Shop Tool Box

Chet · Aug 25, 2003

I agree with Bird, I would be very surprised it it came anywhere close to a Sears box in quality. I have two stacks of Sears chest and cannot complain, and although they are not ball bearing slides, I lubricate them regularly and have had no problems. Join the Craftsman Club and watch for sales, also get a Sears charge card and they will send you coupons in the mail for $$ off on purchases. Waterloo makes the red Sears boxes, or at least they did a few years back when I was a truck driver cuz I picked up a load of them at the Waterloo factory. Chet

TresCrows · Aug 28, 2003

That is typical HYPE. That box looks like a 200 dollar box, not a 5,000 dollar box. Trust me, as a pro mechanic--and I am like it or not---that box reeks of cheapness--cheapo--cheapo--cheapo. One give away is those tiny little plastic wheels. The biggest giveaway is the depth. No Pro box including Sears that cost 5,000 dollars would be only 18/20 inches deep. My Sears Pro is 24 inches deep. Shop around Sears and look for a sale. They put their consumer stuff on sale regular enough and you should be able to pick up a nice box for 500/800 dollars give or take, it will be only 20 in deep however. A 5,000 dollars Snapon rollaway cab would be 26 to 30 inches deep or more. It would have rubber or heavy duty wheels and castors with bearings and possibly with suspension, it would have a cab brake. It would have drawer locks, it would weigh a whole bunch, it would have internal cage type construction. I never liked all those end box add on crap stuff either. Snapon also has some low end boxes but they are still a 1,000ish dollars or more and no better than the Sears stuff really.
Yeah, right Harbor freight, anyone paying 5,000 dollars for anything remotely resembling that POC is in need of a brainectomy /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif. J

Docsknotinn · Aug 28, 2003

Like many others I look to craftsman for this kind of stuff. They really do have some nice quality boxes at fair prices. I cant deal with a box that does not have bearing or high quality slides. I notice the origional poster lives in/near Green Bay so this might be an option for those nearer big cities. In Detroit there are a couple of places that deal in used/repod tools. You can find all kinds of goodies, Snap on, Mac, Craftsman etc. I was getting a car stereo installed a few years back and I asked the mechanic where he got the cool Matco tool box. I had been looking at a Matco franchise at the time and wanted to know how he like the box. It was a special edition and they were a few grand at least. He told me about this place, I cant remember the name but he picked it up for about 1/2 of the new price. Might be worth looking in to for higher end stuff while trying to keep the cost down. Dave

yooperdave · Sep 3, 2003

I just bought a 41" wide HOMAK professional series combination chest and drawers unit. It is between 5' & 6' tall.

It has ball bearing shelves, and a electronic security system.

My local Sam's club had a display unit left, and they sold it to me for under $550.

I wish they had more than 1 unit left.

Yooper Dave