Hey guys,

I've been contemplating lately on getting a hydraulic shop press. I am curious if it is actually something worth investing into, or should I just stick with a machine shop.

So far I have rear end rebuild, transmission rebuild and suspension stuff all of which will requires a press at some point during the process. On top of that I have 2 jobs (kinda) and usually work on my car weird hours so I want to avoid having to stop everything and going to some place before work or during lunch (or both). Do you guys think owning a press is a good move?

I was looking at Harbor Freight and they have 20 ton one on sale now for $170 (down from $250 if that's really its price). Problem is that the store is not exactly known for its quality. I had one of their gear pullers shoot in every direction possible while my knuckle drove into the concrete floor. At the same time I see articles in Hotrod saying that they sell very decent stud welders.

Is there anything out there a little better in terms of quality? Or would Harbor Freight be enough for weekend mechanic? After all it is just an upside-down bottle jack on a steel frame.

 

to me it's worth having just like a set of wrenches. i made my first one out of 3: channel and used a porta power for the hydrolics. one i have now i built out of 10" channel and use a 30 ton hydrolic jack for power. press isn't something that gets used a lot but for me it beats having to go to a shop to get something done.

 

Presses are good.
I know that I will get or make one some day even knowing I won't use it a lot.

 

hydraulic press is one of those tools that you ask your self why you have it around most of the time untill you need it.then your thankful that you do have it

 

VILeninDM, just wanted to let you know that Harbor Freight has an actual store location here in Buffalo if you decide to get one and you're in the area. May save you some on shipping. I'm not sure if they have locations in Rochester or not. I've been thinking about getting one myself because I'll be replacing all 4 of my A-arm bushings shortly. A shop wants to charge me like $70 labor, so I'm thinking it may be better to put that towards a press instead of throwing it away.

 

so pretty much you guys agree with what I've been thinking all along. Now next questions is, what's a good place to get a decent "weekend mechanic" press?

I have Harbor Freight here in the city, but as I said, some of the things those guys have are of questionable quality. And then some other things are completely fine. So I am curious if anyone here had experience with their presses.

I definitely don't want to have it shipped. If anything I have a truck and a radius of few hunder miles, so I wouldn't mind having to pick it up.

I am pretty much settled that I will have the press. Now what brands are you guys using.

 

I picked up one of the HF presses, basically just to see if it was any good. I figured it was about the same price as having the machine shop change all the bearings on my T56 shafts so why not?

It's a bit flimsy if you asssemble it their way, but once you weld the pieces together it feels like a pretty stout rig. I just got the little 12T A-frame setup....it's a bit short so I'm gonna build an 18" high base to set it on.

I've only ever used one other press, and it was a 2-speed 20T industrial setup. Of course the HF press didn't come close to matching it, but the price doesn't either. All-in-all I'd say it's good for the money, and will probably handle what I want to do with it.

 

cool, thanks J. From reading some stuff here as well as other places and talking with some guys from work about HF in general, I've decided to just go for it and get the 20T one. One problem is that I have too much wood in the garage, so I don't really what to weld right now, but that's a different problem.

looks like I am getting myself a new toy this saturday.

 

My buddies went north to HF and bought the 20T press. I've used it a couple times and am very pleased with it. Like everybody stated, it's not something that you'll hardly ever use, but when you do it's great. I did'nt think the unit was too bad considering the price they paid for it. It's worked great so far.

 

:werd:

 

Ive seen the habor freight units, they have a small one and a large one. I dont dig the return springs on the ones I saw. Actually they all look like junk but hey whatever works and fits in the car hole. You might check you local paper for a used press, the one we have at the shop was purchased used probably stolen $200. It's one of the better units with an 3 stage ram that can handle some insane PSI.

 

Maybe I've been blessed with "good vices" but I think they're all about the same. Especially if you only use them once in a blue moon. It's just like the craftsman vs Snap-on, one is for the weekend wrencher, the other is for the daily duties.
At our shop we have a crazy 2 stage ram press that's BUILT, and a smaller bottle jack with return springs, they both do the same job when it comes to camaro/car parts. My advice, get the cheapest one and grab some scrap steel, weld the cheap press together in the coners to keep it from swaying. It helps to have steel spacers of varing thickness... a press is otherwise worthless with out em.