As a previously professional auto mechanic and now an industrial machine mechanic, my advice to an entry level tech would be; 1. Get almost everything seen here at harbor freight. 2. Get a premium ratchet from snap-on, matco, Mac, or cornwell. 3. Slowly upgrade the harbor freight tools that let you down for the premium versions. Don’t go into PHD level debt on the tool truck week one of wrenching.
That’s something people never seem to get their brain around. Go buy the cheap tools out of the gate. Spend $1000 at harbor freight to fill up a tool cart on day one. Then, as you use the tools, some will get used a bunch and break. Those are the tools you invest and buy the high-end versions of. You don’t have to have a snap-on or matco everything. My one exception is power tools. Just go buy the Milwaukee ones right out the gate. That will save you time and money
If you want to get quality tools but do not want to spend in our or a leg, go to Harbor Freight and look at their Icon and Quinn line of tools, they are very good ratchets, wrenches, and sockets.. for impact tools I would look at Bauer, or Hercules one or the other because they use batteries and one will not fit the other, so mixing product lines as far as impact tools goes carries with it that burden. But either Bauer, or Hercules are very good impact tools, I use the Bauer line.
Thanks for the solid advice, I applied for an apprenticeship to become a heavy equipment repairman with my local Operating Engineers union. Honestly the cost of tools is the number 1 concern for me at the moment.
Best advice I ever got to buy an inexpensive tool (good for what it is, not super cheap shite), if you use it enough thst it fails or break, buy a better one. If you don't use it enough for it to fail or break, you probably don't need an expensive one. Works for most tools, obviously if it's something specialise that'd benefit from being accurate and might get used often, maybe spend the money
@@nathan1sixteen I'm no fan boy but ac Delco electric sidewinders are great, kobalt 3/8 electric impacts are the shit and matco 1/2 air guns mean business. This trinity is the base of my mechanic performance.
As a heavy equipment mechanic with over 15 years of experience, I have a mixture of snap-on and Cornwell tools as well as gear wrench wrenches because they beat out the tool truck in all facets, Milwaukee battery tools, and plenty of harbor freight mixed in. All my torque wrenches are snap on. They make the best torque wrenches in the game. Honestly, if you're looking to work on your own stuff or on customer bikes, feel free to buy everything at harbor freight. I love how he talks about the ratchet coming apart inside with serious torque but yet he works on motorcycles. I have put insane amounts of torque on harbor freight ratchets on Rusty mining, heavy equipment and they stand up just fine.
Fun Fact: at 3:45, that was probably not a "sticky finger" it was more likely a lifetime warranty thing. If you exchange out a socket, or whatever from a set, then you just exchange your broken one for a new one from the set. After that, the store "open box"s the rest of the set, putting it at a reduced price as there is reduced value to the set.
I just started my career as a mechanic and during my apprenticeship I spent well over $500 at harbor freight with starter tools. I went through 3 impacts from harbor freight before pulling the trigger and getting a snap-on one. I quickly learned that there are some tools you can cheap out on and some that you really shouldn't
I had an urgent fabrication job and harbor fright had some 1/2 in breaker bars that i " reconfigured " . The opinion of the real mechanic is priceless. For working on the lawnmower the Pittsburgh line will get the job done.
The relationship is real when you fight like siblings in front of grandma 🤣🤣 he wants to knock you out so bad and you wanna shove that camera down his throat 🤣🤣🤣...not a bad thing, shows us how real and unedited yall are with each other sometimes
Don’t hate of Harbor Freight. I know a couple of techs (both auto and motorcycle) who’ve been happy with the Icon line of tools and have used them for almost a decade. They caught some flack from experienced techs until they realized that they spent a quarter of what the experienced techs spent years earlier and have had no issues out of the hand tools. For the power tools, the Bauer line is where it’s at. Not so cheap that they’ll break the first time you use them, and they won’t break the bank.
I started out at 13 and bought about 1200 dollars worth of craftsman tools at sears as a bicycle mechanic. That was 1987, I still have most of those tools, except my 10mm sockets keep walking away…
If you ever need to make a tool, I HIGHLY recommend stopping at a pawn shop. Many have bulk tubs of sockets, wrenches, etc. Generally they are only 25 cents a socket, and you can get USA made tools in decent shape. I stop occasionally just to pickup spare sockets for ones I use frequently. Don't shy away from crusty old USA ratchets! I've restored many that only had surface rust and needed to be cleaned and lubed. Rebuild kits are cheap or even free under warranty. You can own tools to be proud of for cheap if you are patient and put in effort.
There is a nice Harbor Freight 5 minutes from my house and I love it. As a nonprofessional, I'll never knock HF. That store has saved me many times, both mechanically and financially.
Snap on recently lost a law suit with harbor freight. Both the Harbor Freight and Snap On had a jack that was basically identical. The parts were made in China, but Snap On put their fake made in USA because it was assembled here. Snap On tried to claim infringement and lost. Bottom line you can buy a jack from the snap on truck, for $700 or you can get the EXACT same jack at HF for less than 1/3 the price. Neck tattoo will happily pay the price for the snap on sticker so he can impress his friends. PT Barnum said there was one born every minute.
Grey neumatic, tekton, gearwrench,astro pneumatic tools and sunex are great options for a decent set of impact sockets and they usually don't skip sizes
As an electrician, I’ve found that the more a tool says it does, the worst it does at each job. Just buy a pair of strippers and crimpers. Those 10 in 1 pliers are junk.
I'm a millwright, 9 years in a foundry, 3 in a paper mill, now I'm in plastics manufacturing. I've also built racecars as a side hobby for almost 20 years. I've honestly been surprised at how well the majority of HF hand tools have held up, even the regular sockets being used on impacts. The ratchet wrenches are still kicking, sure they're not 72-tooth but they've outlasted craftsmen (pre-china) and other brands. Missing some features like nut shelves on the deep walls, but otherwise solid. Things I wouldn't get from HF Torx and allen sockets - terrible geometry, slop, and poor heat treating. Pretty much any power tool. I've never bought any but I've had friends who have and they tend to fail prematurely. Most air tools. Their die grinders and air sanders suck, simple needle valve that's very impossible to feather. On a budget, their earthquake impacts are a good bang for your buck though. Pry bars. Not made of a decent spring steel like quality ones (which are much harder to permanently bend). BUT for a set of abuse bars, they suffice. Working in the steel industry sometimes shit gets jammed and it's 2200-3000+F and that will ruin the heat treat on a quality prybar. Pliers, wire cutters/strippers, snap-ring pliers. Usually have poor fitment and tendency to deform or snap. One oddity I've noticed over the years is that on their big 1/2" drive impact sockets, the ones with the matte finish appear to be heat treated differently than the semi-gloss finish. The matte ones will absolutely start losing their corners after heavy ugga duggas.
The impact sockets at harbor freight the mat black ones are cr-v. Same as chrome sockets. Just the impact ones have thicker walls to take the impact abuse. The half inch drive ones that have the laser etching size marking with no stamp marking labeled as Pittsburgh Pro are chrome molly. Which Chrome molly are the ones you want for impact. They are softer metal than cr-v so they compress when impacting and bounce back taking the abuse of the ugga duggas better then chrome validium aka cr-v.
