evidence that something is wrong in the carb, maybe just too low of a float level.

The OEM plug is so crappy that the wire connector on the end of it was cross-threaded! Are we sure that the NGK BP5 ES3 is the right plug to replace the "Bonon F5TC"?

- Jay