First Trip to a Harbor Freight Store...

[WMSmotorhead]

I'd seen all their catalogs, and my Dad used their mail order.. today I made it to one of their stores.. It's a drive, and I was out that way on other business.

It was fun to look around. I am not really confident in the metallurgy in the wrenches and sockets. Ever since I had a breaker bar snap, causing me to hit the wall and floor with severe bruising, I've been really paranoid about their metals.

The broken breaker bar in my case was an S*K... and those are usually pretty darn awesome. My dad and I have royally bent some HF Pry bars. With the fear of another major accident from a broken tool, I've tried to go with USA line... Craftsman, SK, etc.. that's what most of my box is.

Anything I lean my weight into had better be darn strong... I don't want any more injuries.

Is anyone actually comfortable with HF's wrenches and sockets for precise size and solid strength? That stuff sells like hot cakes, but I am nervous about rounding bolts and getting hurt using it.

While I was there, I DID buy the little rails you snap your sockets on to keep them together... Those can't hurt me... so I think.

 

[Chris142]

HF hand and air tools are pretty good now. I have some of their sockets that I would put up against a Snap-on or Craftsman any day.

Their air tools are great for the price. A $20 1/2 impact will do nearly anything a shade tree guy needs it to do and if it gets stolen it's no big deal.

 

[pcoxe]

Many of the HF hand tools are quite good now. I give them the look-feel test. If they look and feel sturdy I'll buy them. If they look and feel crummy, I pass.

 

[bmwjohn]

my thought is that several, but not all, of their products, come in multiple grades and the quality order top to bottom is Taiwan (ROC), then mainland China, then less expensive mainland Chinese, then India at the bottom - and usually the cheapest. Also, the real comparison in many cases (IMHO) is HFT flare wrench, for example, vs. no flare wrench at all, rather than a HFT tool vs. Snap On. Just my opinion. I haven't bought a lot of HFT stuff but probably $1500 over the years, with moderate work and stress. It appears that recently they are offering premium grades whereas in the past their pitch was "we are the cheapest" not always the best value. As they move up in reputation they have a better chance of selling a premium grade at good value prices. They do have an incredibly poor web site, which will NOT permit you to buy many items at a time.

 

[chevys10]

Been going to Harbor Freight for years. Some of the stuff is fine while some is junk. I use their adjustable crescent wrenches all the time and they are fine. I had a set of 3 avation snips that were complete garbage cutting anything other than really thin metal. Used a hole saw to drill through a roof and barely had any teeth left at the end. Have some of their air tools and they have been fine.

I have used a few of their sockets without issue, but have always thought that Craftsman had a better fit. I generally use Harbor Freight for those tools I need for a job but will seldom use....

 

[Jimmy9190]

I bought a set of HF long handled "highly polished" wrenches back in 2005, I got both the metric and standard sets. I use those wrenches a lot and have never had any trouble with them at all. And they are still highly polished now at 6 years old, shiny and smooth like my standard length Snap-On and Gear Wrench sets. The ends of each one of the long HF wrenches are all still in perfect shape, no rounded surfaces or broken parts, and each one has performed great every time I needed it. The only odd thing was the metric set did not include a 13mm for some reason. Maybe HF is superstitous.

I have a flip socket set I bought at HF too, no problems with any of those either. I don't have any HF regular sockets or ratchets though. I have had no problems at all with the HF hand tools I have bought, except for a broken rubber strap wrench. I do check their wrenches and ratchets out when I am in the store, they look to be good quality to me, but others here who turn wrenches a lot more often than I do will probably have better info for you.

 

[JHZR2]

Their store smells like a combination of chinese food, motor oil and rusty metal.

 

[WMSmotorhead]

I Know!!! The tool section at Marc's smells like that too. Likely the cutting oil, anti-rust oil.

The Pittsburgh pro sockets didn't look bad... and since they had E-sockets, I did get a set.. I am still spooked about snapping a wrench or ratchet... it is really not an experience I want to re-live.

The real thing that honks me off about wrench and socket sets is that they are MISSING SIZES.

Metric wrench kits are sized like 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 17, 19, 21.

There are sooo many 18mm's on cars it's mandatory to have one. Almost all "budget" tool kits eliminate the even sizes in the large wrenches... Sockets too. makes it half way to useless.

 

[Hoosier_Daddy]

i've found their quality to be steadily on the rise. been using their tools for a number of years and i'm pretty happy with the product they are putting out these days. i've had a breaker bar snap on me as well but i was the fool jumping on it so i don't grudge the bar

 

[WMSmotorhead]

My breaker bar broke under me leaning into it... It didn't fall under abuse. Admittedly, the Pittsburgh Pro stuff looked to be decent. I'm trying to make Craftsman my "Starting point".. Sears or better for the stuff I need to trust in. When Sears has a super sale, you can many times approach HF prices.
I was looking to get the HF mechanics set since it's all my Mrs. could afford as a gift.. My folks jumped in and said let's do better... SK was WAY expensive.. The Craftsman kit was 100$ more than the HF on sale.. but when I added the tool cabinet, Sears kicked in a 100$ credit, and essentially MATCHED the price that I would have got at HF. Sears is way closer to me, and I'm more confident in the tools.

 

[kasedian]

 

[tom slick]

Originally Posted By: JHZR2
Their store smells like a combination of chinese food, motor oil and rusty metal.


I always imagine that's what mainland China smells like

 

[Merkava_4]

Originally Posted By: WMSmotorhead
Is anyone actually comfortable with HF's wrenches and sockets for precise size and solid strength?


Their sockets have gotten pretty good; they've come a long way.
However, I don't like their wrenches, pliers, or screwdrivers.

 

[JHZR2]

Originally Posted By: Hoosier_Daddy
i've found their quality to be steadily on the rise.


As have the costs of the tools. Kind of negates the benefit of buying Chinese junk.

 

[jcwit]

H/F allows my to own tools I never could have afforded otherwise. Or also to own tools I only use a few times a year.

I'm a person who does some of my own repairs and they have saves me a ton of cash over the years.

Regardless of the smell in the store.

 

[Donald]

I have had 1 or 2 impact sockets break (one or both were replaced under warranty) and a coiled air hose was junk, made of the wrong plastic.

I do not buy their cheapest air impact wrenches, but rather the most expensive 1/2" ones. Good quality for the price. Not equal to the top of the line IR wrench in power, but good enough for my needs

 

[sciphi]

My HF sockets and ratchets have been pretty good to me. I did manage to break a breaker bar, but that was more me abusing the snot out of it than the bar's fault.

I have a number of "unique" tools from HF that were otherwise cost-prohibitive to own such as a flare-nut wrench set (big pass!) and their security Torx socket set (pass).

The only HF hand tools I've broken have been through outright abuse rather than being cheap. Things like using a T45 bit in a T47 bolt, or under-sizing the wrench for the application.

 

[WMSmotorhead]

The only thing I saw that sparked my intrest that I didn't jump on (based on price) was the bolt remover sockets... the sockets for when some dimwit rounded the bolt before you. I've seen the Irwin and Sears version (look the same).. the HF Pittsburgh Pro looked different, but I think it would work. I was wondering what you all thought of that

 

[Vikas]

That must be new item. I do not recall HF having the bolt extractors in the past.

How did you miss the composite ratchet while you were there? If you only want to buy one thing from HF, that would be it

- Vikas

 

[WMSmotorhead]

Composite? Is that a fancy word for plastic?