Need a bottom tool cabinet

[yamaha427]

So since I dont do this for a living, Im not about to spend a huge amount of money on a box, not to mention I really dont think theyre entirely necessary, whats in the box is whats important to me. As long as theyre made with thick enough steel so the drawers arent flimys, the drawers slide smoothly and are reliable and can hold a decent amount of weight in each etc as my craftsman is awesome and is as nice as the day i bought it. I bought a 8 drawer 41inch craftsman top box with ballbearing drawers about 7 years ago, I love it, but ive far outgrown it. So i look online and i see craftsman has some 41-53inch 8 or so drawer bottom boxes for around 300 bucks and I go to sears to check them out and theyre ****. The metal is flimsy as hell, they draw slides ****, and all around they just look cheap as hell, I want this to last forever as i do all my tools. Since craftsmans outsouring to china the quality of their products have really really gone down dramatically. Im thinking about husky, or kolbalt, or any other suggestions you guys might have. I want it to hold my cordless drills, sawsall, circular saw, other power tools, my air tools, and some then more hand tools. id like to keep it 500 dollars or under. ill check craigslist, but havent had much luck on ebay. Thanks for and help

 

[jakemac]

(Also from China), but take a look at the Harbor Freight 44 inch box. It isn't SnapOn quality, but it isn't SnapOn price either. The HF box is better built than the newer Cman boxes and I like their boxes better than what Home Depot or Lowes offers.

 

[Greg85mcss]

X2 on the hf box. Only possible issue is there isn't a super deep bottom drawer so circular saw probably won't fit. Another option is to sell your top box & put the money towards a 52" husky top & bottom. They're good quality for home use & $598 for the top & bottom. Plenty of YouTube reviews on both. Most other husky boxes are **** btw


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[M6erfan]

I don't know what a "huge amount of money" is to you, but Strictly Toolboxes has the 56" ToolVault for sale with free stainless top upgrade right now...

 

[oldldh]

Or...

Sell your top box, and buy HF's 56" Roller cabinet...

Goes on sale, all the time for $699.99...

The 44" HF box is around $370.00, give or take ten bucks...

Either will float your boat...

I've got a 56", and I love it...

 

[yamaha427]

(Also from China), but take a look at the Harbor Freight 44 inch box. It isn't SnapOn quality, but it isn't SnapOn price either. The HF box is better built than the newer Cman boxes and I like their boxes better than what Home Depot or Lowes offers.

I just checked it out and I like the look, 13 drawers will give me plenty of room for expansion, I just have to see how deep the drawers are as I want to store some of my cordless dewalt power tools in the deep drawers, should have no issue with anything except the circular saw, all my drills, jig saw, multipurpose saw etc , but I can always store all those tools on the shelf I build under my work benches if those drawers aren't deep enough. Then I'll just have more reason to buy more tools to fill it up I'm gonna go to to HF this weekend and hopefully they have it so I can see it in person.

I know there's a lot of junk there but I've read they do have some solid stuff and the prices are great. Anything anyone would suggest picking up while I'm there? I needs metric 1/2 impact sockets, compression test kit, bearing pullers, valve spring compressor, and some line wrenches/flare nut in both metric and standard. Would those be decent buys at HF? A timing light would be nice to.

 

[M6erfan]

HF impacts are worth it. Forget their line wrenches, you'll thank me.

Don't know about the rest...

 

[yamaha427]

X2 on the hf box. Only possible issue is there isn't a super deep bottom drawer so circular saw probably won't fit. Another option is to sell your top box & put the money towards a 52" husky top & bottom. They're good quality for home use & $598 for the top & bottom. Plenty of YouTube reviews on both. Most other husky boxes are **** btw


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I saw those top and bottom combos at homedepot, it really is a great deal for a top and bottom box. The quality seemed pretty decent to, good enough for what I'm looking for. Maybe I will do something like that, I'm not sure what my craftsman is worth these days, but the quality of it is light years ahead of what they're selling these days. If I could get 150-200 bucks for it id sell it, if not I'd rather just keep it. It's not like you can have to much tool storage. I'm young and still. Building up my collection so I'm sure in a few years I could have all 3 of those filled. On another note I have been pondering starting another small dealership, and I obviously want to have a decent shop at home so I could always just put it away if I do indeed buy a lot and have to bring everything up there and keep my old craftsman for my home shop.

