Husky 52 Inch 18 Drawer Tool Box

[mhardy]

First time poster here. Many may disagree but I believe this to be the best tool box out there for the money. Not the best tool box for sure but for the advanced DIY'er or garage monkey I think it is a great value. I was planning on spending up to $1000 dollars but for $600 or less you can not find anything remotely close to this tool box in size and quality. Garage Journal raves about the Harbor Freight boxes but after spending some time looking at them I think this box is very close in quality. I added a HF power strip to the top lid which fit nicely. I also added a rubber grommet to the knock out to prevent the cord from fraying. I also purchased an 11 compartment drawer organizer from HF (Item # 99730) which also fit perfectly. Lastly, I added a stainless steel handle to the top lid for easier use. I think it works well and looks like it could have come with the box to begin with. It is 18 inches long, made by White Cap Industries and I found it at my local marine supply store. Overall I have very few complaints other than one. When I opened the box the side handle was welded incorrectly and would not fit. I called Husky and they said they would send one out immediately. That was Jan. 8, 2015 and today March 25, 2015 I have still not received the replacement handle. I finally got irritated and went into my local HD and asked them to switch me out for a new one. They understandably did not want to do this and the manager even asked me how he was now supposed to sell the box with the defective handle. He finally gave in after I showed him the email trail of me requesting a replacement one going back 3 months with no success. Other than that this is a great tool box.

 

[Weldor]

Nice box! I agree with you for the money you can't beat it. I have the 26" all black box at work and I love it. The ball bearing sliders are smooth and nice locking detent. I really like the struts on the top lid. Good buy at $600!

 

[mrvm]

Nice big tool box for the home garage. Early versions of black Huskys were not too great but the steady improvements made with each new version is getting noticed, even here at GJ.

 

[NC-Shaun]

I went and looked at this box in person 2 days ago at the store. I am an owner of the HF 26incher and am really happy with it but am always looking for better options.

Things that stood out to me on this box you just bought are as follows.

1. The slides are huge (this is good), but were really tight and didnt want to extend properly. Maybe just needed greased? No detents or latches at the closed positions....Odd to me, my HF has detents

2. The sheet metal is super thin, the top lid is flimsy, and I am sure the rest of the box was the same guage. Do you have the gauge thickness specs available?

3. The top chest handle looks nice, but the lower handle looked cheap and like an afterthought. My HF handle is extremely nice, all the way down to the socket cap bolts. not a big deal, just an observation. If I owned the Husky i would probably just remove the lower handle, and have a shelf there, paper towel roll or something. I dont move my box much.

4. My HF 26er has quarter turn barrell key locks, I cant remember what the Husky had, but I dont think they were the 1/4 turn barrel keys or I wouldnt have mentioned it. I may be wrong.

5. The 6 casters on the Husky are a very nice feature, allowing tighter maneuvering for ease of placement.

6. The black finish on the one I was looking at had huge fisheyed spots inside the top lid. That would bug the **** outta me, and I am sure its not all of em that had this problem. I would want to see the actual box I was buying before I took it home.

Please follow up on your experience with this box, and continue to post pictures as you get your tools laid out in it. I am glad someone posted up about this box, as I am considering an upgrade. The metal guage specs, lock specifics, slide action after greasing, and the finish issues I mentioned are my main points of interest. Followed by seeing how you choose to layout your tools in this setup.

Congrats on the new box!

 

[NC-Shaun]

I think I found the metal guage spec.....Its 20 guage, I thought it may be thinner than the Red US General boxes which I believe are 18 guage

 

[mhardy]

I would agree there are some nicer features to the 56 inch HF box and in general I think many things about it are nicer. Here are my thoughts:

1.The slides were a bit rough at first but after several uses they seem normal and fine with out any further greasing. They were very catchy the first few times but I have no issues with them currently. They do not have any locks on them to hold them closed like the HF or the Kirkland (Costco) brands. This is some thing I wish this box had especially with little kids.

2. I guess the Husky's may be thinner but to me after extensive playing around with them the drawers seem just as study and strong as others. I have several drawers loaded up with large heavy pipe wrenches and large objects and no issues after three months. Again, this is a $600 box and not one I would use every day. To be honest after looking around I like the quality and build of the upper end Kobalt SS boxes at Lowes. They by far seemed to be better quality to me but I was not willing to spend that much money.

3. You are right the lower handle is a POS. I put it on but again mine just sits there and I don't plan on moving it around very much. The handle to the top box is actually really nice. Not sure why one would be such high quality and the other on be made so poorly. That said, one of the main selling points for me was the top lid. The reason I like the Husky so much is the size and height of the lid. I can store my cordless tools up there along with chargers and other large items and still close the lid. This is something that most tool boxes don't have or if they do they have about 3-5 inches of total space.