At 70 years old I remember when Japanese motorcycles were considered crap. That is no longer the case and now the same thing is happening with tools. Some of the tools are ok, some not.
15 years of fixing cars professionally and most of the tools that have held up the best over time for me are Snap-On or Matco but the money I've spent is insane, especially on the Matco roll cart that's a little bigger than Chris' and the toolbox that I could sleep in. Hope you get the chance to put those tools to good use bro 🤜🤛
love this vid. as a back yard mechanic working on cars and bikes this is a great set up for under a grand. i;ve got tons of snap on and mac tools and i love them. but for the basic guy this will work just fine. i love these types of vids keep it up. thanks
You will also need a "JIS" (Japanese Industry Standard) screwdriver set for metric motorcycles. You most likely will NOT find them at Harbor Freight. If you do not know what a JIS screwdriver is, ask your master mechanic, he would know why you keep stripping JIS screws with a Phillip screwdriver, instead of using the proper JIS screwdriver. "Vessel" makes a nice set of JIS screwdrivers. Motorcycle Repair Kit A-16510
Yeah I love the Vessel JIS screwdrivers - have a full set of them and use them ALL the time! It's painful to watch every time someone uses a regular Philips screwdriver on a JIS screw and then destroys them unnecessarily!
I especially like stores like this when you need to buy a tool you rarely use. If it's cheaper to buy the tool and use it once than pay somebody to do it, I'll take the cheap tool every time.
Harbor Freight made it possible for back yard guys to, for example, change their own ball joints and struts, and many other jobs that were cost prohibitive, . I think it's a big part of the reason neck tattoo has such contempt.
One of my favorite videos you have ever done. You should bring him into all the discount tool stores and watch him melt down…. Oh and record that shhhhh
Another thing you're missing out on the whole point of harbor freight, their sales. You don't just go in there and buy everything in one pass. You look up their sales and when it's on sale you pick it up. Then you wait till the next month or a couple weeks and then you pick them up and slowly. But soon you have a whole garage for what you need.
Former full time mechanic turned industrial teacher. Most of my workaday tools are NOT HF. But some are. And I've had decent success in HF tools lasting as good or better than the tool truck stuff. I've also had some pretty spectacular failures. Bottom line, what I tell students these days - buy a low/mid range tool to start - if you use it a bunch and it breaks, replace it with a tool to last you forever (like snappy or one of the others) - but don't go into stupid debt when there are good alternatives that will make you a lot of dough to be able to afford the fancy tools for braggin rights. LAST THING: I'll take my Dads 50+ year old Craftsmans over a brand new set of Snap-Ons any day. They have almost all lasted in a 50+ hour work week environment for over 40 years (Dad and then me when I took over) and only a few failures here and there were a thing... The only sad part, if you break one now, you don't get near the quality those were, but on the other hand, they seem to have been made to outlast the apocalypse. Every time I'm at a farm sale or a junk store or a pawn shop, you'll find me scouring the old hand tools for these. Also, if you want a SnapOn or other fancy $10k plus box - just keep an eye out - you can find used ones out there for cheap all the time by guys thinking they are gonna be that master mechanic dude and end up getting cash strapped.
Snap on is great but? Like Master mechanic said if you break something on the side of the road? Harbor Freight is closer and easier to replace than waiting on the Snap on tool truck to come by. Got all different kinds of tools in my box. They all do the same job. I've broken Snap on easier than Harbor Freight and vise versa. Just sayin. Oh yeah, former pro. mechanic here.
Impact sockets are a good buy. I have a 1/2” Milwaukee impact and after 3 years 0 failures. Any high load tools you are better off with better quality from breaker bars to air tools quality will be cheaper in the long run. Good on you!
Chris is absolutely correct. I have been a Master Tech for well over 20 years and even if its lifetime a broken tool will cost you time and aggravation so some tools you don't wanna go cheap. Icon ratchets are worth the extra cost and is very close to the snap on ratchets. But in the end those tools will get the job done for now and who knows you may find some that you want to upgrade down the road.
That Life-Time warranty won't help you if it breaks at midnight when you are meeting your pals at 7am for a road trip. But, if they're cheap you can always buy 2 at a time. BTW the punch set from Snap-on is the best $$ I ever spent on punches. I've used and destroyed hundreds of punches in my line of work and these are the ones to get.
Lifetime warranty is good to have even snapon break was lucky enough to work round corner from snapon so could walk in and get replacement workers there said they would get a lot back every day
im a harbor freight guy, if I was a mechanic as a full time job I would def spend more money on a few tools from a truck, but most of the stuff is fine and great for the weekend warrior or entry level mechanic. I work on bikes and cars most weekends majority of my tools are harbor freight, great bang for buck place.
I worked in a shop where the Snap-on guy on his weekly visit would hunt down and get his payment from guys. Don't be a tool truck guy if you aren't serious about collecting payments.
I have a set of harbor freight flip sockets for removing lug nuts. I used them with my ingersol rand cordless 20v impact and they took a beating for the 3 years I was in automotive repair. All the guys in the shop used to steal my impact and sockets for taking wheels off. Those darn sockets surprised the heck out of me. Still going strong.
Lol “socketry” Blockhead lol too much man. Chris… I’m with you brother. Being a tech myself, you just can’t compare the quality difference between dollar store tools and brands like snap on, Matco etc… unless it’s something you don’t use often. The pain in your face lol… the teeth count alone… lol I felt that in my spine lol. Great video!!
I feel like one day harbor freight will keep improving quality until one day they make everyone who ever talked crap about harbor freight eat their words😂😂
Great video block! It was fun to see the pain in Chris's eyes looking at some of the cheap stuff at Harbor Frieght. A lot of my sockets and wrenches are hand me down Craftsman from my dad.
I started my Snap-on debt when I first started out swinging wrenches. My ol man took me on the truck and helped me set up an account and the rest was history
The secret to cheap ratchets is opening them up and greasing them. Makes them sound a lot better. They may even work a bit better too? Snap-On is usually better than imported tools but the margin of difference is slimmer than one may imagine. They've gotten really good at drop forging in Taiwan. So that 10% Snap-On has on the imported stuff may not be worth paying 10 times more for.
I’m learning as I go fixing up an old Evo sportster. I don’t have much money so harbor freight has been a huge blessing for me to save money on some repair costs on my bike.
My Son is a cylinder head designer (we each have Harleys, BTW), and he has a Snap-on 1/2" digital torque wrench that cost him like $500. His motto is "Cheap ain't good, and good ain't cheap".
Yes sir. My 3/8 digital snap on Tech-Angle torque wrench was $400-something. That’s the digital “top of the line” Chris was talking about. I do have a 1/2” click type torque wrench that was just about $500 as well. Good ain’t cheap. That’s for sure. 🙏🏻
Im a master mechanic and I’d never buy a snap on tools again. The Pittsburgh ratchets are just as strong as snap on ones, i put a 6ft cheater pipe on a 1/2” one with two people pushing down and it didn’t snap. I used that ratchet because it was my cheap one. Now it’s my go to one.
Now I have to ask you, why would you, "put a 6ft cheater pipe on a 1/2” one with two people pushing down"? When hardware is seized torque is never the right approach for freeing it up. Because as you're learned often things just snap then. The 3/4" set isn't too expensive at Harbor Freight anyways. I have one. And yes it is bad ass. Makes 1/2" drive look like 1/4" drive.
