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Harbor Freight Parking Lot Sale

paszekj

paszekj

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Harbor Freight has their ?Parking Lot Sale? this weekend (I think nationwide). I know that you need to tread carefully with HF as some items can be duds but does anyone have any recommendations on particular items to consider (or avoid).
I still need an air compressor and am tempted to get their 20-gal oiled air compressor: https://www.harborfreight.com/20-gallon-16-hp-135-psi-oil-lube-vertical-air-compressor-64857.html but am a little leery as I remember a thread about the delivered pressure drifting. Any thoughts on this or other items?
 
LOL! OMG that's funny. Great Ad!
come on now....LOL...they have at least 1 or 2 things in the store that is good...i think. I mean I did buy a shop stool from them...mind you the welds broke...so NOW, after I welded it CORRECTLY this time, fixing it....its a good stool.....NOW! LMAO!

At least their shop towels and shop rags are good. LOL.

Okay, all joking aside: Umm yeah, I wouldn't touch their air compressors. Key motive here one should be mindful of is one needs an air compressor to spray PRIMER with. You need high SCFM to use a spray gun and spray PRIMER correctly.
To be constructive here, I'm super happy with what I did. A frugal choice. I bought a good quality middle of the road small 30 gallon compressor, but key here is it had a bigger than normal motor and pump on it...high SCFM. about 11 SCFM output. To save money, and to get the volume I "wanted", I went to an equipment tool reseller / repair store...they had a tank for sale, from a compressor they dismantled. Snagged that right up right away for $40.00! I worked out the equivalent of a $900 plus compressor...But for less than HALF that! And another advantage that has served me well, since tanks are joined with a hose and quick connect, now I have a easily relocatable, and even a handy portable tank for those "I can't reach it from the garage" jobs.
 
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ksdflying said:
LOL! OMG that's funny. Great Ad!
come on now....LOL...they have at least 1 or 2 things in the store that is good...i think. I mean I did buy a shop stool from them...mind you the welds broke...so NOW, after I welded it CORRECTLY this time, fixing it....its a good stool.....NOW! LMAO!

At least their shop towels and shop rags are good. LOL.

You might want to watch this:

https://youtu.be/ck_O5U1Tyz8
Click to expand...
 
LOL. All joking aside, this is true. You just should do some basic google search for reviews or comparison videos online before you buy bigger stuff. Not really wanting to defend HF, but I have to admit then their yukon black tool chests were in fact better than its competitor husky from home depot. I found a video online comparing. Went to both stores and verified for myself....super happy I found the video online. Online video was more than accurate! Was an easy decision to buy harbor freights tool chest, in this situation.
In all fairness, on bigger priced items, just take a moment to get online and google some video comparisons.
 
Agree with all - there is definitely a bunch of junk, but good stuff to be found.

Their tool storage - chests and rolling carts - are a far better buy than any of the big names. I have several, and they are very solid and well made.
 
strahler13 said:
ksdflying said:
LOL! OMG that's funny. Great Ad!
come on now....LOL...they have at least 1 or 2 things in the store that is good...i think. I mean I did buy a shop stool from them...mind you the welds broke...so NOW, after I welded it CORRECTLY this time, fixing it....its a good stool.....NOW! LMAO!

At least their shop towels and shop rags are good. LOL.

You might want to watch this:

https://youtu.be/ck_O5U1Tyz8
Click to expand...

That was a great, well done review showing how over rated and priced Snap-On tools are, that verified suspicions that I've had. Thanks for posting the link. I have Craftsman torque wrenches, but will easily go to Harbor Freight in the future.
Click to expand...
 
Also keep in mind that MOST of the lower priced, and sometimes higher priced tools, are made in China. Craftsman tools have been manufactured in China for a number of years now and the quality is hit and miss. I won't by them anymore after several sockets split and ratchet handle gears striped. I like a lot of the HF tools for the most part and they offer good value for the average user. The ICON torque wrench vs Snap-On video is definitely an eye opener. I wish they would make a 1/4" drive inch pounds model.
 
BlackhawkSP said:
strahler13 said:
That was a great, well done review showing how over rated and priced Snap-On tools are, that verified suspicions that I've had. Thanks for posting the link. I have Craftsman torque wrenches, but will easily go to Harbor Freight in the future.
Click to expand...

