Harbor Freight tools thread.

Anyone have suggestions for dirt cheap casters? Im looking to put a lift and tires on the cheap Marketplace grill I picked up this summer.

Was thinking 6" would probably do what I need, but shocked how expensive they are. ~$20 a pop. Just need it to roll over grass, rough asphalt, smooth gravel etc nothing crazy. Pneumatic or solid does not matter. Brakes not needed

 

From what I've heard, the different UPCs relate to different manufacturers for the same part. At least that was the explation I got regarding one of the creepers.
Seems kinda silly though. From an engineering perspective, there should be one drawing that all their vendors manufacture the parts to.

 

Makes sense. Definitely weird though, as you say you'd expect one set of prints per item

 

Understandable!

Just figured, you pay a lot of money for a bike, may as well get something solid to hold it with

Old pic

 

I assume that regularly harbor freight does bidding to see what company will make the next set of tools and different companies have slightly different machines/procedures so stuff is made slightly different. Due to the low price point as long as its not a drastic difference they don't care.

 

But then how do they tell what unit came from which manufacture.
Taking the Jack Stand recall as a hypothetical, company A has a bad run (say the welder was set wrong), but company B's are proper, how is HF supposed to know which are the bad units given they are not serialized?
By the different SKU codes is how

 

Anyone use the Merlin 3/8" regulator on their air compressor? SKU: 58178

After my compressor shut off last night I heard hissing. The regulator was reading almost full tank pressure. I bled it down to the set point ~105 psi. But a minute later it was back up to full tank pressure and hissing again.

 

I got one back in February to keep in the carport. I have the big Snap On one from when I was a dealer tech in the shed but I got tired of always having to go out to it. One day I'll have a shop in the back which is why I hang onto the big box. The Yukon is not bad but I personally don't like the lower drawers being the same size on both sides. I prefer the old school one side bigger and one smaller set up. I would have bought a "deeper" box but it's tight backing the boat in there so I needed the shallow one in this case.

 

Any regulator will get contaminates in them. You are gonna have to take it apart and clean it.

 

My buddy has two of these in his shop, we don't use them for big tools or anything, one is electrical stuff and the other is hoses and AN fittings. They're not super heavy duty, but they're decent for storage with a little work surface on top. They roll pretty good on a smooth surface but man are they loud and rattly over bumpy stuff.

 

Is that the issue? I don't have any experience with that.

I can make time to tear it apart, just seems a little premature. Got a grand total of 3.8 hrs on this setup. Regulator, compressor, etc all put together when I moved into my new space this spring

 

Regardless, you still got to take it apart. You are going to find either broke parts or manufacturing debris in the diaphragm.

Looking forward to what you find.

 

Probably not of any help, but i always set mine while it's under the load I am using it for. What it reads while sitting there is of no consequence, and generally always innacurate.

 

I was swapping my third member this weekend and realized (after I got the old one out) that I was not strong enough to lift the new one into place. I thought about trying to fab some kind of cradle for my floor jack, but I don't have a welder and materials sitting around. I didn't need anything too strong or fancy, but the cheapest HF transmission jack was showing as out of stock locally, with low stock about an hour away. Knowing how reliable those stock indications are with HF, I decided to just go by the local store and see what I could find and just spring for the more expensive one if necessary (rather than drive an hour and find out they don't really have what I am looking for anyway). The manager mentioned that they keep stuff in the back, and they actually had the cheaper one I wanted! Last one. Better to spend $129 at HF than hurt myself and spend more at the doctor.

 

Those things are awkward huh? I can't do a third member on my side like some of my friends can, I'll just tip over haha. But I usually get right under the axle and bench press it in instead. That trans jack is a life saver for lots of other stuff though, done plenty of transmissions, 1/4" skids, transfer cases, and front differentials with it and it hasn't skipped a beat yet.

 

Yeah, they are certainly awkward. I *might* have been able to get it done if I had the truck a bit higher off the ground so I could bench press it in. As I get older I am a bit more cautious, and that was right on the edge of what I felt comfortable with. I also figured I'd likely mess up the RTV if I was trying to man-handle it. I've still gotta do the front, so I figured it might help some there as well.

 

Going to need to go out and grab one of those Surface Conditioning tools

Everyone I know that has one loves it, and it's on sale for half off today

 

I bought one like 3 weeks ago and it’s worth it for $150

 

Is that thing just an alternative tool for a buffing wheel?

 

It's more like a giant rotary sander, takes scale and stuff off pretty quick