One of the best deals at HF is the transfer punch set. I use them for alignment tools, mandrels, hole size checkers, and even as a transfer punch. They're about $10. I buy them 2 at a time.
I enjoyed this video a lot. I agree with the others here who advise to buy good quality core tool pieces and gradually upgrade the rest as needed. I'm just the weekend warrior sort of wrench turner, but I want to have on hand what is needed to get the job done. In my late teens, I started buying some Craftsman tools from Sears. Lifetime guarantees, decent quality for the price, lots of Sears stores around if I need a replacement. Fast forward 25 years and the story is very different. I previously worked for Lowe's for 9 years, so I took advantage of my employee discount, clearance sales, and holiday specials to gradually acquire a pretty decent assortment of hand and power tools. If something needs fixed around the car or house, I probably have the tools on hand to get the job done. The Craftsman and Kobalt hand tools have never let me down. I like Hitachi for compound mitre saws, nailers, and battery powered tools. My Porter-Cable power tools pretty much round out the rest of my collection. Nothing particularly fancy, but everything I need to get a job done when needed.
To be honest, I would assume we all know what exactly to expect from harbor freight tools and the different brand differences they sell. I was hoping to see you give your opinions on some of the specialty tools they sell. These specialty tools like the bushing and bearing puller, vacuum hand pump, brake caliper piston tool, etc. Thanks for the video either way and much love!
I am a small engine mechanic and have used one of the 301 piece mechanics sets as my main set for 5 years now. the screwdrivers and wrenches are Eh they work. but the sockets and ratchets and bits have taken years of use and abuse from me with no issues. I have a set in the truck as my emergency tools. and you can always add more and better to the base set. I actually have set most of my air impacts in the drawer since i got my milwaukee cordless impacts.
What was wrong with the 9:35 wire stripping pliers? That style tool has been a foundational part of an electronics tool box since the 50's. Was it just the quality of that particular one? That tool itself is incredibly handy.
Just got that Pittsburgh kit and a Harbor freight cart for my nee apprentice. Cheap stuff, but its got a lot of stuff to get him started. I have picked up a few Icon tools and they are impressive quality.
Shalom ext might be top shelf but in northern Maine ya, we have snap, Cornhole and Marco but they only make Thier rounds once a month...... Long time to wait if you break a ratchet or heavy used tool if they just showed up 2 days ago. Common sense to me is get the most used tools as lifetime warranty but local store within driving distance so within a day or so you can be back to work without wait. Also if you go harbor freight wise...... And starting from scratch ... I'd recommend the Bauer cordless drill that comes with battery and charger the only tool that comes with charger and battery and then get bare tool impact and a extra battery. Surprisingly won't be much over $100 and will free you of hoses and for the price is pretty darn good. Extended warranties they stand by with real good too. No insulting questions of operation abuse like big name trucks can give you
Bulldoze snips, right and left snips, 2 inch benders, impact sockets, a lugnut socket, speed wrenches, 12v ratchet, socket holders, prybars and picks, torque wrench, a 1/2 impact, a 3/8 impact, all necessary. But get the Milwaukee impacts and ratchet, not a snap on. A stubby 3/8" impact gun and 12v ratchet (long neck preferably) and you'll be amazed how well they work. Oh and buy about a dozen 10mm sockets. Also you can order snap on and matco from Napa, but they have their own decent tools that you don't have to refinance your house for.
as a hobbyist cheap tools are fine. I was a powersports mechanic and good quality tools are a must. Snap-On is the way to go that pick is 20 bucks but you can use it as a damn prybar and twist it into a pretzel and the Snap-On guy replaces it no question. Dont hammer on the handles though because the handles aren't replaced free only the metal pick.
Pffff.. right? Used to be mostly lifetime. Now.. less and less. I won’t even buy a cheapo harbor freight tool UNLESS sits lifetime. Cuz.. well... I usually have to warranty them. 🤷🏻♂️
Those torx didn’t have anyone “just take one”, there’s a reason it has a purple price tag on it, the store discounts sets missing sockets when they tore into them for a warranty return.
I bought probably that same torque wrench, the Pitt one, for when I work on my bike. Probably, the only high quality tools I have are my DeWalt battery drill, impact, and skill saw. I felt perfectly fine using my impact because I used them a bunch already with being in roofing.
I love harbor freight. Those tools will last you a lot longer than Chris expects! I use them constantly and the only thing I don’t buy from them is battery powered tools.
61 years I worked with the tools and I can promise ya, NOTHING beats quality! I still have the origional Craftsman 1/4" drive 120 piece set I bought when I was 19 and just started out. Back then Craftsman was all USA and quality! All my other tools were not from one manufacturer but many differant ones. I bought tools "specific for a job" and bought quality and was not dissapointed. I never liked hands and arms that looked like they were through a meat grinder, and cheap tools will fail you just when you need them not to!
I’ve learned to appreciate quality tools doing commercial hvac…snapped those Pittsburgh and craftsman Allen’s and craftsman screwdrivers etc… now i only buy Klein stuff..wrenches are gear wrench brand and going strong. Dewalt power tools.
Hahahaha sausage-fingered fool I am. Just sat through almost 30 mins of video waiting for the ‘I bought a 40 year old Honda’ before I realised I’d pressed the wrong video 🤣🏴🤪
I'm a 20 year master technician and have come to accept that Snap-On is no longer "the best". Their quality has remained the same, which is fine, but other brands have come up over the past 10 years or so that are just far superior for 1/2 or even 1/4 the cost. I'm half tempted to sell most of my Snap-On stuff and get some of these other brands. It'll allow me to put around $25k into the bank and have the same, or better quality tools. And I like how bro is going with the Snap-On dealers script about the Pittsburgh ratchet and how it will supposedly "snap the insides" if you put any serious torque on it. It just isn't true bud.
Solid starter kit. After three years and many many trips to Harbor Freight I have ended up with just about every tool that you bought in this video. I wish I had seen this and just bought every single item day one. A few things I would add would be a multimeter, drill bits and loctite.
Up here in Canada, we have Princess Auto... basically our version of Harbor Freight. Same idea, low cost tools of "acceptable" quality. I would say roughly half the contents of my tool chest came from there. Like you guys, I go to the big brand names for my battery-powered stuff (Dewalt or Milwaukee, usually) and for things like ratchets. I have a "decent" set of wrenches, as well as of sockets, but not top tier. I'm not a pro, just a hobbyist. I DO love good quality tools though, and the day I win the lottery, it'll be Snap-On all the way....
I saw a guy once that had two carts bolted together he enclosed the bottoms with sheet metal riveted on with some custom shelved and doors on slide hinges. It was an intresting set up.
I shop harbor freight a lot, but I rarely get the Pittsburgh stuff. I love the Icon swivel 1/4" ratchet, even more than my Proto ratchet and just as much as my gearwrench ratchet. I have a 3/8" Pittsburgh index ratchet that is rougher than rocks, and the Icon 3/8" swivel head is a little rough but better than the Pittsburgh.
The upper end 72 tooth Pittsburg pro ratchets are fine, I’ve cranked down on a few of them a lot. The only think I have broke so far was a flex head ratchet wrench, and I had another wrench hooked to it putting more on it putting way more on it than i should have. The mechanics set tools have cheaper versions of their wrenches. Surprised he was not talking about finding 6pt vs 12pt sockets.
