Me being a cheapskate, I’m a big HF shopper. Over the years I’ve learned a lot re. HF stuff. Much of their stuff is worth getting, but not all of it. The purpose of this thread is to creating a lasting body of wisdom re. the HF stuff that could be a good deal, and the HF stuff that is junk.
Jacks. The smallest race jack is pretty darn small. It’s very light and that’s handy, but it’s narrow and that makes it a tip hazard. It also doesn’t lift the car very high, high enough for small jackstands, but not high enough for big stable jackstands. Another impact of not lifting the car high, is that as the jack and car get higher, the jack is pulling the car towards you as much as it it is trying to lift the car up. This causes a number of problems if the jack can’t freely roll forward. It makes any jackstands under the car want to tip, and it can start moving the jack’s foot under the car.
The next size up of jack is still 1.5ton, but it’s taller. It’s still too narrow tho. Ok to use on a cement surface, but not as good if no hard surface because of the tip hazard.
The next size up is the 2 ton jack. This is ideal for the paddock. It has wider front wheels so it’s more stable, and because it’s a 2 ton jack, it’s easier to push the handle down. This means that you can separate the 2 half of the jack handle and only use the bottom half. This short handle mod makes the jack more convenient to move around.
None of these jacks are going to last forever. The first thing that will go is the pieces that hold the two jack handle together so eventually you’ll have to use a bolt to keep the two halfs together. IIRC, a 6mm bolt threads right in. I think I’ve gotten ~3yrs out of each HF jack.
Drill bits. The ones marketed as Titanium Nitride coated suck. They’re the gold drill bits. The ones marketed as High Speed Steel are pretty good. If you have a Drill Doctor to sharpen bits, you can keep the TiNi bits in service if you sharpen them occasionally and don’t use them on steel.
Don’t expect accurate gauges. Everything at HF that has a gauge isn’t very accurate. Not just air pressure gauges, but leakdown gauges, regulators, etc.
I have a HF scissor lift. It will raise the car up, I dunno, 3’ or so. I’ve had it for prob 7yrs and have used it a lot. A scissor lift creates some comprimises. Getting to the middle of the car is a pita. Can’t remove exhaust, or driveshaft, and swapping the diff is a bear. But for a lot of work it’s been really terrific. I used to work on the car all alone late at night. On a number of occasions a jackstand would be lightly loaded and me moving around on the creeper would knock the jackstand over. Then I’d have to hold up the car for a second or two while I frantically reached for the tipped jackstand.
I got the lift with a 25% coupon. The price has gone up a fair amount since I bought it tho. I had one or two hydraulic rams fail early on. I called HF and they agreed to send me a new ram even tho I was out of warranty by a week. They said it would take 3 months. So I took the ram to a local hydraulic repair shop and they repaired it in 20min. Eventually the replacement ram arrived from HF and has spent all these years up in the attic as a spare.
The HF scissor lift is very heavily built. The steel is massive and the welds all look great.
The reason I got a scissor lift is that my garage is quite small so I felt that a 2 post lift would constantly get in my way. I love having a lift, but if I had it to do over again, I think that I would get those RaceJacks that are 2 separate pieces, one at each side of the car. They don’t lift the car as high, but I really hate the way the scissor lift gets in the way of the middle of the car.
I have to drive the car up on 2 thicknesses of 2x10" in order to clear the lift. That too is a pita.
More recollections will pop into my head as other folks add to this thread.
