Harbor Freight Tools that don't suck

[hutchman]

Isn't the DR belt driven with a vertical shaft engine? Looks like the HF is shaft driven with a horizontal shaft engine.

Several years ago I was looking for a big horizontal shaft engine. For the same HP, vertical was way cheaper than horizontal. That big 22HP horizontal HF sells is a steal.

 

[MossRoad]

I wouldn't purchase a gas engine from Harbor Freight. I have many of their tools, they work O.K. sometimes and others are complete junk. I know I'd be setting myself up for disappointment and that's almost worth double the price to avoid. I have a set of their pliers. The side cuts work. The lineman's pliers work. The channel locks will bust your fingers because they slip past the channels with minimum pressure. I have an engine hoist. That's fine. I use one of their shop presses. That works. I have one of their air compressors. I am disappointed. I have some of their allen wrenches. I also have a can of broken ones. Air tools. Some are 30 years old and still working. Others failed miserably. Cheap disposable is O.K. for hand tools when you figure in the cost of them to a project. Not for gas engines. I could go on. If you're willing to be possibly disappointed, I'd say purchase a gas engine from them. I'd save up for a Honda or Kohler. I've gotten 30 years out of one Kohler and I'm on 14 with my 2nd. That's probably not gonna happen with a Harbor Freight engine. It might. I'm not going to find out with my money. Harbor Freight has its place, and that's not located under my machine's hood. :laughing:

 

[dragoneggs]

I wouldn't purchase a gas engine from Harbor Freight. I have many of their tools, they work O.K. sometimes and others are complete junk. I know I'd be setting myself up for disappointment and that's almost worth double the price to avoid. I have a set of their pliers. The side cuts work. The lineman's pliers work. The channel locks will bust your fingers because they slip past the channels with minimum pressure. I have an engine hoist. That's fine. I use one of their shop presses. That works. I have one of their air compressors. I am disappointed. I have some of their allen wrenches. I also have a can of broken ones. Air tools. Some are 30 years old and still working. Others failed miserably. Cheap disposable is O.K. for hand tools when you figure in the cost of them to a project. Not for gas engines. I could go on. If you're willing to be possibly disappointed, I'd say purchase a gas engine from them. I'd save up for a Honda or Kohler. I've gotten 30 years out of one Kohler and I'm on 14 with my 2nd. That's probably not gonna happen with a Harbor Freight engine. It might. I'm not going to find out with my money. Harbor Freight has its place, and that's not located under my machine's hood. :laughing:

Hard to argue with anything Moss has said here. I too invest in quality when it it comes to engines. I like their cheapo grinders, the shop press and the odd tool that I use rarely. Oh and their large greenhouse is a great price provided you do some reinforcements. A gas engine never. Been eyeing their large compressor but can't pull the trigger. Double digit dollar items are not too painful to replace. Triple digit and I want brand and customer support so I buy quality and almost always once even if it twice what I would pay for a knockoff item.

 

[hutchman]

I wouldn't purchase a gas engine from Harbor Freight. I have many of their tools, they work O.K. sometimes and others are complete junk. I know I'd be setting myself up for disappointment and that's almost worth double the price to avoid. I have a set of their pliers. The side cuts work. The lineman's pliers work. The channel locks will bust your fingers because they slip past the channels with minimum pressure. I have an engine hoist. That's fine. I use one of their shop presses. That works. I have one of their air compressors. I am disappointed. I have some of their allen wrenches. I also have a can of broken ones. Air tools. Some are 30 years old and still working. Others failed miserably. Cheap disposable is O.K. for hand tools when you figure in the cost of them to a project. Not for gas engines. I could go on. If you're willing to be possibly disappointed, I'd say purchase a gas engine from them. I'd save up for a Honda or Kohler. I've gotten 30 years out of one Kohler and I'm on 14 with my 2nd. That's probably not gonna happen with a Harbor Freight engine. It might. I'm not going to find out with my money. Harbor Freight has its place, and that's not located under my machine's hood. :laughing:

I've been following them for a while. They are Honda clones. Not much is known yet about the twin but the singles are good from what I see. They are either good or bad right from the start. If you have any problem, exchange it for a good one. Lots of people are repowering old stuff with them. They are used in all their generators and they sell a ton of generators .... at least my store does.

