Tool chest 41"+. Suggestions?

REDLYNER

REDLYNER

Mall Crawling Race Rig
Joined
Oct 31, 2008
Location
Mountain Island
Cleaning up the garage, just need a tool chest to organize all my random collections of wrenches, sockets, etc.

Looking at a top and bottom combo, hoping to keep it under $700. Any suggestions that I'm not seeing at Home Depot, Lowes, or Northern tool?

Any brands that I should absolutely stay away from? I don't have a huge tool collection, so I figured I didn't need a Snap on or similar quality.
 
I'm a fan of the HF 44in
I've got it beside a KLR snapon box. I find the quality for the price can't be beat on the US General boxes. I wish the drawers were a little deeper but overall happy


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shawn said:
Harbor Freight

This one:

56 in., 11 Drawer Glossy Red Industrial Roller Cabinet


Or this one:

44 in. 13 Drawer Glossy Red Industrial Roller Cabinet
Click to expand...

Aside from size, has anyone compared the quality between these two 44" and 56" cabinets?

I ask because you could buy 2 of the 44" cabinets for less than the price of the 56". Wondering if the quality is less on the 44" ones to be that much cheaper.

Load capacity of the 56" is around 3400# where it's about 2600# on the 44", so no obvious capacity reduction there.
 
The drawers and latches on the 56" are much nicer. It's also more than double the size. Honestly, I think a lot of it comes down to your tools, though. The drawers are different heights/depths on both of them, so some of it is a question of whether you need more deep drawers, more shallow drawers, etc.

Both seem to be pretty nice units, though. Especially so for the price.
 
I wouldn't buy any of those.

I did buy two of those Husky chests that were $50/ea, but after comparing their roller cabinets to Harbor Freight, HF is a better box for less monies.
 
Jay, compare the weight capacity of the HD units versus the HF units. Comparable prices but the HF boxes are rated for more than 2 and 3 times the capacity of most of the cabinets from HD.
 
I am looking at one of the HF boxes to double as decent storage for most of my garage crap. I'm adding a good solid wood top for a work surface. Just haven't decided on size but Shawn pretty much provided links to what I've been eyeballing for a couple months now.
 
REDLYNER said:
But it's the same price essentially as what I posted, you think it's better quality?
Click to expand...

Compare them, apples to apples. The ones you posted don't have shit for drawers. The top box is mostly just a big, covered hutch. And when you compare the drawer construction, the slides, and the latches, the HF is better.

Check Youtube, too. There are several videos of people showing how to reinforce the bottoms of the Husky cabinets where the casters have caved in.
 
zuke said:
I bought this set from Lowes back in November while debating the HF, It seemed just a little better quality then the US general, and has power strips built in. It was on sale then, and along with my Military Discount, it ended up being just a little cheaper then the HF, The white color kind of sucks though...

Shop Kobalt 41-in x 41-in 11-Drawer Ball-Bearing Steel Tool Cabinet (White) at Lowes.com

Shop Kobalt 22.5-in x 41-in 9-Drawer Ball-Bearing Steel Tool Chest (White) at Lowes.com
Click to expand...


Those were on major sale this week, so I stopped by to take a look. Couldn't convince myself on the white though.

I guess I'll stop by an HF and feel out the box. I liked the ones with soft/quiet close built into the drawers. Also liked the power strips.

Simple things, but they stood out to me.
 
You can usually find good deals on Homak boxes too. They were one of the brands that manufactured private labeled boxes for Sears for the Craftsman line. I think Waterloo was the other brand that did that for Sears. Good cheap boxes.
 
REDLYNER said:
Those were on major sale this week, so I stopped by to take a look. Couldn't convince myself on the white though.

I guess I'll stop by an HF and feel out the box. I liked the ones with soft/quiet close built into the drawers. Also liked the power strips.

Simple things, but they stood out to me.
Click to expand...

Yes but...

They add those features to disguise the fact that their structure is weaker and flimsier.
This sint a case of HF being cheaper. This si a rare case of HF being better quality than the Lowes/HD piece.
 
I have four of the Harbor Freight boxes and I am happy with them .When you compare prices to the others it makes your wallet happy as well.
 
I've got the 56" HF top and bottom combo, had it over a year so far and I'm still very happy with it. Keep an eye out for coupons for it, the regular 20% off coupons wont work on toolboxes. Think I had a $699 coupon for the bottom and $349 coupon for the top.
 
I chose the hybrid HF/Waterloo

IMG_20160110_215714378.jpg
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I did a side by side comparison of the General 56" and Milwaukee 60" yesterday. I really liked the Milwaukee, so I drug it home last night :). And it was in sale $100 off for the weekend.

I thought I wanted a combo, but this is perfect for my application. Organized tools until midnight last night.



IMG_2287.JPG
 
I have heard good things about the HF units myself. Wish I had been able to go that route back when I was doing mine. I have two stand up Crapsman/Waterloo boxes. One of the draws "glide" but none have got catiwhompas on me. I can pull them all out, and push them back in, I notice the difference when I am in someone else's shop and feel how well theirs work compared to mine. I hate those people who find a $3000 snapon box for $200! If money wasn't an option, I'd for sure go with Snap on or Mac. Oh and the fact that both of my boxes have two drawers on the bottom, and then a big cabinet door. I just put stuff in them that I hardly ever or never use. The intermediate boxes however were worth getting.
 
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