ddawg16
Well-known member
I have the 42" lower.....I just ordered the Husky upper....It will fit almost perfectly.
I don't like the top lid on the HF upper....
I don't like the top lid on the HF upper....
HF US General Boxes, Are They Worth It?
- Thread starter Renegade1LI
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OP
Renegade1LI
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Thanks
OP
Renegade1LI
Well-known member
I agree, would rather have another drawer instead of the lid, I'm losing valuable shelf space.
Aaron_W
Well-known member
The accessories are pretty nice, I got a power strip for each box, a couple of the paper towel racks, one for plain paper towels and one for the heavier blue towels.
Also got a glove box holder which is the only one that was kind of unsatisfying. Not sure what box of gloves it was made to fit but all the ones I've tried just flop around it it, and are much smaller than the frame.
racinfarmer
Well-known member
Anyone here buy the 30" 1 drawer service cart yet?
$100 regular price and I think I have a use for it.
Seems good, but not as well built as my 5 drawer service cart.
Searched and haven't found a thread on it here yet. Probably not searching hard enough though.
$100 regular price and I think I have a use for it.
Seems good, but not as well built as my 5 drawer service cart.
Searched and haven't found a thread on it here yet. Probably not searching hard enough though.
dodge610
Well-known member
The ITC is worth it i have been a member for years allways save enough to cover the cost of it.
OP
Renegade1LI
Well-known member
Must be somewhat new I saw it today, I might get a few for work & see how the guys like, maybe add the folding shelf. Monday their will be a 10% off any item coupon, fwiw.
justanengineer
Well-known member
HF never sold slides for the S1 USG boxes nor used a common size. They do list them for some of the S2 boxes but good luck in a decade when folks start needing them. As mentioned, the toolroom cobbled quite a few of the S1 boxes back together but paying $40+/hr employees to work on $500 boxes is dumb, esp in a plant running lean on manpower. Those boxes replaced overloaded Kennedy and Cman boxes that lasted ~20 years with the same employees and few issues, but USGs barely lasted five. No thanks.
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jg4660
Well-known member
Love my USG 26'' upper/lower. 2 years now. No complaints.
They done slides but was super painful painful deal with via phone and delivery was months.
The wise buy in advance and build up spares stock.
caster bolt pattern was standard and easy source better replacements .
OP
Renegade1LI
Well-known member
For home or business if I get 10 years out of a US General box and need to replace I have no issue. For work it's a no brainer, we need the deduction for new equipment and 1500$ over 10 years is a 150$ Per year, that's a pretty good, I'll sell the old and replace plus the 5 years of depreciation, they're almost free in a sense.
Aaron, I just bent the side spring tabs in and layered some cardboard behind the glove box to get it to fit snugly. It works great. Good luck with it.
As someone else pointed out, the industrial setting is not what those US General boxes are designed for (that's Kennedy's market, and their stuff costs more for a reason) - but it still sounds to me like your employer got more than their money's worth out of them. I just replaced my Snap-On box with a USG and now better understand why so many people love them.
Although they're intended primarily for consumer use, I know several guys who have been using USG boxes in commercial/shop environments for a while - and they seem to work fine for that purpose if you treat them as consumables vs. have the expectation that it be a permanent fixture for decades. I see nothing wrong with that mindset and in some cases it can actually make better financial sense. And my own experience has been that replacement parts can be obtained from HF corporate just as easily as any other manufacturer. As an example, not long ago I ordered some "lock links" (cams) from them that I used to put generic keyed-alike locks on my Kennedy stack at home. HF had parts lists and detailed diagrams available just like everyone else, and a 10 minute phone call was all it took to get what I needed.
One of my former dealership colleagues who works out of a USG box chose to buy it after determining that he could replace it completely every 5 years, and over a 30 year career, still have spent less than the cost of a single Snap-On box (and most guys don't keep the same Snap-On box for 30 years anyway). He'll likely be long retired before that point - but I think the idea of getting a new box with up to date design/features every few years is appealing to a lot of folks, especially if doing so is actually less expensive over the long run.
