Lista cabinet identification and restoration guidance

[Marc_F]

Since a long time I'm a quiet reader on the Garage Journal Forums, but having acquired my first industrial drawer cabinet today, I decided o write my first post on the forum as I could use some guidance with restoring the cabinet before putting it in use.

So I found this Lista cabinet for sale for a good price and even though I had to drive 6 hours in total to pick it up, I think it was still worth it.

In general, the cabinet is in good shape, with some scratches, very little surface rust and some bent drawer handle rails.

I attached some photos, and I hope that they will enable you to help me with the following questions:

- Can you confirm that it is actually a Lista cabinet? I saw photos of Lista cabinet drawer rails on this Forum, and found that Lista uses a system with a plastic clip to secure the rail on the front end. In my cabinet they are fixed with screws. Is this just a different design, or is my cabinet maybe from another brand?
- Some of the rollers seem to be quite dry, as they rattle when turning them, and others seems to be filled with old grease, so they don't turn easily. What is the best method to clean them and grease them? I think I can simply clean them with brake cleaner and compressed air, but I'm unsure about the type of grease to use.
- Regarding the bent aluminum drawer handle rails, is it a good idea to dismantle them and try to straighten them with a hammer and a piece of wood for example, or do I risk cracking the aluminum?

Thanks in advance for your comments.

Cheers
Marc

 

[Trey T]

-That's the earlier generation Lista box. If the current ones are 3rd generation, that would be first generation.
-I used brake cleaner on my Vidmar boxes to remove the grease and use compressed air to clear it out. I used some general black bearing grease I had laying around but any grease is appropriate.
-can't help you... my Listas have newer style drawer handles

 

[Nick Danger]

Joe Germann, the Lista dealer at Motorhead Extraodinaire, recommended that I clean the rollers with mixed acetone and automatic transmission fluid. It worked great! Then I lubricated them with some lightweight bicycle grease that I had on hand. I cleaned and relubricated every roller, and it made a huge difference in the drawer action.

I have the same handles. I was able to bend one little to straighten it out but was afraid to push too hard. There are supposed to be quarter circle ends on those handles, but Joe can't get them.

I did buy a new lock from him. The current model fits the old shaft.

 

[Nick Danger]

Check out this thread.

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=179140

 

[pcmeiners]

Cabinets look decent to me. Heavy rust on the bottom of cabinets would be bad. If the cabinets were abused the rails the bearing roll on would wear thin, not the case.
Bearing look grease bound, they just need cleaning; personally I would spray with cleaner which does not evaporate quickly, let sit over night, then thoroughly clean with with brake cleaner (takes time). Lubricate the rails also after cleaning. Damaged drawer pulls, Motorhead, Ebay or Lista direct. If your patient, Ebay can be relatively cheap. Lastly best to have gloves on cleaning the inside rails, I did not, and drew some blood.
Welcome to the world of real storage cabinets.
Buy the cabinet

 

[Marc_F]

Thanks a lot for your input.

Acetone mixed with ATF sounds good, I will definitely try that. As the bearings are covered by a plastic cover on the outside, I figured that it would probably be best to remove the roller from the rail. However, I didn't find out how to dismantle them. While the rollers on the drawers are just fixed with a bolt, the ones on the inner rail are not. Any idea how to do that?

Regarding the drawer pulls, I think I will just try to slightly straighten the one which is bent a little more, but otherwise I will probably not touch them.

The seller announced that he will have a second identical cabinet for sale, so I have to think about where I could put one more...

Cheers
Marc

 

[pcmeiners]

I would buy the second cabinet, the drawer height is good, not too high (wasted space), not to low.
As to the plastic bearing cover, I have Vidmars which do not have a cover, the Lista's I have worked on do not either. I would drill a tiny hole, top and bottom on the plastic, introduce a petroleum product to loosen the original grease, if they are binding.
Give Lista a call, see what they say, I would be worried about the plastic warping if the wrong solvent was used

"so I have to think about where I could put one more... "
If space in the garage is an issue my choices in order would be living room, bedroom, kitchen, bathroom.

 

[Trey T]

Don't remove the bearings from the drawer or rail; however, you should remove the rail from the cabinet to make cleaning easier. The bearings are spun-press rivet together. If you remove the rivet, you need to get another rivet and install it again ... seems like a PITA, based on my previous research of bearing replacement.

Same here, my Vidmar bearing doesn't have plastic cover. To make cleaning effective, you need to remove the plastic cover. The old grease in my bearings were caked up but brake cleaner loosen and removed it very easily.

I still recommend aerosol can brake cleaner over the acetone/ATF concoction because you don't have to manage the waste afterward. You have to waste a lot of acetone/ATF to effectively clean the bearings from the rail and drawer. I went through couple cans cleaning about 20 drawers.

If the seller has the 2" drawer, definitely get those to store your tools or small parts.

 

[Marc_F]

So I finally found a few hours today to work on the Lista and just wanted to let you know how it worked out.

As both brake cleaner and ATF/Acetone were mentioned as good cleaning methods, I just tried out both to find out which one works the best on my rollers. I finally proceeded as follows:

- I dismantled all the rollers from the drawers themselves and also dismantled the rails from the cabinet.
- Then I sprayed all the rollers with aerosol brake cleaner, in order to loosen the old grease
- Next I used an ATF/Acetone mixture and a small paint brush to loosen up the rollers and flush out the old grease. This definitely worked better than with brake cleaner only. Maybe this has something to do with the type(s) of oil or grease which have been used in the past? Also I didn't need a big quantity of ATF/Acetone. I used a 4"x4" plastic container, and filled it up maybe 1" high. That was enough to clean all the rollers.
- In order to make sure that all the dirt is completely flushed out of the rollers, I sprayed them once more with brake cleaner and then used compressed air to blow the remainders out.
- I then lubricated the rollers with Teflon bycicle chain dry lubricant and reassembled everything.
- Total working time: almost 5 hours, but it was definiely worth it. The bearings now look and operate like new.

Thanks for all your helpful input!

Regarding the second cabinet the seller has available, it is exactly the same, with the same drawer height. I will now try to fill all my tools in the new Lista, and will then decide if I need a second identical one, or if I better search for a second one with smaller drawers.

 

[Richard Cranium]

Go buy the second one, trust me, you will use it. If I could find more at a reasonable price they would be in my garage and I would be selling my snap on tool boxes.