Harbor Freight Tools that don't suck

[California]

I suspect most of us raised by parents who were part of the Greatest Generation feel that way. But tools are an established exception. The only real question should be, "Which tool will give me the best bang for the buck?" :laughing:

Not all those parents!

Dad was so burned by the Depression that he wouldn't spend money on anything. I inherited about a half ton of yard-sale and salvaged-from-the-dump tools at the ranch. I carried over my own Craftsman/Thorsen/etc tools and use them instead of what was there - with occasional searches through the small amount of old stuff that I kept, such as looking for a 4-point socket. or a drawknife/spokeshave. ( There are several). I sold boxes of stuff to a local used tool store, boxes to someone to resell on Ebay, boxes went to Goodwill, loads of hoarded stuff went to the dump.

Photo 2004, one of many dump runs. These rolls of yard-sale insulation hoarded under the house were full of Ivy vines and animal nests, not usable.

I was raised repairing a tool someone had discarded - sharpening a rusty axe and re-securing its head, replacing a power tool cord, etc - before starting any project. I'm still buying HF stuff to use in place of dangerous or unusable tools that have been at the ranch since I was a kid.

 

[5030]

I’ve been treating all my ethanol contaminated gasoline with Stabil Marine 360 for about 5 years with very good results.

I use it as well but my chainsaws can sit for quite a while unused and it's easy to drain them and run them dry, so I do.

 

[tjkubota93]

A gas chain saw hazard we didn't expect:

That specialty clinic 100 miles away is for the most severe burns.

I have the upmost respect for those guys and hope they recover 100%

But, they must have been using a stihl with flippy caps! Rim shot!

Seriously, when I had a stihl, that happened. Full tank of fuel on me. Thankfully it did not ignite.

 

[5030]

I have the upmost respect for those guys and hope they recover 100%

But, they must have been using a stihl with flippy caps! Rim shot!

Seriously, when I had a stihl, that happened. Full tank of fuel on me. Thankfully it did not ignite.

I have one Stihl with the cam over caps and I can honestly say I've never had a fueling accident with it. My other 2 are older, one is 45 years old (028 WB) and still runs like it's new. They have the old style screw caps which candidly, I prefer. Not fond of the quarter turn cam lock caps at all, but that saw was a gift (as in free) so I took it.

 

[Oaktree]

The 'cause' is all 100% ethanol gas. Nothing else. Get rid of the ethanol mandate and small engines will rejoice. Because I use my saws infrequently, I drain all the weasel pee out and then start them and run them dry before putting up. Saws especially because there is no float bowl (pumper carb) benefit from running dry and that works on a float carb ro if you are sure to use the choke to suck every last bit of gum gas out of the float bowl.

E10 has been around for what, 20 years now? One would think that small engine makers would have figured out how to work with it by now.
As you said, use fresh gas and run it dry if you're not going to be using it for a while and you'll be fine.

What's all this got to do with HF?

 

[Gregster613]

I do the same thing as 5030 does in post #2012. It only takes a couple of minutes to drain fuel out and then run machine until it dies; then whenever I need it again it always fires right up with no hiccups at all.

 

[tjkubota93]

I have one Stihl with the cam over caps and I can honestly say I've never had a fueling accident with it. My other 2 are older, one is 45 years old (028 WB) and still runs like it's new. They have the old style screw caps which candidly, I prefer. Not fond of the quarter turn cam lock caps at all, but that saw was a gift (as in free) so I took it.

It was my fault, I was in a hurry and not paying attention.

 

[PILOON]

I gave up on them. Even after washing them .... they sucked ... IMHO.

I use these now;

View attachment 625416

AND, Cosco is where to stock up on the blue rolls!

 

[5030]

It was my fault, I was in a hurry and not paying attention.

Watched a you tube vid about just that and the guy in the video said Motion Pro was coming out with a insert fix, Went on their website and saw nothing. he did say the fix cost a bout a hundred bucks a cap. For that price I'll keep the quarter turns.

 

[lostcreekranch]

AND, Cosco is where to stock up on the blue rolls!

Walmart has been lower cost ... than Costco in my experience.