Page 1 of 3 123 LastLast
Results 1 to 15 of 33

Thread: Rolling Tool Cabinet

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jan 2007
    Location
    Oskaloosa Iowa
    Posts
    270

    Rolling Tool Cabinet

    I am wanting to buy a Tool Chest. Going to get all my wrenches, sockets , plyers, screw drivers in the same tool box. Looking at a 40" wide cabinet
    Snap On is out of my budget for sure....even used ones are way to much....so I have been checking out the following

    Husky
    Masterforce
    Craftsman

    I'm asking for suggestion on what you think would be a good value. I am not a heavy user and wouldn't be opening them all day long.

    Would you have any opinions for a new 40" rolling tool cabinet ?

    Thanks
    Last edited by Mike Burke; 05-11-2021 at 11:51 AM.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jan 2016
    Location
    Longmont, CO
    Posts
    810
    if you have a harbor freight around, its hard to beat the us general tool boxes.

    the husky and similar brands are usually a touch more expensive, but close.

    i would like to pick up the 36 master force bottom, as i have a older vulcan mid and a old snapon top that are like 34 inches, not many options in that size, it would be plenty of space for me.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Oct 2015
    Location
    SW Florida
    Posts
    139
    I can't compare them personally with others, but ended up picking up a couple of Husky units from the Orange store. They reside under by miter saw station and have proven just fine for my use - a hobbyist in his garage. By no means are they perfect, but for the price, I'm rather pleased with them. Just happen to have a picture I used for another thread. Feel free to ignore the dust on them.

    20210502_160836.jpg
    A wannabe woodworker!

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Apr 2020
    Location
    northern va
    Posts
    13
    i have a 29" husky bottom and a craftsman middle and top. the husky is a little better quality -- [thicker gage metal for the drawers; slides a little better.] the tall bottom drawer on the husky comes off the slides if it's filled with tools, but the 2" and three inch" drawers are fine holding wrenches, pliers, metal planes, whatever. Harbor freight ones are higher quality.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Apr 2013
    Location
    Black Oak Ark.
    Posts
    253
    +1 on the Harbor Freight " US General " boxes . At that price level , the best build quality .

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Aug 2018
    Location
    Michigan, USA
    Posts
    548
    I have a 41" Craftsman 10-drawer bottom with a slightly narrower 6-drawer top chest. In addition to the 6 drawers, the top chest has a lid that closes and locks to create a ~ 10" high shelf with a power strip inside so you can lock up chargers and charging tools (if that's important to you - mine is in my basement, and the lid stays open all the time). Drawers are full extension and soft-close - 100# capacity, if I recall correctly.

    Mine is about 4 years old, and was purchased from Sears for ~ $600 for the set (I think it was on sale). I think it's what they referred to at the time as their "heavy duty" model (might have been a "professional" grade above that).

    Anyway, I've been very happy with it. Still very solid, though it certainly hasn't been abused. I don't move it around a lot, but when I do, it rolls easily on the concrete basement floor.

    I think these may be the current equivalents available at Lowe's:

    Top chest

    Bottom chest

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Feb 2010
    Location
    Collegeville PA (30 min west of Philly)
    Posts
    1,143
    Blog Entries
    1
    I picked up two of the 46" wide models from the Yukon line at Harbor Freight just last week. $350 per unit, and some very good youtube comparison videos available have detailed that these meet/exceed similar offerings from the big box stores.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFoupWtIKfo

    https://www.harborfreight.com/tool-s...l-storage.html
    - Bob R.
    Collegeville PA (30 minutes west of Philly)

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Dec 2006
    Location
    Mesa, Arizona
    Posts
    1,798
    Mike -- I have a 'real' Craftsman rolling tool box, upper and lower. It's 30" wide, IIRC, and made by Craftsman when the name still stood for something. I like it. It's well made. I also have a 44", lower only, US General from Harbor Freight. The US General is better quality. The drawer slides are beefier and the metal is thicker. In addition, it comes with drawer liners. I had to pay extra for the drawer liners for my Craftsman.