One comparison of one tool, and I won?t disgree.
However, wrench for a living and get back to me on comparing the breadth of the line against the cheap stuff.

HF has upped their game, but you have to choose wisely.

Most folks here will find little value in features like size, ergonomics, fit and feel, long term reliability, and other things that separate a good tool from a great tool. We just don?t wrench that much.
Click to expand...
 
Just bought an ion torque wrench after seeing the posted review. Very happy with it.

For stocking an emergency tool kit for cross countries, harbour freight tools will accomplish the task. Every day use?? Meh... With the exception of the ion torque wrench.
 
paszekj said:
I still need an air compressor and am tempted to get their 20-gal oiled air compressor: https://www.harborfreight.com/20-gallon-16-hp-135-psi-oil-lube-vertical-air-compressor-64857.html
Click to expand...
I've had my eye on that one too for painting my own wheel pants and similar size things. Not sure if it suits the purpose but I am going to research it. I also need 115V. You don't seem to be able to tell from the ad but I am guessing it is not 220V.

SmilingJack said:
I got this one a year or so ago for around the house little stuff.....only because at the time, this sale, plus coupons ended up paying $30. Can’t go wrong even if it lasts a year.

https://www.harborfreight.com/air-t...si-oil-free-pancake-air-compressor-61615.html
Click to expand...

I owned one of these for a year until my buddy bought it from me because he didn't want to have to go buy it himself. I used it to take to the motorcycle track to fill my tires. Worked fine for that. It was a nice compressor. But I paid $100 bucks for it. At $39 bucks it's a great buy.


I also just purchased one of their 17' Swiss Army Knife-like ladders during a sale. It was $99 bucks. I'm very happy with it and I no longer have to stack step stool on my workbench to do things around the hangar.

Some other things I like. The larger size moving blankets for $5.99. I lay on them in the hangar, under the plane, I put my cowlings on them on the floor when doing oil changes. Or lay one folded up across the RV seats when you need to crawl under the panel. I've also used them to line my cockpit when doing Pilots and Paws missions. They are ever great in the cockpit of my Ram truck. I put them down across the floor in the back seat area to wrap around my motorcycle ramps. I feel better having them not muddy up my truck, and also for keeping the ramps from gouging the interior.

.9mil latex gloves!

The furniture dollies are inexpensive and well made and suit a lot of around-the-hangar jobs.

And something I have used a ton is the roll-around plastic cart. I bought the larger of the 2 and it is my maintenance cart for holding tools and parts and hardware and fluids when working on the plane.

Off to look at the circular now.:D
 
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AndyRV7 said:
I've had my eye on that one too for painting my own wheel pants and similar size things. Not sure if it suits the purpose but I am going to research it. I also need 115V. You don't seem to be able to tell from the ad but I am guessing it is not 220V.
Click to expand...

It's listed as 120v on the site.

20 gal 4 cfm will do small parts but you'll be waiting for it to catch up on larger ones, depending on which gun you use.

And yeah, HF has some junk but the newer stuff they've been putting out has really upped in quality. Their oiled compressors have been considered "good enough" for home/hobby use for a while.
 
Wheel dolly

Might not be ready for this yet, but when you get to the gear leg stage, I bought four of their car wheel dollys, and put my front legs (with tires) up on them. Makes moving the airplane around the shop piece of cake. I bought 4 so when I'm done, I can use them for whatever car I need to move....or a second airplane build.

I did also get their angle buffer/polisher in prep for polishing my plane. And a while back I bought their purple gun for painting (see the paint threads), tho I havent used either yet.
 
jacoby said:
It's listed as 120v on the site.

20 gal 4 cfm will do small parts but you'll be waiting for it to catch up on larger ones, depending on which gun you use.

And yeah, HF has some junk but the newer stuff they've been putting out has really upped in quality. Their oiled compressors have been considered "good enough" for home/hobby use for a while.
Click to expand...

Good to know. Thanks!
 
Sam Buchanan said:
Here is the Parking Lot Sale ad, lots of good stuff here:
Click to expand...
LOL! Seriously, though, one has to make a tradeoff between spending big bucks on Snap-On tools, etc., or buying cheaper tools and saving the money for your airplane. I like quality tools as much as anyone - and still use tools handed down to me my by father and grandfather. But I freely admit that I bought a Harbor Freight drill press in 1987 and it's still going strong. I also bought a HF pancake air compressor and it does what I need, but would be totally inadequate for painting. Ya' gotta' decide whether to spend the money on tools or the airplane.
 
