Warning: That $30 knee kicker from Harbor Freight cost me a full day of rework

Picked it up on a whim last month when my good one snapped a spring. Thought hey it's cheap and I just need to finish this bedroom. First two rows went fine but by the third row the head kept slipping and the pins started bending. Had to rip up about 15 feet of carpet and restretch it. Lesson learned the hard way. Anybody else had luck with the cheap ones or am I just unlucky?

2 comments

2 Comments

gray_gibson6d ago

@olivias88 must've gotten a lemon like I did... but honestly it's a $30 tool, not exactly precision equipment. You're asking a lot from a cheap metal frame and some springs when you're beating on it all day. Might just be bad luck or maybe the batch had some weak pins.

olivias886d ago

Exactly 4 rows into my second room I had the same thing happen. The yellow spring popped right off the hook and the whole carpet went loose. I used to think Harbor Freight was fine for 'one time use' tools but that knee kicker convinced me otherwise. Now I just wait for a sale on the Kobalt one at Lowe's.