The reason I retired my Snap-On box (KR-557B) was because it had a weld break on a drawer slide, and SO refused to honor the warranty/help me out in any way...which I'm still a bit sour about. The dealer ended up offering me a nice discount on a new Heritage and I bought the USG to get me by in the mean time - and warmed up to it quickly. Once I actually laid hands on the Heritage box, I could not find any aspect of it (physically or in terms of technical specification) that was any better than the USG, and in some respects it was actually inferior (such as the top lip of the case not having a protective hem like the USG does). And even with the discount, it was four times as expensive.
So, my trusty Snap-On drop front box is now sitting permanently atop a US General. The Classic & Masters boxes are overkill for what I do now, and I would not be able to recoup the investment with the remaining number of years I plan to work. The Heritage line is not inherently bad but is a horrible deal for the price. I'm sure my USG will need new drawer slides in time (like every other box I've owned) but if the box itself lasts me 5 years, I'll be more than satisfied...and when it actually does **** out, I'll likely go right out and buy another. If there is a different product that offers the same value for such a reasonable price, I haven't figured out what it is.
I've never seen one of those carts in a shop setting, but go to the same car wash every week who keeps their detailing supplies in one. Someone is always rolling it around whenever I pull out of the wash bay and they've had the same one for at least 18 months. The chrome finish on the US General badge is long gone, but the paint itself looks surprisingly good for being in the sun all day. I'm guessing they were smart enough to wax it.
Rabid Badger
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We get it.
Buying USG boxes for an industrial environment and expecting them to hold up and/or have parts availability similar to something at least 4x the price is silly.
You know what's sillier? Not realizing that beforehand.
my son has a 72" Snap-on KRL that is hell for stout, we looked at the US Generals and they just are not even what new Craftsmans are. Older Craftsman professional line boxes are much better. Harbor Freight's prices are not giveaways either, I think I will look for a good US built used box before buying the Harbor Freight one.
Rabid Badger
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That is nonsense. The USG 56" cabinet has roughly double the weight capacity of the Craftsman 3000-series 54".
Why bother making statements that are so easy to disprove?
I have the three drawer service cart. I turned it into a mobile welding table. I beat the hell out of it and fabricate on the open and close top. It’s tough.
I had to laugh when I said fabricate it made me think of all the fabricator memes lol.
My intention is not to "hijack" this thread, but I'm (legitimately - not sarcastically) curious what Craftsman models you're referring to. I've had Craftsman boxes in the past, and felt good about owning them as the factory (which truly belongs to Waterloo) is only about an hour away from where I live. But I haven't seen them make anything worth buying in at least a decade, and the boxes I had were significantly older than that.
When every other consumer brand is manufacturing in Asia (where the cost of living and definition of a reasonable wage is substantially lower than here) there's no way for Craftsman/Waterloo to build a comparable box with USA labor and sell it for a similar price without cutting corners somewhere. From what I've seen at Lowe's/Sears, the latter is exactly what they've been doing for a while, and the reason many people have lost respect for the brand.
If Craftsman produced a box that was truly equal in quality/specification to the US Generals, built in the US (especially if at their facility within my local community), and sold for less than a Kennedy - I would have serious interest in buying it. But if such a box actually existed, I'd think we'd all know about it by now - and that the USG boxes would be far less popular than they are.
OP
Renegade1LI
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Well I'm going all in on us general, just picked up a 26" top chest to go with the rest of the boxes I bought & it's much heavier than my old cm 40" top chest. After moving around, removing the drawers & getting a good look at the build quality I have to say they look good. Sure it would be nice to be USA made, but that's not the point, the boxes I think will hold up well, the slides are smooth the fit & spacing on the drawers is good, my only complaint is being able to see the spot weld locations. I know it's minor & I can see them in other brands as well but I think the blue shows them more, oh well. Now I'm buying carts for a project we're doing & that will be a good test, but for a 100$ a piece if I get the one job out of them I'm happy.
