Replacing tool box drawer slides with kitchen ball bearing slides

[JAckal]

I have a couple of older craftsman toolboxes.
Being a machinist, they are loaded with tooling.
Some of the deeper drawers are falling off of the slides.
The slide mount on the box have been straightened before, and are now broken off.
Have any of you put the 100 pound rated bearing slides from Amazon in q toolbox?
I'll probably bolt them in to get the alignment correct, and then follow up with TIG welding them.

I just wanted to check here first before I begin this project.
If no one on every has done it, I'll take pics and do a post on it.

Thanks,
Jack

 

[Jacobs976]

People's tried before, there's a few other posts about it and the big issue seems to be making them fit right. Search bearing slides and you'll see them.

Looks like it usually doesn't go too well because they're not the same size as the old slides but if you have a way to mill down some spacers to make up for the difference it'd probably work pretty well.

 

[The Cobbler]

I did it when I replaced some bad slides on an el cheapo Husky box. I pop riveted them in place . they work way better than the OEM do. if I recall correctly, I did have to shim the slides in a bit for a better fit

 

[gahrajmahal]

I used ikea kitchen drawer slide/drawer combo. They are roller slides and drawer side combined. You purchase it by the width and it comes with the particle board bottom that’s about 1/2” thick. I bought the widest version, probably 24” wide. I then mounted it to my heavy duty steel shelving rack under the shelf. I keep it full of my boxed screws, nuts and bolts so it’s plenty heavy. Buy the separate soft close pistons. Had it for about 10 years.

 

[JAckal]

Thanks for the info.
The ones I've looked at are 1/2" thick, and my box measures right at that in the gap per side.
I will probably use a spacer to get the spacing right on the sides of the box.
The slides are ordered ,and there will be pictures of lining this up.

 

[RTM]

I bought some slides at a garage sale to try this with a Craftsman box but I haven't finished the project yet. Haven't started it either.

But they won't be spot welded or pop riveted in place That's for certain.

 

[JohnC1957]

I used to own a cabinet shop so am familiar with them. The half inch is tight they can run with that but they like a bit over. Most important is that the mounting hardware needs to be no thicker than a truss head screw or a euro screw. Not sure how you could weld them without burning up the plastic bearing cages but I’m not a welder. Rivets would work as good any anything if th heads are thin enough to let the slides pass. A bolt will not

 

[Packard V8]

JMHO, I'm a slow learner, but after too many project boxes, I've sandblasted, painted, restored, modified, repaired my last box. If the hours spent have any value, I've learned there's always a better box closer to what is needed wanted.

jack vines

 

[FJ 432]

JMHO, I'm a slow learner, but after too many project boxes, I've sandblasted, painted, restored, modified, repaired my last box. If the hours spent have any value, I've learned there's always a better box closer to what is needed wanted.

jack vines

Amen to this.

I tried unsuccessfully to add ball bearing slides to an older friction snap on box. The final score was box 1, me 0.