Harbor Freight Tools that don't suck

[5030]

Bought a roll of the HF stretch wrap yesterday. Good stuff, adheres to itself. Great for wrapping skids of bags to secure them. They have PBlaster on sale too (ITC).

 

[Kubota911]

I was ispired by another thread with this link to Weldingweb:

HF tools that don't suck - WeldingWeb - Professional Welding Forum

The Weldingweb site is mostly about metal working tools, so I thought it might be interesting to share which tools / products we have found to be a good value at HF. I don't think anyone seriously thinks they sell good tools, but some are adequate for the need or usage we have in mind.

Some of my experiences:

1000# capacity folding trailer, about $250. Works great for my light duty needs and folds in half to stand on end in my garage, out of the weather.

4 1/2 inch angle grinder, $15. So far, so good for sharpening mower blades, dressing up metal projects

Welding magnets. Inexpensive (with the coupons I get nonstop) and fascinating for the kids to play with.

Diamond blade wet saw, $50. Works great and allowed me to do my whole bath ceramic tile project without renting any tools. Water tray is hard to remove without slopping water.

880# overhead hoist. Paid $80. Mounted to reinforced ceiling joists in barn. Extremely useful for horsing around 3 point attachments, lawn tractor, etc. A real back saver.

Box knives - not worth the $1 on sale - handle breaks on first use.

 

[Kubota911]

I was ispired by another thread with this link to Weldingweb:

HF tools that don't suck - WeldingWeb - Professional Welding Forum

The Weldingweb site is mostly about metal working tools, so I thought it might be interesting to share which tools / products we have found to be a good value at HF. I don't think anyone seriously thinks they sell good tools, but some are adequate for the need or usage we have in mind.

Some of my experiences:

1000# capacity folding trailer, about $250. Works great for my light duty needs and folds in half to stand on end in my garage, out of the weather.

4 1/2 inch angle grinder, $15. So far, so good for sharpening mower blades, dressing up metal projects

Welding magnets. Inexpensive (with the coupons I get nonstop) and fascinating for the kids to play with.

Diamond blade wet saw, $50. Works great and allowed me to do my whole bath ceramic tile project without renting any tools. Water tray is hard to remove without slopping water.

880# overhead hoist. Paid $80. Mounted to reinforced ceiling joists in barn. Extremely useful for horsing around 3 point attachments, lawn tractor, etc. A real back saver.

Box knives - not worth the $1 on sale - handle breaks on first use.

Check out this site it has everything you need as in tools and almost anything else

 

[5030]

I won't buy squat from Northern Hydraulics. Their ship cost (like Messicks) is out of line.

 

[Captainmayor]

I use a bunch of their items. I like most of the items that I have purchased there. The only issue I had, and it’s my own fault. I bought a 2 ton cherry picker. The box looked like it was damaged in shipping, was torn open and had been retapped. I just thought it being steel, it wasn’t gonna be damaged. Which I was right, it was not, but the issue was that all of the assembly hardware was missing. Which that probably would not have been a problem, but I wasn’t ready to use it yet and stored it for a year or so. By then I couldn’t take it back, so I ended up spending like $30-$35 on bolts and stuf. So my on sale item was not such a bargain.

 

[kenmbz]

New HF opening near me:
GRAND OPENING
SATURDAY 4/10 - Warminster, PA

Harbor Freight Store Warminster, PA

Harbor Freight Store 962 W Street Road Warminster PA 18974, phone 267-755-4950, There’s a Harbor Freight Store near you.

www.harborfreight.com

 

[Hay Dude]

Anyone try the High Lift Farm jack?
Just installed one on the Rubicon.

 

[dragoneggs]

Anyone have experience with this?

Hydraulic Wire Crimping Tool

Amazing deals on this Hydraulic Wire Crimping Tool at Harbor Freight. Quality tools & low prices.

www.harborfreight.com

 

[California]

Anyone try the High Lift Farm jack?
Just installed one on the Rubicon.

Here's a thread about them.

hi lift jack tips and tricks?

just bought a 48 hi lift to replace my much used come along. any tips and tricks????

www.tractorbynet.com

The first thing to know is they are far more dangerous than is obvious. The thread has some examples.
Notable quote:
"Be careful they are nicknamed "farmer killers" for a reason."

And here's my contribution to that thread, a successful project but ending with thankfully a very minor injury. (Click the link to go to my post, for some reason this link goes to the top of the page, not to my post.)

hi lift jack tips and tricks?

I have to say, I don't understand the negativity toward the high-lift jack that some seem to display. Are they dangerous? Heck yes, just as dangerous as any other mechanical farm device composed to two or more moving parts and intended to handle stress of any kind. Are they bad tools...

www.tractorbynet.com

 

[daugen]

I had the HF hi lift jack and liked it better than the name brand which was twice as expensive.
It was a little lighter also but worked just fine lifting up mowers and other implements.
I always used at least three jack stands with it...easy to tip things over if not very careful.