USG 41" Series 2 - $499 - Product Weight - 291LBS.
https://www.harborfreight.com/44-in...KeQ5doiYv63N9ZgoP3kS9ONOwYOj79KQaAgQXEALw_wcB
Craftsman 41" Series 3000 - $649 - Product Weight - 225LBS.
https://www.lowes.com/pd/CRAFTSMAN-...wer-Steel-Rolling-Tool-Cabinet-Red/1000615527
I mean, based on the amount of materials use alone, we can quickly assume the USG one is sturdier.
I have nothing against Craftsman but to say they are better than USG is just ludicrous. Maybe equal, but not better.
OP
Renegade1LI
Well-known member
I think I'm done buying boxes, almost, but as far as quality for value goes if bought with coupons you can't beat us general. Luckily the used box market is crazy, I paid 2155$ for a72" top and bottom,26" top and bottom plus a5 drawer cart. I sold my cm 40 top and bottom (1986) a 5 drawer gen 1 cart and side cabinet for 900$, so basically it cost me 1300$ for everything, I'm happy. It pays to take care of your stuff, if I kept these for 10 years and through them away it still only cost 130$ a year, more important I'm loving the new storage. Not saying these are for everyone but they certainly have their place in the market.
OP
Renegade1LI
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javyLSU
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OP
Renegade1LI
Well-known member
Re: HF US General Boxes, Are They Worth It?
Thanks! Your set up looks good in blue, I should have painted first, oh well. Unfortunately the lockers are not available, no reason I asked the manager today he thinks they're revising them and coming out with a new model??? I'm in no hurry but I would like to get a couple.
@Renegade1LI Congrats on the boxes! Now you need the end locker to complete the collection...
Thanks! Your set up looks good in blue, I should have painted first, oh well. Unfortunately the lockers are not available, no reason I asked the manager today he thinks they're revising them and coming out with a new model??? I'm in no hurry but I would like to get a couple.
OP
Renegade1LI
Well-known member
Re: HF US General Boxes, Are They Worth It?
How long have you had them? Are you happy with the 72"? so far I relly like the layout, just need to get everything in the right place.
@Renegade1LI Congrats on the boxes! Now you need the end locker to complete the collection...
How long have you had them? Are you happy with the 72"? so far I relly like the layout, just need to get everything in the right place.
macgee
Well-known member
Totally agree with Badger,
Sounds like the owner of the business or the purchaser didn't understand their own work environment of their employees or was trying to save some pennies and got bit. The reality is that even Kennedy is not all that great, far from it and a very simplistic box with friction sliders and in no way compare to a Lista cabinet. By the sounds of it, the proper cabinets that should have been purchased should have been Vidmar's or Lista's style cabinet that even wild gorilla's cant break but can still glide closed with a pinky with 400 lbs in each drawer.
I have Lista, Vidmar, Nu-Era cabinets and a bunch of other high end industrial cabinets. The USG 26" ('14) has actually been holding up rather well (surprisingly), completely filled with lighter machinist tooling and metrology, used everyday, touched every hour. Its actually not too bad of a box and a Kennedy does not compare to it in usability, I got rid of all the Kennedy's I had. I hate red mechanic boxes but I got the USG for a smoking deal (I think $225 for top and bottom) and was only suppose to be a temporary solution but it has held its own and see no reason to replace it. And for the price, Craftsman do not nearly compare (please). My Lista, Nu-Era, Lyon and Vidmar cabinets are for sure much better (and better than S-O's) but I'm not foolish to think the USG can handle the same as them and the USG gets the lighter weight tooling that would be similar to the weight of car mechanics tooling. The sliders have had no issues over the seven years but I take care of my gear. I wouldn't even want to bother with Snap-On boxes when looking the prices and their specs. USG was a great deal and to get a better box that's justifiable then I would jump up to a Lista, Rousseau or Vidmar and skip those middle of the road S-O and other truck type boxes.
Not sure how well they're made today, I'm assuming things have changed a lot but I found some old photo's of when I measured the thickness of the USG cabinets. The USG was about 20% thicker metal than the equivalent Kennedy rolling cabinet cart . Again, this is a 2014 model so no idea how the new ones compare.
