Vintage Caterpillar Serviceman Toolbox

[Eagle Point]

Brought this home recently. First one I've seen. Very heavy. Very cool.

 

[Shelbylex]

Looks great! Congratulations!
Tere is one more on the GJ site which showed up recently
I hope to run into one of them one day to put on top of my Blackhawk roller!!!

 

[Oldtuleguy]

https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=400041

Here is the thread going on them. Great find!

 

[wtn1271]

Cool find, definitely looks well built. Enjoy.

 

[jusridin]

Welcome to the club Eagle!

 

[humber2]

Brought this home recently. First one I've seen. Very heavy. Very cool.

If you need to view the Caterpillar details for this box and contents with cross referenced makers part #'s please PM me your email addy.

The images have vanished from the thread from 2 years ago but I still have them on this iPad.

 

[Oldtuleguy]

Said list....

 

[humber2]

That's a similar list but I suspect it is for the Blackhawk option.

Cat # 8H8500 is the Snappy option.

 

[Oldtuleguy]

The box eaglepoint posted is the blackhawk version, or did I miss something?

 

[humber2]

The box eaglepoint posted is the blackhawk version, or did I miss something?

Yes you are not wrong.

So I wonder which maker option was offered first?

 

[Oldtuleguy]

Blackhawk was the original supplier.

 

[lwgana]

Brought this home recently. First one I've seen. Very heavy. Very cool.

bought on exactly like it a couple of weeks ago. a bit more rust but it'll clean up nicely. heavy as hell

 

[Shelbylex]

bought on exactly like it a couple of weeks ago. a bit more rust but it'll clean up nicely. heavy as hell

Any pictures?

 

[lwgana]

Here u go.:::I have the drawer pulls set aside

 

[Shelbylex]

This looks great, Iwgana! This is one of the two tool chests I would like to buy (Blackhawk or Caterpillar) Congratulations!

Please post the pictures in the this thread once you put everything together:

Blackhawk Tool Chests and Tool Rollers (Caterpillar by Blackhawk are welcomed as well!)

There is a lot of interest in Blackhawk tools and toolboxes. We already have a general thread and tool box thread. Let's start Blackhawk specific thread! Caterpillar boxes welcomed! Not as pristine, but this is what I have!

www.garagejournal.com

 

[lwgana]

Any pictures?

What strikes me is how strongly built this box is. No dents, so its essentially perfect structurally. Just heavy steel all the way around...despite being moved around several times for the last 40 years. Had a Flying V Craftsman 3/4" complete socket set in it and a few other tools. Hadn't been used since the 1980s so they were just marinating in grease, but they cleaned up well. I did an initial cleaning on the box to remove the grease and oil and dust, but I have several projects ahead of it.

 

[snapmom]

The Snap on ones are quite rare. I made the replacement molding

 

[Oldtuleguy]

Yup I have 3 all marked blackhawk. Have yet to come across the snapon.

 

[lwgana]

The Snap on ones are quite rare. I made the replacement molding

Wow that was quite a while back …do you recall the years of production for these Blackhawk and Snap-on variants? No date or model stamps to be found on mine.

 

[snapmom]

1948 plus or minus

 

[Oldtuleguy]

I have a 51 caterpillar manual and it's still blackhawk, but some of the tools are snapon. I suspect it was shortly after that they they switched to all snapon.

 

[Shelbylex]

OldTuleGuy, if you want to adopt a child who already has the education payed off, I am ready : )

Please post the pics of all of them together! (I think you posted them individually over time)

Snapmom, I saw your box, but somehow never payed attention that it has Snap On sign on it.

Please add the boxes to the thread:

Blackhawk Tool Chests and Tool Rollers (Caterpillar by Blackhawk are welcomed as well!)

Bonney,as OTG suggested: You did good with the box/roller!!

www.garagejournal.com

NB. Snapmom, please add the timing to your post - I hope to create one good reference source of these boxes over the next 100 years...

 

[Private Lugnutz]

@snapmom has already posted her '48-ish Snap-on variant of a Cat Kit to Todd's thread, Shelby. You can find it here.

one good reference source of these boxes

If you mean Caterpillar Servicemen's Kits, this thread...

Caterpillar Serviceman's Tool Kit (BlackHawk)

Picked this up this morning at an estate sale. The guy said it had belonged to his Grandfather. It cleaned up pretty well; I think it may have been repainted at some point in its life (a little over spray on the chrome trim) and sadly is missing one of the drawers, but was still too cool for...

www.garagejournal.com

...started by @LNKMK8 in 2018 is the original gangster and is the thread that is in the A-Z Index of Threads in the Sticky, exactly where one should expect to find it, under Caterpillar Servicemen's Toolkit...



This is one of those typical cat herding challenges for forums that can also be quite confusing when you try to find something you could've sworn was in one thread, but it's actually in another thread with a very similar title on the same or similar topic. In this case, there are three: the OG, which I linked above, the thread we are currently inside, which was started in 2020 and was recently bumped, and then Todd's, which he started in 2021, and intended for ALL Blackhawk boxes, not just these.

 

[Shelbylex]

Thank you, Private Lugnutz. I just put a link to this thread inside the Blackhawk/Caterpillar welcomed thread

 

[grumpy cat]

I have a 51 caterpillar manual and it's still blackhawk, but some of the tools are snapon. I suspect it was shortly after that they they switched to all snapon.

I have a 8h8500 cat servicemanstool kit. It was made by metal box and cab Corp
Of chicago. Made in 1963. Has a few of the original tools. Pretty good shape. Original paint.

 

[z28lsc]

This is My Blackhawk. Very Similar, except for the 2 drawers.

 

[Oldtuleguy]

Here's an older one