Technical Ahhhhhh Harbor Freight strikes once more. Why do I even go there

Those 212 predators are great motors.
There’s a big aftermarket support for them and making them faster if you want to build or repower a toy. Or let’s say that Case trencher needs a little more ass! We put one on a Rupp mini bike with the TQ and the aftermarket hop up kit. Stupid fast, you’re a fucking idiot fast.

 

Thanks Larry

 

Yep! There's a bunch of videos on u-tube about the H- shaft 6.0 or 6.5 hp motors on mini bikes and go-carts.... Stupid fast!...

 

I use many Harbor Freight products and so far they have worked very well for me over the last 15 years.
On the occasion when something breaks I take it back and the hand me another one.

I also would agree with others who have said their products are getting better each year and a good example of this is the line of took chests which I think are very well made and cost a great deal less then their competitors are charging.

Jimbo

 

Yes their tool boxes are fantastic. When I was a mechanic professionaly, I used Snap-On tools, I recently bought a HF box for my garage and it’s as good or better than my Snap-On box that I had then. The HF freight box is a 54 inch roll cab. I’m really impressed with it.

 

Thanks Larry!!

 

I think is about time Americans stop buying Chinese SHIT. They are out to FUCK us.

 

You can't buy hardly anything that isn't made in China. You know why? American business leaders, with pressure from Wall Street to grow profits, transferred most of their production to China where they could gst cheaper labor rates. You benefit by getting to pay less for clothes, tools, cars, etc. Than you would if they were made in the USA. The Chinese are not to blame for where products are manufactured. If you want to blame someone, blame the leaders of US companies and our politicians who greased the skids for them.

 

The Chinese wouldn't be manufacturing and selling their cheap shit parts if Americans were not buying them. I think its time to buy Made In The USA. Besides their products are inferior in fit and finish. For the sake of buying cheap, I find it incredible Americans continue to purchase and settle for inferior parts. All Chinese repop's I've seen are garbage. Has anyone ever seen the 56 Chevy Tail Light assemblies Danchuk sells? They are 1/4 inch shorter then the OEMS. They are pure shit. On my builds its OEM parts or nothing. I'd like to have $5.00 for every HAMB thread complaining about Chinese parts not fitting properly.

 

That ship has already sailed and it ain't coming back.

 

I buy the 3-pack of paint brushes for about $2 or so. Three sizes, no cleaning – throw them away. Not the best quality, but can do a small, touch-up job on things. Priced lacquer thinner lately?

 

This is the answer /\

I used to be a die hard Snap-On only buyer when I was in the auto repair business and still have a ton of their stuff. I can still remember when one of my buddies from another shop wanted me to stop by and see his new Snap-On tool box that he just had delivered. This is quite a few years ago but it still shocks me today. $12,000.00 empty. Let that sink in for a minute. 12 grand for an empty tool box. The Chinese didn't do this to us. We (corporate America) did it to ourselves.

I'm the first one on here to bitch about the crap quality of offshore replacement parts but how long did some of these companies like Snap-On (they're not only one's) think the ride would go on before somebody swooped in to fill the void between them and the absolute cheapy off brand garbage tools I remember from the 1970's? It was only a matter of time and time ran out.

 

The worlds greatest truism is "you get what you pay for".

 

If I was to pay $12,000 for a tool box that sumbitch better have two of every hand tool made in it!

 

The bottom toolbox in my avatar is Macs biggest. It’s also about $14,000. I bought it back when my wife and I were DINKS, dual income no kids. I wouldn’t trade Little Truckdoctor for anything in the world, but after having him, my priorities changed. Absolutely no way would I pay that kind of money for a toolbox now. Hell, my first brand new pickup truck in 1997 was only seven dollars more than my box costs now. I would love to be able to only buy American when it comes to every thing. But, lots of things are no longer made here and I’m not going into the poor house padding SnapOn and Mac’s ego and profits. This is one of the biggest reasons it broke my heart when Craftsman went Chinese, they were made here, great tools with a great warranty. What’s a guy to do? I buy Vintage Craftsman, S&K, Proto, Williams, and Wright on the bay of E and at tractor show flea markets. I do agree that the Harbor makes one hell of a nice toolbox.