I absolutely died laughing watching Chris. I understand what he is saying about Snap On tools. In my career I worked around diesel mechanics and I saw what they owned and what they spent on tools. But like you I go to Harbor Freight for my tools to work on my bikes. In a 2 1/2 year period of accruing tools from Harbor Freight, never buying any of them that weren’t on sale I have totally filled those double cabinet with the roller cabinet on the bottom and a big chest cabinet that sits on top. The bottom cabinet is filled with metric and the top cabinet is filled with regular tools. And the very first tool was that 301 set.
A snap on torque wrench is worth its weight in gold! U dont tighten anything for someone else friend/customer with a cheap ass torque wrench. You have no idea if it’s tightened to spec. I have an older click type and tech angle torque wrenches. But glad to see you getting some of your own tools! Chris is a hell of a guy for loaning you his!
Rite on that! I have a 3/8” tech-angle. And a 1/2” click type. (Snap on) Lol I was going to offer to send Blockhead the cheap Harbor Freight 1/2” one I have for free.. just because. I’ll never use that again. Ever. But postage is probably more expensive than the thing itself 😂 But I suppose on his own car.. “some” torque wrench is better than guessing.. 🤷🏻♂️
ESPECIALLY a torque wrench! I think the harbor freight ones come with a supposed calibration sheet... but really.. I feel like they print the same one & put it in every package they sell. 🤷🏻♂️
@@ianloyd6384 you can test torque wrenches. There's a bit to using a torque wrench anyways. Unless it's a digital one. The disc clicker ones you'd better know what you're doing to use it.
It’s came along way since he started. When he started wrenching I bet the cheap tools were junk. But now they’re much different. That flex head ratchet he was talking crap about is a decent ratchet and will do most of what you want to do. If a “snap on”breaks you have to wait a week for the snap on guy to show up. Unless your a big customer and he might come to you. And if you change employers and the new place doesn’t have a snap on guy, your screwed. their are videos of some ratchets shown to be the same as snap on just different companies and built in different parts of the world. The notion that you have to go into several thousands of dollars in debt to buy tools is no longer the case. Plenty of people get the job done with affordable tools now. If I could start Over, I would buy cheap everything and whatever kept breaking I would invest in that.
My Craftsman stuff all still works. The 1980s drill I left outside (Actually, it was in a tool kit, but the Home Depot brand tool kit leaked, and filled up with water) for a year amazingly dried out and fired back up!
I'm not a "master technician " but I do quite a bit of mechanical work. Do all my own work I've built off road jeeps, 4th gen camaro race car, and I've maintained lawn care business, all the mowers and equipment, 5 truck & trailers ,and to top it off we plow snow and located in Minnesota, so all our truck are 05 and older coverd in Minnesota salt rust and I have used the same harbor freight ratchet and wrenches for over 6yrs, Pittsburgh chrome sockets on impacts everyday for yrs never broke a single one... some harbor freight tools I used once and throw straight in garbage but their ratchets and wrenches, screwdrivers, the basic hand tools are more than adequate. Yeah snap on uses better steel and all but you getting 20% better products at 120% the cost. Snap on being the only good mechanic tools is a thing of the past. 40 yrs ago they were worth the price, cause no other brand could compete but the manufacturing has progressed so far that cheaper brands are just as good and many "cheap tool" brand literally roll out the exact same factories as snap on lol..Today if you only buy snap on ,its a flex more than anything you just showing you can throw away money 🤣🤣🤦♂️🤡
that flex head Pittsburg with the red handle is great they aren't meant for torque like a breaker bar and neither is the snap off, i have broke several snap-ons just like it and never broke the Pittsburg 26 years automotive motorcycle and equipment experience here
One of my coworkers and I bought a set of pry bars on sale from our local Snap-on dealer. One of our other coworkers bought a set from Harbor Freight. I watched as our other coworker bent his bar into a pretzel trying to remove a pin from a hydraulic ram on a refuse packer. I have to admit it was comical! Watching that bar bend like taffey! The guy used his tool allowance and tried to replicate his purchase to ours. Chris will know a good tool. I own several Harbor Freight tools. Becareful what you buy.
I have just started my career in mechanics and I've been fine using some harbor freight equipment but for ratchets power tools, impact sockets, and torque wrenches I would definitely invest more into.
I just filled my toolbox with Snap on tools. Completely understand what Chris means about quality tools. I like my other tools Kobalt mostly but snap on ratchets just work better.
You should try the icon ratchets there basically identical to snap on, i love my snap-on ratchets but i got 3 different icon ratchets to compare them and man are they nice and I have yet to break one, I work in a diesel repair shop by the way.
DROP your guesses on how much it cost before we mention it in the vid!
$455.00
I guessed $600.
I'm gonna call it roughly $850. You had a couple of high-ticket items in there that drove it up a notch.
$857.00
$900
As a previously professional auto mechanic and now an industrial machine mechanic, my advice to an entry level tech would be; 1. Get almost everything seen here at harbor freight. 2. Get a premium ratchet from snap-on, matco, Mac, or cornwell. 3. Slowly upgrade the harbor freight tools that let you down for the premium versions. Don’t go into PHD level debt on the tool truck week one of wrenching.
That’s something people never seem to get their brain around. Go buy the cheap tools out of the gate. Spend $1000 at harbor freight to fill up a tool cart on day one. Then, as you use the tools, some will get used a bunch and break. Those are the tools you invest and buy the high-end versions of. You don’t have to have a snap-on or matco everything.
My one exception is power tools. Just go buy the Milwaukee ones right out the gate. That will save you time and money
If you want to get quality tools but do not want to spend in our or a leg, go to Harbor Freight and look at their Icon and Quinn line of tools, they are very good ratchets, wrenches, and sockets.. for impact tools I would look at Bauer, or Hercules one or the other because they use batteries and one will not fit the other, so mixing product lines as far as impact tools goes carries with it that burden. But either Bauer, or Hercules are very good impact tools, I use the Bauer line.
Thanks for the solid advice, I applied for an apprenticeship to become a heavy equipment repairman with my local Operating Engineers union. Honestly the cost of tools is the number 1 concern for me at the moment.
Best advice I ever got to buy an inexpensive tool (good for what it is, not super cheap shite), if you use it enough thst it fails or break, buy a better one. If you don't use it enough for it to fail or break, you probably don't need an expensive one. Works for most tools, obviously if it's something specialise that'd benefit from being accurate and might get used often, maybe spend the money
@@nathan1sixteen I'm no fan boy but ac Delco electric sidewinders are great, kobalt 3/8 electric impacts are the shit and matco 1/2 air guns mean business. This trinity is the base of my mechanic performance.
As a heavy equipment mechanic with over 15 years of experience, I have a mixture of snap-on and Cornwell tools as well as gear wrench wrenches because they beat out the tool truck in all facets, Milwaukee battery tools, and plenty of harbor freight mixed in. All my torque wrenches are snap on. They make the best torque wrenches in the game. Honestly, if you're looking to work on your own stuff or on customer bikes, feel free to buy everything at harbor freight. I love how he talks about the ratchet coming apart inside with serious torque but yet he works on motorcycles. I have put insane amounts of torque on harbor freight ratchets on Rusty mining, heavy equipment and they stand up just fine.