 

[John in OH]

If you want recommendations on HF tools ... both those that are good and those that are bad .... and you have a weekend to devote to reading several thousand postings, take a look at the Harbor Freight Pass/Fail thread:

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=27192&highlight=pass+fail

 

[619DioFan]

The HF 44'' box is better than what is available at the big box stores. your craftsman top box will fit on it. need more storage- you can add the HF side locker to the set. need more drawers- add the 7 drawer side cab.

 

[wmm2]

A few months ago, I was in the market for a tool cabinet. Based on the reviews here, I compared the Harbor Freight and the Craftsman boxes. Condensing down what was posted here is Harbor Freight has two levels of boxes. The black ones are lower quality, the red ones are better. Sears has three levels. The lowest is similar to the cheaper Harbor Freight box. The next level up from Sears is nearly as good as the Harbor Freight better (red) boxes, but the Sears is more expensive than the Harbor Freight. The Sears top level is better, with more features than the Harbor Freight red box, but is much more expensive.

Not to pressure you, but Harbor Freight is having one of their parking lot sales this weekend. The 44 inch red box is ~ $347, which I think is the best price they have had in many months, maybe even a year.

 

[yamaha427]

Ya a side cabinet would probably perfect for me at this point, for how much new storage I need. But the thing is I used to have a big garage with plenty of bench space to put my 41inch craftsman top box. But now since my area is so tight I dont want to take up any bench space putting my box on there. Im gonna make a L shaped bench, in the middle of the main bench im gonna put my vise, and then on the other side where the bencn turns im gonna put my bench grinder, so no extra room to put my box if i wanna have any room to work on parts on the bench. My other idea was to make my own thing for it. Just something simple, 45 inches wide by 2ft deep or so, 4x4s as the legs and then 2x4s as the frame, for the top and then 1 shelf, or maybe 2 depending on how tall I made it and how far apart I wanted the shelves. But I figure since my box is full, and im still in need of a decent amount of tools now, and more down the road i might as well pick up a nice bottom cabinet.

Btw, after reading on here about using ebay to buy tool truck brand tools for cheap I picked up my first snap on dual 80 the long handle version, retails for 115 plus tax and shipping and I got it for 70 including shipping brand new. It feels so damn nice. I also grabbed a 1/4 3/8 and 1/2 inch drive snap ons from an older mechanic who just retired for 120 bucks, they arent the fine tooth ratchets but damn do they feel solid. And I picked up one of those 49 pc sk 6pt metric and standard socket set both deep and standard to replace my craftsman socktets, The sk ratchet is nice also. Feeling the mechanism in any of those compared to my craftsman is beyond night and day. I also picked up a gearwrench 1/4 120xp since i had an amazon 25 dollar gift card so i paid 72 cents for it since i read alot of people on here liked them. Its also a very very smooth ratchet. Right now I only have 1 flex head ratchet, its a 3/8 drive craftsman usa i bought about 6-7 years ago, its decent, but ive broken so many craftsman ratchets its not even funny, and it ***** to return a usa made craftsman product to be replaced with a china model. So im in the market for some quality flex head ratchets, not sure who to go with. I made a ton of great purchases since reading on this forum=, 14 pc superkrome sk metric wrench set for 55 bucks in great condition, then a 11/32-1inch proto anti slip wrench set, a 12 inch cresent wrench, and 3 pairs of proto pliers for 90 bucks. and a 23 piece metric 1/4 drive sk 6pt socket set for 30 bucks. That was a hell of a deal. Sk, proto, and williams seem to be great quality tools ad you can get them for cheap on ebay if youre smart about it.