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Early in my aviation career as an A&P mechanic for a major airline, talk about exspensive tool boxes, mechanics in the sheet metal shop routinely made and sold stainless steel tool boxes. Needless to say the stainless material, wheels and hardware belonged to the airline. They were top shelf compared to the sheet metal boxes like Craftsman and their competitors sold. The airline was also a great source of parts and materials for automotive, boat and home projects. Its no wonder they later went out of business.

 

And you're typing and sending this rant on a...?

 

And be big enough to park a car in....

 

Just reading over your list of the older tools, when I saw the name " William's ", it brought a smile to my face. Williams was totally in a class by itself. I have a vintage Williams industrial tool catalog from the WW 2 war years. This is a class outfit that made a universe of tools for industry, I bought this catalog for $1.00 a few years back at the Portland swap meet. I figured I would let you drool over a few pages of of high quality from a time period long ago, that I wished we had back as a country that used to make a lot of cool tools and machines etc. etc. etc . Definitely good value for your money, back then and now!

 

All my 3/4 drive sockets are Williams. They got to be 60 years old and still can do the job.

 

I’ve got some Williams stuff I’ve picked up over the years, good stuff.

Anybody got a Cliffs notes version of what happened to them? When and what put them under?

 

That Williams Catalog is a work of art and a piece of history. If it were mine, I would read it cover to cover like a good novel. Thanks for the pictures. Williams is still around, now owned by, dare I say it?, SnapOn. Williams is SnapOn’s industrial division. Much like Proto is to Mac. I have several Williams pieces, mostly bought at tractor show flea markets. In Southern Illinois, most of the Williams tools came out of the coal mines. Don’t let anyone fool with you guys, Williams and Proto are just as good and sometimes better than SnapOn. They just don’t have the promotion in our hobby/industry. Often times people selling Williams, Proto, and Wright don’t realize what the have and good deals can be had.


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I'm not so sure about that. The way we are now putting tariffs on them and U.S. consumers have become wise to the poor fit and finish whether at a cheap price or not, the copying and stealing of our intellectual property and products with no respect for copyrights , patents etc. The constant attempts to hack into our nuclear systems. Ask me how I know. Cessna tried them with an order to build 200 Citation jets and when the first one showed up on the tarmac, they immediately cancelled the order. Things are changing.

 

I'm not picturing what happened. The Mityvac pulls a vaccum, right? It pulls the brake fluid from the master cyl through the line to the wheel cylinder, through the wheel cylinder, through the clear hose that you fitted to the bleeder valve, and into the reservoir where it captures the fluid until the line shows no bubbles in the fluid. If the reservoir fill sup you need to stop and empty it and then continue. The brake fluid should never reach the point where the gauge is. How in the hell did it spray fluid all over you?

 

My O/t BMW is slowly turning Chinese . The genuine parts are crap and designed to fail. The Chinese have reversed engineered and corrected the design faults and sell them for cents on the dollar compared to BMW. Pretty sad indictment if you ask me.

 

Does it really matter where you purchase off shores tools?
HF, Sears, Lowes, Home Depot, Wall Mart etc., they still are off shore tools.
HF has come on strong with their products/inventory/sale prices/return policies.
Buy American..you bet (I'd love to), good luck with that.

 

I absolutely hate the off shore junk that's being sold in a lot of products. I try my best to not buy Chinese made products because you never know whether it is good or not. If I wanted to gamble with my money I would go to Vegas. I would much rather pay a little more for a higher grade product.

 

If you don't like offshore junk then don't by a Harley. Who makes there forks ? Who makes their electronics ? Not Harley.
Just sayin about off shore junk.

 

Turtles. Those chocolate turtles with caramel and peanuts. I like those. Harbor Freight tools too.

 

This, from the "I didn't want to become a bank robber, but they forced me into it" files:

While porting a cylinder head I burned out the armature on my Sears die grinder. Sears wanted $54 for a new armature.
HF happened to have long snout die grinders on sale for $19. I figured, "what the heck, if it lasts only 'til I get this job done it'll be worth it." THAT WAS TWENTY YEARS AGO. It worked flawlessly and frequently until recently when the on/off switch burned out. So I got out the owner's manual, called the 1-800- number for replacement parts, and was told the grinder was obsolete - parts no longer available.
Last week I noticed the same identical die grinder was still being sold by HF. How could that be if mine was obsolete?
Bought one.
Took out the new switch.
Replaced it with the "obsolete - no longer available switch."
Returned it for a new grinder. Now I have two working HF die grinders. All I really wanted was to buy a new switch.

May the Lord have mercy on my wretched soul.