Deciding Between Two Tool Boxes

[dsaunier]

This a.m. received a $319 coupon for this: http://www.harborfreight.com/26-in-8-drawer-roller-cabinet-with-8-drawer-top-chest-67831.html


Have been eyeing this one and received a $349 coupon for it effective Friday: http://www.harborfreight.com/roller-cabinet-44-13-drawer-gloss-red-industrial-uality-68784.html

Space is somewhat of a concern, but I also want more tools. Are they both of equal quality? I saw both in store but the 8+8 looked like it had been sitting there a long time and not put together right. Thanks for any insight.

 

[sammerdog]

I started out with a 26" Craftsman. Filled it and added a middle set of drawers.

Filled them and bought another 26". Filled it and added a middle set of drawers.

In hind sight, I wish I would have started with a 44" chest and added an upper cabinet and side boxes as time and finances warranted.

Both units you are looking at seem to be approx the same quality; welds, metal thickness, slides, etc. If you can pony up the extra few dollars, I'd recommend grabbing the 44" base. You'll be happy in the future.

 

[jjjrmx5]

Are they of equal quality? Yes.

44" is ideal where you have the room and makes use of the top surface as a work area.

I have had situations in houses I have owned where I wanted a toolbox for the basement and the 44" units would take far too much work to fit down the basement steps, thus for ease of installation and in case of a future move, the 26" stacker is ideal.

If you need a small footprint, then you have to go tall and forego the worksuface opportunity.

For the price , those two HF boxes are hard to beat with very little competition in that quality for price range.

 

[Sebastien]

Think I would take the 44" and then later get a matching top, I presently have a 26 and I'm really getting tired of having trouble putting anything longer then 23" in it, especially pry bars.

 

[dsaunier]

If i push my tradesman workbench to where it s about 2' from the garage door, i can fit the 44" next to it with a few inches to spare and still have full access to side of garage door. Then will need to buy a shed for the yard tools and lawnmower that was stored in the corner. Bottom line is the 44" will be a tighter fit considering I have two 6' workbenches in the 2 car garage and the 26" will be much easier. The 26" has as much storage, but holds less than half of the weight of the 44" and has crappier casters. By the way I'm coming from a crappysman 26" triple stack that was wobbly and could barely hold all my tools. Decisions decisions.

 

[ez-duzit]

This a.m. received a $319 coupon for this: http://www.harborfreight.com/26-in-8-drawer-roller-cabinet-with-8-drawer-top-chest-67831.html...

I have that top chest and am very impressed with it, except that the drawer anti-open detents are very stiff.

 

[k-os]

I have that top chest and am very impressed with it, except that the drawer anti-open detents are very stiff.

If you pull the drawers out at the back you can see the bent edges that form the detents. They can be adjusted by bending them in either direction to either make the detent harder or softer.

 

[erty67]

I have the same dilemma. I think it's worth finding the extra 18" of room to fit the 44" in. Both boxes seem to be built in equal quality and like mentioned above, you can always add the 44" top for more room later.

 

[ez-duzit]

k--thanks for the tip.

 

[jakemac]

If you can make room for the 44, go for it. It sounds like you're already outgrowing your current 26, so bigger would be better. If you get the 26 and want to add on to it or overload it, you will need to beef up the bottom to carry the extra load.

I have the 26" and had to put a 1/4" plate on the bottom to hold the weight of two 7-drawer side cabinets because it isn't built to add-on. The 44" is designed to carry the extra load if you decide to add-on later.

 

[Farmall450]

I went with the 44", even though I did keep my old cman 26"

 

[mark5767]

If you have a Menards within striking distance look at Masterforce which offers you some middle ground. I was disappointed with the size of the 26" I needed just a bit more room. So I went with 30" Masterforce and that fits what I need much better. Amazing the difference those extra 4" make!

44" which I've heard is equivalent to 41" Masterforce would take up too much floor space.

They also have 36" as well, which I think is their most popular. Lots of sizes to choose from and colors too!

 

[dsaunier]

No Menards around here.. It is going to be either of these two. I do wish it was 36" but it isn't. May have to go with the 44" so I'm not pissed off I didn't down the road. Is that thing to heavy to unload with 2 guys?

 

[zkling]

jjjrmx5 nailed it. Do you want a work surface (44") or do you want max tool storage for the minimum amount of floor space taken up (26")?

The current trend among pros and now DIY's alike is to have a longer bottom box the doubles as a work surface and then have a rolling cart to move the the job. To my knowledge gone are the days where your average mechanic has a top/bottom stack. Just depends on what you need or want for your particular setup. You can always put a top chest of many dimensions on the 44" bottom, or leave it as is a work bench. The 26" top/bottom will give you ~1.4x the space of the 44" bottom by itself.

 

[mark5767]

The current trend among pros and now DIY's alike is to have a longer bottom box the doubles as a work surface and then have a rolling cart to move the the job. To my knowledge gone are the days where your average mechanic has a top/bottom stack.

I hadn’t thought about this too much, but I think this trend reflects bigger garages. For a smaller space I much prefer the narrower stacked box. Working with my 30” has been a very good experience. I like having all the drawers in one stack with the most frequently accessed drawers with smaller hand tools (sockets, wrenches and screwdrivers ) higher up.

Also the top one or two drawers at eye level work for really small stuff and since you can see in there up close it makes finding just the right gadget that much easier. I am amazed at how efficiently and easily I can grab the necessary tools… it’s pretty cool (not saying that I’m any good at USING said tools!).

I don’t like to have to bend over to grab these tools, which in an unstacked box you must do for everything except the top 2 drawers.

