How do you protect your tool box?!?!?!

[airmecha]

I just bought an 8 drawer ball bearing grip latch craftsman rollaway. I just saw a huge scratch on the side and almost cried today! I dont know who or how but since then, ive been parking it like a mile away from the work area where no one will pass.

So I need some ideas guys, how do you protect your tool box from damage? Especially the top, I like to place the tools Im using on the top, I currently have pads so it wont scratch, but Im looking for a better idea....

 

[35mm]

If you built a work bench that is larger than it and put it under it would offer a little protection.

Personally I wouldn't worry about it. Tools get used and worn. Funny story. A friend of a friend who is a contractor was purchasing a brand new F350. After signing the paperwork he was walking out to the truck with the sales guy so he could put on the temp tags. As he walked up to the truck he gave the passenger side door a big kick. The sales guy freaked and asked him what the hell he was thinking. His response, "now I don't have to worry about that first dent."

 

[KEH]

Not nearly as well as it deserves!

KEH

 

[Hal]

As he walked up to the truck he gave the passenger side door a big kick. The sales guy freaked and asked him what the hell he was thinking. His response, "now I don't have to worry about that first dent."

I did something like that many years ago. We bought a used bed and put it on the farm truck, all painted up nice. I backed it up to a wood pile, took a big block and banked it off one side, to the front, and onto the bottom, three big dents and scratches in the new paint. "There, now you guys won't have to worry about putting the first dent in it." The losers that were working there at the time would have milked it for all they could, being slow and "careful" not to dent the new bed.

 

[brownbagg]

I,m claiming BS on the two truck stories

 

[Nova_Guy]

I,m claiming BS on the two truck stories

Go ahead, I had a friend that bought a new 2006 F-350 quad cab dually paid about $45K for it. It had less than a week and he threw a 351 Windsor block in the bed. It slide around in the bed while he drove home and it scratched and dented the all over inside of the bed.
When you buy a truck that will be used as a truck and like my friends and it will be replaced as a tax right off in two or three years it doesn't make any difference how you treat them.

 

[gatchel]

I,m claiming BS on the two truck stories

Bravo Sierra or not, they sure sounded good. Just might have to do that myself on the next vehicle. That way some other "a" hole doesn't get the honors.

 

[Steevo]

Give it a year or two, and you'll wonder what all the fuss was about.

 

[RVDan]

I,m claiming BS on the two truck stories

I get told similiar stories on a regular basis, so I'm not sure if its urban legend, or everybody does it.

 

[airmecha]

so i throw my beautiful box down a cliff....

 

[Ceezer]

I just bought an 8 drawer ball bearing grip latch craftsman rollaway. I just saw a huge scratch on the side and almost cried today!

I don't worry about scratches so much, but I have a similar Craftsman box and when I moved into this house in '05 I apparently didn't have it secured well enough in the Uhaul. When I lifted the gate, I found the entire box toppled over with drawers open and tools everywhere... Now a few of the drawers twist when I fully extend them, and don't have quite the same load rating that they should (that *does* bother me).

The drawer liner I bought isn't so much to protect the drawers from scratches, but to keep the tools from sliding out of place after I organize them.

Some things I'm (very) **** about but a tool box, to me, is a tool itself. It serves a specific purpose and I know to expect it, if used accordingly, to show some wear and tear.

 

[mikeyr]

go ahead and call BS on the stories if you want but a truck is a work thing to some of us and the paint it not that important. Same day I bought my new GMC truck and while I try to keep the exterior paint/body in good shape, I went to the rock yard that afternoon and got 2 loads of rocks, by the evening of the first day the bed looked like hell, the exterior was still pretty nice though.

A friend bought a brand new BMW bike (K1300GT same as mine) and on the first day dropped it getting it in his garage, while it was a accident he certainly did not drop it on purpose, he just looked at me and "glad that is over, now help me get this thing back up" he actually seemed relieved and not upset at all. Same happened to me when some ******* played bike dominos in a parking lot and my bike ended up with a Suzuki laying against it, that first damage sure hurt but I never bothered fixing it and now the bike has more, there is something to be said for that "first damage" that is stress relieving.

Toolboxes are the same to me...a work tool, I try to keep them nice and shiny and looking new but that first scratch relieves a lot of stress (although I never do it on purpose)

Now a scratch on my Dino and I might commit suicide.

 

[chief ben]

This is my answer to keep people away from my tools

 

[SuperSocket]

Go ahead, I had a friend that bought a new 2006 F-350 quad cab dually paid about $45K for it. It had less than a week and he threw a 351 Windsor block in the bed. It slide around in the bed while he drove home and it scratched and dented the all over inside of the bed.
When you buy a truck that will be used as a truck and like my friends and it will be replaced as a tax right off in two or three years it doesn't make any difference how you treat them.

Yeah I have a friend who put down his brand new sport bike because he thought he could do high speed turns with brand new tires.....


We all have stupid friends... it does not make the claim more legitimate.



Also, just because you can write something off does not mean you want to destroy it or has no value. Things get written off all the time, it does not mean get tossed away.

 

[ihredo4]

I have keyed the paint on my own vehicle. But then again when I worked off road on the pipeline it was going to happen anyhow. Might as well be sooner than later to me. I think of the scratch as a war wound just like the scars on me. Don't think I could dent it on purpose but a scratch ain't ****.

 

[kv501]

I,m claiming BS on the two truck stories

I'm claiming BS on your post

When I was a lineman our general foreman would key every new truck we got immediately. Then he'd say something to the effect of, "There, now you guys don't have have to waste time trying not to do that." We gave him **** one day that he wouldn't do itin front of the operations manager (we worked for a national contractor based in Wisconsin), and sure enough, he did. The manager was a crusty ex lineman and he said to us, "You grunts didn't think he'd do that in front of me, did you?"

