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Small snap on box friction bearings?

JamesBill

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Mar 8, 2012
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99
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Houston
I have been looking for a 26" top chest with a drop front and ASSumed all of the SO boxes were ball bearing but found this page

http://www.snapon.com/student/toolstorage.asp

and many of the 26" boxes I have been looking at like the KRA3056, KRA3059, and the KRA59 have friction slides.

Are the KRA2055 and the KRA4059 the only ones in this range with ball bearings? How does the build quality compare, is it just different slides and everything else is the same?
 
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teletekman

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Madera, CA
I just tried to bring up half of these boxes on the SO website. None of the friction slide boxes showed anything new ans some of them only had parts listings. I am not farmiliar with any of today's KRA boxes using friction slides. Even the Blue-Point on SO's website is ball bearing. I know alot of the older legacy KR boxes were indeed friction slide...

EDIT: I forgot to mention, I don't think Snap-On is producing the KRA4059 anymore. The KRA2055 is and as far as ball bearing slide strength vs friction slide, ball bearing slides will give you a better slide at greater load capacity but if you are going to load down a top chest where the friction slides won't work and where you will need the requirements of ball bearings than you might want expand those tools to a heavier duty bottom box.
 
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dsch

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Feb 12, 2012
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Alberta Canada
My Heavy Duty Road Chest has friction slides. No problems with sliding out drawers that are fully loaded. And no issues at all with the slides.
 
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JamesBill

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Location
Houston
I just tried to bring up half of these boxes on the SO website. None of the friction slide boxes showed anything new ans some of them only had parts listings. I am not farmiliar with any of today's KRA boxes using friction slides. Even the Blue-Point on SO's website is ball bearing. I know alot of the older legacy KR boxes were indeed friction slide...

EDIT: I forgot to mention, I don't think Snap-On is producing the KRA4059 anymore. The KRA2055 is and as far as ball bearing slide strength vs friction slide, ball bearing slides will give you a better slide at greater load capacity but if you are going to load down a top chest where the friction slides won't work and where you will need the requirements of ball bearings than you might want expand those tools to a heavier duty bottom box.

Right but in the used market they are found because they are sold under the student program. That is why I gave the link to the only info I have found on them.

A top chest what I am looking for and if the models I listed indeed have friction slides I just want to know because I prefer ball bearing.
 
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teletekman

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Oct 5, 2010
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Madera, CA
I am not farmiliar with the student program and what boxes are offered under that so some one else might chime in with more knowledge than me on that.

Personally IMO when we are reffering to a 26" top chest, yes, the ball bearing slides are nice to have since they are a bit more heavier duty than friction slides, but I wouldn't load down that top chest enough to need the ball slides so if you can find a box with the friction slides for a decent price than I would think you should be happy with it.

Is this going to be sitting by itself or going on top of a bottom roller?
 
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JamesBill

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Houston
Sitting by itself. Why would you not load it to whatever capacity you need? If it is rated at 120lbs why worry about how much you put there? I mean if I load it with 3/4" drive sockets I don't want to have to think "Well this is only a 26" I better split these between two drawers"

Are you saying it isn't really possible to load it to the limits of the friction bearings because it is so small? If so I won't disagree, but I'm not really sure. I mean a 14x26" drawer would be hard to fit 100 pounds on.

Still just curious about if these actually have friction or ball bearings. They are on eBay all the time.
 

teletekman

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Oct 5, 2010
Messages
217
Location
Madera, CA
Sitting by itself. Why would you not load it to whatever capacity you need? If it is rated at 120lbs why worry about how much you put there? I mean if I load it with 3/4" drive sockets I don't want to have to think "Well this is only a 26" I better split these between two drawers"

Are you saying it isn't really possible to load it to the limits of the friction bearings because it is so small? If so I won't disagree, but I'm not really sure. I mean a 14x26" drawer would be hard to fit 100 pounds on.

Still just curious about if these actually have friction or ball bearings. They are on eBay all the time.

I am not saying to not load it with the tools you need, but I have seen way too may times people will try and stuff an entire combo's box worth of tools into a lighter duty top box that they end up placing on a cart or workbench for that matter and then complain to the company that their boxes are pieces of **** when the welds break due to being over loaded.

Personally IMO if you are looking for a top box that will sit by itself and you are wanting to put some decent size and qty of tools in, and one that has a drop down folding door on it, I would look into the heavier duty road boxes. They are a bit wider than 26" I believe but in the long run you will probably be much more happier. That is as long as you are not space restricted.

As far as the boxes go that you have listed I dont know how robust the friction slides are on these but if you can find one for a kick *** price then you should probably be alright. Maybe one of the Snap-On dealers that roam this forum can shed some more light on this. I see the truck every Tuesday so I'll run it by my rep and get his opinion if no one else answers by then.
 
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