chargedmr2
Well-known member
I picked up my first real tool box a few weeks ago and I'm loving it so far! It's a Snap-on KR-1000B from 1988 (does that count as vintage? Most of my vintage tools are from the 1940s or earlier, so this one feels a little on the "new" side for my usual vintage tastes). It's in great shape overall, but definitely needed some TLC to get back to 100 percent function.
First thing I did was figure out how to remove the drawers and slides. There were plenty of references to doing that in the forum here, which really helped. But I also had the owners manual that came with the tool box to assist as well. Here's the instructions from Snap-on. One page for removing the drawers and one for removing the slides:
Overall, the instructions were pretty straightforward, but removing the top drawers can be a little bit of a pain since there's less room for the process. If you've done this before, you probably know what I mean. But after you get past the top drawers it get's pretty easy.
My slides were all riveted in place so I had to drill those out. Not too tough, but screws would have been a little nicer to deal with. There's one rivet at the front of each slide. You have to position the slide just right to see the rivet, and then drill it out. Here's a pic showing the rivet holes circled in white:
At first, I was planning to reinstall the slides with rivets after the cleanup was done, but I opted to tap the existing rivet holes for #10-32 machine screws. That worked out perfect since the holes are a bit under 3/16" in diameter and took the threads just about perfectly. This way I can avoid drilling in the future if I ever need to remove another slide.
Once I got the slides out, I inspected them and they were in perfect physical shape. The bearings were gunked up with old dried grease, and that was the main problem. Most of the slides did not operate smoothly and the drawers took way too much effort to open and close.
To fix that, I soaked the slides in some mineral spirits to break down the old grease. After that was done, I reapplied some new grease and they were sliding beautifully. This was a lot of work, but well worth it! They are basically just like new again!
Here's a pile of slides after cleaning things up:
Very happy with the progress so far! This is shaping up to be an EXCELLENT tool box!
First thing I did was figure out how to remove the drawers and slides. There were plenty of references to doing that in the forum here, which really helped. But I also had the owners manual that came with the tool box to assist as well. Here's the instructions from Snap-on. One page for removing the drawers and one for removing the slides:
Overall, the instructions were pretty straightforward, but removing the top drawers can be a little bit of a pain since there's less room for the process. If you've done this before, you probably know what I mean. But after you get past the top drawers it get's pretty easy.
My slides were all riveted in place so I had to drill those out. Not too tough, but screws would have been a little nicer to deal with. There's one rivet at the front of each slide. You have to position the slide just right to see the rivet, and then drill it out. Here's a pic showing the rivet holes circled in white:
At first, I was planning to reinstall the slides with rivets after the cleanup was done, but I opted to tap the existing rivet holes for #10-32 machine screws. That worked out perfect since the holes are a bit under 3/16" in diameter and took the threads just about perfectly. This way I can avoid drilling in the future if I ever need to remove another slide.
Once I got the slides out, I inspected them and they were in perfect physical shape. The bearings were gunked up with old dried grease, and that was the main problem. Most of the slides did not operate smoothly and the drawers took way too much effort to open and close.
To fix that, I soaked the slides in some mineral spirits to break down the old grease. After that was done, I reapplied some new grease and they were sliding beautifully. This was a lot of work, but well worth it! They are basically just like new again!
Here's a pile of slides after cleaning things up:
Very happy with the progress so far! This is shaping up to be an EXCELLENT tool box!