 

[caspian65]

I have a master series Snap-On triple bank and don't really worry with scratches, although I am not intentionally trying to damage it and am somewhat careful around it. I do have a cover for it, but just fold it over the top so only the front is open. My box just mainly gets dusty from shop work.

 

[Northstar]

I'm not painting my Chevelle any time soon just so I don't have to worry about scratching it. I can lean up against it, lean over the fenders, etc without caring. I see so many guys put $5-10K into paint and then get scared to park it in thier own garages. Same with driving it.

A toolbox is a place to put tools that get used. Aside from letting it get some battle scars and age spots, you could look into a clear film used for the fronst of vehicles called a nosemask. They're usually sold by auto accessory places. Might also look into the palces that do vinyl graphics for on-car/on-truck advertising. I bet they could do clear or just about anything else.

 

[GOehm]

Line-X or some roll-on bed liner, perhaps? It might actually look sorta neat..

 

[countryroad82]

I,m claiming BS on the two truck stories

Believe it or not, I had a guy bring in a brand new cowl hood he wanted painted and put on his truck, paid somewhere in the lines of 500 bucks for it. Anyway he says oh yeah I want a bullet hole in it, I say like airbrushed? He says no a bullet hole. So I go to my truck and get out my .45 and hand it to him and said put 'er where you want 'er. BAM!!! Right into the side of the cowl and coming out the other side!! I just scuffed and painted it. He was tickeled pink. Weird.... Anyway to the OP, my boxes don't get much love. Overspray, dust, and all get on them. I wipe them down and such but I don't fret much over them, but I don't have a high dollar setup either

 

[i8tokyo]

Seems like the more you try and keep your stuff nice the quicker it gets messed up when you work in a shop with other guys. i have worked with strokes that would lean stuff up against guys new boxes. granted maybe bodyshop guys a lower life forms then mechanics but people are asses. I was on the frame machine most of the time so I didn't have to worry to much. Seems the more you freek the more it happens. I like chief ben's idea.

 

[Dan in Pasadena]

I. think I misunderstood the question. I thought it was a security question

 

[Octarine]

One of the guys on my old route had a nice idea for his boxes. He used double sided tape and the thin plexiglass from HD or wherever. It looked good and when he traded his KR1003 box it looked like new even though it was over 15 years old and had been used hard.

 

[DENALIAKITAS]

Anyone ever used the clear 3M auto paint protection film? I would think it would work dandy. Just cut to size and place on each outside surface. After all some of these tool boxes cost just as much as a car.

 

[1BADLS1tuner]

cant help you with this one, eventually you will get a dent or scratch if you actually use it.... if i worried about that all the time i would never get anything done, My garage/toolbox is not just for parking/showing off, its actually used.

If you regularly use your tool box just let the new wear off, you wont worry bout it long after that. If you get a little scratch on it i guarantee it will still do its job!

 

[Pedro86]

use my box every day, it rolls around the shop every day multiple times a day. All i do know- is even if i have two jobs running.. when i switch jobs- i put all my tools up from one job, and move box to second.

I know that I have regular soap/water, and during the last 15min of my shift- when we clean up- i clean my tools, and clean my box.

I know that even though we have a pull through shop, 2 bays on either side, and both are pull through- you wont ever find my box in the middle of the road- ever. it leave it on the side..

Ive noticed that it seems- if you mis treat your stuff, others will mistreat it.. if you take care of it, others will endeavour to do the same- and this also goes for using other folks stuff.. if they see you take time to not slam drawers, wipe your paw prints, move it out of the way- they atleast in my area- do the same

--
i like the plexi glass idea... and maybe a dealer can chime in- but wouldnt the residue from the tape "take off points"?

 

[Mmfh]

If you are worried about other people screwing it up, buy a cover for it, like the one's that go over BBQ's. Years ago I used to cover mine, Honestly it wasn't too long before I stopped covering it up.

While its new cover it up, after you've had it for a while you will probably just try to be careful, that's what I did.

Remember too, most things that happen to tool boxes are not that hard to repair if you really wanted too.

Mm

 

[DoyleDee]

I don't mind scratches or dents, as long as it still works the way it should. I bought my motorcycle off the showroom floor with a big scratch already on it. The way I look at it is, it is done and now I can just use it without worrying. (It has seen pavement a few times now anyway....70k miles on an 05)
Some call them scratches.....the rest call it character.

 

[Greatbear]

Toolboxes, vehicles, etc, I try my best not to scratch 'em up, but don't fret when I finally make an oops.

 

[Megadodo]

I worked with a guy who had a very decent snap on toll kit, roll cab and top box. It was loaded with snap on tools and nearly every week he would order a new one. He had a snap on cover that sat on the box. Now, I knew this guy for at least 7 years and the kit just sat at the back of the workshop with the cover on and he NEVER used it! He just used the shop tools he was issued with! The only time it was opened was to put another new tool in it! It must have owed him at least £6000, probably over $10000US in those days. Beware if anyone ever moved it as it really annoyed him. Of course we would then turn it around so the drawers were all up against the wall but the cover was the "right way round"!! He wouldn't notice until the latest new tool went in! Guess who was the only person to scratch his precious box? He did the lid when he opened it too close the wall, I think he cried.

 

[RobSmith]

Ive noticed that it seems- if you mis treat your stuff, others will mistreat it.. if you take care of it, others will endeavour to do the same- and this also goes for using other folks stuff.. if they see you take time to not slam drawers, wipe your paw prints, move it out of the way- they atleast in my area- do the same.... you work in a very civilised place. I have noticed that if you introduce a new item to the work place every other retard wants to leave their mark or just damage it to " make it look cool"