Made trip to HF a Couple Months back and got 4 new tools from them to use and try out. A Dayton 4 ton Floor Jack ($240) A Pittsburgh Manual Tire Changer ($50) A Central Machinery 3 1/2 CuFt Cement Mixer ($250) (4) Yukon Mobile tool chest 2 with the cabinets 2 with the 9 drawers ($419 for the 9 drawers. $369 for the cabinets) I already had 6 of these 3 of each I use at counters and storage in the food trailers. The Dayton floor Jack is impressive. I changed the tires out on Big Red (my old Dodge Diesel) from winter knobby mud and snow tires to the road tires. Lifted the whole front end without breaking a sweat. Lowers a bit faster than I like but doesn't slam down, but that is more me getting used to how far to turn the release..... found the second down when removing the blocks that just barely opening the valve lets it down slow. Very Sensitive in that area. It is HEAVY and only good to use on concrete or very well compacted road pack. But most floor jacks are heavy and only good for concrete It also goes up really fast, don't spend much time pumping the handle. I suspect it will lift considerably more than 4 tons. LOL Given the speed that it goes up and down, I am very tempted to get a second one and modify it into a manual log splitter. Would run a whole lot cheaper than my 34 ton gas job and work faster on the push and return hehe. The Manual Tire Changer...... It is pretty much worthless for tires bigger than 12" . Fairly cheaply built and junky. That being said it is great for Garden Tractor, Tiller, and small trailer tires. Much better for me than fiddling with tire tools on those little tires. It is what it is a limited use piece of junk but if its limited use falls into a area of use that you need it is worthwhile and only $50. I changed the Kubota BX25D rear and front tires with it. It handled the little front tires like a boss. The larger rear tires were a struggle due to instability. The Cement Mixer is Identical in every way to a Chicago Machinery mixer I bought from Farm and Fleet back in 1998/1999 Other than the new one is orange and the old one grey. It assembles the same as the old one and it is a total PITA to assemble Lots of bolts, lockwashers and nuts. I have ran it a couple of times now and is a good tool but part of the reason I bought it to replace the old one is because after inspecting the floor model in store, I knew exactly what I was getting. The old one spun concrete/mortar for 6 years commercially for me, running a lot of 8-12 hour days for the Landscape Company. Lived out the rest of its life doing light jobs on the farm. Pretty much everything is metal including the sprockets, Hard to believe but I bought one from Lowes prior to buying the old one and it had plastic sprockets that turned to smooth bushings after about a hour of use, every tooth ground smooth.... thus I bought the old one. The Yukon Tool Chest and Cabinets I can't say enough good about! I bought the first 2 when I built the first Chuck Wagon and Another 2 when I built the second Chuck Wagon and yet another 2 when I built the All American. My health inspectors all gave them the green light for food service. The Composite wood tops are very durable and well sealed, they have a heavy under frame and very heavy duty casters under that. Perfect for food service worktops and rolled on and off the trailers to set up the outdoor screen kitchens with ease. The Four new ones are actually going to be used in the Machine Shed as tool boxes and cabinets rather than in food trailers LOL. I have no negatives about the Yukon tool chest. Forgot I bought another set of three and put in the 3rd Chuck Wagon. I left the casters off of there and the push/pull handles and bolted them to floor and wall. Hey a whole lot less expensive than stainless and if the health departments approve...... They ended up flush against each other and a epoxy seal in what little gap between that there was. Very durable boxes that take a beating on the road and hold up. Should last forever as tool chest in the machine shed! It has been my experience that Harbor Freight is a mixed bag of Turds and Treasures. I would never for example buy hand held power tools there again. But in that arena I only buy Dewalt and Milwaukee Drivers and Drill bits that I am just going to roast and rag out fast anyway to run in the Ds and Ms I buy a lot of there. Wrenches and sockets are OK I have some wrenches that broke in half first bolt and others that have lasted 10 years Old Craftsman wrenches they ain't! This post Turd is the Manual Tire Changer if you are getting it to do car or truck tires save your $50 and buy a set of tire tools. If you are getting it for light cart, trailer or lawn tires it is adequate. Still junk but functional junk for small tires. The Treasure is the Dayton Floor Jack. It exceeded my expectations by A LOT. It won't replace bottle jacks in the field but is a quality jack for the Machine Shed.
Completely agree. Mixed bag of results but also a pretty good deal seeing that most places charge about $200 more for the mixer. I got the 3 ton floor jack and it works on all my vehicles way better than anything from wally world. Ive done suspensions, mounts, tires, brakes, bushings, tie rods, coil overs, and a whole lot more. It weighs a ton but if you're not on dirt it is good. My next install is the 10x12 greenhouse. So far, not impressed, but when I finish I'll know more. Also the torque wrenches are not great. It is well worth it to pay more for the better ones. I broke(?) 3 of the cheap ones but the nice one is still going. The cheaper ones seem to slip out of the setting you want and 2 of them stopped working at anything other than a regular socket wrench. Not impressed with the soldering equipment either. Still looking for better gear. I'll be trying out the welding stuff this summer, so we'll see how they compare. *almost forgot, I got the press and it came with 2 left sides. Had to take it back to exchange. Apparently the people assembling them don't read so good.
