tools too cheap to be tru?? (harbor freight thread :D)

[Jeff McRae]

Different people will have different experiences. I have a small "tabletop" drill press that I'va had (and used HARD) for over 10 years - no complaints. 1/2" air impact gun - same situation.

Have bought other things there (grease guns and such) that were "use once and throw away"

YMMV

[Robert J. Yates]

The 3 ton floor jack I bought there for $79 lasted me 3 years - its now toast. The $28 12 ton jackstand set is going just fine as is the 1/2" Chicago Electric impact gun and the 3/8th air angle grinder. The ball joint service tool is a joke - I went through 2 of them putting my front axle together and never bothered to return the 2nd one for a 3rd. Sometimes ya make out and sometimes ya don't I guess.

[DsrtJeeper]

My 1/2" air impact went south the other night after many years of service. I take it you guys are talking about the air tool when you mentioned good luck with HF 1/2" impact??? Mine will spin if I take it off the bolt, but put it on a tight bolt and it just shoots air out by the reversing switch.

[Robert J. Yates]

They all look like the same crap to me. You also hit the nail on the head - I spread the C clamp apart on both sets I used trying to press a set of old ball joints out of a HP30 axle so I would guess they used some pretty sh!tty metal - kinda like slagged down Pepsi cans I guess

[DanB98TJ]

My trail kit (read: throw away tools) are from HF - they're fine for stuff you only need to use a few times.

I've actually had good luck with their drill press (big "shop" size), long-frame floor jack, jack stands (kinda hard to f#($& them up), and that kind of thing. I keep a good set of Craftsman tools at home for the routine wrenching.

Oh - can't forget the 12-volt impact...not only does it work great for removing lug nuts, but it did better than my air impact at removing the pinion nuts when we were regearing my axles. Not bad for $19.99....

[Robert J. Yates]

Originally posted by DanB98TJ
Oh - can't forget the 12-volt impact...not only does it work great for removing lug nuts, but it did better than my air impact at removing the pinion nuts when we were regearing my axles. Not bad for $19.99....

I have one of those things and it didn't work worth a sh!t when I tested it a home on a pinion nut. Now ocassionally I will toss it in the tow rig as a just in case item but I never carry it in the Jeep as it doesn't seem to be worth the weight.

[DsrtJeeper]

Originally posted by Robert J. Yates
I have one of those things and it didn't work worth a sh!t when I tested it a home on a pinion nut. Now ocassionally I will toss it in the tow rig as a just in case item but I never carry it in the Jeep as it doesn't seem to be worth the weight.

Huh! That must have been a defective one; Robert. I watched Fred remove a spindle nut with his on a YJ that two guys couldn't remove with a pry bar. That thing was amazing to say the least. Fred still carries it to this day.

[Robert J. Yates]

You guys are talking about the HF portable impact that clips to your battery right?

[DsrtJeeper]

Correct; Robert. I think Fred's came with a few sockets, hard case and optional cigarette lighter adapter.

[DanB98TJ]

Yep, the little plastic 12-volt one.

I was shocked the first time I saw it remove a front axle nut on a TJ, and one was quickly added to my trail kit. It quit working on me after a while - I figured out it was just a pin falling out after I bought a new one, so now I have one in both vehicles.

[Robert J. Yates]

Hmmmm,
Maybe mine is defective - I should see about trading it back for a new one. I just figured it was typical HF stuff - some of it works and some of it doesn't. Thanx.

[DsrtJeeper]

You nailed that on the head; Robert. You just have to pick and choose the tools there. HF is pretty good about returns, so hopefully that works out for you. The main problem I find is that HF is always out of stock on the 12V impacts.

[Stu Olson]

Originally posted by Robert J. Yates
You guys are talking about the HF portable impact that clips to your battery right?

I have one of those $19.99 wonders myself. I've used it to remove TJ front axle nuts on numerous occasions.