For a work surface I prefer a workbench, something you can put your legs under if you want to sit (something I don’t do that often, but it’s a nice option for super detailed work) and pound on without rattling a toolbox underneath. Also easier to attach vises and clamps to.

The top of a toolbox is a nice place to set things down, but you can just use shelves for that also. And the longer floorboxes often have just one or two full length drawers, the others are just 2 banks of short drawers which are even narrower than a 26” box!

That, and I grew up using a stacked box so I kind of have nostalgia that way!

 

[dsaunier]

Yeah, I like the idea of being able to use the 44" as a work surface.. Maybe adding a smaller top chest to it down the road so that I still have room on each side for placing stuff while in the middle of a project. Or perhaps building a new workbench that it can tuck right under. That would be ideal actually. Then buy the matching 5 drawer US Gen Pro cart and loading it with all air tool/socket accessories for rolling out to the truck while working on projects.

 

[Super Sport]

I think your best bet is to go with the 44". This gives you the ability to expand on it later (which you will probably want to do) or you can build a bench around it.

For me, I was limited on space and didn't really have enough room for a decent sized bench and a toolbox big enough for all of my tools. I ended up going with the largest roller I could, which also happened to have a stainless top on it. It now doubles as both my toolbox and my workbench.

 

[mark5767]

I will say the 26" HF is pretty small... the top box is a little less deep and the whole thing is shorter than the one I ended up with. It was just too small for me. So if it's strictly between the 26" and 44" and you have a decent amount of tools the 44" would probably be the way to go.

 

[dsaunier]

I will say the 26" HF is pretty small... the top box is a little less deep and the whole thing is shorter than the one I ended up with. It was just too small for me. So if it's strictly between the 26" and 44" and you have a decent amount of tools the 44" would probably be the way to go.

Hey Mark I saw the picture of your garage in the signature and can say my garage is not much bigger than yours, so I don't know how the 44" is going to fit with my two 6' benches. A few questions... what is that blue double stack tool storage combo you have? How do you like the Sam's Club bench and the rollaways that fit under it. I was originally planning on getting the Sam's bench and then putting the same Seville tool drawer cabinet under one side and the one with larger drawers on other side. Obviously those wouldn't hold up for everyday tool storage like the bulkier HF.. right?

 

[jjjrmx5]

A few questions... what is that blue double stack tool storage combo you have?

The toolbox according to his garage thread is a 30" blue masterforce top and bottom found at Menards.

I'm not sure if they make it in the blue as they switched to an odd green color years ago in that size.

They are good boxes though. Have serveral friends that work/worked on a production floor where 30"/31" wide boxes were the largest size you were allowed to have.

One has the green and the other the blue.
Owner of the blue box now is in the body work field and painted blue and hung the HF side box off of it to gain more space without going top box.

Cheaper than truck boxes but hold up well to all but the toughest pro use.

 

[cburnscrx]

The toolbox according to his garage thread is a 30" blue masterforce top and bottom found at Menards.

I'm not sure if they make it in the blue as they switched to an odd green color years ago in that size.

They are good boxes though. Have serveral friends that work/worked on a production floor where 30"/31" wide boxes were the largest size you were allowed to have.

One has the green and the other the blue.
Owner of the blue box now is in the body work field and painted blue and hung the HF side box off of it to gain more space without going top box.

Cheaper than truck boxes but hold up well to all but the toughest pro use.

For the record, you can get the Masterforce boxes in Blue, Red, Black and the weird Green (which isn't bad honestly).

Just a general FYI to the Menards buying public

 

[sammerdog]

Is that thing (44" HF box) too heavy to unload with 2 guys?

Approx 300 pounds.

Two young guys? Doable.

Two middle aged guys like me? Get some extra hands.

 

[dsaunier]

Didn't someone have a thread about the 44" being better quality than the 26"? Tried to find it but couldn't in search.. Still haven't decided on either...

 

[dsaunier]

just saw this: http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/archive/index.php/t-161476.html

wish there were more info on the quality difference between 26" and 44" but am unsure. Would be logical to assume a 44" of a comparable make would be more sturdy than its 26" counterpart...

 

[jakemac]

IDK about the difference in quality, but as an owner of the 26" stack I can tell you that you will need to stiffen the bottom of the 26 if you want to put side boxes on it. If you want to roll it around afterwards, you will need to add casters under the add-ons because of the short wheelbase.. The 44" on the other hand is built to take the extra weight.

 

[dsaunier]

i'm gonna pick up the 44" this afternoon and post a few initial pictures of it once tools loaded up. I tried flip flopping back and forth between it an the 26" and even though I'll have to make space for it, it is just the better buy. I dropped by Rural King and checked out some guns as well as their "Frontier" boxes. They must be made by the new 5 year olds in the sweatshop, because they were not put together very well. Not on par with the US Gen stuff I've seen..

 

[dsaunier]

Took two of us to lift the 44" off the truck. Impressed with the quality build of it from first look. Very sturdy and the double wall construction is obvious. The casters are far superior to anything I've seen in Lowe's, HD, Sams, or anywhere else frankly (other than the truck boxes). The box moves pretty good considering how big it is, and once set with the brakes, it doesn't move. The fit and finish is pretty good. There is a scratch through the paint on the front which is about 1/8 inch, so I will call and see if they can send me a touch up bottle. The drawers are more solid than most I have seen. I will say that the only other drawers I thought were nearly as sturdy were the Kobalt. The drawers have to be pushed pretty hard to close. The drawers on the 26" seemed smoother, but with a much smaller load rating. I have about 3/4 of it full now, so room for more tools is nice. Really nice mat for the top and drawer slide inserts for labeling tool areas. Couldn't have asked for more and I'm certain this will last me 10+ years considering my needs. Pics tomorrow.