I have the manual tire changer and have it bolted to the concert floor have changed 16" truck tires never had a problem, 3 ton floor jack have had for years heavy but works great, have the 3 1/2 cubic ft cement mixer wow they have gone up in price payed $149 a couple of years ago works good but strains if you fill it to capacity do 2cuft of quickrete
Yeah, I have one too, bolting to the floor is a must. There are also some nice mods in various forums and YouTube to add a touchless duckbill device, improved tire tools, etc. Some of those make it very serviceable.
.. .. dey dont read gud cuz dey is slave labor in chi_na .. .. da plant may or may not be owned by da Peoples Liberation Army under da komunist party .. .. jus sayn
The tire shop I work at has had the gray 4 ton HF jack in daily service for around 2 years now, still works good. The tire changer can also be bolted to a piece of plywood big enough for you to stand on while using it. I have mine bolted to a heavy steel plate rectangle, as long as I'm standing on the rectangle, it is pretty stable. It has its limits but for anything in that price range its not bad.
I have one of the Chicago electric wire welders ,, I think it was 129 bucks . I've welded 3/16s steel ,, pipe , channel , tube steel,, on trailers ,, making gates ,, built a tailgate for a F450 dump bed with it and it's holding up well ,, and small enough for lawnmower repairs ,,, just do shorter welds or it'll get to hot and burn thru. I'm wanting to try a bigger one ,,, just haven't needed one lately ,, but will most likely pick one up later this year.
Love the jack, and the tire changer does what I want it to. I just don't find it a serviceable tool for any of my trucks or bigger trailer tires. Might work on the F150s 16s they are not bald enough and don't have enough metal showing to change out yet Can't argue the price being right and the way I change small tires out or pull them off to put patches on tires and tubes it saves me a lot of time. Still going to rate it as junk IMO it is what it is. LOL and if you don't bolt it to something it just falls over.
There used to be American Made options to chose from but I think greed ended that. Let's take Dodge trucks as an example. They are twice as expensive as Toyota and last half as long. The kicker is that they are made in America and should be cheaper without the import tariffs but they're double. Craftsman got rid of their lifetime guarantee. I'm not really sure you can call a corporation American. Once they incorporate they become soul-less, profit driven, and move to the cheapest part of the world while claiming to 'be an American company' as a sales gimmick.
Thanks for the review TR. I've been temped to buy the cabinets and that tire changer but just haven't been able to pull the trigger on them. I'll give them a try now. I have a powered tire changer( Blackhawk I think) that I got from a garage going out of business, but it's really tricky to use on garden tractor/4 wheeler tires, hence me looking at the HF one. I have the Lowe's cement mixer you mentioned. Bought it used for less than a new HB one. That being said, I use it to clean my brass-makes quick work of a 5 gal bucket of brass. Didn't know about the plastic gears, but the plastic tub is nice for my use as it's quieter than a steel one. I have one of the floor jacks and as you say it's done fine service here on my trucks, cars and tractors. I also bought their larger garden tractor/4wheeler lift. The one that picks from the front tires. It works well after filling the jack with fluid as it didn't have any when I put it together. Makes changing the mower blades much faster. I also bought their hydraulic H press. I think it was a 40 ton. Either 20 or 40, I can't remember at the moment. Anyways, I'm happy with it, but I did switch out the jack to an air over hydraulic one I had here because it's easier and nice to have both hands free. I use it mainly for forming receivers for HK, CETME and AK style rifles/carbines as well as the occasional bearing press. I would be careful which one you buy. It all depends on what you want if for. I don't have much faith in the Chicago Electric stuff as I've seen too many burn up-maybe the newer ones are better. That being said, I do have a Chicago Electric spot welder for spot welds in AK receivers and it works well. I bought the Vulcan Pro Tig 205 a couple years back mainly for gun work. It gets high marks. Comes with everything you need for TIG and Stick except the argon bottle. Runs on 120 or 240. I've used it to repair a damaged boat railing and garden tractor engine mounts as well as welding up receivers. It's AC/DC with a built in hi freq so it will run aluminum just fine. I can turn it down enough to weld soda cans together without burn through..
Sign up for their e-mails, and when you purchase something at HF, give them your phone number (I just used an old number I'd had), and they'll e-mail you the receipt. So you don't necessarily have to save your paper receipt, anymore. I would suggest forwarding that e-mail back to yourself, with the subject line being what you bought that day....unless you want to sort thru a bunch of e-mailed receipts! That being said, many of their hand tools are lifetime warranty....but you have to have a receipt! (see above! LOL) For their power tools, I'd say okay, with these two conditions: 1. it's for short-term use, and you just don't want to pay the high $$$ for name brand tools, and, 2. you get the extended warranty. So you can use that sucker up, until it breaks, then get it replaced. Make sure you spend the few bucks to put the extended warranty on the replacement, if you believe that you'll wear that one out, too! (Yep, extended warranties last for a set period of time, or until you use it....the replacement won't have that warranty on it).
Bought a Chicago pneumatic Sawzall 10 years ago from the OP's named vendor 29.95 built a hog trap with it, To this day surprisingly it still works?
