Ha yea, Ive done a trans fluid change with it. Not sure how this container works for that tho. The bottom of the trans pan held on until I got the last bolt off, then the pan fell. I think more trans fluid ended up on me and the floor rather than the oil catch.

 

I do my pan drop on my 2012 Camaro with this pan. I didn't have any issues, plenty of size to catch it all. Although I always have a flat cardboard box from one of my many shipments that I put under my pans when I do oil/trans fluid changes just in case.

 

I'm exactly the same way with filters.

I probably should start doing that. Our previous house had epoxy floors so I never worried about a few drips or even a small slosh - it all wiped right off. It also made sliding a catch pan around easier too.

At our new place its bare concrete and although its pretty clean, its broken in numerous places (old house, no relief cuts in the slab) so its not worth putting any kind of coating on it. Just getting frustrated adding spots to it.

 

So things didn't work out as planned on this one. I guess a family member overheard me talking about my old crappy pan several months ago and decided to pick one out for me for Christmas. They told my wife not to let me get one, so they could buy something for me. While I appreciate the thought, its tough as they had no idea what I was looking for / the suggestions in this thread.

So below is what they got me from HF:


Today was my first day trying it out, and it went very poorly. The catch area is very shallow so I had dozens of splash dots all over the concrete (Id never had splashing that severe, so I didn't have the ground covered).

Then I got a two inch wide puddle with a line of drip spots from where I drug it out from under the car. The top cap leaked once oil got to that level. Im still not entirely sure why- the cap was tight and the threaded part seemed properly made. Only thing I can think of is maybe the rubber washer was too old / hard. It felt much closer to plastic than rubber, and there was no give at all in the material.

Last thing was that little trough around the permiter of the drain area. Id planned to store it upright/ out of the way, but in order to do so you have clean out that trough or it dribbles oil all down the side. Makes for more cleanup, and I can't really figure out the benefit to casting that in.

I think I'm done using it - too many issues to try to workaround. Oh well, its the thought that counts. Going to buy a new one with the reccomendations here before my next change.

 

Totally appreciate the effort the family member gave on the thought. I have been in a similar boat before. I am on a quest for something specific and had not yet reached "this is best of breed, THIS is the one I need". Someone who does not work with the stuff I am looking at (so therefore does not have a strong opinion to dial in "best of breed") decides "oh he wants a widget, everyone sells widgets and he said this piece of criteria, I found the widget the meets that, done, checked". And sadly, it hit one out of like 5 criteria.

And once in a while, someone find the unsuspected diamond! A product I did not even know I was looking for and suddenly "wow, where has this been".

Sorry this pan was a dud. Funny, things you are going through almost remind me of a YouTube channel "Project Farm". The guy does some cool product testing.

 

I'm admittedly a hard person to buy for. Most of the reasonable price stuff across my hobbies I've already bought on my own. The things I don't have tend to be very specific / niche products that you can't easily find locally. So I always roll with any ideas people may have to be appreciative of their effort.

A bit off topic, but I do wish we could get to just doing gifts for the kids at the holidays. As hard of a time as people have buying for me - I have similar issues with them (especially people I only see once a year). Over time, its devolved into a mostly gift card exchange between the adults. Even more embarrassing when you end up exchanging the exact same gift (ie you both got each other a $50 Amazon card).

I'd rather the adults just enjoy spending time together and focus the gifts on the kids who really enjoy it since they can't really buy stuff on their own.

I love watching that channel! That's guided me on several tool purchases.

I used to be a die-hard Craftsman guy and didn't bother to look at reviews on anything when I needed a new tool. But with much of the production moving overseas (with much worse quality) and Sears closing down, I've really started to venture out to new brands over the last 10 years or so.

Its nice to see some data from such extreme testing to help see if spending more is really worth it on certain tools.

 

I am in the same boat. As we get older, it is incredibly challenging to buy gifts for. Plus, many of us, if we want something bad enough, we buy it for ourselves. It used to be to get a gift card/certificate, you had to go to that store. Now, you pull from a selection at many places, like the grocery store (so takes no effort). If you are down to exchanging gift cards or just money, it is so impersonal, you almost want to suggest "let's not", but then feels like "you are not in the holiday spirit". I love the giving part when I have a really good gift idea, but that is so difficult. And I know where I am in life, I tend to not like gifts that lack purpose (like I don't want to get something for someone "just because" that will ultimately be clutter). Now, one idea a friend gave.... Figure out things people want that are consumables that they will not typically buy for themselves. In my friend's case, he enjoys beef jerky and trail mix, but normally does not buy it for himself.

That guy does some cool studies and tests. Stuff I feel many of us "could" do for ourselves. I have seen him rate oils, penetrating sprays, jack stands, hand tools. I love what he does and data he provides.
Funny you mentioned Craftsman. I used to associate Craftsman with quality (and all my Craftsman stuff pre-dates Sears closing in most areas a few years back). In my "shady tree mechanic" opinion, I feel my harbor freight stuff can go tow-to-tow with any of my Craftsman stuff and in most cases the HF stuff will do better. Such as, I have yet to break a HF ratchet, yet, I have busted up a few Craftsman ones.
I think in cordless power tools, all I have is a HF "Warrior" branded drill. And in my book, it does darn well! But, it bought it on sale for like $20. I *KNOW* it is not as good as some better brands. I have seen people who get and stay with a brand of cordless tools. I like this because when dealing with corded tools it is easy to justify "best of breed", but with cordless, every different brand means another unique battery and charger. In my case, I have one cordless tool, no big deal. But if I had a drill, a circular saw and reciprocating saw and each had their own battery, that is way more up keep. And as batteries age and replace, that is multiple tools to tend to. But if I kept with ONE product line that made great products in each category, then I am covered.

 

By first look I thought that the pan looked ok , but from your explanation I can see the issue 's. I am also very difficult to get gifts for during holidays/birthday time's , I hate getting gifts from others.
Like yourself I'm pretty picky on what I actually need and prefer to get most things myself. A suggestion might be to donate the drain pan to a local kid down the street, just so it doesn't sit in the corner and collect dust.

 

Its funny how things change. Ive definitely broken my fair share of Craftsman stuff (including probably 4x 1/4" ratchets), but it never bothered me much as it used to be so easy to swap out. There was definitely a downward change though as some of the replacements ended up feeling notably cheaper than what I was repalcing. Now getting a replacement is a real hassle, at least locally. Our local Ace flat out refuses unless you have a receipt from them. The local Lowes seem very hit or miss on how they handle it (probably person dependent TBH).

I also remember when we got our first local Harbor Freight and how cheap some of their initial product was. I was just in there over the weekend for some single project masonry tools and was surprised at how nice some of their stuff is these days - especially the hand tools as you'd mentioned. The tool box display was also pretty enticing.

I actually grabbed a set of impact sockets to toss in the bag with a new Rigid battery powered impact I recently bought (I'm a hardcore air tool person, so its a first for me to have a fully portable impact). The price was awesome and they felt really nice, so I figured it would be nice to have a spare set to leave with the impact to grab + go to friends houses and such.

 

That's a really good thought. I'll have to ask around work to see if anyones kids need one. I think with a fresh rubber washer and a piece of cardboard on the floor, it would be just fine for a beginner.