[ARCHIVED THREAD] - More Harbor Freight goodness (Page 1 of 2)
Posted: 7/24/2015 7:06:38 AM EDT
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13 years ago i was stationed in Biloxi. I bought a little harbor freight trailer to bring a motorcycle home to dallas. Since then its carried 7 more bikes, snd countless junk, all over the country. Now its behind me again, taking my wife's motorcycle to her, in Biloxi.
Zero issues, best $200 trailer ever. |
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Even the wheel bearings are original? I have my doubts. That's the one part that everyone swaps from the get go. If you know what you're looking for and what you're doing, HF has some incredible deals. Does that make everything they sell awesome? Hell no... but for what they do well with you can't beat them. |
| New wheel bearings about 3 years ago. New grease every year. Lights have been replaced due to a couple off road mishaps. This is the one that has removeable side walls. Ive had the walls on, full of dirt, with a big bin full on dirt on top. Way overloaded, but still did 10 miles way off road. Its pretty much relegated to bike transport the last few years. |
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I have the folding one and for $200 delivered in 1998, it could not be beat! Great product.
HOWEVER: -the stamped metal clips that hold the wiring to the frame quickly cut through the wire's insulation (and the frame's paint). That caused short circuits and blown fuses. Fix was to run the wires through tubing and zip-tie that to the frame. -the tail light bracket broke in two. I dragged my tail-light behind the trailer for 10 miles until a passing car alerted me to it. OP - were these issues fixed by the time you bought yours? As for bearings: I sprung for the larger diameter wheels (easier on the bearings) and installed "bearing buddie" grease hubs; call me over-cautious but I never had a bearing failure. EDIT: I used mine for motorcycles too. the folding one with 1/2 plywood deck easily carried 2 bikes and gear. |
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I have the Harbor Freight Sandblasting cabinet. I also have some impact sockets from there, and other specialty hand tools.
I've got a shit-ton of the magnetic parts bowls and flashlights of all sorts (usually free with coupon) Oh, I just remembered...I have a set of torque sticks from there too. The ONLY electrical thing I ever bought from them was the 1x30" belt sander and I use it as a knife sharpener. EVERYTHING I've bought there has been either 20% or 25% off. I just remembered, I have wheel chocks, and the really high 24" car jack too. Damn, I have a lot from there...I've left off a ton of stuff. |
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I have the Harbor Freight Sandblasting cabinet. I also have some impact sockets from there, and other specialty hand tools. I've got a shit-ton of the magnetic parts bowls and flashlights of all sorts (usually free with coupon) Oh, I just remembered...I have a set of torque sticks from there too. The ONLY electrical thing I ever bought from them was the 1x30" belt sander and I use it as a knife sharpener. EVERYTHING I've bought there has been either 20% or 25% off. I just remembered, I have wheel chocks, and the really high 24" car jack too. Damn, I have a lot from there...I've left off a ton of stuff. I bought the 3/8 and 1/2 inch "click" torque wrenches - they are spot on. |
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I have one of the 19.00 angle grinders I got w/ a 20% off coupon. I used it to grind the old paint off a jon boat. It is loud as hell but it works switch is iffy but everyone knows that and usually swaps it out. I just didn't think it would last as long as it has.
I buy stuff that I am only going to use a few times. If I was back in fabrication I wouldn't buy power anything from them. But for what I used it for it was perfect. I tried going to pawn shops and they wanted retail for worn out shit. I buy poly tarps once a couple years becuase a 12 x 30 tarp is 35.00 and the sun eats them up in about 2 years. Mover blankets to line the dog kennels 5 bucks a pop unless you can get them on sale. |
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I have one of the 19.00 angle grinders I got w/ a 20% off coupon. I used it to grind the old paint off a jon boat. It is loud as hell but it works switch is iffy but everyone knows that and usually swaps it out. I just didn't think it would last as long as it has. I buy stuff that I am only going to use a few times. If I was back in fabrication I wouldn't buy power anything from them. But for what I used it for it was perfect. I tried going to pawn shops and they wanted retail for worn out shit. I buy poly tarps once a couple years becuase a 12 x 30 tarp is 35.00 and the sun eats them up in about 2 years. Mover blankets to line the dog kennels 5 bucks a pop unless you can get them on sale. I used their angle grinder to remove the floor, stringers, and transom of a 17' ski boat.(if you have never done it it's an amazing amount of grinding). Still runs like a champ. |
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I purchased a gun from hf. it shoots staples and brads. i use it a lot.i store it in a 40 mm ammo can. i also purchased a laser level for doing drop ceilings worked great. i used both at the same time. i marked the level line then shot brads into the metal wall angle to hold it in place. when i got around the room it was spot on.
i have a set of 1/4" socket set standard and metric i use it almost every day. very handy, very handy. |
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We had one of those orange trailers from an older Midwest analog of Harbor Freight. I can't remember the name, but they had a bunch of imported stuff, notably disposable Buffalo Tools. Northern Tools, or something like that?
