Harbor Freight Tools that don't suck

[IslandTractor]

I recently got the 2ton shop crane on sale + super coupon.

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I thought the grey looked nice. My buddy said it looked boring (being grey). He has the bright orange one.

I must confess that I bought one of those on sale a few years ago, assembled it, tested it, and put it in a corner of the barn. Haven't used it for real work ever. I am sure that someone doing an engine rebuild would find it very helpful but I just haven't needed it for lifting stuff. Forks or a tree boom on the tractor is simply more powerful and flexible.

 

[hutchman]

I must confess that I bought one of those on sale a few years ago, assembled it, tested it, and put it in a corner of the barn. Haven't used it for real work ever. I am sure that someone doing an engine rebuild would find it very helpful but I just haven't needed it for lifting stuff. Forks or a tree boom on the tractor is simply more powerful and flexible.

I pretty much got it to work on the tractor. I erected a tee pee out of 2x4's and used a chain hoist to take my FEL mounts off. That worked OK but it was going to be quite a while before I put them back on and got sick of having a 'tee pee' sitting over my tractor (plus I'm sure the neighbours love looking at it too - tractor usually lives at farm but I bring it to house in the city some to work on it) so I struck the tee pee and got the shop crane to put he mounts back on.

 

[California]

I'm thinking about getting one of their small jumpstarters

12 Volt Power Supply and Jump-Start

How does that rated 360 CCA compare to the battery presently in your equipment?

I bought a prior HF version that had an oversize battery - same as this model but the back panel was different, bulged out - and it has plenty of power, should start anything that I'm likely to attempt. I keep it in the house to power a small inverter for when the powerlines go down.

At the same time Dargo on here bought the standard version and said that one wasn't a match for the pro version an auto shop would use, and that he needed.

My conclusion - this present model should be fine for modern cars, might be marginal for starting a diesel. Excellent as an emergency power source.

 

[flyerdan]

I've got one of the 2 ton foldable cranes, got if off craigslist along with a load leveler. Those are great for doing engines by yourself. A forklift is good for slinging stuff around if finesse isn't required, but the fine control with the crane and leveler can't be beat for shoehorning an engine in.

Can't remember if it's been mentioned, but the portable hydraulic units are good, not the sort of thing the average person would use a lot but if you can find one reasonably priced they're good to have. I see one of the reviews call it junk, stating that the extensions bent or broke. I've never used mine anywhere near capacity; the most force I've applied was when straightening an angle iron leg on a bobcat cage so I can't address that. I just find that having one is easier than trying to find enough shoring to use a bottle jack or similar.

 

[IslandTractor]

I agree the portable hydraulic systems are decent and useful. I wish I could find a "how to" book that teaches tricks of the trade however. Pulling is easy and the spreader works well but I'm sure someone out there on the interweb must have some interesting applications and experience to impart to the rest of us.

 

[DFB]

How does that rated 360 CCA compare to the battery presently in your equipment?

I bought a prior HF version that had an oversize battery - same as this model but the back panel was different, bulged out - and it has plenty of power, should start anything that I'm likely to attempt. I keep it in the house to power a small inverter for when the powerlines go down.

At the same time Dargo on here bought the standard version and said that one wasn't a match for the pro version an auto shop would use, and that he needed.

My conclusion - this present model should be fine for modern cars, might be marginal for starting a diesel. Excellent as an emergency power source.

Oh I just want it for motorcycles mainly (2 Harleys) and other small engine equipment like my twin IC 18hp lawn tractor along with being a portable power source for some 12v plug in stuff. I am outside away from most power quite a bit.

I suppose in pinch it might crank my Durango if I left the radio on too long :laughing:


I had one similar to it for a long time a Coleman one, It was handy and I miss it. But I lost the charging cord they couldn't get me a new one and for some reason I couldn't adapt anything else to work with it. I finally gutted it out to recycle the battery and saved the cables and clamps for who knows what :confused2:

I'm not interested in spending much more money but if someone knows of a bigger one close to that price let me know!

And the ones with more features like an air compressor don't really interest me at all :confused3:

Back in June I had to replace my the battery for my Durango with the 5.9L engine and from the garage located across from the orchard that we all use, borrowed their SnapOn unit to start my SUV after it quit on me. That was sweet cranked that engine over like it was nothing at all! :thumbsup:

Don't even WANT to know what that one cost

Now If could get $10 more dollars off on that HF I would really be happy! :cool2:

 

[reb]

I'm thinking about getting one of their small jumpstarters

12 Volt Power Supply and Jump-Start

I bought one of those a few months ago for about $40 as I recall. All I have used it for so far is as power for a battery-operated drill (got tired of paying $50 to $70 for batteries that lasted only a year or so). The one I had earlier was smaller and it started my little Yanmar easily.

 

[reb]

I'm thinking about getting one of their small jumpstarters

12 Volt Power Supply and Jump-Start

I bought one of those a few months ago for about $40 as I recall. All I have used it for so far is as power for a battery-operated drill (got tired of paying $50 to $70 for batteries that lasted only a year or so). The one I had earlier was smaller and it started my little Yanmar easily.

 

[txdon]

The end of Summer means firewood to split. I have reviewed the Harbor Freight 5 ton electric wood splitter 5 ton Log Splitter before but today was it's 3 year test. After putting back a screw on the side guard that fell out I started splitting. The ad says it can split 10" wood. Below is a pic of a 11" log 19" long. It split it easy. I also had a few logs 14" and were curvy, these needed a 3" slot cut in the end of the log with the chain saw to help the splitter start the split. Every piece was split this morning. This wood is still heavy the tree died only 3 months ago. The size makes for easy storage, a big plus for me.

This splitter save me a from being sore tonight and gets the seal of approval for a tool that does not suck.

 

[txdon]

The end of Summer means firewood to split. I have reviewed the Harbor Freight 5 ton electric wood splitter 5 ton Log Splitter before but today was it's 3 year test. After putting back a screw on the side guard that fell out I started splitting. The ad says it can split 10" wood. Below is a pic of a 11" log 19" long. It split it easy. I also had a few logs 14" and were curvy, these needed a 3" slot cut in the end of the log with the chain saw to help the splitter start the split. Every piece was split this morning. This wood is still heavy the tree died only 3 months ago. The size makes for easy storage, a big plus for me.

This splitter save me a from being sore tonight and gets the seal of approval for a tool that does not suck.