Decent KRA59/KRA380 stack, that was like the classic middle of the road setup for many a years. Mind sharing what you paid?
That SK box is cool, just for the badge and handles. Are those stress cracks in the upper corners on each side?
The VINTAGE toolboxes of Garage Journal!
- Thread starter mjozefow
- Start date
Decent KRA59/KRA380 stack, that was like the classic middle of the road setup for many a years. Mind sharing what you paid?
That SK box is cool, just for the badge and handles. Are those stress cracks in the upper corners on each side?
Does anyone know (have first hand experience) what the largest bottom box craftsman made that used the roller ball bearing style drawer slides. Similar system to file cabinets and industrial cabinets. I believe these made their way into the 70s from the 50s when pressteel was making the boxes. Largest that I can recall was a 3 and possibly a 7 drawer? Wonder why they dropped that design. 
taumac
Well-known member
Does anyone know (have first hand experience) what the largest bottom box craftsman made that used the roller ball bearing style drawer slides. Similar system to file cabinets and industrial cabinets. I believe these made their way into the 70s from the 50s when pressteel was making the boxes. Largest that I can recall was a 3 and possibly a 7 drawer? Wonder why they dropped that design.
I have a 9 drawer 1965 bottom craftsman. The bottom 5 drawers have those pressteel slides your speaking of.
Yes thanks, taumac, that was the one I was thinking of. So they for sure made them in 3, 5, 7, 9. But only on full with drawers. Wonder if they made the 12 drawer with those style slides early on.
I don't know exactly how vintage it is but I have this John Deere tool box. The guy I bought it from said he was a 5th generation employee at john deere and that these boxes were made in extremely limited runs and only sold to employees that had a history with the brand. I don't know if that's actually true though. Either way it seems very well built and serves me well.
They were listed for $200 on CL, I had to drive just over an hour to get them, when I got there the seller couldn't find the spare key, and the other two were broke off in the locks. After some negotiating I got them for $100 cash.
They're in decent shape, I spent a few minutes today tapping out a few small dings and dents. I also extracted the broken keys. When I removed the bottom two drawers I found the spare key for the top box taped to the inside wall of the bottom cabinet, and later found the key for the bottom box taped to the roof of the top cabinet inside the one top drawer.
Project_shadow
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- Joined
- Jun 14, 2014
- Messages
- 677
I don't know exactly how vintage it is but I have this John Deere tool box. The guy I bought it from said he was a 5th generation employee at john deere and that these boxes were made in extremely limited runs and only sold to employees that had a history with the brand. I don't know if that's actually true though. Either way it seems very well built and serves me well.
I need that to put that in my John Deere collection
taumac
Well-known member
I've had not seen any. I havnt seen a 12 drawer craftsman in gray/ red until the later years of of the era like yours.
Nice! Mine are in about the same condition without the lock issues and I couldn't replace them for $200.
I fixed the lock issues, sort of, the rod that goes front to back on mine is broken, the end hook is gone. Someone then took the arm off the back of the lock cylinder for some reason. I reversed the spring on the lock rod for now, I don't need to lock mine in the house.
I would like to find another lock rod and lock lever for this just to make it right.
I doubt I'll ever paint it, its not that nice and its most likely just going to be a storage box for parts and supplies for my equipment. Right now I've got a half dozen odd size shelves with stuff just piled on shelves, I'm tired of buying things twice because I can't find something on the shelf.
I've been looking for cheap rolling bottom boxes as of late just for this purpose,
So far I've found three bottom boxes and 8 top boxes.
For some reason bottom boxes are either missing or in such bad shape their not worth hauling home. Top boxes usually fair much better.
This Snap On combo is the same way, the top box is in a lot better shape than the bottom, even though the bottom box is four or five years newer.
The bottom box took some finessing to get the drawers sliding just right, a couple of the slides had dents in them, and the white lube they had been spraying on them had turned to stone. Four of the bottom box drawers needed hammering on to get either dents or bends out of them. Nearly every drawer had dents in the top edge of the rear panel, it was either from getting things caught and trying to force the drawer open past them, or they had the drawers out and stepped on them. Someone also swapped the casters around, it had swivel casters on opposite corners for some reason, it made moving it around nearly impossible. I swapped them back putting both casters on the right side.