HF compressor

I bought the upright 2.5HP 21 Gal compressor. I think $120 with coupons. Worked fine for a while (built the RV-4 wings). Then only pumped up to 34 psi. Fairly easy fix: unbolt the head (4 allen bolts) and replace the reed valve (small strip of very thin metal). Lasted a few months. Broke again. Haven't bothered to fix it yet.

I bought it to replace the 8 gal compressor I bought from them back in 2005 which lasted through building a 2000 sq house, airplane repairs, etc.
Then I found it had the same problem: broken reed valve. That one is more complex but I cut it out of a piece of SS shim stock. Works fine now.

I guess the moral of the story is: have two of them :)

Finn
 
I like this little step stool

https://www.harborfreight.com/18-in-working-platform-step-stool-62515.html

I?ve had one of their roll around work chairs for a long time

https://www.harborfreight.com/mechanics-roller-seat-61653.html

Between my brother and I, we must own at least 2 dozen of their moving blankets.

https://www.harborfreight.com/72-in-x-80-in-moving-blanket-62418.html

I regularly use their wrenches. I like them more than my 30 year old Craftsman set, as a matter of fact.

https://www.harborfreight.com/9-piece-sae-highly-polished-combo-wrench-set-42304.html

As others have said, you have to be a little careful, but for my shade tree wrenching, a bunch of their stuff is plenty adequate.

For torque wrenches, I bought 3 different sizes of Tekton wrenches via Amazon. I?m very happy with them.
 
Watch out

I have two of their roll around seats, as described above.

The casters are horrible and I had to replace them all. I am STILL finding those little BBs all over my shop. Put new caster on and they work fine, now.

I also bought two of the shop stools...and the same thing happened with the lazy Susans under the seat...all BBs fell out and now they don't rotate...
 
I bought and modified a tire bead beaker. It works great but is one of those tools I only use once a year.

I had to shorten the "wings" so it would fit on our small tires.

Here is what I'm talking about.
 
Sam Buchanan said:
Here is the Parking Lot Sale ad, lots of good stuff here:

https://imgur.com/gallery/JcG3B
Click to expand...

Even though I find the ad amusing, I have quite a bit of Harbor Fright stuff in the hangar. I find their hand tools (wrenches, sockets, etc) are more than adequate for my non-professional use. I highly recommend the wobble socket extension set, coolest $10 ever:

https://www.harborfreight.com/9-pc-wobble-socket-extension-set-61278.html

Have a grinder, buffer, floor metal brake, floor metal bandsaw, floor jacks and other tools. But I stay away from drill bits. Pick and choose, there are bargains to be had. I just picked up a one-man brake bleeder kit for the '48 Plymouth.....and always get a box or two of gloves.
 
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RWoodard said:
I like this little step stool

https://www.harborfreight.com/18-in-working-platform-step-stool-62515.html
Click to expand...
I'll second that. Funny story though. While doing an inspection last summer, I dropped a prop hub spacer. Never did find it. My co-owner and I searched that hangar for days. We figured it must have skittered off under the wall and into someone else's hangar. About a week later, just as I was about to order a replacement, one of us picked up that step stool and flipped it over for some reason. Out came the missing spacer. Those blue caps on the legs can hold a spacer, socket, whatever you drop. Little thieves, they are.
RWoodard said:
Between my brother and I, we must own at least 2 dozen of their moving blankets.
Click to expand...
I pick up a couple every time they go on sale, love them!
 
After reading a bunch of reviews online I decided to jump in and buy their 60 gal 5 hp two stage piston compressor. Worth it. Read up on their higher end compressors—lots of pros and high volume hobbyists love the compressors from HF, even over the “leading brands.” I have had the compressor since 2015 and it has given me no problems whatsoever. Don’t know about their single cylinder units though.
 
Plan on buying a couple of those moving blankets so I can sew up a cowl cover for use in the hangar. Always manage to find something else that I "need" while I'm there.
Have a photo of one of their 1/2" drills that literally broke in half while using it. Since escaping electrocution I decided not to risk another episode. I'm now the owner of a nice Milwaukee.
 
