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say what you will about harbor frieght

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I have a couple of Harbor freight items also, One is a 1/2 In. drill press {Bench Model} and the other is a bench grinder. The Bench Grinder did "Burn up" {maby my fault maby not}. The drill press is fine for small items, but if you try to use a 1/2 In. drill bit with it, it will deffinately "Slip the belt", It still works with the 1/2 In. bit, you just have to go real slow.

What sold me on Craftsman:
Years ago I worked in an auto salvage yard, while working there I found a 1/2 In. breaker bar, it had a handle about 18 inches long {I loved it}, it would break most bolts either loose or twist them off.
One day I was useing it to remove the king pins from an old ford truck. Some of the bolts were 3/4 and rusted solid, so I got a cheater pipe and commenced to twist on these rusted bolts. You guessed it, the breaker bar snapped off right at the head. I took it to sears and as you might guess they were amased to see that ancient breaker bar. They promptly gave me a new one although they no longer carried the 18 In. model they gave me the longest one they had NO questions asked.
I also have an array of Snap on hand tools as well. Good quality. Although I find the edges on thier end wrenches a little hard on my hands. Getting the broken ones replaced means tracking down one of those trucks which isn`t easy in my area.
Kerry
 
Gosh Kerry, I certainly agree on Sears. Most of my better hand tools are Craftsman. Much like your story, I had a Craftsman breaker bar that must have been at least 40 years old (part of the first toold set I ever owned). I bought a VW Beetle that had set for 10 years and needed to refurbish the brakes. The back drums were installed with 256 ft/lb torque in '74. After 30 years of rust, one of the wasn't coming off. I put the 36mm socket on it and the 18 inch breaker and proceeded to jump up and down on the end of that bar with my full 230 lbs. Of course, it finally did break before the axle nut. Sears also replaced it with their latest model (mine was long out of production) with no questions and no charge. I almost felt bad about that.

I do have some Harbor Freight tools too though, just not usually ones that I intend to use except occasionally. For example, I bought their 4-1/2 inch angle grinder for about $15, compared to my $60 DeWalt. I probably won't last nearly as long and makes about 20 db more noise but it is pretty good to loan to my brother-in-law when he needs one. Actually it works fine, just makes a lot more noise.

Bayless
 
I thought about a Harbor Freight angle grinder when I saw how cheap they were $ wise. I wondered how long they would last too. I have both an angle grinder and a pencil grinder made by Ingersol Rand, {expensive units} there both very high pitched {noise wise}. You deffinatly want/need to wear hearing protection when useing them. In my 30+ years of welding career I have worn out more than one phenumatic grinder and I.R. is deffinately the one that will hold up under heavy use. I also have a Makita electric 4 In. grinder, the problem with it is, it is way too bulky to get into tight quarters. Iv been contemplating building myself a hydraulic press with this huge hydraulic jack from a military truck of some sort, it has to be like a 50 - 75 ton, I mean this thing is huge. But also looked at the press Harbor Frieght has and may end up buying it instead. For the Pressing jobs I have encountered here at home I think it will suffice. Im in no way against Harbor Frieght tools if they will do the intended tasks. BUT for hand tools, end wrenches, sockets and ratchets, screwdrivers ETC. I am sticking with Craftsman.
Kerry
 
well, for what you pay for those 'Made In China" or Korea HF tools, it doesn't matter if they explode after two or three hard jobs, because they've "payed for themselves". 40-year old tools made by Craftsman are not the same as tools made by Craftsman today. 40 years ago there was Quality and Craftsmanship in North America, a rare thing to find today in most everything consumers buy here. I don't want to pay $12.00 for one Snap-On socket, because the BOLT doesn't care what brand the socket is, all it cares is that it gets properly tightened. and if I can get the same size socket for $1.78 at my local auto parts store, go figure.

But I'm not putting down any brand of tools, everyone has their own taste and style for tools. For me it comes down to the ratio of price to quality. Some tools need to be of good quality, but others don't. I'm still using tools that I borrowed from my brother back in the 1970's, and they were not the expensive kind back then, otherwise he would have missed them for sure!
 
I think it is a matter of the task at hand. For long term use, I would likely go somewhere other than Harborfreight. I will be heading there tomorrow to replace a heat gun. I fried one this weekend. Using it to strip undercoat and paint from my TR. I figure the total project will be a two maybe three heat gun job. Picking them up on sell for $10 that is still less than the competition. It is an item that once I am through with that portion of the project I would not like use again in the near future.

Last year I tiled a kitchen backsplash, a tile saw purchased was less than rental, when I finished, sold for $20 less than I paid for it.

For an engine lift, I was able to match the HF price for a Goodyear labeled model with leveler at Sams Club. Used it to pull the body off the TR.

On the long term tools like ratchet's I love the Sears warranty.
 
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