Craftsman chests and roll cabs

[Uncle Buck]

I went to sears last night. It has been several years since I looked at their 40" chest and roll cab combo units, since I bought mine about 1992 when they first came out. When I bought mine, ball bearing units were not an option, unless you bought the really high end best of the best boxes. I think my top box has nine drawers and my roll cab has fifteen drawers. The year after I bought mine both top and bottom boxes were offered with one drawer less per each in either friction or ball bearing slides, the ball bearing costing $100.00 more per top or bottom box. New my top box was $299.00 plus tax and I think the bottom box cost $399.00 plus tax. I thought that the equivelent units I have seen in the catalog in the years since had only risen about $100.00-$150.00 through the years. Was I suprised to find that in actuality what I saw in the store was still 40" long, however, they have really cheapened the top box by offering the recessed pulls instead of the better quality lift handles, also the top box was only about 12" deep ( front to back) compared to the 16" depth of my top box. Also sad was the number of drawers has shrunk to something like seven fairly deep drawers on the top box, with the bottom box not really looking any better than the top box! Worse still, when I pulled on one of drawers the damn thing stuck, jerked and jammed like a real POS! I know friction slides are not as smooth as ball bearing, but I never would have bought a chest and roll cab that operated as poorly as this did! By comparison, I have had my box loaded to the gills and have never had my friction pulls catch or hang up in any way! What a damn shame their boxes at this level have gone to crap! I think this POS combo set cost most of $1000.00 if not more! I also looked over their stationary tool line, I could not believe it, the stationary tools looked no better than what is found at Horrible Freight! I see no way for them to keep selling stuff like this much longer, at least not to me!

[Baketech]

I hate posts like this because they make a wholesale statement without any qualifications..... :sad:

For example, the depth hasn't "shrunk"...you were just looking at one of many different models... 40" tops are available in 12", 16" and 18" depths with several different drawer configurations.

[Uncle Buck]

I looked through the catalog at the entire product line, as far as I could determine this combo unit is the product most like the one I purchased in 1992. I think my statement was very clear, the new top box is 12" deep and my old box is 16" deep, I fail to see what you could not follow in my post. My point is this, the new combo unit most like mine has sucky quality and the price for the product is beyond belief! Can you follow that?

[Baketech]

How can it be the closest one when they are different depths? :lol:

[Uncle Buck]

What I am trying to explain to you is this, From 1992 to now, the product that most closely resembles my unit has been drastically cheapened, by reducing the size, using poor quality drawer slides and raising the price significantly. You are getting to hung up on the fact that the depth of the top box has been reduced by 4". I am fully aware of the fact that sears offers 40 " chest and rollcab combos in many drawer configurations and depths. Please read, the unit I looked at was the closest thing in sears product line to what I own, yes I closely studied the entire line of box and rollcab offerings. I hope this clarifies things for you.

[Baketech]

If it makes sense to you...then I guess that's all that matters. :thumbup:

[Uncle Buck]

For anyone who has been following this thread, and did not understand my point I offer profound and sincere apologies. I see no point in attempting to clarify this any further as I believe Baketech and I have ridden this horse into the ground!

[ChucksCrib]

I followed you perfectly clear. I don't know the other two are bustin' your chops over what is obviously just your observation

[Luckydevil]

I understood it also. No need to give him a hard time about a simple product review.

[Baketech]

If you feel that was an objective review and worthy of representing this website, then I'm not going to argue with you... :thumbup:

[Uncle Buck]

My vote says, make Baketech the official objective review policeman for the site! LOL

[Baketech]

LOL, I get beat down, and you still keep draggin' it out... :lol:

But hey...I'm your huckleberry. If you want a point by point review of why your review was lame, drop the dime... :thumbup:

[Uncle Buck]

You would not be one of those last word guys would you? Actually I am not concerned enough with your opinion at this point to want to try and go through the gears with you! It was not that difficult to follow, and as was pointed out, you must be the one that just did not get it!

[Baketech]

:lol: