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Tool Box for the Garage?


fm2176

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Well, I'm at the new unit, relearning my way around Northern Virginia and about to start moving stuff from storage to the house this weekend.  With my ragged old Mac and Craftsman boxes still residing in Georgia storage units, I want to pick up a shiny new box for the garage.

 

The Harbor Freight 44" box gets a lot of positive reviews, but I'm considering the DeWalt or Milwaukee combo at Home Depot.  Anyone have any of these boxes?  Comments, suggestions, anything else?

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The Milwaukee, Dewalt and Husky boxes are decent for the garage but not for everyday use. Especially getting moved around a big shop. I have the Milwaukee box and in under a year the drawer slides got all gritty sounding and slide like crap.  The original one was not very deep compared to commercial boxes. The scope of my work changed, now it just sits unused.  I would not purchase it again.  A friend of mine was pulling his new husky box across the shop and the welds broke on the handle, pulling it right off.

the Dewalt box is in the same class.

 

Boxes like Mac, snap on, Matco are a lot more money for a reason, they are built 10x better. Some of the older craftsman boxes were built really well.  No idea on harbor freight.

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8 hours ago, Nordraw said:

Go with the Husky you can't beat it for cost value for a home owner. No way is a Snap on worth the ten times the price for the value you would get.  Unless money is not an object then just go for it.

 

I'd have to win the lotto or come across someone that priced it waaaay under value to buy a Snap On, Matco, MAC box but it is worth the money if you're a professional mechanic, especially if you might ever move it. The tool boxes at HF, HD and Lowes can't be packed like those can and certainly can't be moved with a flatbed or rolled a long distance with tools in it. For the guy asking the question, hell no he shouldn't be considering one of those boxes.

 

HF has great tool boxes if you get the General brand, they aren't cheap and they're not the new style of boxes. The new style is a flat top instead of a lip. The lip can be annoying on a tall box...the annoying thing is the new ones from HD are shorter which negates the need for the lack of a lip. Here's what I mean by this:

 

New style, the top is flat.

cabinet-freight-item-us-general-toolbox-

 

Old style, there's a lip where that hides the bottom of the top shelf:

4578_7394713.jpg

 

Get yourself something at least 20" deep. Push on the bottom of the drawers, that tells you all you need to know...sockets, wrenches are heavy.

 

I'd rate the HF General better than the Husky/Milwaukee/Dewalt with maximum weight per drawer but Husky/Milwaukee/Dewalt are getting better built, bigger and getting the bells and whistles. If I was in OP's position, I'm buying a Husky/Milwaukee/Dewalt tool box and a HF tool cart. I actually like the HF tool cart more than my Matco. I'm also waiting for this Milwaukee box to come out. This one might get me to buy a new tool box.

Milwaukee-Premium-Tool-Storage-Combo-for

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  • 1 month later...

I have a millwakee an a harbor freight box in my shop. They are cheaply built but do work. I store my tools an accessories that rarely get used in them. I wouldn’t want to rely on them to much. If it’s light duty use they will be ok. 

 

The tools I use often are in my truck or matco service cart. I also have a lista modular drawer cabinet at work. Just sold my vidmar cabinet and snap on cart. 

 

 

 

 

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I have the hf us general 44 top n bottom. Definitely not snap on quality, but it is full of snap on tools. Best thing about the box, lots of room and dont need a forklift to move it. It was not turn key, I pulled every drawer and bent the rear tabs so the drawers detents would keep them from coming out on their own. Worked on the top box, bottom box not so well so shimmed the front casters. I do love the high dollar boxes, not the price or weight. 

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The Milwaukee, Dewalt and Husky boxes are decent for the garage but not for everyday use. Especially getting moved around a big shop. I have the Milwaukee box and in under a year the drawer slides got all gritty sounding and slide like crap.  The original one was not very deep compared to commercial boxes. The scope of my work changed, now it just sits unused.  I would not purchase it again.  A friend of mine was pulling his new husky box across the shop and the welds broke on the handle, pulling it right off.
the Dewalt box is in the same class.
 
Boxes like Mac, snap on, Matco are a lot more money for a reason, they are built 10x better. Some of the older craftsman boxes were built really well.  No idea on harbor freight.
I have the HF 44 set in the garage and I am very satisfied. The new model is even a little deeper. It does not move around so I cannot coment on how it would do if it did. As far as old Craftsman, if that includes the red and gray, I have a 26 set in the basement along with a similar Dayton branded Waterloo and I think the HF is a much better box. I have had the HF quite a while, old sand finish, and the others since they were new, in the 70's. I am not familiar with the other boxes you are looking at but I suspect any of them would do the job.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

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  • 3 years later...
On 8/26/2018 at 10:36 PM, WeldfabNeil said:

I have a millwakee an a harbor freight box in my shop. They are cheaply built but do work. I store my tools an accessories that rarely get used in them. I wouldn’t want to rely on them to much. If it’s light duty use they will be ok. 

 

The tools I use often are in my truck or matco service cart. I also have a lista modular drawer cabinet at work. Just sold my vidmar cabinet and snap on cart. 

 

 

 

I also sold my vidmar cabinet and have 6 Lista cabinets.

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Four years later and I still have to decide on a tool storage solution.  I'll be keeping the old 26" boxes I made money working out of years ago, but will be looking for something wider.  The plan is to get a rolling cabinet and a decent cart for mechanics tools and to label and organize my modular systems for cordless and home improvement tools.  

 

I also have to outfit my parts bins.  I have boxes of hardware to sort and organize, but in the end it should be well worth it.  One thing I miss about working as a mechanic is having fasteners and other hardware on hand.  A equipment fielding years ago saw me with the leftover hardware, as the customers didn't want it.  A lot of 1/4" stainless and grade 8 fasteners, and more than a few electrical splices and other parts.  Also, while I've gone through a fair amount, I still have boxes of screws picked up on the cheap when Tractor Supply switched brands and later Home Depot cleared out a bunch of deck screws.

 

It's going to be a lengthy process, but as I organize the garage I'll be looking into pouring a slab and eventually having a shop built.  My neighbor sent me the info for a company that is currently erecting 30'x40'x11' steel buildings for under $17k, so my shop could come sooner than I originally thought, though I'd want to have roll up doors instead of the included garage doors.

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