Modifying 40" Craftsman rollaway toolbox

[shamrock12]

My 40" Craftsman ball bearing grip latch 13-drawers toolbox has a few useless large drawers at the bottom. I'm thinking about ordering a few 2" & 3 1/8" drawers to take over the 6" & 12" spots. The question is, can this be done fairly easily? Are there pre-drilled holes / pre-punched slots at even interval for attaching the drawers?

I realize that the lock may be an issue but can that be modified as well?

 

[geologist]

All of my Craftsman boxes have punched slots that hold the rails in. Unfortunately, that's probably not much help to you since all of my boxes have friction slides. Needless to say, it's only stamped in the original locations and there aren't any extras.

 

[Outlawmws]

get one of the deeper drawers out and see if there are a series of holes for the slides to lock into. if so rearranging the drawers and even ordering new drawers is an option. if not, you would be better off trading up thant attempting a mod.

 

[bad_idea]

The garage journal answer is: Stanley Vidmars have adjustable drawers. Any depth drawer can be bolted in. So trade in that cheap C-man box and spend $4k on a nice vidmar or two.

(Kidding)

 

[toolmaker1]

The garage journal answer is: Stanley Vidmars have adjustable drawers. Any depth drawer can be bolted in. So trade in that cheap C-man box and spend $4k on a nice vidmar or two.

(Kidding)

no no no if it ain't snapon it's ****

 

[myers212]

I did this with my 14 drawer craftsman box. I replaced the narrow deep drawer with 4 smaller drawers. Before I got replacement parts I pulled the upper drawers and put them in the spots I wanted new drawers in to check if they would lock. The inside of the box was set up for a ton of configurations. I ended up ordering the side box and pulling the drawers from it because it ended up being cheaper than ordering the slides and drawers from Sears Parts.

 

[thedeatons]

I just tried this with my usa craftsman. Waterloo had the parts, but it would have cost $70 per drawer plus $30 for slides... I sold it and bought a different box... Pics soon...

 

[rsanter]

yes you can, I did it
although I did it with the upper drawers so I could have more thin ones.
look through my old posts...
tip....you may not want to buy the drawers and slides due to the cost. what I did was to buy a top box that has the drawrs I wanted (and got it on sale), did the switch around between the 2 boxes and then I was going to give the top box to my dad but he decided he didnt want it afterall so I sold it. ended up costing very little to do

bob

 

[betcd]

Trade up to a harbor freight 44" box it is a whole lot better built box

 

[mtwaterguy]

The garage journal answer is: Stanley Vidmars have adjustable drawers. Any depth drawer can be bolted in. So trade in that cheap C-man box and spend $4k on a nice vidmar or two.

(Kidding)

Yeah, and only about $250 a drawer when I checked with Vidmar CS.

 

[shamrock12]

I just pulled out a few drawers and it does appear that I can change the drawer configuration. Thank you guys for confirming. The only problem is I need a narrow (approx 11 3/4" wide) GRIPLATCH drawer that is 6" deep. It seems they are only available in 2" , 3", 4" , and 12" depth at that width. Hopefully I am mistaken and if so, can someone please provide the part # for that size drawer?

Also do anyone know exactly what is going on with Sears and their Craftsman toolboxes? It seems alot of their toolboxes are out of stock or no longer available. Is it part of Sears' downsizing business strategy or are they phasing out their toolboxes for another brand?

 

[myers212]

I checked my catalogs dated back to 2007 and I can't find a grip latch drawer that width on any of the boxes. Two 3-1/8" drawers would work though. I did find one regular ball bearing box with an 11-3/4" width drawer that is 6-3/8" deep. The box model is 95729 silver, 61961 forest green, 61823 red, 61963 black and 61965 midnight blue.

The part number for the 3-1/8" drawer is 18194A5-DB5. Not sure if it comes with the trim. That number is M12842A1. The drawer slides are 27828 for the right side and 27827 for the left.

 

[myers212]

Here's a pic of my box after adding the additional drawers.

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/26018205@N08/6963293315/" title="DSC_6548 by myers212, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7052/6963293315_ce630c83b1.jpg" width="500" height="335" alt="DSC_6548"></a>