$80 Vintage Snap On tool cabinet

[Swan]

How did I do? This popped up on Craigslist last night and I was the first to email the seller. Picked it up this afternoon and will start to clean it up tonight. Fully functional, slightly dirty with minor rust Snap On KRA 300D for $80. A really nice box at an exceptional price, love it.

 

[bobcatdan]

You ****. I paid $250 for mine.

 

[Mohawk Dave]

suckage

 

[Packard V8]

Congrats. I've got one just like yours, but I'd buy another at $80.

It appears yours had the full drawer set and the lower drawer has gone missing.

jack vines

 

[blacksuit99]

you ****

 

[jabberwoki]

*******!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[930dreamer]

Major suckage!

 

[tedsters]

thats a nice box for $80

 

[rusty65]

Great box for price and I hate your guts FYI jk great find.


Sent directly from the Snap On Kool Aid factory.

 

[zkling]

Aww, YOU ****. Beautiful box at a good price. I love those roll front boxes. What is the year? 70 something? Enjoy it

 

[Jarhead0408]

That's awesome dude! Congrats!

I'd have bought that in a heartbeat.

 

[foreverfalcon40]

YOU ****!

Very nice water fall you got there!

 

[toddacimer]

That is awesome for $80!!! I would have paid $200

 

[skippy24]

WTF! Why does nothing like that come around these parts for such a great price? BTW........you ****!

 

[malibulvr]

You stole that thing, nice job. I keep hunting around here for something my son can restore but people think they have gold, LOL

 

[upgrading]

You **** and probably should be perma-banned as well.

 

[fatfillup]

Yep, suckage.

I may have to disagree with Packard V8 though on the missing drawers. Not positive about that particular box but I have had several old SO boxes that had the slides welded in for the bottom drawers but no drawers were ever in them. Thinking they offer the boxes a little cheaper and buy the bottom drawers down the road when you needed them. I could be wrong though.

 

[Lookin4'67Galaxieconv]

Yep, suckage.

I may have to disagree with Packard V8 though on the missing drawers. Not positive about that particular box but I have had several old SO boxes that had the slides welded in for the bottom drawers but no drawers were ever in them. Thinking they offer the boxes a little cheaper and buy the bottom drawers down the road when you needed them. I could be wrong though.

That makes sense to me. I've seen lots of these boxes and rarely have I seen one with all the drawers in them.

btw, nice buy, OP. I've been looking for one of these boxes for awhile.

 

[Swan]

Thanks all, I am still giddy over my find and luck. This thing is a beast, weighing nearly 200 pounds.

Last night I spent several hours cleaning the exterior, pulling the drawers and slides, cleaning them and installed drawer liners. Photos later. Good news everything functions, it is cleaning up nicely but I still have three more drawers to go. The exterior of the box was rattle can spray painted at one point and there is some over spray on the casters and a tiny bit on the pull down cover, but it is coming off. The serial number stamp was very difficult to read but it is a 1974 KRA300D Rolla-Bench. Snap On sold the box with 8 drawers with 3 pairs of drawer rails in the empty bottom section so the owner could buy the missing lower three drawers as optional accessory KRA431D. My box has 9 drawers which made it more difficult to identify. Like every other KRA300D owner, I will now go slowly insane looking for two of the missing drawers which are rarer than rocking horse ****. Thanks again!

 

[bobcatdan]

Bottom drawers were optional for years on KR 300, with several choises for lower drawers. The base box had five full width drawers, so I do think that is missing a drawer.

 

[zkling]

It could go either way, it really isn't "missing" drawers, it just isn't full. The original owner may have bought it as the base box 8 drawers then added one drawer to get what you see there, or the could have bought all 10 or 11 drawrs and removed one or two. To me the former sounds more likely. That box is like the predecessor to most modern day tool boxes. Not really designed for a top box, so the bottom compartment was used for bulk storage. If you find a drawer(s) great, but don't loose sleep thinking that your box is somehow incomplete, it just doesn't have every accessory possible. Enjoy it, tis a very nice box. I'd love to find a roll a bench some day, like that.

 

[Outlawmws]

You absolutely ****, and I hate you. the only good out of this score is you are not local to me so I'm not screaming at the screen...

God... $80...

 

[Swan]

Sorry Outlawmns, but I got lucky.