The outside side walls measured .044" thick. Includes paint thickness
The front and back L stiffening brackets on the bottom and where the wheels bolt onto were pretty beefy, they measured at .068" at several different points.
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justanengineer
Well-known member
Apparently you didn’t “get it” bc silly is not reading my post and completely missing the two points.
1. Nobody was expecting the USGs to last forever like a professional box. The USGs replaced Cman and Kennedy boxes that held up 20+ years. Most folks were simply hoping USGs would be similar to those, but they weren’t. I’m also not suggesting that a USG will only last the OP five years, he may get 10-15 but even in a home shop they’re not a “forever” box.
2. I wasn’t advocating for any box costing 4x more. I suggested folks would be better off shopping for a comparable cost professional box on the used market rather than spending big bucks on new cheapies. I did exactly that last fall, spent $1100 on two KR1000s bc they are the best bang for the buck in easily found, matching colors locally.
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While I agree completely with most of what you said (and have had a similar experience with my USG box so far), as an owner/user of both brands, I do think Kennedy makes a quality product and frankly have more respect for them than any other manufacturer. They build their boxes here in the US, with ball-bearing drawers (for at least the last decade), a lifetime warranty, and sell them at a reasonable price. Unlike the truck brands, I've found that you can routinely get their products at ~50% off MSRP as they have a large network of dealers willing to compete for your business.
Again, while I agree with you that the USG boxes are similar in spec and ultimately a better value than either -- the Kennedy K1800/K2000 series offer the same basic specifications, warranty, and spare parts availability as the Snap-On KRA/Heritage stuff at a significantly lower price (and they're built here vs. in Canada). The Kennedy stuff won't, however, help one win a ******* contest and I think that's the main reason they've never been widely adopted in shop environments.
On a side note, has anyone noticed that HF recently dropped the price of the 36" ICON box to $1399? At that price, it's right in line with the 26" Snap-On Heritage, but larger and built more like a Masters-series box. My local HF finally put the 36" model on display and after seeing it, I'm actually thinking about taking a chance on one.
I live in a large metropolitan area, follow the used market for tools & boxes fairly closely, and only ever see two kinds of truck-brand boxes being sold:
1) Seller gave up the business, and has a box in good condition that he still owes money on. Will only sell it for a price equal to the loan balance, which is always more than the box is realistically worth on the used market -- thus he never actually sells it.
2) Seller upgraded and is selling a box he's long since paid off. The price is reasonable, but the box is cosmetically worn from being in a shop for years. Most buyers don't want one that looks beat up.
The KR1000 is a very old box. Even as someone who earns a living with mine, I'd much rather spend $500-800 on a new USG than spend the same amount on a 20-30 year old Snap-On that is worn accordingly....and for which replacement parts will only become more difficult to obtain with time.
^
Have a look at joining HF ITC and the credit to milk price down further to like 1200 bucks .
ICON boxes don't look too bad but decade long parts support is suspect so ideally want store some parts in advance .
I wouldn't want sink load of money into them as easy buy 36 to 60" MAC & Matco boxes used for sensible money .
Have a look at joining HF ITC and the credit to milk price down further to like 1200 bucks .
ICON boxes don't look too bad but decade long parts support is suspect so ideally want store some parts in advance .
I wouldn't want sink load of money into them as easy buy 36 to 60" MAC & Matco boxes used for sensible money .
OP
Renegade1LI
Well-known member
The only part to reality wear out are the slides, buy a set or two, tape them under the box and enjoy, can do this for any brand. I tend to buy common replacement parts when I buy the item, if I don't use them it's a good selling point to the next owner.
Cost isn't my concern, I could of bought so our mac, but value is what I go buy, the money I saved by buying boxes good enough for me I can get another sled or rzr or something and still have good tool storage, to each his own.
Cost isn't my concern, I could of bought so our mac, but value is what I go buy, the money I saved by buying boxes good enough for me I can get another sled or rzr or something and still have good tool storage, to each his own.
javyLSU
Well-known member
Re: HF US General Boxes, Are They Worth It?
