Harbor Freight Tools that don't suck

[Gale Hawkins]

I got a 20% coupon that ends in Oct from HF because I am registered on a Ford related forum.

Finishing out 48' of work benches and the stairs/hand rails cause us to dig out our old belt sander but the belts flew apart in short order and I could not find any 4x21 3/4 belts locally (plenty on ebay however) so I decided to get the HF Makita 4x24 knock off that is on sale and with the coupon was $55.99 (normally $80 where Makita is 3x) but before I got to the aisle I saw this tool box.

11 Drawer Roller Cabinet

It was on sale for $219 but this one had been opened and was missing 3 lower pulls and bolts to mount the wheels is a few scratches for $119 so I bought it.

4" x 24" Magnesium Belt Sander

On a contractor's forum I learned this Harbor Freight 4x24 belt sander is a knock off of the Makita.

MAKITA 9403 4" x 24" Belt Sander - Toolup.com

From the photos one can see the HF looks very much like the Makita 9403 model but a fraction of the price of the Makita 9403. Since I will use it about 20 hours than park it I went with the $55.99 HF option. I did test it before leaving the parking lot and it tracked well.

I walked out and forgot to pick up a couple $4 hammers to have laying around.

Tomorrow I will be painting the eves pre gutters but will try out the sander before going into the office after the gutter guy stops by to give a quote.

 

[some zilch]

Take it from a 15 years of turning wrenchs, Ingersoll Rand the best all around air tools. You get what you pay for. You can find them at Northern tool.

i/r might be the best, but my HF 1" gun will run with the big boys. it just takes twice as much air to do it. if you have alot of air; like a big compressor, or an engine driven tow behind, you are golden.

 

[Iplayfarmer]

I need some reviews on HF's horizontal shaft engines they sell. I got a go-cart with a burned up 9 hp Honda from a friend. This one would bolt right on without any modification to the go-cart or to the engine.

Are these Greyhound engines in the suck or the don't suck category?

I wish they still had the subaru robin engines. I remember seeing a lot of good reviews on those.

 

[patrick_g]

Same here I've used the same 20% off coupon and never had an issue.. my question is what happens after it expires on 12/31/10

Photo Shop :thumbsup:

Patrick

 

[Gale Hawkins]

I got a 20% coupon that ends in Oct from HF because I am registered on a Ford related forum.

Finishing out 48' of work benches and the stairs/hand rails cause us to dig out our old belt sander but the belts flew apart in short order and I could not find any 4x21 3/4 belts locally (plenty on ebay however) so I decided to get the HF Makita 4x24 knock off that is on sale and with the coupon was $55.99 (normally $80 where Makita is 3x) but before I got to the aisle I saw this tool box.

11 Drawer Roller Cabinet

It was on sale for $219 but this one had been opened and was missing 3 lower pulls and bolts to mount the wheels is a few scratches for $119 so I bought it.

4" x 24" Magnesium Belt Sander

On a contractor's forum I learned this Harbor Freight 4x24 belt sander is a knock off of the Makita.

MAKITA 9403 4" x 24" Belt Sander - Toolup.com

From the photos one can see the HF looks very much like the Makita 9403 model but a fraction of the price of the Makita 9403. Since I will use it about 20 hours than park it I went with the $55.99 HF option. I did test it before leaving the parking lot and it tracked well.

I walked out and forgot to pick up a couple $4 hammers to have laying around.

Tomorrow I will be painting the eves pre gutters but will try out the sander before going into the office after the gutter guy stops by to give a quote.

After getting a few hours with the HF 4x24 belt sander I declare it a keeper. Today we picked up the
10" Sliding Compound Miter Saw Item # 98199

With the 20% coupon and "sale" price it was $79.99. I have looked at this style saw for 20 years and decided to risk $80. Also picked up a set of 6 ton jack stands, a drywall driver, a small manual 6/12v 2/10/55 amp MANUAL charger. The sucker is heavy. My old one seems to have died after 20+ year and there are times when the automatics are too smart for their own good. Got other assorted junk too.

 

[Kernopelli]

I need some reviews on HF's horizontal shaft engines they sell. I got a go-cart with a burned up 9 hp Honda from a friend. This one would bolt right on without any modification to the go-cart or to the engine.

Are these Greyhound engines in the suck or the don't suck category?

I wish they still had the subaru robin engines. I remember seeing a lot of good reviews on those.

I have had good luck with these engines. I have used several of the 6.5 HP's from HF and purchased one of the 4 HP "chonda" engines from Home Depot. They have all been trouble free and ran perfectly. When you get them out of the box they just don't feel/look quite like Honda quality.....but they sure run well. I have posted here many times now that my buddy is a local guru of an engine builder for the modified go cart racing crowd. After their rules started allowing OHV engines, he started using the HF 6.5 motors as a base for his cart engines. He regularly builds these motors to produce 25 HP on alcohol....yes they do balance and use aftermarket rods, flywheels,pistons, carbs, etc but he builds a variety of these engines to customer spec, from stock anywhere up to 27-28 HP with varying degrees of aftermarket internals. The "stock" engines obviously get the crap ran out of them... the first thing they do is jerk the governor out of them so they will rev ( you can imagine, YIKES!) and he loves these engines and can not say enough good things about them. He buys as many as 20 engines at a time from HF when they are on sale. At the end of the last racing season he told me that he only had 1 engine blow up and that was one of the 20+HP alcohol engines and he blamed that on a owner that refused to use an engine oil compatible with running alcohol.

If I had something I had to rely upon everyday and it earned me money or was for true emergencies, I'd spend more for a Honda...just in case ( I'm still "not there" 100%" on anything Chinese) but in a situation like yours I'd have to go with the HF engine.

 

[Gale Hawkins]

We have that same 6.5 HP Honda China knock off on a gen set that has been problem free even after setting for a year at a time but it always has Sea Foam in the fuel. I treat all storage containers with Sea Foam before I add the gas so no home based small engines are without Sea Foam ever.

The go-cart story is awesome support. Harbor Freight seems to be making enough money to stay in business and stand behind their stuff like Sears in the past did. I however do not like building other nations at the expense of ours but that is a story stuck on a one way street it seems.

I have cheap USA made power tools but they are from 30 years ago. Today even few high end tools are made in the USA period.

 

[Iplayfarmer]

What do those engines usually go on sale for?

Right now the 11 Hp is selling for $299.

 

[Gale Hawkins]

What do those engines usually go on sale for?

Right now the 11 Hp is selling for $299.

Gas Engines - Engines & Generators

Today (27 Sep 10) they seem to cost $129.

 

[Kernopelli]

What do those engines usually go on sale for?

Right now the 11 Hp is selling for $299.

They run the 6.5's down as low as ($89?) or $99 for sure...I have not really seen how low the 11's go for....$299 is cheap though and 20% off coupon will make it $240.