anyone ever have failures with craftsman boxes???

[mech-tech]

I have been meaning to ask this question for a while. About 10 years back when I was in the vocational school for mechanics, a classmate had a lower end top and bottom box. Not the cheap boxes with the removable bars to lock the drawers, but the regular black boxes with friction drawers. Well he was pushing his top/bottom box comination across the shop when suddenly the entire box tipped over and fell on its side. The shop floor was smooth concrete and he barely had any tools in either the top or bottom box. Both the top and bottom boxes landed on their front right corners, causing the boxes to twist which caused the drawers to get stuck and no longer slide open. After looking at the damage, we found the problem was the self tapping screws that hold the caster wheels to the base of the bottom box. The screws had obviously pulled themselves out on one casters due to the way the caster wheel is off center from its rotating point as most are made. This guys box was maybe two years old and had no problems before, and keep in mind, his box was very lightly loaded, just a basic tool set of wrenches and sockets, not much. Anyway, he called sears and explained what happened. Sears told him they would not warrenty the box for no reason.

Has anyone experienced any failure with the craftsman boxes? I have a slightly more expensive set-up than he does. My boxes have the grip latch drawers with ball bearing slides. I have my boxes loaded HEAVY and am almost scared to stack the top box on the bottom box for fear of the same thing happening to me. Mine is a 26" width box and has the standard caster wheels that come with most boxes. Am I ok with using this box or is this a weak point in the craftsman/waterloo boxes???

I just dont want several hundred pounds of tools to go crashing to the floor since the boxes cost me around $800

 

[redwrench60]

Yes. I have had locks fall apart, drawer slides break and the drawer drops when opened and spot weld failure on a drawer bottom. These were on my starter boxes...I have moved on.

 

[Fireball027]

I had a couple spot welds fail on the drawer face of my craftsman box and it was a fairly expensive set (over $1700 for the set) Also had a couple problems with binding slides.

Other then that, no problems and I had it loaded and moved it a bit.

 

[bluebolt]

All my Craftsman boxes have had bolt on casters, not self tapping screws.

 

[Bryanthegreat]

I have had slides wear out. My bottom drawer would fall out of rails.

 

[3baygarage]

I Snapped a couple of the Chinese sheet metal screws when attaching the casters once. Also have overloaded the drawers till they fell of the track. What a S.O.B. to empty and re-align.

 

[monster1]

Yes. I have a US general now. You can't find half the quality for twice the price elsewhere.

 

[ken w.]

I had my first Craftsman black box ( gift) fall apart. the bottom drawer caved in half in the middle.I had it loaded with hammers.Another drawer just kept fallin out.They wern't very good boxes.I eventually bought a used box and put this to the curb. And someone picked it up.

 

[FunkyfullWidth]

I have a craftsman 41" and have had it for about 8 years or so. I have to lean on it if I want to lock it. And sometimes all the drawers don't lock. That box has since been replaced on the front line, I use it for oddballs and overflows now.

Honestly, good box for what it was, how long I had it, and how much **** I stuffed into it. Looking back I probably still would have bought it. Great box for home use which after a few years in a shop, is how it will spend the rest of its days.

 

[NY_treeguy]

I have seen bottoms cave in when pushed across uneven floors. Both of my craftsman bottoms have nuts and bolts to hold the wheels on, and I reinforced the bottoms with 5/8" plywood sandwiched between the wheels and the box.

 

[MikeF2316]

Both my Craftsman rollers and indeed all the ones I've seen have had nuts and bolts holding the casters on. If you have self tappers and are worried about what happened to your classmate happen to you, then drill out the holes and put in nuts and bolts and a big washer on the inside next to the sheet metal.

 

[jmm]

My first box was a 26" Craftsman, bar lock. I intended to keep it forever, I told myself. I kept it for about 2 years until I completely outgrew it, at which point I put it out to pasture as my box at home. That didn't last long. One day the bottom drawer was sitting open and just collapsed. Probably had less than 50 pounds in it (drawers are only rated at 25, but what the hell, ya know?) -- slide failure. It literally came apart; when I saw how those slides were actually made and held together I couldn't believe it. I put it back together, slide good as new, and posted it up on Craigslist for $20, nostalgia to the wind. The box was only about 5 or 6 years old.

Even their top line boxes (the ones in the local store, anyway) are only rated at 75-100 pounds a drawer. What a joke!

 

[crewchief888]

my biggest problem with CM boxes have been stress cracks in the frame.

