Harbor Freight at SEMA - US General Series 3 and other Updates (1 Viewer)

[PAToyota]

Looks like Harbor Freight is updating to "Series 3" for their US General Line:

Looks like they're adding white and slate grey to the other six standard colors and from the above image hutches and updated end lockers are coming too.

Damn... I just bought a black 56" base cabinet for my workshop last spring. I'd have preferred slate grey if I knew it was coming so soon.

 

[PAToyota]

Video of their SEMA booth. I see a few other new items...



I'm curious about the tripod thing in the Daytona display next to the self-loading wheel dollies.

 

[PAToyota]

Their Instagram is teasing what is likely an off-road floor jack:

 

[PAToyota]

Some more details:


I like the full width latch. There's an integrated power drawer. Also deeper drawers. They say at the end that they're starting with the 72" setup and that will be available in "springtime."

 

[PAToyota]

Here's that tripod thing I mentioned - looks like a rolling jackstand of some sort:

You can make out holes and a pin for adjustability.

 

[PAToyota]

Here's the off-road floor jack:

Hard to say, but I'm somewhat guessing the wheels are going to be the weak point there.

 

[PAToyota]

 

[PAToyota]

 

[PAToyota]

Just to continue with their releases:

 

[PAToyota]

Some more input on the Series 3 boxes:

 

[PAToyota]

I have to say, initially I was more excited about the Series 3 just because it was in the color I had wanted - slate gray. But really, the power drawer doesn't mean much to me at home (I have chargers and such elsewhere), the hutch really doesn't do me any good at home (no reason to lock up "open space" like that, and I'm used to the drawer latches at one end as opposed to the new full length setup. The bigger end cabinet is nice. I might upgrade the one I have at the shop I work at to one of the new ones for the extra space.

 

[PAToyota]

The Series 3 information is starting to drop...

It's looking like the Series 3 stuff is coming with a price increase. I'd have liked to get boxes in the Slate Gray color and the full width drawer latches would be nice, but other than that I can't say that any of the updates really affect me - I don't need a secure hutch in the home shop and I store power tools elsewhere, so don't need the power drawer.
For the price, they're a pretty good bang for the buck.

 

[leonard_nemoy]

It's funny to watch how harbor freight is blatantly copying Snap-On with their products

 

[ferg]

What? And no other company copies any other company?

 

[PAToyota]

It's funny to watch how harbor freight is blatantly copying Snap-On with their products

Or just use the same factory that Snap-On does...

 

[leonard_nemoy]

Or just use the same factory that Snap-On does...

That floor jack is harbors freights claim to shame. Snap On literally found a company in China and paid them to build a nice floor jack, designed by Americans and quality controlled by Americans. Than harbor freight poached the jack.

And that is just 1 tool, what about all the other products that harbor freight is copying. Products that are only made in America rather than outsourced to China.

Snap on still makes their tool boxes, all chrome tools, and many more in AMERICA.

I have seen an epic series Snap On tool box with a 6,000 lb cat c32 motor on the top get rolled over a 2x4. I would love to watch someone try that with a new harbor freight tool box

Some people care about supporting American companies that constantly innovate. Others just want the cheapest crap they can buy and don't care about the power of their dollar as a consumer.... personally I will never drink bud light!!!!

 

[PAToyota]

Unfortunately, it's been the management of American businesses that have sold out the American workers by outsourcing stuff to make more profits for them and their shareholders going back to the 1970s and before. The "designed by Americans and quality controlled by Americans" - but manufactured offshore - that you speak of...

I started buying Craftsman tools before I was a teenager. They were USA made back then. There were better tools, but Craftsman was a decent quality for a decent price - and American made. Unfortunately, it's hard to find that now.

As for tool boxes supporting 3-ton engines, I'd have a hard time even balancing such an engine on a toolbox and wouldn't be likely to do so in the first place. We have assembly and tear down tables made out of structural tube and plate for such things - not a shiny $5K to $20K box. And then rolling it over a 2x4? Hell. We bitch every time we have to roll anything by hand over the base plate on the one 2-post lift - and that's a lot less of an obstruction than a 2x4. Besides, the last time I had to move my box I used the forklift.

I've got a number of Snap-On tools in my boxes - both at home and at the shop, but I also have stuff from the other tool trucks, Craftsman, Harbor Freight, and other miscellaneous stuff. Mostly because I also have to pay my bills and put food on the table - and I'm not willing to have a five figure account balance on the tool truck.

I've got to give Harbor Freight some credit. In recent years they've really stepped up their game. Yeah, they still have the sh** product lines like Pittsburgh and Central Machinery, but the ICON, Bauer, Daytona, Doyle, and such is pretty decent. It's where the Craftsman stuff was when I was growing up.

 

[PAToyota]

They're starting to show up in stores...