Harbor Freight Tools that don't suck

[Diggin It]

Tried the hole punch kit today. Cut two 1-1/4" conduit holes with little effort.

 

[TMGT]

Tried the hole punch kit today. Cut two 1-1/4" conduit holes with little effort.

They make a nice hole for the money don't they, i find them especially helpful when you need to open up a 1/2 or 3/4 to a large size.

 

[crazyal]

Yeah, those Thunderbold batteries are pretty low quality. Actually, the flashlights are where they seem to work the best. Even in a clock they don't seem to last very long.
Anyone tried their new line of batteries?



To be fair, the black ones that haven't been freebies for a couple years seem to stand up as well if not better than equivalent ones from other stores. I've had the battery sleeves disintegrate in a couple of them though.
Still beats the cheap old school D-cell flashlights that always seemed to have an intermittent connection somewhere and you had to shake it to get it to come (or stay) on.




Of course, the same could be said for anyone's store brand tools. With very few exceptions I consider the lot to be disposable when they break.
As far as the Predator engines go, aren't they just Chinese clones of Honda or B&S engines? I'd imagine the biggest challenge would be figuring out whose engine it was a copy of.

They are a clone of the Honda. I think B&S buys their engines from the same company that makes the predator engines. As for the saw, you can buy parts for Kolbalt and Husky house brands from places like Ereplacementparts.com. For HF brands, unless someone knows another places to buy them, you are stuck dealing with HF. It doesn't sound like HF has a big warehouse full of spare parts.

 

[John_Mc]

Tried the hole punch kit today. Cut two 1-1/4" conduit holes with little effort.

Is this the one you are talking about?
14 Piece Hydraulic Punch Driver Kit

 

[John_Mc]

They are a clone of the Honda. I think B&S buys their engines from the same company that makes the predator engines. As for the saw, you can buy parts for Kolbalt and Husky house brands from places like Ereplacementparts.com. For HF brands, unless someone knows another places to buy them, you are stuck dealing with HF. It doesn't sound like HF has a big warehouse full of spare parts.

I think I read something (an email or a letter from HF included with one of my shipments) that they were upping their game on replacement parts. IT think it was tied to their move into some higher quality tools. If I'm remembering correctly, it would make sense, since they now have some items that are actually worth repairing.

 

[Diggin It]

Is this the one you are talking about?
14 Piece Hydraulic Punch Driver Kit

Nope. I'm cheap: Knockout Punch Kit, 10 Pc.

 

[Frankenkubota]

Before u pull the trigger check out Home Depot痴 Rigid brand jobsite saw.

If u do decide on the Hercules call harbor freight and make sure they honor the coupon for it. Sometimes they exclude certain brands.

My old buddy had a stroke, turned out mild but I drove 3 hours to see him, you never know! On the way i was searching craig's list. Found a cheap craftsman table saw, still in the box for $90. It was literally on my route back home. Drove up, paid the man and was gone in less than 5 minutes.

It's cheap, all pressed metal vs cast, stand made from chinese yak poop etc etc but, for $90 I had to do it.

My new house and garage have 6ft soffits so there is a 2ft vertical gap between the top plate of the exterior walls and the hip roof. The insulation guy said I must nail up backing/blocking panels to fill that gap so he has something to blow his insulation onto.

I'm going to use my $90 craftsman saw for those, probably burn it up!

 

[Oaktree]

As for the saw, you can buy parts for Kolbalt and Husky house brands from places like Ereplacementparts.com.

Good to know. I've bought parts for name brand tools from them, never thought to check store brands.

Nope. I'm cheap: Knockout Punch Kit, 10 Pc.

Seems like a good deal, even if they only last for a few holes they'd probably be good enough for anyone who doesn't do a lot of metal fabrication. A similar set of Greenlees would make a pretty good dent in the budget.

 

[stuckmotor]

They are a clone of the Honda. I think B&S buys their engines from the same company that makes the predator engines. As for the saw, you can buy parts for Kolbalt and Husky house brands from places like Ereplacementparts.com. For HF brands, unless someone knows another places to buy them, you are stuck dealing with HF. It doesn't sound like HF has a big warehouse full of spare parts.

I've bought a pull starter with the housing, and coil combo for my little 2 stroke HF generator off ebay. I don't know if the parts are interchangeable with the current version which is called the TailGator, the coil fit and worked well on my older generator's engine. I pull the rope gently and haven't needed the starter.

 

[crazyal]

I think I read something (an email or a letter from HF included with one of my shipments) that they were upping their game on replacement parts. IT think it was tied to their move into some higher quality tools. If I'm remembering correctly, it would make sense, since they now have some items that are actually worth repairing.

It would be nice. One of the reasons I do hold back on some of their more complex stuff is parts. I could use a larger generator but have shied away from HF simply because when the power goes out is when you are going to have something break on your generator. I don't want to be reading forums to find out what brand they copied and buying a part not knowing if it'll work. If I could drive to the local HF and pick up the part it would make me much more likely to jump on board. The funny thing is that there's lots of money to be made on parts. I'm not sure why they wouldn't do it.