Shop Tool Box

[yooperdave]

I have been looking at a nice tool box for my shop.

BOY ARE THEY EXPENSIVE /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif!

Can anyone recommend a nice unit that will not require an arm and a leg?

I am not looking for top of the line, or maintaining a race car.

I am going over to Harbor Freight to take a look at their selection. They have a nice one on their web page for around $700 or so.

I thought Sam's Club had some but I can't seem to find them on their web site.

Any suggestions?

Thanks

Yooper Dave

 

[TresCrows]

Rollaways are expensive. Some Snapon boxes go over 10,000 dollars and that is without tools.
You should go to the Sears place and look at what they got. If I were you I would look at their 40/48 inch long boxes with ball bearing drawers. The ball bearings hold up much better than plain sliders. They also have a Professional box which is pretty nice but not quiet on par with Snapons higher end boxes. I have one of the Craftsman Pros. It is much heavier duty than their consumer stuff but way overkill if you are looking at Harbor Freight. Tool boxes, like tools, you get what you pay for. Good luck. J

 

[DKinWA]

When you're looking, make sure you check the drawer slides. Mechanics tools are heavy and the slides take a beating and are usually the first thing to wear out on a tool chest. The best slides have bearings in them and they tend to hold up well. The last tool chest I bought is about 15 years old and the slides still work like new. Good luck finding a good tool chest that doesn't cost an arm and a leg. If you find one, let us know because I'm going to be needing another one in the near future.

 

[ScottAR]

Ditto, I have one of craftsman's middle of the road tool boxes with roller drawers. $450 ish out the door. I like it, wish it were a tad bigger but that's the way it goes.

Careful evaluation is the order of the day. Don't go too cheap as it will be with you for a long time and a cheap box is as bad as no box. However, unless you have aspirations to be Ricky Rudd or somthing, a mega dollar box is overkill.

I would add that unless you have a large buffer or some other machine that takes a lot of space, the "doggie door" cabinet on the rollaway is wasted space. Get more drawers instead. Line the drawers with some padding, as it will protect the paint and make rolling it around a lot quieter.

 

[TonyC]

I gotta go with the others on Sears. If your serious about your tools, a cheaper box would be like throwing money away. Trust me, I know! If you can be patient they run some really great sales on their boxes a few times a year. I bought one this spring and saved almost $150. It's a nice box and I wish I had started with it!

 

[s1120]

I will jump with everyone else and say Sears. But also, if you have a Home Depot nearby, check out the Husky's. I saw one that looked nice. Now they are not Snap on, Mac, but they also are not 5 grand up.

 

[Bird]

Dave, I agree with the other guys; look for a box with ball bearing drawer guides and the other important item to look for is the weight rating; i.e., how much weight it can hold. When my brother was a Matco distributor he sold lots of toolboxes; about the only thing that Matco actually builds themselves, and he took lots of other brands in on trade, fixed them up, and sold them. Bent drawers, broken drawer guides, and damaged casters are the results of overloading them. The empty weight of the box will tell you a lot about how strong it is. As for the cost of a top of the line box, my brother used to say "about the same as a good steak (about $5.95 a pound)". /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif Of course most of the boxes he sold weighed 800 to 1100 pounds empty. Then of course you can add top boxes, end lockers, etc., so I know at least two mechanics who have over $15,000 invested just in the toolbox before they put anything in it.

But for us amateurs . . ., I did some comparison shopping last year and I, too, bought a little Craftsman with the ball bearing drawer guides.

 

[yooperdave]

What do you think of this?

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=90320

Yooper Dave

 

[Taylortractornut]

The fella I bought my portable welder from owns a store that deals in damaged Sears goods.I bought a cheap rollaround top and bottom that has the open deck on the bottom for big tools and one in the middle for 60 bucks. It was missing some screws and hada bagged place on the corner the pushed out a side. I took a 2 pound hammer with one strike leveled it up. Im now having trouble filling it because i want all my good tools in it but theres not a complete set of them lol. The Lowes store my brother worked at often had bent Waterloo boxes that they sold cheap, his Manager told me she'd set a few aside for me the next time. Also if you have a friend in the medical field that knows when a hospital is getting new instrument storage boxes you can get good heavyduty stainless boxes. Theres a mechanic here that has several of these and I think one of the major tool companies make them.

 

[Bird]

Dave, it appears to be pretty good, and may be a good deal. Personally, I wouldn't buy it if we're only talking about a "mail order" purchase because I don't know who made it, whether parts would be available if needed, things like drawer guides, casters, etc. If I were in one of the stores and could actually inspect it beforehand, I might change my mind. Another of the things I like about Sears products is that they come with a parts list, so I've never had a problem getting any parts needed for any of their products. On the other hand, when I was repairing/rebuilding automotive air tools, I found that Harbor Freight sells some on which you can only get parts from them, and I tried one day for quite some time on the telephone and never did get to speak a human or get the parts needed.

 

[Chet]

I agree with Bird, I would be very surprised it it came anywhere close to a Sears box in quality. I have two stacks of Sears chest and cannot complain, and although they are not ball bearing slides, I lubricate them regularly and have had no problems. Join the Craftsman Club and watch for sales, also get a Sears charge card and they will send you coupons in the mail for $$ off on purchases. Waterloo makes the red Sears boxes, or at least they did a few years back when I was a truck driver cuz I picked up a load of them at the Waterloo factory. Chet

 

[TresCrows]

That is typical HYPE. That box looks like a 200 dollar box, not a 5,000 dollar box. Trust me, as a pro mechanic--and I am like it or not---that box reeks of cheapness--cheapo--cheapo--cheapo. One give away is those tiny little plastic wheels. The biggest giveaway is the depth. No Pro box including Sears that cost 5,000 dollars would be only 18/20 inches deep. My Sears Pro is 24 inches deep. Shop around Sears and look for a sale. They put their consumer stuff on sale regular enough and you should be able to pick up a nice box for 500/800 dollars give or take, it will be only 20 in deep however. A 5,000 dollars Snapon rollaway cab would be 26 to 30 inches deep or more. It would have rubber or heavy duty wheels and castors with bearings and possibly with suspension, it would have a cab brake. It would have drawer locks, it would weigh a whole bunch, it would have internal cage type construction. I never liked all those end box add on crap stuff either. Snapon also has some low end boxes but they are still a 1,000ish dollars or more and no better than the Sears stuff really.
Yeah, right Harbor freight, anyone paying 5,000 dollars for anything remotely resembling that POC is in need of a brainectomy /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif. J

 

[Docsknotinn]

Like many others I look to craftsman for this kind of stuff. They really do have some nice quality boxes at fair prices. I cant deal with a box that does not have bearing or high quality slides. I notice the origional poster lives in/near Green Bay so this might be an option for those nearer big cities. In Detroit there are a couple of places that deal in used/repod tools. You can find all kinds of goodies, Snap on, Mac, Craftsman etc. I was getting a car stereo installed a few years back and I asked the mechanic where he got the cool Matco tool box. I had been looking at a Matco franchise at the time and wanted to know how he like the box. It was a special edition and they were a few grand at least. He told me about this place, I cant remember the name but he picked it up for about 1/2 of the new price. Might be worth looking in to for higher end stuff while trying to keep the cost down. Dave

 

[yooperdave]

I just bought a 41" wide HOMAK professional series combination chest and drawers unit. It is between 5' & 6' tall.

It has ball bearing shelves, and a electronic security system.

My local Sam's club had a display unit left, and they sold it to me for under $550.

I wish they had more than 1 unit left.

Yooper Dave

 

[Bird]

I'm really not familiar with that box, Dave, but it sounds good to me.