thundercow
Well-known member
How bad are the $250 tool storage units at Sears withOUT the ball bearing slides. How bad can they be? I just want a basic thing that looks good for my home garage...
Rolling Tool Storage: How Low down the food chain
- Thread starter thundercow
- Start date
GT89mustang
Well-known member
Not bad at all, i have one with the "quiet glide" slides. For the price and for my home garage use its just fine. The drawers open smoothly even loaded with tools.
Edit: i also had one of the real cheap $99 "homeower" units loaded with tools for like 2+ yrs and that held up just fine, i use the bottom half as a machincs cart now.
Edit: i also had one of the real cheap $99 "homeower" units loaded with tools for like 2+ yrs and that held up just fine, i use the bottom half as a machincs cart now.
Last edited:
not bad at all. the problem around here is bigger is better and to some unless it is brand x it is not any good. in your case for simple garage storage i would venture to say it would be perfect. if you want to stray from your parameters, the sky is the limit for options, styles and vintages
Zrexxer
Well-known member
The only problem I've had with them is if you do get any significant weight in the drawers, the friction slides get pretty hard to open. I put my 3/4" dr sockets in one drawer of a quiet glide roll cab, and trying to open the drawer with one hand would drag the cabinet across the floor toward you.
I moved them to the same size drawer in a Husky box that had roller bearings, and you can open that drawer with one finger.
I moved them to the same size drawer in a Husky box that had roller bearings, and you can open that drawer with one finger.
This is my 11 drawer quite glide bottom I paid $115 for off ebay new with a minor dent, and 3 drawer matching intermediate box I bought from Sears (also with a minor dent, but no discount). As the weight goes up, the friction increases, but not enough to get me to lube all the tracks (which helps a bunch), and I have no real complaints even with it now fairly loaded (wrenches packed sideways, not laid out like place setting).
Its a 26" x 18" and for the money, its the same choice I would make today.
Its a 26" x 18" and for the money, its the same choice I would make today.
Attachments
Last edited:
litljay
Well-known member
for not much more, you can get the HF ball bearing one...
Chris Adams
Well-known member
- Joined
- Oct 21, 2007
- Messages
- 2,117
250 is way too much money for the box. I have had Quiet Glide, friction, etc.
If I was buying a cheap box, and was to busy to use CL, or to buy a 'scratch and ding' like Danglerb, I would look at the Husky boxes at Home Depot. You can often get a ball bearing set for 250, top and bottom.
Cheap Husky is about as good as the cheap Craftsman, but comes with ball bearings, which is nice.
Buyers market used right now;
I have bought, sold, repaired almost ever brand out there, and you need to be buying used.
Lately I have sold;
42 inch Torin box, top and bottom, excellent shape, BIG storage, for 450.
A top and bottom Griplatch, top of the line 26 inch black Craftsman, like new, 16 inch deep top box, 250 bucks. That's a six drawer bottom, a five drawer top, matching.
A Waterloo 7 drawer ball bearing bottom with a Craftsman six drawer 16 inch deep Griplatch top, 300 bucks.
Any of these would have been WAY superior to the homeowners boxes at Sears.
And that is what I SOLD them for... I paid much less.
There are good deals out there.
If I was buying a cheap box, and was to busy to use CL, or to buy a 'scratch and ding' like Danglerb, I would look at the Husky boxes at Home Depot. You can often get a ball bearing set for 250, top and bottom.
Cheap Husky is about as good as the cheap Craftsman, but comes with ball bearings, which is nice.
Buyers market used right now;
I have bought, sold, repaired almost ever brand out there, and you need to be buying used.
Lately I have sold;
42 inch Torin box, top and bottom, excellent shape, BIG storage, for 450.
A top and bottom Griplatch, top of the line 26 inch black Craftsman, like new, 16 inch deep top box, 250 bucks. That's a six drawer bottom, a five drawer top, matching.
A Waterloo 7 drawer ball bearing bottom with a Craftsman six drawer 16 inch deep Griplatch top, 300 bucks.
Any of these would have been WAY superior to the homeowners boxes at Sears.
And that is what I SOLD them for... I paid much less.
There are good deals out there.
caper
Well-known member
Friction slides are fine for a homeowners box.Hell they worked for me professionally for the last 15 yrs till I got ball bearings a few years back.I still have a Snap on top and bottom in my barn that has friction slides.Throw some grease on them and they work great.A Craftsman box in your home garage is nothing to feel bad about,I work with some guys who have worse boxes that they make their living with.If you like the looks and it will serve your storage needs,buy it!