 

[ryan20021982]

I have the 56" HF box and love it, I prefer it over the 44" because of the depth of the drawers being deeper.

 

[yamaha427]

A few months ago, I was in the market for a tool cabinet. Based on the reviews here, I compared the Harbor Freight and the Craftsman boxes. Condensing down what was posted here is Harbor Freight has two levels of boxes. The black ones are lower quality, the red ones are better. Sears has three levels. The lowest is similar to the cheaper Harbor Freight box. The next level up from Sears is nearly as good as the Harbor Freight better (red) boxes, but the Sears is more expensive than the Harbor Freight. The Sears top level is better, with more features than the Harbor Freight red box, but is much more expensive.

Not to pressure you, but Harbor Freight is having one of their parking lot sales this weekend. The 44 inch red box is ~ $347, which I think is the best price they have had in many months, maybe even a year.

Ya I wouldnt buy one of the high level 72inch craftsman boxes if i was in the place to be spending 1500 on a box, at that point id probably grab an older used snapon, mac, or one of the other top brands. Id rather have a 10 year old one of those any high level craftsman box. Actually after quickly browsing ebay i just found a two piece snap on bottom cabinet, looks like a 26-30inch 7 drawer attached to another 7 drawer side cab with probably 12 inch wide drawers for 1250 obo. Could probably get it for 1100 or so which is really a great price. If im doing well finacially in 5 years or so ill probably buy a nice snapon box. My dream garage would have like 3 or 4 bays, plenty of room past where the end of the cars park to set up some nice benches, parts washer, sand blast cabinet, a big compressor with piping ran all around the barn to plug in my air tools anywhere and not have to drag a 50 or 100ft cord all around the shop, nice tile floor matching all my boxes and cabinets, a two post lift for working on cars and then a 4 post for storage so i can park two in that bay, a bathroom, and then a man cave upstairs. idk if my wife would like that, she would never ever see me lol. One day.

Im glad you told me theyre having a sale this weekend, works out perfect, my family is coming down this weekend for a house warming party/couples shower for our new house and im hoping my dad will possibly get me that as a house warming gift. House warming/wedding presents are basically all girls stuff, well we use it but they get all excited about it, new towels, sheets blankets, fine china, blenders juicers etc etc etc, sure we benefit from all the stuff but im fine with my 20 dollar set of plates and bowels and silverware i bought in college lol. We registered for probably 150 things at like 3 different stores, and the only thing that im actually excited about and picked out for me is a new electric razor, a blue tooth speaker, and some grilling stuff. The rest was all the wifey saying we need this, do you like this color or that color? So it would be cool if he got me that tool box for one of my own wedding/house warming gifts.

 

[Wanna Ride]

I have the 56" HF box and love it, I prefer it over the 44" because of the depth of the drawers being deeper.

Same here. Bought mine in May, and absolutely love it. I had the 44" HF before and sold it to a friend.

The HF boxes really are an exceptional value.

 

[619DioFan]

Ya a side cabinet would probably perfect for me at this point, for how much new storage I need. But the thing is I used to have a big garage with plenty of bench space to put my 41inch craftsman top box. But now since my area is so tight I dont want to take up any bench space putting my box on there. Im gonna make a L shaped bench, in the middle of the main bench im gonna put my vise, and then on the other side where the bencn turns im gonna put my bench grinder, so no extra room to put my box if i wanna have any room to work on parts on the bench. My other idea was to make my own thing for it. Just something simple, 45 inches wide by 2ft deep or so, 4x4s as the legs and then 2x4s as the frame, for the top and then 1 shelf, or maybe 2 depending on how tall I made it and how far apart I wanted the shelves. But I figure since my box is full, and im still in need of a decent amount of tools now, and more down the road i might as well pick up a nice bottom cabinet.