 

[dlctcg]

Anyone have experience with this?

Hydraulic Wire Crimping Tool

Amazing deals on this Hydraulic Wire Crimping Tool at Harbor Freight. Quality tools & low prices.

www.harborfreight.com

Have 2 of them, 1 for work & 1 for the garage... It's not a everyday tool but they are really handy to have. Sometimes a little awkward to use, a third hand can be useful at times depending on the location of the crimp you are making; no issue using them at the bench.

We would sometimes have the dies drop out because of the position we needed to get the tool in & they just slide in to the hole on the tool. We resolved it by using a little dab of Sil-Glyde lubricating compound in the holes on the tool. It is sticky enough to hold the dies in & works great (& doesn't melt & make a mess when you leave the tool case in the truck in the summer).

Other than that it works good with a good selection of dies, I would guess on of my sets is 8+ yrs old. There are similar & less expensive units on Amazon & eBay.

 

[Fallon]

Have 2 of them, 1 for work & 1 for the garage... It's not a everyday tool but they are really handy to have. Sometimes a little awkward to use, a third hand can be useful at times depending on the location of the crimp you are making; no issue using them at the bench.

We would sometimes have the dies drop out because of the position we needed to get the tool in & they just slide in to the hole on the tool. We resolved it by using a little dab of Sil-Glyde lubricating compound in the holes on the tool. It is sticky enough to hold the dies in & works great (& doesn't melt & make a mess when you leave the tool case in the truck in the summer).

Other than that it works good with a good selection of dies, I would guess on of my sets is 8+ yrs old. There are similar & less expensive units on Amazon & eBay.

I have Goplus 16 Ton Hydraulic Wire Crimper Battery Cable Lug Terminal Crimping Tool w/ 11 Dies - - Amazon.com which is identicle tone HF use to sell. The one they have now has a 1 sided end on it which is probably weaker but more convenient.

Mine has been fiddly but entirely adequate for a cheap Chinese tool. Maybe 200 crimps on it over the past few years. A better one would be better, but likely not worth the price even for an advanced home user. Would buy again.

 

[BravoXray]

Anyone have experience with this?

Hydraulic Wire Crimping Tool

Amazing deals on this Hydraulic Wire Crimping Tool at Harbor Freight. Quality tools & low prices.

www.harborfreight.com

Yes, I have one, and it works great. You just have to learn which size dies to use with which size wire/connector.

 

[Fallon]

Yes, I have one, and it works great. You just have to learn which size dies to use with which size wire/connector.

Hydraulic Crimping Tool for Large SB and Powerpole Contacts has a chart of die size for a given wire size.

 

[dragoneggs]

Have 2 of them, 1 for work & 1 for the garage... It's not a everyday tool but they are really handy to have. Sometimes a little awkward to use, a third hand can be useful at times depending on the location of the crimp you are making; no issue using them at the bench.

We would sometimes have the dies drop out because of the position we needed to get the tool in & they just slide in to the hole on the tool. We resolved it by using a little dab of Sil-Glyde lubricating compound in the holes on the tool. It is sticky enough to hold the dies in & works great (& doesn't melt & make a mess when you leave the tool case in the truck in the summer).

Other than that it works good with a good selection of dies, I would guess on of my sets is 8+ yrs old. There are similar & less expensive units on Amazon & eBay.

I have only used the hand power crimpers but what I do like about them is the dies are held in place and can be rotated with a push of a pin on each jaw.

On needing three hands... that is my biggest problem. Extremely hard to keep the terminal snug on to the wire while crimping with two hands.

 

[crazyal]

I don't have one of those crimpers but I do have multiple ones that are much higher quality. I can't see how it would be useful for crimping small diameter wires. It would be like using a sledge hammer to drive a nail. For larger wires I think it would be useful. I have a very similar tool for flaring brake lines. It's just not very fast.

If you are looking for something to do smaller wires (up to 10 gauge) then Tyco makes a great one. It has a spring loaded arm that holds the connector so you just need to hold the crimper in one hand and the wire in the other. But they are expensive. You probably can find a used one on ebay though. The plastic on the handles break on the older ones but they are still fully functional.

59824-1 | eBay

 

[BravoXray]

On needing three hands... that is my biggest problem. Extremely hard to keep the terminal snug on to the wire while crimping with two hands.

Yeah, humans should have been born with three or four hands.

I usually clamp the fixed handle in the vise with soft jaws to use it.

 

[Diggin It]

Yeah, humans should have been born with three or four hands.

As usual, Rod was way ahead of you:

 

[skikir]

I wonder if you could pick up one of those at HF.

 

[BukitCase]

Skikir, welcome to TBN;

Here's HF's version

Hydraulic Wire Crimping Tool

Amazing deals on this Hydraulic Wire Crimping Tool at Harbor Freight. Quality tools & low prices.

www.harborfreight.com

I have one, could use a couple improvements but works OK once you figure out which dies to use for what... Steve