Montezuma road box.....modified

[carcajou]

Hi everyone. I thought i would post this in case anyone was considering a Montezuma LA400 toolbox. It's kinda a review/makeover.

I have a 2003 Ford Superduty (7.3) that i use for farm/oilfield use. I removed the back seat to make more room for a air compressor, tool boxes and all the misc stuff like jumper cables, tow rope etc. Last year i put in a regular tool chest which worked OK initially but the detents had to be replaced regularly and the layout was not efficient IMO. After a lot of thought, and little measuring i decided to try one of these.

I built a platform over the rear floorboard to house a couple of pull out drawers and put the box on it. Threw a few tools in it and drove around a couple days, a few things became immediately apparent.

 

[carcajou]

Problem #1 The box was noisy as hell! I pulled it out and installed carpet on the back and a liner where the front wrenches rest.

Problem #2 The holes they install for the screwdrivers allow them to flop all over the place. I glued two pieces of 1/2 Baltic birch plywood together then ripped to size. After i installed it into the box i laid out the screwdriver set i bought for this truck and drilled each hole to size. No more flopping around and less noise.

 

[carcajou]

Problem #3 Access to the bottom/back of the box is hampered by the pegs on the top of the lower front tray, and the handles to lift up the socket tray. For my application i cut off one handle and the pegs on the left side. This allowed me to mount an old Proto box that was more useful for me. I really think they would be better off to eliminate those lower pegs and then a guy can use mag rails instead. The peg spacing for impact sockets is dismal at best anyway. I gained easier access and got a little better storage out of this.

Problem #4 Up here in the North daylight hrs are scarce in the winter and seeing in this box requires lighting. I installed a RV type light in the lid and 2 led strips on the bottom sections. This works awesome.

 

[carcajou]

Problem #5 Nobody put struts on the socket tray to hold it up! For now a small piece of 3/4 plywood is doing the job but installing struts is on my To Do list.

 

[carcajou]

After installing the box, and a lot more tools i went for a quick trip and can say this is 10X better noise wise. I lined the bottom with carpet too. Overall i'm happy with this setup and look forward to testing it out real soon. These boxes hold both std and metric wrenches and sockets btw. I put my 3/8 shallow sockets on mag rails and just rest them on top of the 3/8 pegs, they will get used a lot and i want the whole set near me when i'm working on something. I also put socket labels and wrench labels to mark where the tools go. If this was my only tool storage on the truck it would not be large enough but hammers, pliers, large wrenches etc go in the pull out drawer under the box.

Last a pic of it installed in the truck. Hope this helps

 

[Lookin4'67Galaxieconv]

Very cool. I really like that idea with the light.

 

[bobcatdan]

How are those boxes for storing electric tools like multimeters and test leads? Or open end angle wrenches, crowfeets, puches and chisils or pliers in general? Or allen and torx sockets that wouldn't hang a peg very well. I maybe in the market for a new road box soon and have too many questions to really consider one this style. Right now I'm thinking an Internatonal road box since they are only $500 or so, if it is junk in 10 years, I'm ok with it. I don't really want to take my kra 62c on the road.

 

[Packard V8]

Instead of carpet, round an old yoga mat from your significant other. Cuts easily, glues down well, lies flat, usually a lighter color so it shows contrast.

jack vines

 

[carcajou]

The reason for the carpet was to deaden the sounds of the tools moving around. Carpet absorbs sound where yoga mats will reflect it.

 

[Outlawmws]

Nice job with the mods/improvements! I've always liked this style tool storage, it seems super efficient, much better than the typical top box, and you open one door and you have access to damn near everything. If I wasn't pretty stuck on staying with bottom rollers, I'd probably have bought one by now, and I'm still tempted to go this route...

 

[rockinacummins]

Old thread I know... But does anyone else have one of the triangle shape boxes like this? If so, what's a good cost and how well do you like it?