4. Husky's are not barrel locks and they pretty much ****. They are hard to turn and if I was going to use them much at all I may have not purchased the box but since it is for my personal garage use I don't ever plan on locking the box so I wasn't too concerned.

5. The caster are very nice and make the box move very easily.

6. As far as the finish goes mine is perfect. After looking at all different boxes the finish on the Husky was actually one of its selling points. I would prefer SS but the painted finish on this box looks very nice to me.

Overall I would say the HF box is nice and has some higher end features but I am not sure I would spend the extra 40% to go with the HF 56 inch version. I am sure you can get it a bit cheaper than $1000 but you can also find the Husky 52 inch often for around $500 so you are paying considerable more for the HF one. For me I couldn't see 40% greater quality or features to go that way even though both were within my budget.

Lastly, one thing that impressed me was the large amount of 5 star reviews the box received. On HD's website you will find over 200+ detailed reviews with many of them including pictures and lengthy descriptions of what is wrong/right with the box. For me, I enjoyed having that information to sort through so I could make an educated decision.

 

[Zrexxer]

the manager even asked me how he was now supposed to sell the box with the defective handle.

You should have told him "You sold ME one with a defective handle, surely you can do it again!" lol.

 

[SalahHH83]

I have a Husky 26" top box that I picked up for 20 bucks bc it had been dropped at the store and the top lid was bent some. For 20 bucks I'm super happy with it, but the one major complaint I have about it is how thin the sheet metal is. As others mentioned above, the HF red boxes feel much more sturdy with thicker gauge steel. If the Husky just used thicker steel, it would be awesome IMO. Obviously we're talking inexpensive boxes for home use here and not tool truck boxes that cost more than a new car, but I'm very happy with the HF 44". I'd like to play around with one of these Huskys in person just to see how the thickness of the steel feels etc.

 

[NC-Shaun]

I would agree there are some nicer features to the 56 inch HF box and in general I think many things about it are nicer. Here are my thoughts:

1.The slides were a bit rough at first but after several uses they seem normal and fine with out any further greasing. They were very catchy the first few times but I have no issues with them currently. They do not have any locks on them to hold them closed like the HF or the Kirkland (Costco) brands. This is some thing I wish this box had especially with little kids.

2. I guess the Husky's may be thinner but to me after extensive playing around with them the drawers seem just as study and strong as others. I have several drawers loaded up with large heavy pipe wrenches and large objects and no issues after three months. Again, this is a $600 box and not one I would use every day. To be honest after looking around I like the quality and build of the upper end Kobalt SS boxes at Lowes. They by far seemed to be better quality to me but I was not willing to spend that much money.

3. You are right the lower handle is a POS. I put it on but again mine just sits there and I don't plan on moving it around very much. The handle to the top box is actually really nice. Not sure why one would be such high quality and the other on be made so poorly. That said, one of the main selling points for me was the top lid. The reason I like the Husky so much is the size and height of the lid. I can store my cordless tools up there along with chargers and other large items and still close the lid. This is something that most tool boxes don't have or if they do they have about 3-5 inches of total space.

4. Husky's are not barrel locks and they pretty much ****. They are hard to turn and if I was going to use them much at all I may have not purchased the box but since it is for my personal garage use I don't ever plan on locking the box so I wasn't too concerned.

5. The caster are very nice and make the box move very easily.

6. As far as the finish goes mine is perfect. After looking at all different boxes the finish on the Husky was actually one of its selling points. I would prefer SS but the painted finish on this box looks very nice to me.

Overall I would say the HF box is nice and has some higher end features but I am not sure I would spend the extra 40% to go with the HF 56 inch version. I am sure you can get it a bit cheaper than $1000 but you can also find the Husky 52 inch often for around $500 so you are paying considerable more for the HF one. For me I couldn't see 40% greater quality or features to go that way even though both were within my budget.

Lastly, one thing that impressed me was the large amount of 5 star reviews the box received. On HD's website you will find over 200+ detailed reviews with many of them including pictures and lengthy descriptions of what is wrong/right with the box. For me, I enjoyed having that information to sort through so I could make an educated decision.

I subscribed to this thread, it will be great to hear your review after more time has passed. I read alot of the reviews on Home Depot which were for the most part great, then I switched the reviews to "lowest rated first" and read 2 pages of my concerns being validated. Some of them saying the slides crumpled under load, the drawers collapsed when loaded with automotive tools etc....

I try and be listen to reviews and be objective, because its hard to say if someone abused a particular item, or used it completely outside of its scope of its intended purpose, thus causing the failure. That being said, be sure and post pics of your tool box all loaded up, and keep us updated on how it works for you

 

[Lookin4'67Galaxieconv]

I took an extensive look at that box awhile back. I thought it was very cheap. No way would I take that over a 44" HF box. But to each his own!