When I had the drawers out, I found about a dozen long lost Snap On sockets in the bottom of the box too, almost a complete set of 3/8" drive shallow 6 point sockets. The one drawer that was almost impossible to move didn't have a slide issue, it had a pair of Channel Lock snap ring pliers stuck over the top of the left side of one drawer, the rubber handle was dragging both the next drawer above it and the side panel. They had been there for a long time since the rubber handle was worn through and a good bit of the metal handle was also worn away. It also most likely explains why that was the drawer that still had tools in it.
The paint was so dirty that even rubbing compound wasn't cleaning it, so I took 0000 steel wool and rubbed the box down and then buffed it back to a shine. I'm half way done, it will make a world of difference when I'm done.
It also took a few hours to remove the gobs of blue RTV silicone they used to glue the drawer liners in with. The thing had real sticky foam liners, similar to those sold by HF, but they were going bad and falling apart. Most of them needed to be scraped up with a plastic putty knife. My plan is to cut some gray felt as drawer liners.
I also cut and fitted a new top mat today.
Outlawmws
Well-known member
JDWeld, has that JD box been repainted? I'd have expected it to be JD green, at least partially... (Maybe where the Grey is?
Scooterfish
Well-known member
Well done yardiron 
Use WD 40 with the #0000 steel wool
Use WD 40 with the #0000 steel woolMr_P
Well-known member
ZRX61
Well-known member
Got one just like it, can't recall if it's a 2 or a 3 drawer. The finish did clean up quite well just by rubbing a coat of BLO on it.
Mr_P
Well-known member
The one I got is a 2 drawer. I just flipped trough Craftsman catalogs and only found this box in the 1949 catalog which was originally sold as a 90-piece mechanics' tool set. It originally sold for $81.50 with all tools included. I paid $40.66 for mine, but without the tools or the original 7.5"x19" tote tray which goes on the top.
Wow, that was a good deal!! Lock rod can be bought from snap on for ~$15, biggest issue I see is that your bottom box is missing the badge (5th drawer down). Agree on bottom boxes, I've almost given up on those older bottom boxes with friction slides and dividers. Times are a changing.
454ragtop
Well-known member
Just saw this on CL http://worcester.craigslist.org/tld/5394868181.html cool vintage Snap On, rides a little too far for me.
Sam'sAutoParts
Well-known member
That looks like a neat box, and a fun project. Little bit out of my way though.
KRA21, I really want one of those. If local
That one is not that old, late 80s at the earliest.I have the badge, it was loose when I loaded the boxes up so I popped it off and put it in cab.
Where can I find a part number for the rod? The dealer that frequents the repair shop down the road told me they no longer offer parts for these old boxes.
d42jeep
Well-known member
I just heard back from Snap On, they told me that no parts are available for these boxes. They don't list any parts for them at all.
I guess the lifetime warranty on their boxes only lasts as long as the parts supply lasts?
Yeah, I don't know what's going on with snap on, but since about the end of last year, they seem to have really dropped support of the friction slide boxes, especially in the online parts catalog. Thus why I highly caution those looking to buy an older box that they may be SOL. I don't know if they stopped making, supply ran out or just trying to limit support. About your best option is to hopefully get a CS rep that really cares and will dig for you.
I think the old boxes are neat, but just not practical anymore, especially for heavy loading or use as they have a finite life, typically on top of a already hard life.
According to the guy I spoke to here its not just the friction slide boxes, its anything that's out of production.
When I was told I couldn't get parts for the KRA380, I asked when will parts be gone for a KRL1004 or KRL1003, or any of my other boxes which are all in the 15 year old range now, I was told that if the part isn't used on a current model, its unlikely to be still available.
I don't know about getting hold of a good CS, I have a hard enough time getting a dealer to take 2 minutes of his time to deal with someone not on his regular route.
Which is pretty annoying considering I have over $100G in Snap On tools and boxes which I bought new over the years.
When I was told I couldn't get parts for the KRA380, I asked when will parts be gone for a KRL1004 or KRL1003, or any of my other boxes which are all in the 15 year old range now, I was told that if the part isn't used on a current model, its unlikely to be still available.
