4 Harbor Freight Tools For DIY Motorcycle Mechanics

Fixing a motorcycle at home is often cheaper than taking it to the mechanic since you cut the labor costs. However, it means you might have to read tips on motorcycle maintenance and build up a collection of tools. This can be an expensive endeavor, so it helps to find a place that sells tools for cheap. Harbor Freight is a fine option for this, and not only are the tools available for low prices, but you can even find good products under $25. Of course, you'll need to shop for the right tools and grab quite a few of them. 

Harbor Freight carries a wide assortment of motorcycle mechanic tools, and many of them are backed up by strong user scores. The store doesn't carry household names like Milwaukee, a solid brand for motorcycle mechanic tools, but that doesn't mean you won't find solid picks.

A torque wrench is a very important tool to have in any mechanic's arsenal — motorcycle or not. If you're ever working with engines or even tires, you'll need to make sure the bolts you take off are secured at the correct torque, or you run the risk of them loosening and potentially coming off while driving. A tire popping off while riding a motorcycle would have disastrous results.

The Pittsburgh 1/2-inch Click Torque Wrench is a perfect way to avoid that happening to you. With this being a click torque wrench, the +/- 4% accuracy is normal, and the 10-150 ft. lb range should have you well covered for motorcycles. User scores for Pittsburgh's torque wrench are very solid at 4.3 out of five based on more than 11,500 reviews. It works anywhere you'd need a torque wrench, and it's easy to maximize the value if you're doing a lot of mechanic work in general. 

Working with motorcycles and cars is a lot easier when you have sockets of the right size. You can cover all of your bases with the Quinn 66-piece Socket Set for sale at Harbor Freight. The set includes 1/4-inch, 3/8-inch, and 1/2-inch sizes, so you shouldn't be concerned about something not being compatible. For the price, you're spending under one dollar for each piece, so it's a lot of bang for your buck. The set comes with a case to keep everything tidy, so don't worry about tossing everything into a tool box and losing track of it all.

With more than 1,500 reviews on Harbor Freight's websites, users rate this Quinn set 4.8 out of five. Buyers note that it works not only on motorcycles but also around the house. This helps make the set more versatile, as it can be used for DIY projects as well as simple repairs.

A tire pressure gauge is handy to have to make sure your motorcycle tires are inflated to the correct PSI. It sounds like something simple enough, but having the right pressure is important, and if you're popping off tires and putting them back on, you might've let a bit of the air out. The Merlin Digital Tire Pressure Gauge comes with an LCD screen that makes it easy to read your tire pressure. 

The user scores come in at 4.6 out of five based on 500 reviews. There aren't many noteworthy things to point out outside of the fact that it works and it's easy to read the gauge. It can read up to 150 PSI with 1% accuracy, within 1.5 PSI, so it's a meter that's easy to trust and has no issue working with motorcycle tires. It runs on two AAA batteries but comes with a set included.

A multimeter is good to have for troubleshooting electrical issues, which can easily become an issue if you're taking on a repair yourself, especially since many modern bikes have lots of electrical parts. The Cen-Tech Digital Multimeter is simple enough to use as it lets you know if something has a current or charge. Spending a couple of minutes with a multimeter can save you a lot of time troubleshooting as it lets you pinpoint problems quite fast. You can pick up the Cen-Tech multimeter from Harbor Freight, which has a score of 4.7 out of five user score.

Some buyers note it's a surprisingly good tool for the price, especially considering much more expensive multimeters are available at Harbor Freight. For the at-home mechanic, you can probably get by with cheaper but reliable tools. Cen-Tech's multimeter looks like it'll have no issue doing what you need to do, and you can use it for other things like checking the charge on a generator or your car battery.