Btw, after reading on here about using ebay to buy tool truck brand tools for cheap I picked up my first snap on dual 80 the long handle version, retails for 115 plus tax and shipping and I got it for 70 including shipping brand new. It feels so damn nice. I also grabbed a 1/4 3/8 and 1/2 inch drive snap ons from an older mechanic who just retired for 120 bucks, they arent the fine tooth ratchets but damn do they feel solid. And I picked up one of those 49 pc sk 6pt metric and standard socket set both deep and standard to replace my craftsman socktets, The sk ratchet is nice also. Feeling the mechanism in any of those compared to my craftsman is beyond night and day. I also picked up a gearwrench 1/4 120xp since i had an amazon 25 dollar gift card so i paid 72 cents for it since i read alot of people on here liked them. Its also a very very smooth ratchet. Right now I only have 1 flex head ratchet, its a 3/8 drive craftsman usa i bought about 6-7 years ago, its decent, but ive broken so many craftsman ratchets its not even funny, and it ***** to return a usa made craftsman product to be replaced with a china model. So im in the market for some quality flex head ratchets, not sure who to go with. I made a ton of great purchases since reading on this forum=, 14 pc superkrome sk metric wrench set for 55 bucks in great condition, then a 11/32-1inch proto anti slip wrench set, a 12 inch cresent wrench, and 3 pairs of proto pliers for 90 bucks. and a 23 piece metric 1/4 drive sk 6pt socket set for 30 bucks. That was a hell of a deal. Sk, proto, and williams seem to be great quality tools ad you can get them for cheap on ebay if youre smart about it.

Another new member has fallen victim to the GJ curse. once you are here your tool buying habit begins to take control of you ( like crack to an addict ) just one more ratchet , I promise. wait... just one more set of wrenches and that's it.... I cant stop , I am an addict

 

[hogdaddy]

Another new member has fallen victim to the GJ curse. once you are here your tool buying habit begins to take control of you ( like crack to an addict ) just one more ratchet , I promise. wait... just one more set of wrenches and that's it.... I cant stop , I am an addict

Hello my name is ____ and I am a tool addict.................!

 

[yamaha427]

Another new member has fallen victim to the GJ curse. once you are here your tool buying habit begins to take control of you ( like crack to an addict ) just one more ratchet , I promise. wait... just one more set of wrenches and that's it.... I cant stop , I am an addict

I know its bad, but atleast ive gotten really good deals, i only made one bad buy, and it really wasnt a bad buy. For the longest time i was impatient and didnt like waiting for auctions so id always go with buy it nows on ebay. Then i noticed I could get crazy deals if i just waited 3-4 days for the auction to end. I was trying to buy my first snap on dual 80, i wanted the long handled version cause i already have an older snapon standard size and an sk so i found one that was brand new never used, they retail online for 115 i think plus shipping so lets say 130 total with shipping and taxes, so i bidded, and bidded, and ended up winning it for 80 bucks plus like 9 bucks for shipping, so 90 bucks total, so i saved myself 50 dollars, but during the last hours of the auction when I was the highest bidder a used one popped up in great shape for 40 freaking bucks buy it now. I was so pissed. **** i should have just bought that one to lol. I only have 10 ratchets and 5 are 3/8s, thats definitely not enough.

But besides that I got a 14pc superkrome metric wrench set for 55 bucks in great shape, that probably retails at close to 200, a 16pc proto standard wrench set, 3 different types of proto pliers and a 12 inch cresent wrench all for 90 bucks, Id say all those bought new together would have costed easily over 300. Then a 1/4 3/8/ 1/2 snap on ratchets from a guy on craigslist for 100 bucks, theyre not fine tooth ratchets but damn do they feel solid as hell, those are the ones id just if i had to break free a really torqued down old bold thats hasnt been broken free in 40 years and not worry about breaking the internals. And then a 1/4 drive gearwrench 120xp that i paid 72 cents for brand new (used a amazon gift card for 25 bucks i got for my birthday). The best deal i got was the 23 piece standard and deep sk metric socket set for 30 bucks on ebay, that was a steal. Everything I bought is in great condition. Then I picked up a 4pc pry bar set from northern tool, will have to see how those hold up, theyre not tools i used all that often back when I used to work on the old vets, or maybe im just forgetting and was having to use a big screwdriver instead haha. I only paid like 15 bucks if that for the set of 4. The only thing I bought new besides the pry bars was a 49pc sk 3/8s metric and standard socket set and i got that for about a 130, the sk ratchet is pretty nice too. So i think ive done some pretty damn good shopping.

