kool_BOY8323
Well-known member
just remember to finish buying the tools you absolutely need before you spend more on your box than you have on your car, or your house.
Let's see your toolbox.
- Thread starter wythors
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just remember to finish buying the tools you absolutely need before you spend more on your box than you have on your car, or your house.
richfinn
Well-known member
I don't see anything wrong with sticking Snap On badges on cheap boxes
If it amuses someone or makes their ego feel better, good luck to them
If they try to pass them off as genuine when selling them, that's a no no
But you would think any potential buyer should know better
If it amuses someone or makes their ego feel better, good luck to them
If they try to pass them off as genuine when selling them, that's a no no
But you would think any potential buyer should know better
richfinn
Well-known member
just remember to finish buying the tools you absolutely need before you spend more on your box than you have on your car, or your house.
Or your kids
Tundra
Well-known member
just remember to finish buying the tools you absolutely need before you spend more on your box than you have on your car, or your house.
I'm sorry but there is nothing about a tool box that makes it cost as much as a car. It uses less steel, pretty simplistic metal forming, and no toolbox manufacture makes it's own slides, the most complex part of the box. 10K+ price tags on a simple roller without a chest is just gouging plain and simple. So in the end a Snap-On box may very well be a well made box but it is a well made box in the same sense that Louis Vitton is well made luggage, the price tag it carries is several orders of magnatude what the product could be sold at with a reasonable profit if it was efficiently manufactured. This is simply blue collar luxury goods, a pretty ridiculous concept.
This is not the kind of product that will in anyway save American manufacturing, it doesn't really compete effectively against imported products that do similar functions. In order for American products to compete against imports they need to be manufactured efficiently enough to offset foriegn labor and shipping costs. And simply put this means automation and bringing back the production of the materials that facilitate manufacturing. If we don't do this we will lose this game. It isn't about consumer loyalty to American products, it's about corporate America's lack of loyalty to itself and it's own products.
Tools are exactly the sort of product that we should be able to make more effectively here. They should be relitively easy to reduce human costs as the process itself happens at temperatures and under conditions not particularly favorable to human interaction, they are heavy by volume so it should be easy to offset overseas shipping costs, and these are the 2 principle variables. If Snap-On and the like were truely commited to competition they would dominate this market at all levels and inspire others instead they have carved out a niche by marketing as a money is no object product that relates more to designer shoes than tools.
Sorry just my humble opinion.
This is not the kind of product that will in anyway save American manufacturing, it doesn't really compete effectively against imported products that do similar functions. In order for American products to compete against imports they need to be manufactured efficiently enough to offset foriegn labor and shipping costs. And simply put this means automation and bringing back the production of the materials that facilitate manufacturing. If we don't do this we will lose this game. It isn't about consumer loyalty to American products, it's about corporate America's lack of loyalty to itself and it's own products.
Tools are exactly the sort of product that we should be able to make more effectively here. They should be relitively easy to reduce human costs as the process itself happens at temperatures and under conditions not particularly favorable to human interaction, they are heavy by volume so it should be easy to offset overseas shipping costs, and these are the 2 principle variables. If Snap-On and the like were truely commited to competition they would dominate this market at all levels and inspire others instead they have carved out a niche by marketing as a money is no object product that relates more to designer shoes than tools.
Sorry just my humble opinion.
signcrafter
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just remember to finish buying the tools you absolutely need before you spend more on your box than you have on your car, or your house.
Nice.
I'm just a shadetree mechanic and would love some tool boxes, of any decent brand. I have a hodge podge of used boxes in the garage and basement. Have about 8 top boxes and no roll arounds. I buy used boxes as I come across great deals but I spend most of my tool funds on quality tools. The tools are what gets the job done. I buy most of them used also so I can afford a little higher quality. Someday after I have all the tools I will ever need, or win the lottery, I'll get a nice big box to hold them all. Until then I'll keep buying the tools to get the work done and deal with the boxes I have and the rest of the tools that don't fit go on the shelves.