It had a lot of miles on it. My favorite trip was when I found a guy in the paper selling a bunch of pulled motors. I showed up and got a complete '75 Olds 350 for a couple hundred. I took it to a car wash and used the pressure washer to clean it up, and the grease took a bit of a toll on the plywood decking. When my dad saw that, I recall it wasn't the happiest I had seen him. |
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I bought the 3/8 and 1/2 inch "click" torque wrenches - they are spot on. Quoted:
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I have the Harbor Freight Sandblasting cabinet. I also have some impact sockets from there, and other specialty hand tools. I've got a shit-ton of the magnetic parts bowls and flashlights of all sorts (usually free with coupon) Oh, I just remembered...I have a set of torque sticks from there too. The ONLY electrical thing I ever bought from them was the 1x30" belt sander and I use it as a knife sharpener. EVERYTHING I've bought there has been either 20% or 25% off. I just remembered, I have wheel chocks, and the really high 24" car jack too. Damn, I have a lot from there...I've left off a ton of stuff. I bought the 3/8 and 1/2 inch "click" torque wrenches - they are spot on. LOL, I have the full set (1/4, 3/8, 1/2) but forgot to mention it 
Damn, I have a lot of stuff from there. 3/8" air hoses and a few fittings. No air tools though. |
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like anything else.... read the reviews
Harbor Freight doesn't have the time to weed out reviews or they just dont care the reviews will tell you if something is good or if it is total garbage bought lots of random crap from there my favorite is my electric impact bought it for a one time use but it has held up well and makes life easier |
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Anyone remember when Harbor Freight was mail-order only? That was a big crap shoot since you couldn't visually inspect the merchandise before buying it. Yup, I remember licking a stamp and mailing orders to wait "6-8 weeks" to have a crap delivered to my door. |
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I will admit I did buy a motorcycle dolly at HF recently and it works good.
http://www.harborfreight.com/low-profile-motorcycle-dolly-95896.html |
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We had one of those orange trailers from an older Midwest analog of Harbor Freight. I can't remember the name, but they had a bunch of imported stuff, notably disposable Buffalo Tools. Northern Tools, or something like that? It had a lot of miles on it. My favorite trip was when I found a guy in the paper selling a bunch of pulled motors. I showed up and got a complete '75 Olds 350 for a couple hundred. I took it to a car wash and used the pressure washer to clean it up, and the grease took a bit of a toll on the plywood decking. When my dad saw that, I recall it wasn't the happiest I had seen him. I am wanting to say it was something like HDC or what have you. I loved that place as a kid because of the cheap bb guns 
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| I've bought lots of stuff from them. Dollys, carts, tools, etc. Some of it is total crap, other is decent. When I want something "good", I go elsewhere. If I just need something to get the job done and don't care about longevity or hardiness, then I'll go to HF. It helps that they are just several blocks from my house. There's an O'Reilly Auto Parts store right next to them. Both stores see LOTS of my business... since I don't have to run across town (as I'm usually in the middle of something and in a hurry when I make a tool run). |
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he got her there too, but there was no coupon that week  Quoted:
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OP mentioned something about a wife?? You know the rules, OP! Post 'em or give a valid reason!! he got her there too, but there was no coupon that week Dude fucked up. I got a free tape measure with my wife.
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Their grinders are great, I've got three of them.
The electric cutoff tool is pretty good. Horiz bandsaw is a fantastic deal, portaband works good. Impact gun works good, impact sockets work good, breaker bar is great, torque wrenches are great value, shear is good. I was never burned until I tried to buy a disc/belt sander from them. The first one, exchange one, and one more after that all had a bad startup capacitor and the only way to get them going was to manually roll them over.
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like anything else.... read the reviews Harbor Freight doesn't have the time to weed out reviews or they just dont care the reviews will tell you if something is good or if it is total garbage bought lots of random crap from there my favorite is my electric impact bought it for a one time use but it has held up well and makes life easier I also bought the electric impact driver and mine WAS a one-time use! Even drafted a buddy to fix it (hes an engineering type) - no go. It was trash. Only worked once.
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Are any of their smaller sized bench grinders worth a shit? I have been needing one for small polishing/grinding jobs but have been hesitant to buy one because I'm afraid I'll be wasting $50 when it shits out after a few uses. read the reviews lots (but not all) of the cheaper/smaller stuff is way underpowered my only cheap harbor freight bench grinder sucks useless with a grinding wheel and barely turns a wire wheel also has been unbalanced since day 1 its on a heavy stand and can still vibrate itself in circles
check out craiglist or facebook sell groups I picked up a $20 antique black and decker bench grinder and that thing is a beast |
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I bought an electric metal shear, not really expecting much. I had been using a pneumatic for years. That fucking thing rocks. My pneumatic never worked that good, ever. It is retired now.
I use a lot of their stuff. Two floor jacks, 4 sets of jack stands, car dollies, metal brake, metal shrinker/stretcher, bench metal shear, auto body panel stands. I am also amazed at their pneumatic impact "earthquake" driver. I would have never bought it, but it got great reviews. I damn near broke a finger the first time I used it. Fucking impressive, better than the Ingersol Rand I used. I have two rock tumblers that have gone through at least ten thousand rounds of brass. I have a rotary impact hammer that lived through three projects, which means it has paid for itself twice over renting. I loan it out to everyone and it just keeps on running. It even came with bits that are still good. |