US General series 1 tool boxes

[albaran]

I have a 56" US General Harbor Freight tool chest. I would be embarrassed to tell you how it happened, but I bent the slide rails on one of the drawers.
Harbor freight customer service (they were very nice) told me that those rails are no longer available. The drawers are about 19" deep. I looked at the rails on the new boxes and they look similar but just longer. I straightened out the slides as best I could so that the drawer functions but it doesn't close or open all the way.
Does anyone know of any replacements that might fit?

 

[Bill Bowman]

Maybe get a set of the longer slide rails and cut them down. Sounds like that might work in my mind.

 

[AffableCurmudgeon]

I have a 56" US General Harbor Freight tool chest. I would be embarrassed to tell you how it happened, but I bent the slide rails on one of the drawers.
Harbor freight customer service (they were very nice) told me that those rails are no longer available. The drawers are about 19" deep. I looked at the rails on the new boxes and they look similar but just longer. I straightened out the slides as best I could so that the drawer functions but it doesn't close or open all the way.
Does anyone know of any replacements that might fit?

I did the same thing this past Sunday with a US General 26-inch series I bottom box. It was sitting by the 4-post lift, and I did not check to see if I had closed a drawer before I brought the lift down. The drawer was pushed down by the lift platform, and by the time I heard the creaks, the slides and rails had bent. The box is 18 inches deep and the slides were about 15 5/8 inches long.

I took off the slides from the box and the rails from drawers. Bought 16-inch slides from Amazon, link below. The original slides were held by tabs that fit into notches on the box and drawer. The new slides and rails have holes that I drilled for and riveted them to the box and drawer.

The new rails and slides were a bit taller than the old ones. I just made sure that the vertical centers of the new rails and slides (held against the box and drawer as those would be installed) were exactly at the same position as the old ones. That ensured that the drawer would fit exactly into its original spot. In the picture below, the open middle drawer is the one with the new rail.

Hope that helps. Just measure the slide length and order the closest size that would fit. It does not have to be exact.

The slide I used is https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B149F2CQ?tag=atomicindus08-20

 

[albaran]

Thanks for the reply. You won't believe it, but that is exactly how I bent my rails also. How are the old rails on the box attached?

 

[AffableCurmudgeon]

Thanks for the reply. You won't believe it, but that is exactly how I bent my rails also. How are the old rails on the box attached?

If you look towards the front of the box, through the first long hole in the rail, you will see a long horizontal tab pressing against the box. Pull the front of the tab up with a flat screwdriver. That will release the front of the rail. The back part of the rail has a tab that just slides out once the front is released. I haven’t checked but I am sure someone must have posted that procedure on YouTube.