The only thing you need is a cheep 2:30 BFH
Fun Fact: at 3:45, that was probably not a "sticky finger" it was more likely a lifetime warranty thing. If you exchange out a socket, or whatever from a set, then you just exchange your broken one for a new one from the set. After that, the store "open box"s the rest of the set, putting it at a reduced price as there is reduced value to the set.
I just started my career as a mechanic and during my apprenticeship I spent well over $500 at harbor freight with starter tools. I went through 3 impacts from harbor freight before pulling the trigger and getting a snap-on one. I quickly learned that there are some tools you can cheap out on and some that you really shouldn't
Yes sir. Power tools and diagnostics stuff. Pay once cry once.
Milwaukee power tools are the shit man
The low end HF air tools are truly a waste of money. I bought some that stopped after 2mins.
I would never buy a snap-on impact, EVER, air or electric..
I'm sure you worked on Harley's with 0 rust too...
I’m just going to say... I love Chris, & his real ass honesty. 💯. Lot of that is junk.. some isn’t. Glad he called it out on the real!
I had an urgent fabrication job and harbor fright had some 1/2 in breaker bars that i " reconfigured " . The opinion of the real mechanic is priceless. For working on the lawnmower the Pittsburgh line will get the job done.
The relationship is real when you fight like siblings in front of grandma 🤣🤣 he wants to knock you out so bad and you wanna shove that camera down his throat 🤣🤣🤣...not a bad thing, shows us how real and unedited yall are with each other sometimes
Don’t hate of Harbor Freight. I know a couple of techs (both auto and motorcycle) who’ve been happy with the Icon line of tools and have used them for almost a decade. They caught some flack from experienced techs until they realized that they spent a quarter of what the experienced techs spent years earlier and have had no issues out of the hand tools.
For the power tools, the Bauer line is where it’s at. Not so cheap that they’ll break the first time you use them, and they won’t break the bank.
I started out at 13 and bought about 1200 dollars worth of craftsman tools at sears as a bicycle mechanic. That was 1987, I still have most of those tools, except my 10mm sockets keep walking away…
If you ever need to make a tool, I HIGHLY recommend stopping at a pawn shop. Many have bulk tubs of sockets, wrenches, etc. Generally they are only 25 cents a socket, and you can get USA made tools in decent shape. I stop occasionally just to pickup spare sockets for ones I use frequently. Don't shy away from crusty old USA ratchets! I've restored many that only had surface rust and needed to be cleaned and lubed. Rebuild kits are cheap or even free under warranty. You can own tools to be proud of for cheap if you are patient and put in effort.
There is a nice Harbor Freight 5 minutes from my house and I love it. As a nonprofessional, I'll never knock HF. That store has saved me many times, both mechanically and financially.
Snap on recently lost a law suit with harbor freight. Both the Harbor Freight and Snap On had a jack that was basically identical. The parts were made in China, but Snap On put their fake made in USA because it was assembled here. Snap On tried to claim infringement and lost. Bottom line you can buy a jack from the snap on truck, for $700 or you can get the EXACT same jack at HF for less than 1/3 the price. Neck tattoo will happily pay the price for the snap on sticker so he can impress his friends. PT Barnum said there was one born every minute.
^
Need to get those swivel wheels too for my green 30" tool chest. Now to unload the tools. Ughhh
Grey neumatic, tekton, gearwrench,astro pneumatic tools and sunex are great options for a decent set of impact sockets and they usually don't skip sizes
I have Snap On, Mac, Matco tools etc and I’ve always used Sunex for all of my impact sockets. Held up for a lot of years now. Lifetime warranty.
As an electrician, I’ve found that the more a tool says it does, the worst it does at each job. Just buy a pair of strippers and crimpers. Those 10 in 1 pliers are junk.
Best advice I got was when you're starting out, buy all the cheap stuff. If it breaks then you use it enough to buy the expensive tools.
I'm a millwright, 9 years in a foundry, 3 in a paper mill, now I'm in plastics manufacturing. I've also built racecars as a side hobby for almost 20 years. I've honestly been surprised at how well the majority of HF hand tools have held up, even the regular sockets being used on impacts. The ratchet wrenches are still kicking, sure they're not 72-tooth but they've outlasted craftsmen (pre-china) and other brands. Missing some features like nut shelves on the deep walls, but otherwise solid.
Things I wouldn't get from HF
Torx and allen sockets - terrible geometry, slop, and poor heat treating.
Pretty much any power tool. I've never bought any but I've had friends who have and they tend to fail prematurely.
Most air tools. Their die grinders and air sanders suck, simple needle valve that's very impossible to feather. On a budget, their earthquake impacts are a good bang for your buck though.
Pry bars. Not made of a decent spring steel like quality ones (which are much harder to permanently bend). BUT for a set of abuse bars, they suffice. Working in the steel industry sometimes shit gets jammed and it's 2200-3000+F and that will ruin the heat treat on a quality prybar.
Pliers, wire cutters/strippers, snap-ring pliers. Usually have poor fitment and tendency to deform or snap.
One oddity I've noticed over the years is that on their big 1/2" drive impact sockets, the ones with the matte finish appear to be heat treated differently than the semi-gloss finish. The matte ones will absolutely start losing their corners after heavy ugga duggas.
The impact sockets at harbor freight the mat black ones are cr-v. Same as chrome sockets. Just the impact ones have thicker walls to take the impact abuse. The half inch drive ones that have the laser etching size marking with no stamp marking labeled as Pittsburgh Pro are chrome molly. Which Chrome molly are the ones you want for impact. They are softer metal than cr-v so they compress when impacting and bounce back taking the abuse of the ugga duggas better then chrome validium aka cr-v.
At 70 years old I remember when Japanese motorcycles were considered crap. That is no longer the case and now the same thing is happening with tools. Some of the tools are ok, some not.
15 years of fixing cars professionally and most of the tools that have held up the best over time for me are Snap-On or Matco but the money I've spent is insane, especially on the Matco roll cart that's a little bigger than Chris' and the toolbox that I could sleep in. Hope you get the chance to put those tools to good use bro 🤜🤛
love this vid. as a back yard mechanic working on cars and bikes this is a great set up for under a grand. i;ve got tons of snap on and mac tools and i love them. but for the basic guy this will work just fine. i love these types of vids keep it up. thanks
When you have a snap-on snob, nothing will change their minds.
You will also need a "JIS" (Japanese Industry Standard) screwdriver set for metric motorcycles. You most likely will NOT find them at Harbor Freight. If you do not know what a JIS screwdriver is, ask your master mechanic, he would know why you keep stripping JIS screws with a Phillip screwdriver, instead of using the proper JIS screwdriver. "Vessel" makes a nice set of JIS screwdrivers.
Motorcycle Repair Kit A-16510
Yeah I love the Vessel JIS screwdrivers - have a full set of them and use them ALL the time! It's painful to watch every time someone uses a regular Philips screwdriver on a JIS screw and then destroys them unnecessarily!
Another HUGE fan of Vessel!! GREAT screwdrivers
Yep. Vessel Megadora!
Vessel all day. Impacta especially for vintage bikes that haven't been apart in 40+ years!