I don't know about getting hold of a good CS, I have a hard enough time getting a dealer to take 2 minutes of his time to deal with someone not on his regular route.
Which is pretty annoying considering I have over $100G in Snap On tools and boxes which I bought new over the years.
Outlawmws
Well-known member
Call SO customer support, Some dealers are only interested in selling you a new box...
I did call CS, they told me the same thing as the dealer and guy who emailed me from the website contact page.
I was told that Snap On no longer supports this model and therefore there is no way to repair it. When I asked about their boxes having a Lifetime warranty, I as told that their boxes are not warranted for life, but some components are.
That doesn't match the paperwork that came with these boxes back then. In fact, the paperwork that came with my 2001 KRL1004, and KRL1003 boxes have the "Guaranteed for Life" seal right on the owners booklets that came with those boxes. I had and may still have the same thing for my other KRA boxes. The selling point of Snap On over all others was that their boxes were guaranteed for life. Back when I still worked in a dealership, I had an older box, which I had bought used from a dealer years prior, had a few slides worn through the tracks in the box. They offered me full value in trade in, or truck credit. The CS rep told me at that time not to worry, all and any Snap On boxes are warranted forever. That no longer seems to be the case. They did the same thing years ago with drill bits and chisels.
If they don't warranty the boxes forever, they no doubt lost the edge they once had over the others.
MattVette89
Well-known member
Sad to hear they might not be stocking parts for the older snap-on boxes. I just picked up a 1981 KR-274A (posted in the other toolbox thread) that I plan on doing a mild resto on. Luckily my slides, etc are good, but some other guys might not be so lucky
Outlawmws
Well-known member
Email them scans of you paperwork and ask to speak to a supervisor. They can't NOT honor the original owner that warrenty...
freeisforme
Member
- Joined
- Jan 20, 2016
- Messages
- 14
First post here, I've been reading here for quite some time but figured I'd add to this here.
I've been a tech for over 35 years now and have had similar experiences with Snap On when it comes to tool box warranty.
I own a KR663, and a KR555, the hinge on the lid failed, the part attached to the box cracked and began to separate just below the hinge.
This was in 2001. The dealer than told me that there was no fix and that they won't just replace the box. They would either A) give me a new lid for me to rivet or weld on myself, B), give me $200 credit towards trading up into a new box, or C), I could empty the box and let the CS or dealer ship it back to the factory.
Not wanting to spend any more cash, I opted to let them send it back, while in the mean time I bought a cheap Craftsman box to use in its place. My box was gone for just over two weeks, when it returned, it had the new top tig welded in place, not spot welded as the original had been and the back of the box was warped. The thing wasn't welded on even close and they made no attempt to repair the paint. It would lock but you had to really push down on the lid to get the lock to turn. They had also dented one of the corners pretty bad. The dealer was even apprehensive about showing it to me.
At that point he offered to trade me for a used KR691 he had just taken in trade.
He insisted that the CS rep had sent the box back but later found out that the CS had taken the box to someone he knew to get it welded. A monkey could have done a better job.
More recently my KR1100, (which I bought new), top box had a drawer that wouldn't lock, the top drawer lock hook broke off the back of the drawer, the whole thing came loose from the drawer. Not wanting to just weld something up I showed it to my dealer. He told me there's no parts for these, there's nothing he can do. The box was sold to me with a life time guarantee. The dealer told me he'd offer me fair market value on the box towards a new box, and since they no longer make a suitable matching top for my KR1000 bottom box, I'm looking at roughly $14K minus the $1500 they will allow for the old box.
I don't care to buy a new box when I'm no more than 5 years from retirement, it just don't make sense. I bought this with the promise of it being my last box back in 1986. I like the box, and don't care to get rid of it. I really like the set up I've got, I'm used to it and where everything is in this box, it wouldn't make any sense to start over in a new box at this point.
To make a long story short, after telling the story to the Matco man here he came up with a KR661 bottom box for cheap from which I robbed a lock hook to be welded onto my KR1100's top drawer. I now have a slightly imperfect KR661 in my garage and my KR1100 can again be locked up at work.