My dilemma now is what box to buy. I went to home depot today and check out the 53 inch bottom box with the wood top and I was surprised about the quality, it really was pretty good. Light years ahead of the craftsman 40 something inch I was checking out the other day. The metal was think, it didnt feel flimsly at all like the craftsman, Its about 10 inches longer then the craftsman and the same price ( right around 300) ball bearing drawers that slid perfectly, hopefully that doesnt change when its loaded with tools. And it has two bottom drawers that have picture of a circular saw on them which is exactly what im trying to do, get something that has more room for hand tools but also be able to put my power tools in their also. Everyone seems to like the harbor freight box and from the website it looks nice I like the fact that the drawers are all different sizes, compared to the husky where the theres one top one thats the full length thats pretty deep, then the next 6 are all the same size, pretty much just good for wrenches but it has the bottom 2 that are very deep and I can put my sawzall, circular saw, ossculating saw, sanders drills etc and the harbor freight doesnt have that.Bottom drawer could probably fit all but my circular saw, thats not a big deal though. I dont have two sets of power tools so when i buy a house and do a remodel they either stay in the house if its a nce enough area, or ill put them in my bag and put them in my truck and leave them in there till i go back in the morning. I guess when I build my benches I could build some type of more eloborate shelving underneath and store the power tools there or build some other type of cabinets for them. I gotta see and feel this harbor freight box in person though and then make my decision. Since theyre having this sale this weekend i have list together of stuff I want/need. Ill have to sort though that massive harbor freight forum and see if what I need is a good or bad buy.

 

[ryan20021982]

If you were to get the 56" HF box your circular saw would fit in the bottom right drawer. Personally I think the 56" is better built anyways, it is the pro version of the US General boxes so it should be better. And the price is about double the 44" but you get twice the sq in of drawer space with the 56".

 

[yamaha427]

If you were to get the 56" HF box your circular saw would fit in the bottom right drawer. Personally I think the 56" is better built anyways, it is the pro version of the US General boxes so it should be better. And the price is about double the 44" but you get twice the sq in of drawer space with the 56".

Ya thats true on the extra space, im gonna go check them out either tonight or tomorrow morning since the sale is going on. I was really surprised on the quality of the husky 53 inch wood top, the only thing i dont like about it is every drawer but the bottom two are small, the type that you can basically only lay wrenches down or screw drives or pliers laid flat. I want a little deeper so i can get some racks to organize my pliers and screwdrivers and that needs like a 3-4 inch deep drawer and the US general has that and an assortment of other size drawers. Probably gonna end up going with that one. Ill have so much new space which means ill need more tools. Ill hardly even need pegboard now, but i like to use some peg board for some stuff but ill literally be able to fit everything into my craftsman top and the HF bottom.

 

[yamaha427]

ended up going with the 44 inch harbor freight box for 347 bucks. After looking at the new craftsman (junk), the husky ( better) this one was by far the best quality and had the most storage. Only problem is they wont deliver if you buy it in the store so i came home after and ordered it. Cant wait for it to be delivered. I also bought a bunch of stuff in the store that was on the pass list on the HF thread also. Got some crazy good deals. I did like the bigger one, the 56in i think but it was 400 more dollars and I didnt have that kinda money to spend and even with this one im gonna have alot of empty drawers for a while. So plenty of room for expansion. If i ever need more room which im sure i will down the road ill buy the side lockers or something. Thanks for all the advice guys.