Subaru and Kawasaki appear to be on top right now in high end stuff.

Edit: The Honda clones are popular with go cart crowd because performance parts are available.

 

[sixdogs]

The thing I have heard with HF things is that they are hit or miss. Some people get a really great engine that just won't quit while others seem to have issues upon issues. I have heard tales of woe and I also know of a guy that bought a HF generator and it has run two days a week--all day--for nearly a year with zero problems. Plus it's great on fuel. Go figure.

 

[hutchman]

I have a few old things I might repower one day like an old tiller. Will probably use one on that.

The kart guys get the extended warranty on them (cheap they say ... I don't know how much that is ... I think around $20). If it's good and they really want to cheap out they will get their money back for extended warranty just before 30 days is up. Apparently they can tell within 30 days if its a good one or bad one.

No personal experience ... just what I've learned lurking.

I know this, my old generator with a Briggs will wake the dead. I bought one of those generac made generators (from Lowes - Centurion i think) and they build their own Honda clone in house and those babies are quiet and easy to start and good on gas.

 

[IslandTractor]

I have a neighbor with an HF generator run by a Honda clone engine. Zero problems in moderate use over three years.

It's easy to disparage HF but Honda did a good job designing these engines and the Chinese seem to do a decent job of cloning them.

 

[Wa11banger]

Been eyeing their large compressor but can't pull the trigger. Double digit dollar items are not too painful to replace. Triple digit and I want brand and customer support so I buy quality and almost always once even if it twice what I would pay for a knockoff item.

I can vouch for their 60 gal. 5 HP 165 PSI Two Stage Air Compressor, I cant remember what I paid for it. But after 15 years my old 60gal died.. I replaced it two years ago with this one from HF. It is aired up 24/7 runs my cabinet sandblaster from HF without issue, runs all my air tools without issue and most importantly has not failed yet. It was a lot harder to install the auto purge into but that was an availability issue in my area and not directly related to the unit. It has operated flawlessly and so far has given me no indication that it will fail in the near future. I will add it is loud compared to my old unit. But it pumps up faster from drained on the occasion that I do drop it to zero.

 

[hutchman]

I wouldn't purchase a gas engine from Harbor Freight. I have many of their tools, they work O.K. sometimes and others are complete junk. I know I'd be setting myself up for disappointment and that's almost worth double the price to avoid. I have a set of their pliers. The side cuts work. The lineman's pliers work. The channel locks will bust your fingers because they slip past the channels with minimum pressure. I have an engine hoist. That's fine. I use one of their shop presses. That works. I have one of their air compressors. I am disappointed. I have some of their allen wrenches. I also have a can of broken ones. Air tools. Some are 30 years old and still working. Others failed miserably. Cheap disposable is O.K. for hand tools when you figure in the cost of them to a project. Not for gas engines. I could go on. If you're willing to be possibly disappointed, I'd say purchase a gas engine from them. I'd save up for a Honda or Kohler. I've gotten 30 years out of one Kohler and I'm on 14 with my 2nd. That's probably not gonna happen with a Harbor Freight engine. It might. I'm not going to find out with my money. Harbor Freight has its place, and that's not located under my machine's hood. :laughing:

Yea, that air compressor you got has the same pump/motor as on the smaller and pancake units. Nothing really wrong with them but they are high rpm and loud. You need the cast iron head and separate motor with belt to be a bit quieter.

 

[dragoneggs]

The thing I have heard with HF things is that they are hit or miss. Some people get a really great engine that just won't quit while others seem to have issues upon issues. I have heard tales of woe and I also know of a guy that bought a HF generator and it has run two days a week--all day--for nearly a year with zero problems. Plus it's great on fuel. Go figure.

I have a neighbor with an HF generator run by a Honda clone engine. Zero problems in moderate use over three years.

It's easy to disparage HF but Honda did a good job designing these engines and the Chinese seem to do a decent job of cloning them.

It's generally not a design issue with HF... true enough the Chinese are great at cloning/copying. It's the QA part of the equation thus a bit of a reverse lottery. Odds are you will get a decent machine but if you don't... it's on you. The other issue is missing parts/replacement parts. They don't have the customer service that I want for big ticket items.

That said, I spend money at HF regularly. My wife waits in the car because of the new plastic smell in the store. She can't handle it.