A funny thing happened yesterday while I was rearranging some stuff in the top drawer - you may be aware that these drawers don't open all the way, leaving a little space at the rear of the drawers that may not be usable depending on your layout. After spending some time on the Snap-on Rock-n-Roll truck on Monday, I left (of course) drooling over an 84" Epiq box that I told myself I needed for the drawer layout, the latches, and the full-extension drawers. After coming to my senses yesterday, I decided to measure just how much of a difference in drawer depth there was between my humble USG 72" and the Epiq. My top drawer measured 17" deep from the front ledge of the box to the inside of the drawer... Something didn't look right. So, I gave my top drawer a good hard pull, and the drawer came out another inch and a half! After laughing at myself, I was very, very happy to have "discovered" another 1.5 inches in my most frequently used drawer...
I've had the 26" for about three years, the 72" I got in 2019. I started out with the 56" box, but quickly ran out of space. The only thing I wish this box had was another long drawer underneath the top one - that would free up space in a few drawers that I have to spread my wrenches across, but it's not a huge deal. The box itself has been great - I installed a vice on the left side, and a power drawer in the bottom right drawer where I mounted all my battery chargers. I'm one of the few that actually likes the latches - they're easy to pull, and have become second-nature when opening a drawer.
A funny thing happened yesterday while I was rearranging some stuff in the top drawer - you may be aware that these drawers don't open all the way, leaving a little space at the rear of the drawers that may not be usable depending on your layout. After spending some time on the Snap-on Rock-n-Roll truck on Monday, I left (of course) drooling over an 84" Epiq box that I told myself I needed for the drawer layout, the latches, and the full-extension drawers. After coming to my senses yesterday, I decided to measure just how much of a difference in drawer depth there was between my humble USG 72" and the Epiq. My top drawer measured 17" deep from the front ledge of the box to the inside of the drawer... Something didn't look right. So, I gave my top drawer a good hard pull, and the drawer came out another inch and a half! After laughing at myself, I was very, very happy to have "discovered" another 1.5 inches in my most frequently used drawer...
javyLSU
Well-known member
I saw that too - I'm waiting on HF to issue another 20% off Icon tool storage coupon. Once they do that, I think I'm going to buy a 73" and a locker.
ericm
Well-known member
Dumb question time: how did you load the boxes? Did your HF store have a forklift?
I have pallet forks for the tractor so I can unload anything on a pallet, but I can't see loading it myself at the store.
OP
Renegade1LI
Well-known member
When I picked them up the top chest was shrink wrapped to the bottom chest, I told the guy load em like that, so he did, what an idiot I was, should have placed side by side. Get home & realized the top box was was almost 10' above ground, luckily my gantry goes just high enough to reach plus it's 12' between posts so I can back my dually under it. Lifted up & set down on dolly, same for chest & then installed the chest handles which you can lift from & bolted together. If they were loaded side by side I would have slide them on to my hydraulic cart which goes one inch higher than the tail gate. The 2000 lb hyd cart is another must have.
I hope I'm not taking this thread too far off-topic -- but I went and took another look at the 36" ICON earlier today. Turns out the drawer slides are made by Repon - well-established manufacturer out of Taiwan whose products appear to be sold all over the internet (including Amazon). So even if HF were to give up on the ICON line in a few years, doesn't seem as if obtaining replacements would be very difficult. I've "gone around" toolbox manufacturers for parts before simply to get them cheaper.
I think ICON is probably here to stay and that they'll start moving those boxes at the new prices. The reduction in normal price does make me wonder if they will still offer the 20% off coupons -- if they do in fact issue another, I might go ahead and buy one.
javyLSU
Well-known member
Yep, they're not far off from my target price. Right now they've got a 10% no exclusion coupon which I could use, but I'm fairly certain they'll have a 20% Icon tool storage coupon in the future, even it takes joining ITC (which for this purchase would make it worthwhile). They've done this fairly consistently since introduction at all the price points.