ColoCardinal said:
Plan on buying a couple of those moving blankets so I can sew up a cowl cover for use in the hangar. Always manage to find something else that I "need" while I'm there.
Have a photo of one of their 1/2" drills that literally broke in half while using it. Since escaping electrocution I decided not to risk another episode. I'm now the owner of a nice Milwaukee.
Click to expand...

When I lived up north I used a moving blanket to cover my cowl. I (wife) Cut it to fit, add a little velcro and wrap the moving blanket around the cowl as an insulator.

My reif electric heat worked great all winter!
 
The Harbor Fright paper weights work very well indeed. I have bought several of them over the years and they all hold paper down securely, and use little to no electricity!

-Marc
 
Don't be hatin' on Horrible Fright Tools!

Y'all sound like my wife. :D She won't go in the store because it smells like rubber {cue the "flying rubber dog poo from Hong Kong" meme here}.

HF has truly upped their game over the years, and even some of their corded power tool are now worth owning, IMO. After the fire 3 years ago I patronized them heavily to replace my workshop tools, with very few regrets. I have more regrets about buying a top end Quincy compressor than anything from Harbor Freight.

They sell these dollies for less than you can get the casters for, and they cradle the RV-10 tires without modification:


I couldn't be happier with the tool chests I bought from them for dimes on the dollar vs the big names.

I wish there was a HF-equivalent in the world of engines and avionics :rolleyes: Any nominations for the title?
 
Reading Van's in bed this morning. Stalling, since the list of chores is long.
Anyway, I read out loud why your wife won't go in. My wife grabbed the iPad ad said "see, other women don't like that HF smell either".
Who would have predicted that HF could lose half the audience over a funky rubber smell? Maybe they can get some of the air freshener that Goodwill stores now have.
 
ColoCardinal said:
Plan on buying a couple of those moving blankets so I can sew up a cowl cover for use in the hangar. Always manage to find something else that I "need" while I'm there.
Have a photo of one of their 1/2" drills that literally broke in half while using it. Since escaping electrocution I decided not to risk another episode. I'm now the owner of a nice Milwaukee.
Click to expand...
I did learn not to buy anything hand-held with a power cord from Harbor Freight. Tried a polisher and a 1/2" drill, both were immediate returns for motor failure.
 
I did buy a $18 hammer drill for a small project in the basement. Needed to drill some holes in the concrete for one electrical box and conduit straps. Maybe 10 holes total. They tried to sell me the tool insurance for a few buck. I said if it can't drill 10 holes then I'm keep bringing them back until I get them all drilled. Haven't touched it since.

I do have one of those head strap LEDs that make you look absolutely absurd, but you don't care when you need an extra hand. Oddly enough, it works great for grilling in the dark. I don't have enough light on the back patio and I use it when I'm flipping burgers. Looks pretty dumb, but it gets the job done and I don't burn the burgers.

yeah, +1 on the wife not liking the store smell.
 
The 16x30 polypropylene tool cart is very good, plus it won't scratch if accidentally bumped into your plane. $99, some assembly required.
 
snopercod said:
But I freely admit that I bought a Harbor Freight drill press in 1987 and it's still going strong.
Click to expand...

Interesting mention of the HF drill press. About that same time I was looking for a quality floor mounted drill press. Was looking at Craftsman (Back then Craftsman was a "major" brand). Turns out the Craftsman and the Harbor Freight was the same drill press. Only difference was that the HF was green instead of black, over $100 cheaper, and shipped free. Only negative with the HF was the assembly included "peanut butter" bolts. Replaced all the bolts/nuts with quality hardware.
Drill press still works perfectly today, and it is used almost every day! Daily work in my shop includes aircraft, cars, trucks, tractors, and miscellaneous other projects.
 
About 20 years ago, I bought a Quincy compressor and an Ingersoll Rand die grinder from Harbor Freight. I still use both. I don't think Harbor Freight sells much brand-name stuff today?except, of course, their own brands.
 
I really like the 390 lumen Braun slim light I picked up a few months ago. Very bright and has been very versatile with the magnetic base and flexible neck. I picked up a second one yesterday along with the smaller quantum light that was on sale.

Other useful things I've gotten in the past are the wobble socket set, angle grinder, uni-bits, dental picks, and yes, all 3 sizes (1/4, 3/8, and 1/2)" of their basic torque wrenches
 
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