It was pressed into service just last weekend.....I was trying to figure out how crank in some torque on the power steering pump pulley puller and I remember I had that little impact sitting under the bench. I grabbed it from the case, hooked it up to my YELLOW TOP OPTIMA battery (which is now 4 years old and still going strong in the REALLY HOT Arizona summers), and broke the pulley loose from the pump shaft. Yeah, it took about 45 seconds, but I decided that was a fair enough given my alternative was a rachet and hammer.

I've had an HF floor jack for 3~4 years now and it still works fine. I also have a set of their 12 ton jack stands.

Like Robert, I've used the heck ouf of my 3-in-1 HF u-joint tool. Unlike Robert, I've not tried to take any ball joints apart with it. If mine were to fail today, I would have gotten my $29 (bought it on sale) worth out of it a couple of years ago.....no doubt about it. I've used it to disassemble/reassembled two CV drive shafts, rebuild 3 pairs of D30 axle shafts, and do a smattering of u-joint repairs on the trails for others. I know I've done a couple of projects with other local Jeepers but I don't recall them.

[Robert J. Yates]

That HF Ball joint tool best be advertised as a u-joint tool as it works quite well for that. As a ball joint tool, it really sux.

[Darrell C]

Originally posted by Stu Olson
I grabbed it from the case, hooked it up to my YELLOW TOP OPTIMA battery (which is now 4 years old and still going strong in the REALLY HOT Arizona summers)...

Yeah, that was real subtle Stu. REAL SUBTLE!

[mrblaine]

Originally posted by Darrell C
Yeah, that was real subtle Stu. REAL SUBTLE!

Like a sledgehammer.

If all optimas were representative of Stu's, there'd be no contest. Unfortunately a statistical average of 1 is not enough to convince me, especially when mine, several of my buddies, two shops, and an ambulance company have thousands of dollars invested in junk optimas to represent a statistical average of a hundred or so.

I guarantee if I could get that performance out of them, I'd buy a hundred of them tomorrow. Considering that we run 50 units with an average of 3 batteries each, that's not much of a stretch. Our hightops in fact, run four.

[DsrtJeeper]

So which battery do you favor; Blaine. I don't run Optimas either due to my vehicles being new still.

[StealthTJ]

Originally posted by mrblaine
Like a sledgehammer.

If all optimas were representative of Stu's, there'd be no contest. Unfortunately a statistical average of 1 is not enough to convince me, especially when mine, several of my buddies, two shops, and an ambulance company have thousands of dollars invested in junk optimas to represent a statistical average of a hundred or so.

I guarantee if I could get that performance out of them, I'd buy a hundred of them tomorrow. Considering that we run 50 units with an average of 3 batteries each, that's not much of a stretch. Our hightops in fact, run four.

Yup, my experience with the Optima's have been about the same. Went through two of them in, mmmmm, less than 3 years. Now I run that "other" battery

Huh! That must have been a defective one; Robert. I watched Fred remove a spindle nut with his on a YJ that two guys couldn't remove with a pry bar. That thing was amazing to say the least. Fred still carries it to this day.

Not only does it still work great, but I've even used it at the shop, to the amazement of two of the R&R techs.
Neither of them could break loose a couple of exhaust pipe bolts (that were throughly rusted on) with their upteen zillion dollar, 4 katrilion ft/lb Snap-On 1/2" impact wrenches. I said, "hey, I've got something that'll get 'em off", walk to the Jeep pulled this little plastic box out of the back, and returned with the "toy" little plastic 12v impact.
Guess what
Spun 'em right off




Fred

[DsrtJeeper]

That's cool Fred! I'd like to have been there to see their faces.

[Darrell C]

Originally posted by mrblaine
Like a sledgehammer.

If all optimas were representative of Stu's, there'd be no contest. Unfortunately a statistical average of 1 is not enough to convince me, especially when mine, several of my buddies, two shops, and an ambulance company have thousands of dollars invested in junk optimas to represent a statistical average of a hundred or so.

I guarantee if I could get that performance out of them, I'd buy a hundred of them tomorrow. Considering that we run 50 units with an average of 3 batteries each, that's not much of a stretch. Our hightops in fact, run four.

I won't dispute that one bit, Blaine. What puzzles me more than anything is trying to find a rationale for the descrepancy.