I especially like stores like this when you need to buy a tool you rarely use.
If it's cheaper to buy the tool and use it once than pay somebody to do it, I'll take the cheap tool every time.
Harbor Freight made it possible for back yard guys to, for example, change their own ball joints and struts, and many other jobs that were cost prohibitive, . I think it's a big part of the reason neck tattoo has such contempt.
One of my favorite videos you have ever done. You should bring him into all the discount tool stores and watch him melt down…. Oh and record that shhhhh
15:37 Cracked me up , spilled my coffee everywhere !!!
Another thing you're missing out on the whole point of harbor freight, their sales. You don't just go in there and buy everything in one pass. You look up their sales and when it's on sale you pick it up. Then you wait till the next month or a couple weeks and then you pick them up and slowly. But soon you have a whole garage for what you need.
Former full time mechanic turned industrial teacher. Most of my workaday tools are NOT HF. But some are. And I've had decent success in HF tools lasting as good or better than the tool truck stuff. I've also had some pretty spectacular failures.
Bottom line, what I tell students these days - buy a low/mid range tool to start - if you use it a bunch and it breaks, replace it with a tool to last you forever (like snappy or one of the others) - but don't go into stupid debt when there are good alternatives that will make you a lot of dough to be able to afford the fancy tools for braggin rights.
LAST THING: I'll take my Dads 50+ year old Craftsmans over a brand new set of Snap-Ons any day. They have almost all lasted in a 50+ hour work week environment for over 40 years (Dad and then me when I took over) and only a few failures here and there were a thing... The only sad part, if you break one now, you don't get near the quality those were, but on the other hand, they seem to have been made to outlast the apocalypse. Every time I'm at a farm sale or a junk store or a pawn shop, you'll find me scouring the old hand tools for these.
Also, if you want a SnapOn or other fancy $10k plus box - just keep an eye out - you can find used ones out there for cheap all the time by guys thinking they are gonna be that master mechanic dude and end up getting cash strapped.
Snap on is great but? Like Master mechanic said if you break something on the side of the road? Harbor Freight is closer and easier to replace than waiting on the Snap on tool truck to come by. Got all different kinds of tools in my box. They all do the same job. I've broken Snap on easier than Harbor Freight and vise versa. Just sayin. Oh yeah, former pro. mechanic here.
Impact sockets are a good buy. I have a 1/2” Milwaukee impact and after 3 years 0 failures. Any high load tools you are better off with better quality from breaker bars to air tools quality will be cheaper in the long run. Good on you!
Chris is absolutely correct. I have been a Master Tech for well over 20 years and even if its lifetime a broken tool will cost you time and aggravation so some tools you don't wanna go cheap. Icon ratchets are worth the extra cost and is very close to the snap on ratchets. But in the end those tools will get the job done for now and who knows you may find some that you want to upgrade down the road.
If you gotta buy a harbor freight tool....buy 2.
That Life-Time warranty won't help you if it breaks at midnight when you are meeting your pals at 7am for a road trip. But, if they're cheap you can always buy 2 at a time. BTW the punch set from Snap-on is the best $$ I ever spent on punches. I've used and destroyed hundreds of punches in my line of work and these are the ones to get.
Lifetime warranty is good to have even snapon break was lucky enough to work round corner from snapon so could walk in and get replacement workers there said they would get a lot back every day
I have that 301 piece mechanics set and it’s worked good for me so far. I’m not a professional, but as a weekend mechanic, it gets the job done
im a harbor freight guy, if I was a mechanic as a full time job I would def spend more money on a few tools from a truck, but most of the stuff is fine and great for the weekend warrior or entry level mechanic. I work on bikes and cars most weekends majority of my tools are harbor freight, great bang for buck place.
I worked in a shop where the Snap-on guy on his weekly visit would hunt down and get his payment from guys. Don't be a tool truck guy if you aren't serious about collecting payments.
I have a set of harbor freight flip sockets for removing lug nuts. I used them with my ingersol rand cordless 20v impact and they took a beating for the 3 years I was in automotive repair. All the guys in the shop used to steal my impact and sockets for taking wheels off. Those darn sockets surprised the heck out of me. Still going strong.
Lol “socketry” Blockhead lol too much man.
Chris… I’m with you brother. Being a tech myself, you just can’t compare the quality difference between dollar store tools and brands like snap on, Matco etc… unless it’s something you don’t use often.
The pain in your face lol… the teeth count alone… lol I felt that in my spine lol.
Great video!!
Instead of the standard extensions and adapters, should have got the impact rated. I did that and haven't had any issues.
I feel like one day harbor freight will keep improving quality until one day they make everyone who ever talked crap about harbor freight eat their words😂😂
Great video block! It was fun to see the pain in Chris's eyes looking at some of the cheap stuff at Harbor Frieght. A lot of my sockets and wrenches are hand me down Craftsman from my dad.
Craftsman was once a decent brand. In the last 20 years, not so much.
@@hammarashi I think a lot of the stuff we all have is from over 20 years ago lol. Old school., good good craftsman. RIP
I started my Snap-on debt when I first started out swinging wrenches. My ol man took me on the truck and helped me set up an account and the rest was history
I was looking for a torque wrench recently and ended up getting the Quinn torque adapter cube. Great decision there. Works perfectly.
The secret to cheap ratchets is opening them up and greasing them. Makes them sound a lot better. They may even work a bit better too? Snap-On is usually better than imported tools but the margin of difference is slimmer than one may imagine. They've gotten really good at drop forging in Taiwan. So that 10% Snap-On has on the imported stuff may not be worth paying 10 times more for.
90% of snap on is made in the same factory as harbor freight.
@@gregoryk.9815 those are the Snap-On tools to avoid buying. Pretty much just stick to their wrenches and sockets. The rest is a complete rip off.
@@gregoryk.9815 your wrong dude i go on the truck every week like 70 percent is usa
I’m learning as I go fixing up an old Evo sportster. I don’t have much money so harbor freight has been a huge blessing for me to save money on some repair costs on my bike.
My Son is a cylinder head designer (we each have Harleys, BTW), and he has a Snap-on 1/2" digital torque wrench that cost him like $500. His motto is "Cheap ain't good, and good ain't cheap".
Yes sir. My 3/8 digital snap on Tech-Angle torque wrench was $400-something.
That’s the digital “top of the line” Chris was talking about. I do have a 1/2” click type torque wrench that was just about $500 as well.
Good ain’t cheap. That’s for sure. 🙏🏻
4:05 the master tech does make a good point. In this business reliability is key
Im a master mechanic and I’d never buy a snap on tools again. The Pittsburgh ratchets are just as strong as snap on ones, i put a 6ft cheater pipe on a 1/2” one with two people pushing down and it didn’t snap. I used that ratchet because it was my cheap one. Now it’s my go to one.
You got that right , new snap on stuff is all junk
Now I have to ask you, why would you, "put a 6ft cheater pipe on a 1/2” one with two people pushing down"? When hardware is seized torque is never the right approach for freeing it up. Because as you're learned often things just snap then. The 3/4" set isn't too expensive at Harbor Freight anyways. I have one. And yes it is bad ass. Makes 1/2" drive look like 1/4" drive.