Well, I spent about seven hours cleaning this box and talking myself out of painting it. The insides are original and most of the drawers must of had liners because there were no scratches in the paint whatsoever. There was some nasty ancient grease which was a ***** to clean, but it all came out. The exterior was rattle-canned at some point and although I want to paint it with two-part catalyzed auto paint, I am going to wait until spring then decide to do it if I have the time. The slides were very clean and most did not have gobs of grease or dust in the rails. I ran them through the parts washer and used beeswax as a drawer lubricant. The drawers, top and bottom were lined with rubber stair covering from Menards. The top piece is temporary for I decided to pick up some nice hard maple and make a butcher block top for it this week. Also, the casters were removed, cleaned and re-lubed and they work great. I filled her up with some tools and re-organized my other boxes and am calling it a day. Sipping a beer and staring at my work. She's a little beat up, but functions beautifully and I must remind myself this is not a restoration and it is just a tool box. Have a look:

 

[Outlawmws]

Looks great to me! (Sigh, maybe someday...)

 

[Burgerkong]

I LOVE those roll front boxes, wished I could find one locally!

 

[spacedoutbob]

Congratulations on the KRA300, I picked one up this week, the outside paint is faded, several of the drawers have a bit of paint missing, in the front on the top and bottom there are cracks on both sides and the previous owner put a metal brace to keep it solid. My KRA300B was made in 1967, it has the extra drawers in it and a hang on shelf. I'm not complaining though. I got mine for $60.

Bob

 

[spotco2]

I've got one of those with the original felt drawer liners, intermediate and top box.

It's a beast to move if you have to pick it up, even empty.

 

[zkling]

I've got one of those with the original felt drawer liners, intermediate and top box.

It's a beast to move if you have to pick it up, even empty.

O.. please post up some pics. That is a combo you don't see very often.

 

[Swan]

Yes please, I would love to see images of the whole set.

 

[spacedoutbob]

There is a photo of his combination on Page 539 of the thread Lets see your toolbox.

Bob

 

[930dreamer]

I need three drawer of that type.

 

[fatfillup]

Swan, that box looks great. You stated you got lucky. Well I have found in life the harder I work, the luckier I get. So I would assume you keep a steady eye out on CL for deals.

 

[zkling]

I've got one of those with the original felt drawer liners, intermediate and top box.

It's a beast to move if you have to pick it up, even empty.

Just had a look. Technically the set you have isn't matching it is just the Roll a bench bottom with a 26" middle and top (KRA429 and KRA58 IIRC), nice setup, but it isn't the correct matching setup.

The matching setup is all 30"+ wide boxes, bottom, mid and top. Something like KRA61 top and KRA461 middle, with KR300 bottom.

http://collectingsnapon.com/catalogs/catalogs.php?loggedin=0&catalogPage=3237

 

[SweetD]

Man that is one of my favorites all-time. Great job cleaning it up but not repainting it. What a treasure!



Dave

 

[crewchief888]

Just had a look. Technically the set you have isn't matching it is just the Roll a bench bottom with a 26" middle and top (KRA429 and KRA58 IIRC), nice setup, but it isn't the correct matching setup.

The matching setup is all 30"+ wide boxes, bottom, mid and top. Something like KRA61 top and KRA461 middle, with KR300 bottom.

http://collectingsnapon.com/catalogs/catalogs.php?loggedin=0&catalogPage=3237

pic below was another popular combo

kr537A top with kr274 side

i have 2 kr274's ('78 & '85) stacked up

mines a '76 kra300E & '79 kr537A.
got them in a trade for another set of boxes.
the boxes i traded for i saved from the scrap pile.
$0.00 investment

 

[jeffmoss26]

so cool!!

 

[FJ 432]

And this pair is the combination in 1967. Rolla bench bottom and Super chest top.

 

[spacedoutbob]

I wished my KRA300B looked that nice. I also have a KRA 61, but it has 9 drawers.

Bob

 

[rhuff86]

I browsed the somewhat local (where I live there is no such thing as "local" lol) and found one that has all the drawers and not too much cleaner and he wants $650 if he sells it on its own. $700 if you take it with a little top he has. I would say you stole that thing.
http://ksu.craigslist.org/tls/4209441588.html

 

[Wayfastwhitie440]

Awesome score the box looks good all cleaned up.