 

[99_xc600]

I also just picked up this box 2 weeks ago. Previous to this, I had the US General 5 Drawer Service cart and a couple of Craftsman Chests. Sold all of them.

Overall I'm very happy with the box. It came down to the HF 44 Top and Bottom and the Husky won due to the larger amount of real estate. Pure and simple. I felt that the HF was just going to be too small and I would end up filling it up. My garage is already jammed and at this point, space is at a premium.

I only had 2 minor issues with the box.

1. Stiff Detents

2. Sticky drawer action.

Both of these issues were due to the lack of lubrication on the slides and the rubber pawls for the detent actions. Last weekend I pulled out all the drawers, cleaned and lubricated all of the slides and pawls with white lithium grease and now everything is working great. I can open all the drawers with one finger and zero effort.

The mounting flange on the lower chest handle was also welded in the wrong orientation for mine as well.. It really doesn't matter, due to the side of the box being up against my bench. It won't fit anyway. I may just modify it and use it for the lid.

For $600 bucks, I'm satisfied with it.

 

[NC-Shaun]

So I guess it does have detents like the HF boxes do after all. Thats great to hear that the slides work freely after greasing them up. Post up more pics of the what ya got in the rest of the drawers, I do like this box due since it has more shallow drawers than most boxes this size. I would like to see how you made use of them. I probably wouldnt use the side handle for the lower chest also.

 

[99_xc600]

No problem. Still working on the drawer config and the final organization.

 

[99_xc600]

Decided not to re-purpose the original side handle for the lid. The more I thought about it, I figured it would be too much weight for the struts and over time would cause them to wear out.

Anyway, I went to HD today and found a nice 8" stainless steel handle that matches the finish on the rest of the box. Now that I've drilled a couple of holes, I feel that I'm committed to it.

 

[CJM8515]

They have more space, but the sheet metal is to thin vs the HF 44. I was gonna buy one several times and finally went with the HF 44 b/c the metal was thicker. I had a husky 26" box and the drawers actually bent from the weight and Im just a home user.

 

[99_xc600]

So far with what I have in it so far. I've had no issues. Even the big drawer on the lower cabinet with all of the sockets and everything else has shown no signs of any stress.

I'll be the first to chime in if I see any points of concern. I'm typically doing something out in the garage every weekend. So it will get some use.

Also I believe that everyone has agreed that the 26" box is a POS.

 

[goforride57]

Why does it seem every thread on here turns into a Harbor Freight thread? I'm going to have to take a break from this site. All the talk about coupons...starting to feel sick.


Thanks Harbor Freight trolls.

 

[PJNJ]

Why does it seem every thread on here turns into a Harbor Freight thread? I'm going to have to take a break from this site. All the talk about coupons...starting to feel sick.


Thanks Harbor Freight trolls.

If it doesn't turn into a HF thread then it turns into a Snap On thread.

 

[Mpower5266]

My dad picked up one of those around christmas, its pretty nice so far.

 

[99_xc600]

I think it's funny to listen to people argue about what Asian box is better.

 

[MaineGuide]

I ordered the blue/black Husky top box and roll cab recently, based on how the 52" box felt in the store. Should be here some time next week.

 

[mhardy]

Why does it seem every thread on here turns into a Harbor Freight thread? I'm going to have to take a break from this site. All the talk about coupons...starting to feel sick.


Thanks Harbor Freight trolls.

Amen!

 

[99_xc600]

Cool - Post some pic's when you have it setup.

 

[junkyardwarrior]

Agreed, it's a good box for the money. I looked at them at the local HD store, they had a scratch & dent model in the back that went for $400. I thought about buying it but I really wanted something bigger with more storage. There were also a few things I didn't like about the Husky box. First, the top. When the lid is opened, there isn't a lip to hold stuff from falling out. Like sockets or whatever. I guess it's space that is reserved for electrical stuff like cordless chargers and the like. But I personally don't like that setup. Also, I don't like the detents-on any of them. I like the drawers to slide in and out without having to lift up or unlock things. Actually I bought the 72" HF box and cut all of the drawer locks out. It works fine without them. The slides are like the Husky box in that they're a little stiff at first. After putting weight in them and sliding them in/out a bunch of times they slide nicely, same goes for the Husky box that I looked at-a co-worker bought that exact box once I mentioned it to him. And I'm glad he did since he really needed a box to replace the OLD Craftsman box that was overflowing. My box at work is an older (about 15 year old) green colored 40" Masterhand, from TSC. They were on clearance at the time, and also at the same time I was working part time at the local store and I had a christmas-time only employee 25% discount card. Top and bottom were under $500 with taxes. It works fine for what I do. It's nowhere near a Matco box and never will be, but the tool box doesn't make me money and there is no reason to spend thousands on something that isn't going to make me any money or make my job easier.