No thanks to my dealer.
If I did have to buy a new box today I'm not sure what I'd do. With the cost of a SO box similar in size to mine running over $12K or more, and the cost of living being where its at now, and the fact that pay hasn't increased now in 10 years, I don't see how a guy could ever justify or pay for such a box, let alone with the prospect of having to do it again once parts for that box are no longer available.
ZRX61
Well-known member
Just checked mine, also a 2 drawer. You can see the difference the BLO makes in the pics as it was only applied to the top.
I moved most of my 1/2in drive stuff into it as I so rarely use it.
Attachments
taumac
Well-known member
Sad to hear they might not be stocking parts for the older snap-on boxes. I just picked up a 1981 KR-274A (posted in the other toolbox thread) that I plan on doing a mild resto on. Luckily my slides, etc are good, but some other guys might not be so lucky
I've seen couple of SO boxes dirt cheap on CL. After a buddy bought a SO box and issues he had with the slides I'm scared of even buying them. I know the Craftsmans i have where used in home owner capacity but you know that SO boxes where worked hard for years. So possibly of slides being worn out are good. Its sad cause those old SO boxes are nice heavy steel boxes and spending $100 to $200 to do a ball bearing conversions sometimes ruin the deal.
Uh, I guarantee their legal team is far more powerful than yours. What they will probably do (as I have heard from others) they will offer a trade in credit towards a new box.
Help! This monster has Snap On badges and is red but that's about all I can
tell you about it other than its built like a battleship with 1/8" steel everywhere.
Some kind of cool,but weighs a ton empty. My guess would be a purpose built
deal for manufacturing or rebuilding. Any ideas appreciated.
Overhead florescent fixture is on a trolley that rolls side to side.
All the doors are lockable (or were). Bench top shows signs of some hard rubber or linoleum covering at one time.
receptacles seen here on the lower bench edge are mostly 2-prong,but one or
two have grounded outlets. (possibly replacements).
All the doors below the bench tops have jamb switches for florescent lights
hidden underneath the bench tops.
screen covers the florescent lights
Another neat feature,swinging trays are located behind the left side door.
Overkill comes to mind here...
storage everywhere.
no idea on this round deal that opens to the back seen in these next two pics.
Some sort of hotplate on the top with cloth covered cord.
plumbed for air too.
This thing continues to haunt my dreams.
Outlawmws
Well-known member
That may be so (about the lame offer), however you guys need to learn how to load the dice:
a) NEVER take what an (independent) dealer says as gospel on a warranty backed by another company, (he's independent; his own Company... He ultimately could care less, and has a vested interest in selling you a new box...)
b) NEVER take what a CS rep says as gospel. They are paid to give out scripted answers
c) ALWAYS ask the CS for their supervisor, and if you don't get a better (acceptable) answer from them, tell them "I'm not happy" I want to talk to your boss...) keep this up til you get someone empowered to do whats right. Never get mad or raise your voice, stay reasonable and don't threaten then with anything. Just "I'm not happy"...)
d) Same as "c)" except in reference to the Dealer; ask to talk to his district manager, (presumably employed by the SO Corp.) and progress from there as above.
e) IF you get no satisfaction, call a GOOD (expensive) lawyer and explain that you have a good case for a class action lawsuit (in this case you do... because EVERY one of those tool box owners with a "lifetime warranty" are part of the class, and that is a LOT of pull... (do you know that in the event of a CLA, SO would have to produce records for the owner of every box they ever sold under that warranty so they can be contacted to join the class?)
I strongly doubt it would ever get that far. Much cheaper for SO to contract to have a few hundred slides made and placed back on hand for the
"Class" owners and honor the warranty...
I've beaten too many companies with "deep pocket lawyers" at their beck and call to cave in as easy as I'm hearing on this one. And no, I've never had to actually take them to court.
I'm also fairly certain the the FTC would take a dim view of a solvent company reneging on its obligations under a freely given warranty.
Unless there is a fine print loophole in the original warranty offered not mentioned thus far, work the system. Don't let their system work you...
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Outlawmws
Well-known member
mdbeck1
Well-known member
I wonder if it is under warranty!
Quit reading my mind!!!!