The end of the video with the rachets was great 🤣
One of the best deals at HF is the transfer punch set. I use them for alignment tools, mandrels, hole size checkers, and even as a transfer punch.
They're about $10. I buy them 2 at a time.
Oh Man!!!
This video is hilarious 😂 🤣😂
But really informative 👌
Thank you guys you complete my day this early morning.
I enjoyed this video a lot. I agree with the others here who advise to buy good quality core tool pieces and gradually upgrade the rest as needed. I'm just the weekend warrior sort of wrench turner, but I want to have on hand what is needed to get the job done. In my late teens, I started buying some Craftsman tools from Sears. Lifetime guarantees, decent quality for the price, lots of Sears stores around if I need a replacement. Fast forward 25 years and the story is very different. I previously worked for Lowe's for 9 years, so I took advantage of my employee discount, clearance sales, and holiday specials to gradually acquire a pretty decent assortment of hand and power tools. If something needs fixed around the car or house, I probably have the tools on hand to get the job done. The Craftsman and Kobalt hand tools have never let me down. I like Hitachi for compound mitre saws, nailers, and battery powered tools. My Porter-Cable power tools pretty much round out the rest of my collection. Nothing particularly fancy, but everything I need to get a job done when needed.
The snap on ice cream truck was hilarious.. it's truth tho, if they did even half like that , they prob would sell more lol
To be honest, I would assume we all know what exactly to expect from harbor freight tools and the different brand differences they sell. I was hoping to see you give your opinions on some of the specialty tools they sell. These specialty tools like the bushing and bearing puller, vacuum hand pump, brake caliper piston tool, etc. Thanks for the video either way and much love!
You guys are comedy! This channel is awesome man. 👍👍👍
I am a small engine mechanic and have used one of the 301 piece mechanics sets as my main set for 5 years now. the screwdrivers and wrenches are Eh they work. but the sockets and ratchets and bits have taken years of use and abuse from me with no issues. I have a set in the truck as my emergency tools. and you can always add more and better to the base set. I actually have set most of my air impacts in the drawer since i got my milwaukee cordless impacts.
This video was more helpful than i care to admit...
Thanks guys.
15:51 Get that potraband! That's the best tool in the whole store!
What was wrong with the 9:35 wire stripping pliers? That style tool has been a foundational part of an electronics tool box since the 50's. Was it just the quality of that particular one? That tool itself is incredibly handy.
Just got that Pittsburgh kit and a Harbor freight cart for my nee apprentice. Cheap stuff, but its got a lot of stuff to get him started.
I have picked up a few Icon tools and they are impressive quality.
Shalom ext might be top shelf but in northern Maine ya, we have snap, Cornhole and Marco but they only make Thier rounds once a month...... Long time to wait if you break a ratchet or heavy used tool if they just showed up 2 days ago. Common sense to me is get the most used tools as lifetime warranty but local store within driving distance so within a day or so you can be back to work without wait.
Also if you go harbor freight wise...... And starting from scratch ... I'd recommend the Bauer cordless drill that comes with battery and charger the only tool that comes with charger and battery and then get bare tool impact and a extra battery. Surprisingly won't be much over $100 and will free you of hoses and for the price is pretty darn good. Extended warranties they stand by with real good too. No insulting questions of operation abuse like big name trucks can give you
Bulldoze snips, right and left snips, 2 inch benders, impact sockets, a lugnut socket, speed wrenches, 12v ratchet, socket holders, prybars and picks, torque wrench, a 1/2 impact, a 3/8 impact, all necessary. But get the Milwaukee impacts and ratchet, not a snap on. A stubby 3/8" impact gun and 12v ratchet (long neck preferably) and you'll be amazed how well they work.
Oh and buy about a dozen 10mm sockets.
Also you can order snap on and matco from Napa, but they have their own decent tools that you don't have to refinance your house for.
as a hobbyist cheap tools are fine. I was a powersports mechanic and good quality tools are a must. Snap-On is the way to go that pick is 20 bucks but you can use it as a damn prybar and twist it into a pretzel and the Snap-On guy replaces it no question. Dont hammer on the handles though because the handles aren't replaced free only the metal pick.
If he had tried some of the ICON ratchets he would be very surprised how decent they are.
Please don't grow apart guyz.... We all love y'all growing up like brothers minus the fights
I still love my Craftsmen tools! 40 to 50 years old, still going strong! The original ones, not the cheap chinese junk they make now. Great Video!
Good video but check your warranty info on the Pittsburgh tools; most are 90 day vs. lifetime.😞
Pffff.. right? Used to be mostly lifetime. Now.. less and less. I won’t even buy a cheapo harbor freight tool UNLESS sits lifetime. Cuz.. well... I usually have to warranty them. 🤷🏻♂️
You paid too much...🤣
Cheapoooo.....geeeeeeeee🤣
Those torx didn’t have anyone “just take one”, there’s a reason it has a purple price tag on it, the store discounts sets missing sockets when they tore into them for a warranty return.
When it comes to tools for my trade I buy only the top of the line stuff, for tinkering at home and wrenching on my bike it's all harbor freight.
I bought probably that same torque wrench, the Pitt one, for when I work on my bike. Probably, the only high quality tools I have are my DeWalt battery drill, impact, and skill saw. I felt perfectly fine using my impact because I used them a bunch already with being in roofing.
I love it!! Chris and I would both know where to skimp and where to spend the money. Great video!!!
I love harbor freight. Those tools will last you a lot longer than Chris expects! I use them constantly and the only thing I don’t buy from them is battery powered tools.
61 years I worked with the tools and I can promise ya, NOTHING beats quality! I still have the origional Craftsman 1/4" drive 120 piece set I bought when I was 19 and just started out. Back then Craftsman was all USA and quality! All my other tools were not from one manufacturer but many differant ones. I bought tools "specific for a job" and bought quality and was not dissapointed. I never liked hands and arms that looked like they were through a meat grinder, and cheap tools will fail you just when you need them not to!
I’ve learned to appreciate quality tools doing commercial hvac…snapped those Pittsburgh and craftsman Allen’s and craftsman screwdrivers etc… now i only buy Klein stuff..wrenches are gear wrench brand and going strong. Dewalt power tools.
Hahahaha sausage-fingered fool I am. Just sat through almost 30 mins of video waiting for the ‘I bought a 40 year old Honda’ before I realised I’d pressed the wrong video 🤣🏴🤪
I'm a 20 year master technician and have come to accept that Snap-On is no longer "the best". Their quality has remained the same, which is fine, but other brands have come up over the past 10 years or so that are just far superior for 1/2 or even 1/4 the cost. I'm half tempted to sell most of my Snap-On stuff and get some of these other brands. It'll allow me to put around $25k into the bank and have the same, or better quality tools.
And I like how bro is going with the Snap-On dealers script about the Pittsburgh ratchet and how it will supposedly "snap the insides" if you put any serious torque on it. It just isn't true bud.
Snap-on also doesn't even make all their tools.
Hey Block, could you do a video about steel braided cables. Why they are preferred or recommended. Have Chris install and explain the process. 👌🏻
Solid starter kit. After three years and many many trips to Harbor Freight I have ended up with just about every tool that you bought in this video. I wish I had seen this and just bought every single item day one. A few things I would add would be a multimeter, drill bits and loctite.