 

[Aqua-Andy]

Am I the only one that has not had any issues with c-man boxes? I have a close to twenty year old roller bearing top box that sat on top of my double bank Matco for years before I purchased a roller bearing griplatch lower box for it. I have had this at work at a dealer used as my primary box for ten years and not had a problem with it. The big Matco bottom is used as a work bench and the tools I don't use that often.

 

[chrisa7164]

A guy I worked with had the 33 inch wide professional set they sold back in the mid 80's. The box wasn't even 5 yrs old and he'd already worn out a set of casters. It was black with the gold trim on the drawer handles so when he returned it to Sears they gave him the box with the silver trim..They told him they could no longer get the gold. Long story short he wasn't happy that they didn't match so he put up a stink and ended up getting the top box replaced too. If you make enough of a fuss at Sears they usually will give in.

 

[AcftMx5]

I had the same thing happen to me with my 26 in craftsman bottom and top chest, but luckily I was able to catch it before it fell down. It actually bent the square base of the wheel. When I put a new wheel on I noticed there was a torque value stamped on the bottom, do you know if your classmate's box had a torque value for the wheels (and did they get torqued?). Once I torqued them all down I never had the box topple over due to the wheels coming off for the next few months (Got a bigger box a few months later due to running out of room).

 

[Canoe50]

I have seen bottoms cave in when pushed across uneven floors. Both of my craftsman bottoms have nuts and bolts to hold the wheels on, and I reinforced the bottoms with 5/8" plywood sandwiched between the wheels and the box.

I like that idea.

 

[mech-tech]

My box has 4 bolts on each caster with lock washes and nuts on the inside holding them tight. Can't remember how his box was built. The ball bearing slides on my box make opening and closing the drawers effortless, even the drawer with my 3/4 drive socket set and pipe wrenches. I have no complaints about my box yet, but wondering if it will hold up long term to the weight.

 

[Aberdale]

I have a cheap Cman Home grade box that was made in the 1980s. After 20 years of use, I accidentally backed into the box with a 6000 lb farm tractor and mashed the box between the rear tire and the wall of the barn. The box failed. I was very disappointed that Sears didn't design their economy box to sustain getting run over by a tractor.

After disassembling, hammering out the dents and bends for a couple hours, and then reassembling, all of the drawers were working again and the box is still in use today, it just isn't as pretty as it used to be.

In just about everything in life, from food, to tools, to cars, to wives, you get what you pay for. Just because something is cheap doesn't mean it's bad . . . . just don't expect it to perform to the same level as it's more expensive counterpart.

 

[Lookin4'67Galaxieconv]

Yes. I have a US general now. You can't find half the quality for twice the price elsewhere.

Sure you can.

 

[Lookin4'67Galaxieconv]

Am I the only one that has not had any issues with c-man boxes?

Nope, I have a nine drawer Craftsman roller that's twenty years old with friction slides. Doesn't see shop usage or anything like that, but it's always worked fine. Just bought an early 70s combo that I've loaded up with tools and it's fine.

 

[sparky5982]

my biggest problem with CM boxes have been stress cracks in the frame.

This is the truth. I work with several guys who use Craftsman boxes. All of ours have stress cracks where the sheet metal over the frame makes a sharp, 90 degree turn. I spent a fair amount for the box (grip latch) so it is a bit disappointing. I'm not about to shell out for a truck box though.

The stock casters are garbage. Totally mismatched for the box, IMO. Light duty plastic with lousy bushings. I welded up a frame out of angle iron, and welded some heavy duty casters to that. It works very well.

 

[crewchief888]

well i do admit,
mine is slightly abused, and heavily overloaded.

i bought this box in '99, it banged around in the back of my pickup for a year or so, and it's been in 2 different service trucks since '04

 

[chris142]

I had a craftsman bottom box with friction slides. the top drawer was a shelf. I put a 396 Chevrolet had on it and it crashed. does that count?

 

[mech-tech]

The fear that kept rolling through my mind when moving the box in the shop was hitting a dip in the shop floor, crack in the cement, or anything...and having the caster buckle under the stress. I had been working at that shop with the top box sitting on the ground, which was heavy enough to barely be moved by me and another tech. Shouldn't be needing the box at the new job, so it will sit at home for now with the top box stacked on the bottom box. I plan on one day building a frame for it with good casters cause as mentioned, the stock casters look cheap. I just wanted to check with you guys before I end up with a damaged box laying on the ground full of tools.