I've been running an Optima blue top for right at 4 years in my Jeep, with good results (but it is beginning to show signs of getting tired). The emergency vehicles in our County fleet are all running Optima yellow tops. The '99 Crown Vic assigned to me as a take-home vehicle had a yellow top in it from new, and got a replacement yellow top installed last winter. Not too bad for an emergency vehicle (lights, siren, radios, etc.).

I can understand an occasional "bad apple" in any production process, but broad reports of multiple "failures" vs. multiple "good reports" has me wondering.

With that said, I'm thinking about a battery swap in the TJ before this winter. Comparing Optima vs Odyssey and I am torn.

[mrblaine]

Originally posted by Darrell C
I won't dispute that one bit, Blaine. What puzzles me more than anything is trying to find a rationale for the descrepancy.

I've been running an Optima blue top for right at 4 years in my Jeep, with good results (but it is beginning to show signs of getting tired). The emergency vehicles in our County fleet are all running Optima yellow tops. The '99 Crown Vic assigned to me as a take-home vehicle had a yellow top in it from new, and got a replacement yellow top installed last winter. Not too bad for an emergency vehicle (lights, siren, radios, etc.).

I can understand an occasional "bad apple" in any production process, but broad reports of multiple "failures" vs. multiple "good reports" has me wondering.

With that said, I'm thinking about a battery swap in the TJ before this winter. Comparing Optima vs Odyssey and I am torn.

I have no idea why the discrepancy in performance. It makes you wonder if there are two factories they are manufactured in.

I certainly can't explain it and frankly I grow weary of the differences. Literally, at one point we jumped on the Optima bandwagon in the ambulances. In less than a year, closer to six months more than likely, we had a pallet full for the Optima rep to come and pick-up that were dead.

We don't arbitrarily just decide we don't like something and then dump it, you know as well as I do how cost ineffective that is. It has to fail miserably before we get rid of it.

I do know that I tested a single Odyssey 1700 in a buddy's sub before we attempted them in the ambulances.

We replaced two factory sized flooded cell with one 1700. I told him to do everything he could to kill it and I would replace it with the battery(s) of his choice if it lasted less than two years. About a year into it after much abuse, I started a pilot program in a few of the units with good results. The one in the sub lasted as a single starting a diesel for 3 years with a poor charging system, cold weather starts with no glow plug warm-up, and SoCal desert summer time temps. He replaced it with 2 1700's after 3 years and they are still going strong. (to the best of my knowledge)

Who knows? I am sure confused.

[JeepGal]

Harbor Freight tools suck

Back to topic

Tam

[DanB98TJ]

Originally posted by JeepGal
Harbor Freight tools suck

Well, if you're talking about their drill bits you won't get any argument from me.

I lost count of the ones we broke working on Fred's Jeep last weekend. There are about a half dozen of 'em still embedded in the wood of my friend's boat, too....

[DsrtJeeper]

HF is having a big sale through this weekend. Look for the 12V impacts if you get the chance.

[DsrtJeeper]

I picked up a 12V impact at HF for 19.99 today. They had some smokin' deals.

[cbremer]

i installed a stroker last weekend and used harbor freight's engine leveler: http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=42356

it did the trick and was well worth the $30

[DsrtJeeper]

I saw some name brand products on the shelves today as well. Hobart, Stanley and Ingersoll Rand. I use all Craftsman tools, but for odds and ends; HF has been handy.

Something I didn't know before... HF offers replacement warranties on various items. I usually don't buy into them, but hey; you never know.

[NAILER341]

i have used my u joint clamp on many occasions as well, with no problems.
i also have the floor jack, a set of the large jack stands, and a transmission jack. they all work well.
the transmission jack is very handy, and gets used pretty often. i use it every time i remove the center skid from the jeep. it also makes a nice rolling seat in the garage
i did do 1 ball joint with the clamp, which was areal bitch, but i think most of that is because i had no friggin clue how to put the various parts to get the job done.
the floor jack has had no problems at all.. it is a bit slow, but no complaints on that one.
if you run a shop.... get the good stuff.. if you are a weekend mechanic, the basics will get the job done