Tweet
Now by now you guys should know that I am not one of the Harbor Freight haters crowd, I have sourced up the majority of my shop from there, and for the most part I have gotten FAR better serviceability from my HF tools than they have any right to offer at that price point,
But with my heavy work in broken car and truckville lately, I am running into a few absolute duds coming from Harbor Freight and I thought it would be wise to share them with you...
The following are outright failures due to exceedingly low quality in either design, or construction and the poor quality is not in any way similar to other competing products.
Item #69258 (Same as #61666) Radiator Pressure Tester Kit. I had to return 3 of them to get one that actually worked at all. And even then, pumping too fast blows pressure past the pump seal. NOT reliable for long term service. The housing of the pump feels like it will literally fly apart in your hand as you use it.
Not shown online. Will have to get item # from home tonight. 5 piece Metric flex head ratcheting combination wrench set. The ratcheting end works GREAT, however the handles are pretty stubby, and the open ends are scary flexible. With a tight fastener, the force required to loosen the fastener spreads the jaws of the wrench apart.
The following I will call a mixed bag. Construction is okay, but there were failures in either durability, or function that are in line with competitors.
Item #69619 Inner Tie Rod Removal Set. In all fairness, this is the same as the house branded ones that Advance Auto, and Autozone carry. The tool itself is simply insufficiently sized to work with modern pickup truck, and full size SUV inner tie rod assemblies on models such as the Ford F150, Expedition, Lincoln Navigator etc... Works like a charm on compact cars though..
Item #60706. 4 Steel Heavy Duty Floor Jack with Rapid Pump. IF you own and use floor jacks, and jack stands I hope and pray you inspect your jack before using it to lift a vehicle. Upon inspection, I found on mine that one of the E clips holding the pressure bars had gone missing, Probably got snagged on something and popped off. Luckily my Harbor Freight sells a 200ct box of misc sized E clips for about what 2 or 3 E clips sell for at my local hardware store. So I stocked up and fixed my jack before lifting my truck... Another issue is the locking bolt for the handle. It uses a standard bolt as a retainer for the handle, that can be easily backed off to allow for handle removal. My bolt keeps backing off. A touch of loctite cured that. For what it's worth, I have had floor jacks that came off of the mega expensive tool trucks to the same, and worse.
So what fails have you had from Harbor Freight tools? Please list the failures, and item numbers with as much specificity as possible. And did you have a work around for it?
But with my heavy work in broken car and truckville lately, I am running into a few absolute duds coming from Harbor Freight and I thought it would be wise to share them with you...
The following are outright failures due to exceedingly low quality in either design, or construction and the poor quality is not in any way similar to other competing products.
Item #69258 (Same as #61666) Radiator Pressure Tester Kit. I had to return 3 of them to get one that actually worked at all. And even then, pumping too fast blows pressure past the pump seal. NOT reliable for long term service. The housing of the pump feels like it will literally fly apart in your hand as you use it.
Not shown online. Will have to get item # from home tonight. 5 piece Metric flex head ratcheting combination wrench set. The ratcheting end works GREAT, however the handles are pretty stubby, and the open ends are scary flexible. With a tight fastener, the force required to loosen the fastener spreads the jaws of the wrench apart.
The following I will call a mixed bag. Construction is okay, but there were failures in either durability, or function that are in line with competitors.
Item #69619 Inner Tie Rod Removal Set. In all fairness, this is the same as the house branded ones that Advance Auto, and Autozone carry. The tool itself is simply insufficiently sized to work with modern pickup truck, and full size SUV inner tie rod assemblies on models such as the Ford F150, Expedition, Lincoln Navigator etc... Works like a charm on compact cars though..
Item #60706. 4 Steel Heavy Duty Floor Jack with Rapid Pump. IF you own and use floor jacks, and jack stands I hope and pray you inspect your jack before using it to lift a vehicle. Upon inspection, I found on mine that one of the E clips holding the pressure bars had gone missing, Probably got snagged on something and popped off. Luckily my Harbor Freight sells a 200ct box of misc sized E clips for about what 2 or 3 E clips sell for at my local hardware store. So I stocked up and fixed my jack before lifting my truck... Another issue is the locking bolt for the handle. It uses a standard bolt as a retainer for the handle, that can be easily backed off to allow for handle removal. My bolt keeps backing off. A touch of loctite cured that. For what it's worth, I have had floor jacks that came off of the mega expensive tool trucks to the same, and worse.
So what fails have you had from Harbor Freight tools? Please list the failures, and item numbers with as much specificity as possible. And did you have a work around for it?
twistsol
Comment