Chris Adams
Well-known member
- Joined
- Oct 21, 2007
- Messages
- 2,117
On friction slides, they are not all created equal. I have had Mac friction slides that were smoother than many ball bearing slides. Ditto on SnapOn and I have a Cornwell side box I am tinkering with today that has great 'slide feel' despite being friction.
The Quietglide and the lower end Craftsman boxes tend to bind pretty fast if you load them. I've had a few score of those boxes and unless it is the 'pro' friction from Craftsman the slides can get pretty 'cranky'.
Basskiller
Well-known member
anybody lube friction slides with graphite?
caper
Well-known member
I used a $200 Craftsman top chest for the first 3yrs I worked as a mechanic.Friction slides loaded with everything I could cram in it.Never had any problems.This Craftsman side cab has been mounted to the side of my roll cab for 10 yrs,professional use,no problems.
Chris Adams
Well-known member
- Joined
- Oct 21, 2007
- Messages
- 2,117
Nice side box. Yup, those have good slides. The ones from the 80's were pretty solid too. I also have a slide intermediate Craftsman pro, new production, that is pretty good.
However;
The newer homeowner slides are about one fourth that heavy. The Quiteglide are heavy enough, but the lubricating plastic they put in the slides tends to bind.
The US General HF box is nice, about $320 with sale and 20% coupon.
I prefer my Craftsman stack due to the lower cost I paid, and smaller foot print.
I'd skip the HF Storehouse cheap box or the Sears "homeowner" series.
I prefer my Craftsman stack due to the lower cost I paid, and smaller foot print.
I'd skip the HF Storehouse cheap box or the Sears "homeowner" series.
I have a low-end Craftsman roller I purchased 25 yrs ago. It's just fine for a homeowner who doesn't have any tools to put in it (sarcasm). With tools in it, it pissed me off by binding every time I tried to close a drawer. I finally slathered the tracks with pounds of axle grease and it has been just fine, for a homeowner (ditto sarcasm).
I used to fall for the "homeowner" rationalle, then all too often ended up with some **** that looks like a tool but breaks after too few cycles, or never works quite right, generally taking the joy out of using tools. My subsequent tool box purchases have been more upscale.
"Quite Glide" appears to me to be something that would work - I'd guess the track runners may wear out when a pro cycles them 120 times a day, but my 25 cycles a week would be reasonable.
Like I'm always telling my wife: I've often regretted paying too little for tools; I have yet to regret paying too much. (sometimes it works!)
I still take an occasional chance downmarket, sometimes it's ok, sometimes I get bit.
I used to fall for the "homeowner" rationalle, then all too often ended up with some **** that looks like a tool but breaks after too few cycles, or never works quite right, generally taking the joy out of using tools. My subsequent tool box purchases have been more upscale.
"Quite Glide" appears to me to be something that would work - I'd guess the track runners may wear out when a pro cycles them 120 times a day, but my 25 cycles a week would be reasonable.
Like I'm always telling my wife: I've often regretted paying too little for tools; I have yet to regret paying too much. (sometimes it works!)
I still take an occasional chance downmarket, sometimes it's ok, sometimes I get bit.
DiStOrTiOn
Well-known member
I've got the craftsman homeowner series box. I got it a few years back when it was on sale, the top, bottom and middle for 250. It's been working just fine for me. The drawers do get harder to pull out if you load them down though. My socket drawer isn't the lightest, but I still don't have to push back against the box to open it, it just takes a bit more effort than the drawer with my obd2 scanner in it. I've been happy with them, only thing I was they had was an internal locking mechanism, which would be much more convenient. But if you have the money, the craftsman ball bearing ones are very nice.
alex71
Well-known member
Very true that not all friction slides are created equal. I have a couple of snap-on boxes with friction slides, and even deep drawers full of metal open and close smoothly. Not one finger-push close like a ball bearing slide drawer, but they still work great.
I also have an older (maybe 10 years old) craftsman homeowner grade bottom box next to the mill... every drawer is loaded with lots of tooling. those drawers fight you on the way in and on the way out, every time. I can't move the box by opening a drawer, because the box has several hundred pounds of metal in it, but the box is not a happy camper.
I also have an older (maybe 10 years old) craftsman homeowner grade bottom box next to the mill... every drawer is loaded with lots of tooling. those drawers fight you on the way in and on the way out, every time. I can't move the box by opening a drawer, because the box has several hundred pounds of metal in it, but the box is not a happy camper.