I can see where a pro might "need" a tool truck box to look professional. Personally I could care less what the tech working on my car uses as a box. But I could see some customers walking into a shop and seeing 20 guys with big tool boxes from tool trucks and one guy with a little craftsman box and thinking they don't want the "little guy" working on their stuff. Some people are all about image like that.
Rosso
Well-known member
Slight over reaction on the snap on stickers on the box.
It's a cheap box, just a laugh putting SO badges on it. I don't care for expensive box's, i'd rather spend the money on the tools in it.
It's a cheap box, just a laugh putting SO badges on it. I don't care for expensive box's, i'd rather spend the money on the tools in it.
AV tinker er
Well-known member
He has it figured out
cburnscrx
Well-known member
I would too but customer confidence is worth quite a bit to me (and more so to my employer). I need a bigger box anyway but this has been the final nail in the coffin for that box
Just one thing to keep in mind when you're buying this new box...
Take the cost of the box, and divide it by 52, then divide it by 40. That's the hourly pay cut you're going to take if you pay it off in one year with 0% interest. Just something to keep in mind when deciding how much to spend. For example, if you buy a $4200 box, you're taking a $2 an hour pay cut. Puts it in perspective. If you finance it, you're paying interest and see how quickly that adds up. Tools do the work and help you make money, not the box.
Take a look at www.strictlytoolboxes.com and of course Harbor Freight for some lower cost alternatives than truck boxes.
I get student discount on Matco boxes otherwise I would be looking at an extreme box. I'm just going to pay for it outright (No financing... I hate owing people money)
Or, just divide the cost by 2080.
ihateminimumwage
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I know the feeling, as I was the only guy in my shop with my ancient rusty Craftsman stacker (which everyone referred to as 'Grampa's old farm box'). I'm always looking for deals on a box on CL, but if none come up, I'll be going the HF or Strictlytoolboxes route when I'm done with school and back into a shop. Need something with more space than my old box has.Normally I would agree with you on this but after pushing my c-man box around the new job for 3 weeks a pro box is in the near future. It's the only "homeowner grade" box in the shop and I have enough trouble with people trusting me to work on their truck (I'm the youngest in the shop at 19 and I look a lot younger than that). You can almost see the color drain from their faces when I roll my box out
Same reason I stuck a Snappy badge on my HF 4-drawer cart. It was funny to see all the guys at the last shop (who all had HF carts) thinking it was an actual Snap-On cart. I'm the first to tell anyone it's just a HF cart with a shelf and prybar holder added.
richfinn
Well-known member
I like my old Snap On 26" KRA63 stacked on top of a roll cab which I paid £1000 for in 1990ish
If I ever buy another it will be a used Lista and I will be bidding as low as possible.
You need a tool box, but it doesn't need to cost the earth
That said keep posting the pics on this thread, they are awesome and even though I would never pay that kind of cash it's entertaining and gives me ideas for organisation and what to buy next
If I ever buy another it will be a used Lista and I will be bidding as low as possible.
You need a tool box, but it doesn't need to cost the earth
That said keep posting the pics on this thread, they are awesome and even though I would never pay that kind of cash it's entertaining and gives me ideas for organisation and what to buy next
cburnscrx
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cburnscrx
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Well, yes of course, but I really didn't feel like explaining WHY you divided by 2080.
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signcrafter
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If you can buy it outright the more power to you. As long as you have all the tools to do your job and the cash to buy a new box then that's great. My earlier point was for the guys that have to have big brand new boxes but don't have half the tools they should for doing their job and go and finance a brand new box.
Yeah, I got most of the tools I need... The only time I have to borrow a tool is when I need a crow's foot or something odd like that
Those are neat boxes. After years of use what is your take on the peg board inside the lid? Good idea and useful or a pain in the rear?
richfinn
Well-known member
I love mine like a brother
I would never part with it, I keep my ratchets/extensions and speed brace up on the peg board, one of Snap Ons classic designs. It's old school but you know where all your socketry is with out pulling drawers. I wish I could find the little 3 drawer version to put in my van but they are as rare as "rocking horse ****" in the UK.Stroked383
Well-known member
Well looks like this thread is getting a little off track here. Hope I don't get bashed for posting my Matco box and contents
Quite a bit missing but you get the idea
Quite a bit missing but you get the idea
GTA Matt
Well-known member
^^^Get on turbobullet if you aren't already there. Toolbox thread there too
Hpozzuoli
Well-known member
Finally got around to taking some pictures of the box for GJ. Some more things to come that are owed and a few more things I want, but I am happy for now. I had a lot more sockets, 3/8 and 1/2 shallow and deep, 6 and 12 point but found I was never using them all. Sold em and got into the SO set. If I need 1/2 I just use my impacts. Same with universals, torx, hex, and a bunch of other stuff that I hardly used. It was mostly Mastercraft, SK, Proto, Grey and others. Working on replacing the stuff I use alot with higher quality. Gonna be trading my red mini pick set for a green one next time I see my dealer, Any questions just ask. Need a bigger box already, looking for a top cab but I think something deeper and wide would make me happier.
Doesn't this snap on box resemble the harbor freight 56". I think the dimensions are very comparable.
****this is a real snap on box.......I am just using it to show how similar it is to the harbor freight.
Again I am just stealing the pic for comparisons sake. It's a very nice box.
Stroked383
Well-known member
cburnscrx
Well-known member
This is what I'm working with right now. College student budget
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk
Looks good, and we all started somewhere!
cburnscrx
Well-known member
Well looks like this thread is getting a little off track here. Hope I don't get bashed for posting my Matco box and contents
Quite a bit missing but you get the idea
Nice setup! I am sure that set you back a pretty penny. Like to color combo too except for the Ford sticker. Nothing against Ford at all, just don't understand why people advertise for free. Now, if you're getting paid to put that sticker on there...
Adam McLaughlin
Well-known member
I love the big blue box setup! Only thing I would have changed would be to get rid of the Hutch and put in a top box of drawers!
Adam
Adam
I love mine like a brother
Yea it is really an interesting design idea that they seemed to drop like a bad habit, so I was curious if there was a performance issue with them.
From what I have seen they are more popular in the Asian and European markets and especially with the motorsports folks. It took me a while to figure out that the peg board stores tools top up when the lid closes. Old school from 90's?
Shoot that's like modern tool box technology to me. 
The only two I know built like that are the KRA63 and the somewhat smaller 3 drawer KRA66 which you seek.
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Nice Snap On box as well as the Mac. I got a deal on a newer Snap On roller. They were built tough in the day, Hard to open, But Tough.
Well looks like this thread is getting a little off track here. Hope I don't get bashed for posting my Matco box and contents
Great post. I'd like to see more photos of your tool drawers!
The best photography that I've seen in this entire thread!
Loudpipes66
Well-known member
I'm not a big Matco fan, but that is one really nice looking box!!
mikefromme
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So who is going to be the first to post pics of a Snap-on box with Us-General badges???
Who knows you might start a trend.
Who knows you might start a trend.
Stroked383
Well-known member
Getting paid for a ford emblem on a tool box? That's an idea wonder if I can get paid for all the different signage hanging in my garage too. Ha
More pics when I get home, work just recently blocked Photobucket.
alpinewhite
Well-known member
Getting paid for a ford emblem on a tool box? That's an idea wonder if I can get paid for all the different signage hanging in my garage too. Ha
Did u guys ever notice that in American Chopper, the shop has lots of banners from companies? I bet those are advertisers.
Hpozzuoli
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It's been done a few times already. On all the HF boxes.
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Hpozzuoli
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DanCo
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Hpozzuoli
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If my tool box was in a location where it got a bit of shady traffic I would. Same reason I always try to park next to a nicer car, which 95% isn't very hard.
Heck why stop at US General, you need a name that screams low value in the name like "Valuecraft". Something that the average thief wouldn't think is worth anything. Friend of mine did this to a very expensive bicycle in college, rattled caned it really bad on purpose to make it look crappy and thus low value. Survived 4 years in a high crime area without an incident. 
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