Harbor Freight / Tire Balancer

I agree with the previous poster. Make sure the balancer is all straight and true and it will recoup its cost within 2-3 tires. And, HF has been running 20%-off coupons in just about all the major moto mags the past few months. I bought the balancer with one and am now going about purchasing the tire changer the same way.

I bought the Harborfreight wheel balancer week ago. Here is my 2cent worth of opinion;

I love some of the hf tools. Impact wrench, sharpening stones, wrenches, t bars, tire irons, and many other things. It is true that some of their tools and things are crap. But they are few. Now lets get back to the balancer.

Metal bottom plate is bullet proof and it is really good. Arms are solid and bolt connection is adequate.
Roller bearings are not good. They are either abec1 or worse. it doesn't turn without a grind. It is not up to this job. My wheel bearings turn before these do. NOT ACCEPTABLE.
The bar is bent, it has a huge warp in the middle. FAIL!
The connection cones are very poorly machined and they are loose on the bar and it is not balanced. So if you put the bar with the cones alone on the stand it has its own heavy point enough to turn the grinding bearings!
This tool is only as good as its base and the holding arms. That is it.
If you change the bearings with abec 7 skate bearings and find your own bar than you might make something somewhat decent.
Good luck.

Badger said:

I bought the Harborfreight wheel balancer week ago.

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Sounds like you got a very poor example. The bearings on mine were and continue to be silky smooth. When I'm not using the balancer, I slip plastic bags over the vertical arms to keep dust & other debris from collecting on the bearings. My cones have smooth machined surfaces & fit snug on the 1/2" diameter drill rod. I did change out the cones' set-screws with Allen-head machine screws (something I can snug tight with my fingers), but that also means I must position the two bolt heads 180? apart. I've balanced about 30 tires over the last 2 years, and have received nothing but praise ... zero complaints.

I would return that HF balancer & request a replacement .... but only if they allow you to open the box & inspect before leaving the store. If the whole batch of balancers is bad, go to a different brand.

I did my own with ABEC-7 BEARINGS. Storage is nothing and i am good. For precision things HF is not the place. Some good quality but precision is not their thing.

I placed a HF online order for the Pittsburgh balancer #98488; home delivery $6.99, after Christmas coupon #14672122 $8, totaling $41.32 delivered.
Rider Feb 2016 has an article on it, with mention of (HF reviews) bent shafts and frozen bearings, but is a good price?; can be reworked from my current 2x4 (wood) setup, hopefully, if needed.

I'm sure the (very) low friction roller bearings I have, are better than those on the Pitt stand and will probably replace those pieces.