Up here in Canada, we have Princess Auto... basically our version of Harbor Freight. Same idea, low cost tools of "acceptable" quality. I would say roughly half the contents of my tool chest came from there. Like you guys, I go to the big brand names for my battery-powered stuff (Dewalt or Milwaukee, usually) and for things like ratchets. I have a "decent" set of wrenches, as well as of sockets, but not top tier. I'm not a pro, just a hobbyist. I DO love good quality tools though, and the day I win the lottery, it'll be Snap-On all the way....
I saw a guy once that had two carts bolted together he enclosed the bottoms with sheet metal riveted on with some custom shelved and doors on slide hinges. It was an intresting set up.
I shop harbor freight a lot, but I rarely get the Pittsburgh stuff. I love the Icon swivel 1/4" ratchet, even more than my Proto ratchet and just as much as my gearwrench ratchet. I have a 3/8" Pittsburgh index ratchet that is rougher than rocks, and the Icon 3/8" swivel head is a little rough but better than the Pittsburgh.
I've been using my set of wire cutters for like 6 years I've had no issues 😢 @9:20
Been working on bikes for years with HF tools. All personal in the garage stuff, but if your selective (no moving parts), you can get away for cheap.
The upper end 72 tooth Pittsburg pro ratchets are fine, I’ve cranked down on a few of them a lot. The only think I have broke so far was a flex head ratchet wrench, and I had another wrench hooked to it putting more on it putting way more on it than i should have.
The mechanics set tools have cheaper versions of their wrenches. Surprised he was not talking about finding 6pt vs 12pt sockets.
In HF you just have to know what you're getting. I got a set of impact socket that are 20 years old.
The rachet quality has gone up quite a lot too.
I absolutely died laughing watching Chris. I understand what he is saying about Snap On tools. In my career I worked around diesel mechanics and I saw what they owned and what they spent on tools. But like you I go to Harbor Freight for my tools to work on my bikes. In a 2 1/2 year period of accruing tools from Harbor Freight, never buying any of them that weren’t on sale I have totally filled those double cabinet with the roller cabinet on the bottom and a big chest cabinet that sits on top. The bottom cabinet is filled with metric and the top cabinet is filled with regular tools. And the very first tool was that 301 set.
A snap on torque wrench is worth its weight in gold! U dont tighten anything for someone else friend/customer with a cheap ass torque wrench. You have no idea if it’s tightened to spec. I have an older click type and tech angle torque wrenches. But glad to see you getting some of your own tools! Chris is a hell of a guy for loaning you his!
Rite on that! I have a 3/8” tech-angle. And a 1/2” click type. (Snap on)
Lol I was going to offer to send Blockhead the cheap Harbor Freight 1/2” one I have for free.. just because. I’ll never use that again. Ever. But postage is probably more expensive than the thing itself 😂
But I suppose on his own car.. “some” torque wrench is better than guessing.. 🤷🏻♂️
These 2 dudes are like Real brothers! It’s hilarious! It works!
for just starting out it's ok. as you go I would up grade to better quality tools.
specially a torque wrench for accuracy in torque specs
ESPECIALLY a torque wrench! I think the harbor freight ones come with a supposed calibration sheet... but really.. I feel like they print the same one & put it in every package they sell. 🤷🏻♂️
@@ianloyd6384 you can test torque wrenches. There's a bit to using a torque wrench anyways. Unless it's a digital one. The disc clicker ones you'd better know what you're doing to use it.
Aye you got the same color coded sockets as me lol. Good luck getting them out of that plastic holder though 😂
That plastic holder sucks! Had to use vice grips to grip and pull the socket 😆🤦🏻♂️
It’s came along way since he started. When he started wrenching I bet the cheap tools were junk. But now they’re much different. That flex head ratchet he was talking crap about is a decent ratchet and will do most of what you want to do. If a “snap on”breaks you have to wait a week for the snap on guy to show up. Unless your a big customer and he might come to you. And if you change employers and the new place doesn’t have a snap on guy, your screwed. their are videos of some ratchets shown to be the same as snap on just different companies and built in different parts of the world. The notion that you have to go into several thousands of dollars in debt to buy tools is no longer the case. Plenty of people get the job done with affordable tools now. If I could start Over, I would buy cheap everything and whatever kept breaking I would invest in that.
Hes being a douche about it, too. Not everyone wants to spend $300 on a ratchet
He's trying to keep you from coming back to using his tools when your Shittburgh breaks. 😆
My Craftsman stuff all still works. The 1980s drill I left outside (Actually, it was in a tool kit, but the Home Depot brand tool kit leaked, and filled up with water) for a year amazingly dried out and fired back up!
Yo the paint on that blue road glide at the beginning is gorgeous! What is that and how do I make my bob glide that color?
I'm not a "master technician " but I do quite a bit of mechanical work. Do all my own work I've built off road jeeps, 4th gen camaro race car, and I've maintained lawn care business, all the mowers and equipment, 5 truck & trailers ,and to top it off we plow snow and located in Minnesota, so all our truck are 05 and older coverd in Minnesota salt rust and I have used the same harbor freight ratchet and wrenches for over 6yrs, Pittsburgh chrome sockets on impacts everyday for yrs never broke a single one... some harbor freight tools I used once and throw straight in garbage but their ratchets and wrenches, screwdrivers, the basic hand tools are more than adequate. Yeah snap on uses better steel and all but you getting 20% better products at 120% the cost. Snap on being the only good mechanic tools is a thing of the past. 40 yrs ago they were worth the price, cause no other brand could compete but the manufacturing has progressed so far that cheaper brands are just as good and many "cheap tool" brand literally roll out the exact same factories as snap on lol..Today if you only buy snap on ,its a flex more than anything you just showing you can throw away money 🤣🤣🤦♂️🤡
those magnetic pickup tools I use for rear tire alignments.
I used 4 of them.
that flex head Pittsburg with the red handle is great they aren't meant for torque like a breaker bar and neither is the snap off, i have broke several snap-ons just like it and never broke the Pittsburg 26 years automotive motorcycle and equipment experience here
One of my coworkers and I bought a set of pry bars on sale from our local Snap-on dealer. One of our other coworkers bought a set from Harbor Freight. I watched as our other coworker bent his bar into a pretzel trying to remove a pin from a hydraulic ram on a refuse packer. I have to admit it was comical! Watching that bar bend like taffey! The guy used his tool allowance and tried to replicate his purchase to ours. Chris will know a good tool. I own several Harbor Freight tools. Becareful what you buy.
My town is finally getting a harbor freight and I'm pumped lol. I already have most the tools but a few more never hurt!
Yep and with the big brands like snapon mac maco Cornwall gets even more expensive when you start looking at stuff for working on diesel engine
This was hilarious, thank you!
ma mans is passionate about them tools
I have just started my career in mechanics and I've been fine using some harbor freight equipment but for ratchets power tools, impact sockets, and torque wrenches I would definitely invest more into.
I just filled my toolbox with Snap on tools. Completely understand what Chris means about quality tools. I like my other tools Kobalt mostly but snap on ratchets just work better.
You should try the icon ratchets there basically identical to snap on, i love my snap-on ratchets but i got 3 different icon ratchets to compare them and man are they nice and I have yet to break one, I work in a diesel repair shop by the way.