Dating Craftsman boxes?

[kool_BOY8323]

Can anyone give me a production date or era of this craftsman box? It was a gift from my father in law 2 years ago for fathers day. from guessing around the interwebs im thinking its pre-2000, but post 1980.
i guess this because a 2000 model year box i found had actual craftsman badges on the red parts of the boxes, where mine has black plate style badges riveted onto the drawers.
at any rate ultimately id like to find the intermediate box that fits, craftsman or not, that has the same drawer colors. thanks in advance!

 

[btbsandman]

Interesting Thread Title. For a minute I thought someone took their tool obsession to a whole new level.

 

[jjjrmx5]

i guess this because a 2000 model year box i found had actual craftsman badges on the red parts of the boxes, where mine has black plate style badges riveted onto the drawers.
at any rate ultimately id like to find the intermediate box that fits, craftsman or not, that has the same drawer colors. thanks in advance!

Some owner along the way moved the C'man badges.

Looks like the top box lock is long changed or gone as well. Not OEM.

Riveted or not they belong on the red portion of the box.

Top box is 70's/80's and thus i guess the bottom is the same.


I have a 80's 12 dwr top box without the deep "goodie dwr" (but mine still has the goodie dwr lockout but with a shallow dwr) from the 80's.

Many of those C'man badges were glued and not pop riveted so folks moved them and changed at will.

Good box. Well built. Look in the top of each box on the side of the dwr for a white paper sticker with a part # and date.

Most still have them.

 

[beatcad]

with the red box housing and the black drawers w/ the silver drawer pulls i'd say it's 90s. but w/ that middle deep drawer In the top box I don't know.
most mechanics toolbox makers phased those out in the 80s.

 

[zkling]

80's - early 90's.

They are stamped date and Made in USA. The top box is stamped in the top compartment, left hand side towards the front. On the floor of the compartmet shall we say. The bottom box is stamped on the bottom red frame rail, right hand side IIRC. Nice boxes.

The boy on the left looks like a mid 200x model. The boy on the right a bit eariler 200x model. Everything looks well taken care of. Should get years of service from everything in that pic.

 

[kool_BOY8323]

Some owner along the way moved the C'man badges.

Looks like the top box lock is long changed or gone as well. Not OEM.

Riveted or not they belong on the red portion of the box.

Top box is 70's/80's and thus i guess the bottom is the same.


I have a 80's 12 dwr top box without the deep "goodie dwr" (but mine still has the goodie dwr lockout but with a shallow dwr) from the 80's.

Many of those C'man badges were glued and not pop riveted so folks moved them and changed at will.

Good box. Well built. Look in the top of each box on the side of the dwr for a white paper sticker with a part # and date.

Most still have them.

single owner, no marks from moving any badges around. all locks are factory originals, since my father in law got the box it sat in his garage. there are some examples online of the sears/craftsman badges and logos being on the drawers and not on the red.

ill look for the stickers tomorrow in the sunlight. thanks for your help

 

[kool_BOY8323]

Interesting Thread Title. For a minute I thought someone took their tool obsession to a whole new level.

i figured someone would post this...

 

[kool_BOY8323]

80's - early 90's.

They are stamped date and Made in USA. The top box is stamped in the top compartment, left hand side towards the front. On the floor of the compartmet shall we say. The bottom box is stamped on the bottom red frame rail, right hand side IIRC. Nice boxes.

The boy on the left looks like a mid 200x model. The boy on the right a bit eariler 200x model. Everything looks well taken care of. Should get years of service from everything in that pic.

ill look for the stamps and or stickers tomorrow when the sun is out. thanks for the heads up on their locations

the boy on the left is a 2007 model and the one on the right is a 2002. good guess. as far as 'years of service' sure, years maybe, quality, well... we'll see

 

[kool_BOY8323]

with the red box housing and the black drawers w/ the silver drawer pulls i'd say it's 90s. but w/ that middle deep drawer In the top box I don't know.
most mechanics toolbox makers phased those out in the 80s.

ive seen many variants on that drawer too. some with the handle above, some below, some 2 deep some 3 deep. some in the top, some in the bottom chest. some with locks, some without. its a really odd drawer size. i use it mostly for misc hardware and such. not sure what it was designed for.

like i said i saw a 2000 online and it had the chrome craftsman badges on the red parts of the frame, and so do most of the newer ones, either chrome badges or chrome on black badges. always on the red parts of the frame, never the drawers.

and i know its not 70's cuz it doesnt have the drawer pulls in the center of the drawers, or the cool craftsman badges with the wing under the title. that placed it in the above 80's but below 2000's range, i guess ill just have to try and get some sleep and check it in the sunlight in the a.m. thanks all for the help!