    If you really want Snap-on quality, check out Harbor Freight's Icon brand tool cabinets. They are made to compete directly against the cabinets from Snap-on, Matco, and other 'professional grade' tool companies. I've NOT used any of HF's Icon tools, but I've seen them in the store. They are very nice -- at about 1/3 the price of their direct competition. That's still quite a bit more than their US General brand. Only you can determine if the extra quality is worth the extra price. I will add, however, that my brother was a professional mechanic. He worked for several years at a Ford dealership. Ford would send him transmissions that needed to be fixed under warranty. If you were within 350 miles, or so, and needed Ford warranty work on your transmission, he's the guy Ford recommended (and would pay to ship the transmission to him, if necessary). I mention this because his Snap-on tools were stored in his US General rolling tool cabinets. He said his tools didn't mind and his wallet felt better.
    Last edited by David Walser; 05-11-2021 at 1:26 PM.
    David Walser
    Mesa, Arizona

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Jan 2007
    Location
    Oskaloosa Iowa
    Posts
    270
    Fantastic suggestions and opinions !!!!
    I should be able to find what I need from those choices. I appreciate the you tube video link and the craftsman photos. That points me in the right direction and gives me plenty information to make a wise choice.
    Perfect !!
    Thanks

  10. #10
    Quote Originally Posted by Mike Burke View Post
    I am wanting to buy a Tool Chest. Going to get all my wrenches, sockets , plyers, screw drivers in the same tool box. Looking at a 40" wide cabinet
    Snap On is out of my budget for sure....even used ones are way to much....so I have been checking out the following

    Husky
    Masterforce
    Craftsman

    I'm asking for suggestion on what you think would be a good value. I am not a heavy user and wouldn't be opening them all day long.

    Would you have any opinions for a new 40" rolling tool cabinet ?
    Yeah SnapOn is overpriced for sure, that’s the mechanic’s rolling candy store and you pay the price for it (only a hundred a week? Yay! Huh.)

    I like the Husky Industrial units, Husky seems to be really on the ball about running improvements to their product in response to customer feedback. The only thing I don’t like about them is that the drawer interiors are slightly exposed when closed, which could potentially cause problems with dust intrusion (I just throw a sheet over mine.)

    Harbor Freight is trying to compete with SnapOn by raising their prices up towards that level. If I had to pay that much for a Harbor Freight product with moving parts, I might have to hurt myself afterwards.

    Craftsman, they would have to have improved a lot lately to compete with the Husky. The Kobalt 3000 series is probably still superior, if you can find it.

    Milwaukee also sells a decent box in the size you’re looking for, if you like the looks of it.

    Masterforce I’m not familiar with.

    BTW, 40” will start to feel really small soon if you accumulate new tools at the normal rate.

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Dec 2019
    Location
    The old pueblo in el norte.
    Posts
    1,844
    I looked at the current Husky and Craftsman and ended up buying a 44" US General, it's nicer than my 25 year old Craftsman, and not as nice as a same age Proto. I'd buy another.

    I paid about $380 for it, that's far from Snap-On prices btw
    ~mike

    happy in my mud hut

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
    Location
    SE PA - Central Bucks County
    Posts
    65,675
    Mine are Husky, but US General from Harbor Freight are very competitive and nice. You can also get a bunch of different colors if you don't want black or red.
    --

    The most expensive tool is the one you buy "cheaply" and often...

  13. #13
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
    Location
    San Francisco, CA
    Posts
    10,304
    You are a woodworker. Consider making the cabinet from wood. It'll be fun!

  14. #14
    Quote Originally Posted by Jamie Buxton View Post
    You are a woodworker. Consider making the cabinet from wood. It'll be fun!
    There are some storage solutions that are better addressed by metal fab? There’s more than one “hobby” out there. But I respect your sunny intention, best regards.

  15. #15
    Join Date
    Feb 2014
    Location
    Lake Gaston, Henrico, NC
    Posts
    8,973
    I have some Husky ones, and some US General ones. One is as good as the other, but they make different models, so I have some that work best for their jobs. Getting ready to get another US General one , and bought a Husky one, not long ago, to make a welding cart with. The cheaper Husky ones are not as nice as the US General ones, but are useable. This is one of the cheaper ones that was the size I needed.
    Attached Images Attached Images

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •