Re: The Good, The Bad and Ugly from Harbor Freight
I have a 9000 lb winch from them, bought when it was on sale for $299. Mounted it to my shop made receiver hitch and use the heck out it. I made a receiver mount for the front of my 00 Z71, so that I can use it front and back. Also made a receiver mount for my 20 foot trailer, so I can use it to load and unload vehicles. Bought 50 feet of welding cable from Craig’s list, some heavy duty jumper cable ends, and fixed it so that I cannot hard mount the winch to any one location. Works great, only problem is the control switch is very short. I took a 16 gauge extension cord (50’) cut the ends off, and took apart the control head, and extended the controller so that I can work by myself loading and unload vehicles from the trailer, need to steer it on….
I have one of the big gas powered air compressors, model 99918. Use it at my home shop. Electric bills were killing me using conventional air compressors. More than capable for my needs, 18CFM at 100 PSI. only drawback is the fuel tank size, just about 2 gallons. Can get about 10 hours of run time from one tank, so not so bad.
I have one of the little 90 amp wire feed welders, works ok, flux core only, not able to convert to gas. Works good for thinner materials, requires the area to absolutely flawlessly clean to work…. Good for around the farm, but not much else.
I have a tube bender, but still in box, not used yet.
Had one of the stand up 12 speed drill presses, but traded it for a Craftsman 6 speed older model. Had no real issues with it, but the guy wanted the ability to “control” his drilling speed better.
Taps and dies, get name brand stuff, if they break, they are hell to drill and extract….
Torque wrench? Are you going to trust your motor to something that cannot be calibrated? I have used HF torque wrenches, and the teeth are not very strong in the ratchet. Tried to have it calibrated, required for my work with the Army, and it could not be brought into spec, so I bought a Craftsman ½ on sale for $79, and it passed first time.
Sorry for the long rant, but there are good deals at HF if you are willing to make it work for you….
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