 

[kool_BOY8323]

a quick google image search is how ive done any and all my research up till now, here's a link to the 2000 that im basing my conclusions on:

http://www.meguiarsonline.com/forums/showthread.php?26961-2000-Craftsman-Toolbox

and here's some examples of badges on drawers:

and that cool title over wings logo from the 70's:

 

[Sam'sAutoParts]

The top box is a twin for the 1986 model I have. The date code should be in the top tray on the left hand side near the front. The date code on the bottom should be on the lower right hand side of the bottom box on the face of the lowest red part.
-Sam

 

[kythri]

with the red box housing and the black drawers w/ the silver drawer pulls i'd say it's 90s. but w/ that middle deep drawer In the top box I don't know.
most mechanics toolbox makers phased those out in the 80s.

http://www.sears.com/tool-storage-middle-chests/b-1025254

That color combo is still available today, and middle boxes are available for it.

 

[kool_BOY8323]

http://www.sears.com/tool-storage-middle-chests/b-1025254

That color combo is still available today, and middle boxes are available for it.

thanks man. ive looked around and to get one that isnt ball bearing slides seems to be a bit of a challenge. it seems the craftsman website and sears, as well as amazon, ebay, and craigslist are either out of stock, or grossly over priced. i could see up to 100 bucks for the intermediate, but some are approaching 200, and the ball bearing boxes are cheaper at that point. thanks for the help though.

 

[kool_BOY8323]

The top box is a twin for the 1986 model I have. The date code should be in the top tray on the left hand side near the front. The date code on the bottom should be on the lower right hand side of the bottom box on the face of the lowest red part.
-Sam

cool! now im only into about a 14 year period without actually looking. lol.

seriously though, thanks. ill look later and post pics of the tags if i find them after work tonite.

 

[jeffmoss26]

I bought mine in 2000 and it has plastic badges mounted to the red metal.

 

[jjjrmx5]

I bought mine in 2000 and it has plastic badges mounted to the red metal.

Jeff, are your badges mounted with 2 sided adhesive tape/trim tape or drilled and heat staked on the back side of the box?

Older boxes had holes drilled thru the dwrs or box body itself and the badges were both face glued and heat staked thru the holes.

Hard to hide the holes if removed and tells box era.

 

[beatcad]

its a really odd drawer size. i use it mostly for misc hardware and such. not sure what it was designed for.

I wondered that myself 'cause I have a box w/ a drawer like that. it doesn't seem functional for any tools cause youd have to dig to get to the stuff at the bottom. and that's not time effective. I thought maybe for a drill bit index? a while back I asked one of the older bodyguys at work and he said it was to keep yer personal stuff like yer wallet and glasses and car keys while you were at work. it makes sense to me. on my box w/ that drawer(even though the keys missing) it looks like the lock cylinder in one position will lock the whole box and in a 180* position it will lock just that drawer.
he just might be right. he has been before

 

[jeffmoss26]

Jeff, are your badges mounted with 2 sided adhesive tape/trim tape or drilled and heat staked on the back side of the box?

Older boxes had holes drilled thru the dwrs or box body itself and the badges were both face glued and heat staked thru the holes.

Hard to hide the holes if removed and tells box era.

Drilled and staked.

 

[zkling]

Yea it is a security drawer meaning they can be locked independently of the other drawers. Originally they were designed to hold a copy of machinery's hand book. I think the design just carried over from the olden machinist days. I agree they are not very useful and IMHO quite irritating. I use to have a box like that and had to get rid of it for that reason. For me the drawer is too deep for it's width.

 

[kool_BOY8323]

being that it's my home box, i just use it for whatever, but at work i think id probly use it to house my small obd2 scanner, just for quick access. ive seen the ones with seperate locks and figured they were for valuables, but i hadnt thought about a 2 position lock doing the same job. interesting. now i have to get the keys made...lol.

got dark before i got home so i couldnt look for the production dates, but i did learn that the box in the back room at work is a 2001 craftsman by the code stamped in the top of the box to the left near the front. pretty cool. says 'made in USA' and everything.

 

[kythri]

thanks man. ive looked around and to get one that isnt ball bearing slides seems to be a bit of a challenge. it seems the craftsman website and sears, as well as amazon, ebay, and craigslist are either out of stock, or grossly over priced. i could see up to 100 bucks for the intermediate, but some are approaching 200, and the ball bearing boxes are cheaper at that point. thanks for the help though.

Is this one in stock near you:

http://www.sears.com/craftsman-26in...0901360000P?prdNo=15&blockNo=15&blockType=G15

??

"QuietGlide" is a friction slide, no ball bearings. There's supposedly one of them available within about 50 miles of me.

 

[kool_BOY8323]

Is this one in stock near you:

http://www.sears.com/craftsman-26in...0901360000P?prdNo=15&blockNo=15&blockType=G15

??

"QuietGlide" is a friction slide, no ball bearings. There's supposedly one of them available within about 50 miles of me.

as soon as i went to the site, it updated to out of stock. bummer.