Harbor Freight Tools that don't suck

[dragoneggs]

Adjustable pliers and wire cutters are tools I won't buy anything but a name brand. And even then, you have to be careful to make sure they're not made in China.

I recently bought a pair of fencing pliers and discovered the "Channel Lock" brand were made in the USA, the Crescent brand pliers were made in Taiwan, and all the others were made in China. Paid the extra and bought the Channel Lock brand.

Even USA made when talking quality pliers... I recently bought a pair of lineman's pliers by Proto... paid handsomely because I needed them. Got home, started snipping some wire and I wasn't happy. Looked at the cutting faces and there was a gap! :thumbdown:

Very surprised and I took them back and showed it to the counter guy at a contractor supply store. He was surprised too. I traded them for another pair of Proto's (one size up) and they have been great.

 

[Travelover]

......... Looked at the cutting faces and there was a gap! :thumbdown:

I recently bought some electrician's pliers at HF and sorted through a dozen pair before I found one where the cutting jaws aligned, both sides of the cutting edge were sharp and where there was no gap.

 

[sixdogs]

I recently bought some electrician's pliers at HF and sorted through a dozen pair before I found one where the cutting jaws aligned, both sides of the cutting edge were sharp and where there was no gap.

Excellent point. If I'm going to buy pliers or side cutters from HF, I'll spend a while making sure I get a pair that lines up. Most don't.

I haven't seen US General branded pliers/cutters at HF in a while but if you ever do, they were very good.

 

[bcp]

"US General" is a Harbor Freight brand.

"General" is a General Tool Co brand.

Bruce

 

[Pixguy]

Here's two items that work great especially when changing over to the new season.

I "repurposed" the large mover dolly to make a dolly for my sander.

and the 3 ton lift works well to take off the tire chains without mounting the bh to lift the tires.

edit: sorry that they're posted horizontal. I take these with my iPhone and post via my iPad. I don't have paint on my iOS tablet.

 

[dragoneggs]

Here's two items that work great especially when changing over to the new season.

I "repurposed" the large mover dolly to make a dolly for my sander.

and the 3 ton lift works well to take off the tire chains without mounting the bh to lift the tires.


edit: sorry that they're posted horizontal. I take these with my iPhone and post via my iPad. I don't have paint on my iOS tablet.

The thumbnails are sideways but when I click they are upright... no worries. I have also made a couple mods to HF dollies to fit my stuff. The wood ones are great for the sale price or 20% coupon.

 

[TractorGuy]

So far I'm pleased with the product support. Just ordered a gear for my band saw. This is actually a stretch on my end. I have an old band saw I bought from another company years ago that looks similar to the small one HF sells. I downloaded the manual for their saw and it had a parts breakdown. I emailed their product support and gave them the illustration numbers. They got back within 3 days and told me the number and price for the gear. He said they didn't have the seal but I could find it online by size so I ordered one of those off ebay. I called today to order the gear and they say it is in stock in CA. Hopefully in a week or so I will have my old saw fixed.

 

[JRobyn]

Assuming they actually deliver, that will be the FIRST time I have ever heard of HF supplying a part for any of their products!

 

[IslandTractor]

Assuming they actually deliver, that will be the FIRST time I have ever heard of HF supplying a part for any of their products!

I agree. I've never heard of other examples.

 

[California]

Up to about 5 years ago they would provide parts, probably by stripping them off customer returns. I was able to order a couple of replacement poles and corner brackets for this 20x20 tarp shed (no longer sold) the first time the wind knocked it all crooked. I had anchored the corners well, I learned it wasn't stiff enough to survive without the middle poles ballasted as well.

This photo is a few years later. I gave up replacing the $50 tarp on an average of 1.5 years each after this final disaster. The fundamental problem is the stretch cord/ball attachments between the tarp and the structure didn't last even a year before stretching to a slack, inflexible maximum length where some fell off, further increasing the stress at the remaining ones.

There was a massive management change at HF some 5 years ago, apparently including ending parts support.