designer485
Well-known member
Recently I went on the hunt for some additional storage. I am outgrowing my Snap-On KRWLD36 and while I would like to add a second KRWL bolted together to make a double bank 72"x30", they are incredibly hard to find...anybody have one?
That lead to me looking for an intermediate box or a side drawer set. The reason behind that is two fold, cost and size. I figure that down the road either one of those would still we very usable even if I found another KRWL. I am not really a fan of top boxes, I don't find the flip tops to work well for me.
My hunt took me to a 1988 KR647 Mid Box. Perfect. 34" wide, 18" deep, 12" tall. 2x2" drawers and a single 4" drawer.
The box showed it's age, nothing major but not up to my liking and I wanted it to match my custom white / black KRWL. I do love the fact that this one has factory black trim, not very common back in 88'.
Que the restoration / resto-mod. I wanted this box to feel brand new. The plan / rendering (Modeled in SolidWorks, rendered in Keyshot):
Parts Ordered / To Be Replaced / To Be Painted:
Box / Drawers - White Powdercoat
Emblem - Painted Gloss Black
Front Trim - Painted Gloss Black
Drawer Slides - 8-2488ALRS (3 sets warrantied) Updated design has quick release tabs on them and include all hardware needed.
Drawer Trim - 1011980 (Gloss black - Cut to size)
Lock Assembly - K1LA (Matched to my Roll Cab)
Lock Cover - K1LCAPBLK(Black)
Top Mat - Custom Kleen-Rite ND Rubber Mat (OEM of Snap-On Rubber ND Rubber Mat)
Drawer Liners - Custom
Hardware - All New (Drawer Slide Bolts, etc)
First things first, the "before" pictures. Time to get this thing washed and remove 30+ years of grime. Degreaser, soap, a magic eraser, rubber wheel and scrubbing helped a bit, but still looks well loved. No rust and definitely nice enough to use, but I want it to match. The drawer slides were very dirty, but roll decent and the detents were long gone. It didn't have a key and the liners that were in it did not fit properly and were creased / dirty. One of the drawer pulls was also missing some paint.
Dirty / During the Wash:
Clean:
Disassembling was pretty straight forward. I hadn't taken apart one of these first gen ball bearing boxes before and was expecting to see the little release tabs for the drawer slides...nope, these were one piece. First, remove the screws on each side of the drawer bolting the slide to the drawer frame, then push up on the drawer unseating it from the slide. Front there it takes a bit of finesse to pop the drawer off of the back of the slide.
To remove the lock, I first unbolted the arm that connects to the rod from the back of the tumbler, then slid the spring clip off. From there, pull the lock assembly out.
Next was the locking rod and keeper plate. Drill out the rivets and pull the plate / arm out.
Drill out the rivets for the front corner trim, pull out the top caps and slide the trim off. These pieces will get sanded down and painted gloss black to match the drawer trim.
Finally, drill out the rivets for the drawer slides. These sucked. Every one of them spun on me. I had to grab each of them with some angled needle nose while drilling out the rest of the rivet. Took longer than it should have, but was easy enough.
Ready to get stripped and coated.
Parts Removed:
Trim and Emblem Painted:
The drawer trim was ordered for a larger box and had to be cut down. Ends filed and painted with black nail polish.
Here are the parts back from the powder coat shop along with all of the pieces. Embee Performance in Santa Ana, CA does a great job.
And time to reassemble.
New drawer slides have been updated with quick release tabs and new detents.
And Complete! It is like having a factory fresh box. Every part is new or completely refreshed. In some ways it is even better... updated slides, top mat, flank drive key, etc.
And sitting on top of my KRWLD36:
That lead to me looking for an intermediate box or a side drawer set. The reason behind that is two fold, cost and size. I figure that down the road either one of those would still we very usable even if I found another KRWL. I am not really a fan of top boxes, I don't find the flip tops to work well for me.
My hunt took me to a 1988 KR647 Mid Box. Perfect. 34" wide, 18" deep, 12" tall. 2x2" drawers and a single 4" drawer.
The box showed it's age, nothing major but not up to my liking and I wanted it to match my custom white / black KRWL. I do love the fact that this one has factory black trim, not very common back in 88'.
Que the restoration / resto-mod. I wanted this box to feel brand new. The plan / rendering (Modeled in SolidWorks, rendered in Keyshot):
Parts Ordered / To Be Replaced / To Be Painted:
Box / Drawers - White Powdercoat
Emblem - Painted Gloss Black
Front Trim - Painted Gloss Black
Drawer Slides - 8-2488ALRS (3 sets warrantied) Updated design has quick release tabs on them and include all hardware needed.
Drawer Trim - 1011980 (Gloss black - Cut to size)
Lock Assembly - K1LA (Matched to my Roll Cab)
Lock Cover - K1LCAPBLK(Black)
Top Mat - Custom Kleen-Rite ND Rubber Mat (OEM of Snap-On Rubber ND Rubber Mat)
Drawer Liners - Custom
Hardware - All New (Drawer Slide Bolts, etc)
First things first, the "before" pictures. Time to get this thing washed and remove 30+ years of grime. Degreaser, soap, a magic eraser, rubber wheel and scrubbing helped a bit, but still looks well loved. No rust and definitely nice enough to use, but I want it to match. The drawer slides were very dirty, but roll decent and the detents were long gone. It didn't have a key and the liners that were in it did not fit properly and were creased / dirty. One of the drawer pulls was also missing some paint.
Dirty / During the Wash:
Clean:
Disassembling was pretty straight forward. I hadn't taken apart one of these first gen ball bearing boxes before and was expecting to see the little release tabs for the drawer slides...nope, these were one piece. First, remove the screws on each side of the drawer bolting the slide to the drawer frame, then push up on the drawer unseating it from the slide. Front there it takes a bit of finesse to pop the drawer off of the back of the slide.
To remove the lock, I first unbolted the arm that connects to the rod from the back of the tumbler, then slid the spring clip off. From there, pull the lock assembly out.
Next was the locking rod and keeper plate. Drill out the rivets and pull the plate / arm out.
Drill out the rivets for the front corner trim, pull out the top caps and slide the trim off. These pieces will get sanded down and painted gloss black to match the drawer trim.
Finally, drill out the rivets for the drawer slides. These sucked. Every one of them spun on me. I had to grab each of them with some angled needle nose while drilling out the rest of the rivet. Took longer than it should have, but was easy enough.
Ready to get stripped and coated.
Parts Removed:
Trim and Emblem Painted:
The drawer trim was ordered for a larger box and had to be cut down. Ends filed and painted with black nail polish.
Here are the parts back from the powder coat shop along with all of the pieces. Embee Performance in Santa Ana, CA does a great job.
And time to reassemble.
New drawer slides have been updated with quick release tabs and new detents.
And Complete! It is like having a factory fresh box. Every part is new or completely refreshed. In some ways it is even better... updated slides, top mat, flank drive key, etc.
And sitting on top of my KRWLD36:
