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Not a bad tool box for harbor freight

33K views 18 replies 9 participants last post by  ScF 
#1 ·
for $389 I think this was a good deal. 44" 13 drawers w/ drawer bearings and lockable drawers. What a deal!
 
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#2 ·
The US General branded tool boxes and cabinets at HF seem to be of decent quality at a good price.

I have a USG roll around tool cart and so far it has performed great.

It is great for the normal tools a guy uses, I roll it out on the driveway on nice days. The drawers each have a latch on them, you need to get used to unlatching the drawer everytime you open it, but the good part is when you go to move the cart, the drawers dont fly open because you forgot to close the lid which locks the drawers shut.

Inside or outside I roll it to the side of the car I am working on ( lazy hate walking for no real reason)

 
#3 ·
yeah, forget paying twice as much for a mac box that's only a little better.
I was also looking at craftsman which is also cheap but they're twice as much and the tool boxes feel flimsy compared to these boxes. This box feels just as sturdy as my blue point box at work.
 
#5 ·
Old Fool said:
The US General branded tool boxes and cabinets at HF seem to be of decent quality at a good price.

I have a USG roll around tool cart and so far it has performed great.

It is great for the normal tools a guy uses, I roll it out on the driveway on nice days. The drawers each have a latch on them, you need to get used to unlatching the drawer everytime you open it, but the good part is when you go to move the cart, the drawers dont fly open because you forgot to close the lid which locks the drawers shut.

Inside or outside I roll it to the side of the car I am working on ( lazy hate walking for no real reason
I bought two of these rollaround boxes when they had their sidewalk sale both were missing the 4 legs I paid 50.00 each ..when I loaded them in the car I couldn't believe how heavy they were...I made some legs out of 16g and made them 4' so the box was at chest high instead of waist high...I love these boxes but unlocking the drawers does take some getting used too...after buying these boxes I would buy that big bottom chest (800.00) I was looking at for a year in without hesitation .
 
#6 ·
deadbodyman said:
I bought two of these rollaround boxes when they had their sidewalk sale both were missing the 4 legs I paid 50.00 each ..when I loaded them in the car I couldn't believe how heavy they were...I made some legs out of 16g and made them 4' so the box was at chest high instead of waist high...I love these boxes but unlocking the drawers does take some getting used too...after buying these boxes I would buy that big bottom chest (800.00) I was looking at for a year in without hesitation .
yeah, that big one is pretty bad arse. For me it was a toss up between the 44" and the $800 56" but the need was for the moment and the 44" was on sale. I could see that 56" dropping by at least $150 on a sale at a later date, which would make it a super steal.
 
#15 ·
I was in there the other day and they had a 44"(smooth finish) that was dropped and the one big drawer was bent, 250.00 but they happened to be on sale for 300 and they wouldnt take 200.00 for the bent one so I passed...I should have bought the one on sale but I dont really need one ,I just have a hard time passing up a deal...Then again I didnt think I needed the two roll arounds either but they're both full.
 
#8 ·
tech69 said:
for $389 I think this was a good deal. 44" 13 drawers w/ drawer bearings and lockable drawers. What a deal!
I've had that one and the top box for nearly 4 years with no problems at all. I do like the newer version a lot better with the gloss finish. The textured finish on mine makes it more difficult to keep clean.

A friend of mine is a former route salesman for Snap-On, we are always picking on each other. Not long after I bought the HF boxes I found some Snap-On emblems on eBay. I bought them and replaced the USG emblems with Snap-On, we still laugh about that!
 
#10 ·
S10Fan said:
I've had that one and the top box for nearly 4 years with no problems at all. I do like the newer version a lot better with the gloss finish. The textured finish on mine makes it more difficult to keep clean.

A friend of mine is a former route salesman for Snap-On, we are always picking on each other. Not long after I bought the HF boxes I found some Snap-On emblems on eBay. I bought them and replaced the USG emblems with Snap-On, we still laugh about that!
that's funny. I was thinking of putting the mustang pony on it but there's not enough room in that emblem area for it.

I recently added the side box for $199. What a great deal. I'll keep my eyes out for another sale so I can snatch up the top box. Might have to get another for work. Love this box.
 
#11 ·
I just ran across this again... recently I was looking for a new base and priced a bunch of them and eneded up getting a new ball bearing Craftsman one for $101 on sale after all their discounts... couldn't argue with that. Got the black one that is normally $10-20 more than the "normal" red one
 
#12 ·
I bought one of these over a year ago and it has been working fine! Thing is I pulled the casters off and mounted my 12x37" lathe on it. It works great for that but is a little tall as I am only 5'8".

Thing is that the deeper drawers actually have a dual ball bearing slide out for them and that is better than most all of the Craftsman units or the other so called "cheap" boxes on the market.

Right now if you have the right copy of various Car Magazines there are discount coupons listing this roller box at $359 which is a real bargain.

I also put a side box on mine that I got for a lower discount than the $199 that they have been showing for a while now. Neat trick is that the crawer centers and slider locations work out so that you can interchange the stacking of the drawers to the way you want them. I alternated short and deep drawers in mine.

Swiss
 
#13 · (Edited)
casters are cheap there ,I bought 4 air tire casters for a body dolly at 10.00 ea, they worked great to roll around my camaro while I restored it ,the air tires roll right over bolts and other trash that'll stop solid wheels dead in their tracks...
If your waiting for prices to come down, forget it ,they hit bottom about four years ago and have been slowly rising ever since ...I went to pidgon forge for the car show and it was the very first time I ever saw an outlet with tools so cheap or any kind of Chinese tool discount store and I went crazy with deals like an adjustable tork (where the heck did the spell check button go) reversable air screw driver for 4.99 and ended up spending a couple hundred dollars I still got most of them) and still use them every day at my body shop (prefect for the hobbiest)later on I got the HF E wheel for around 200.00 and it opened a whole new world to me , the world of metal shaping and I feel like a kid again ( cant learn enough ,fast enough).Even buying an old used one was completely out of the question 1500.00 min..so I started collecting all the stuff to make one of my own...(big mistake) I had some small casters from an old floor jack for my anvil wheels and it never would have worked because I never used one ,just saw some pics of them and thougt..I can make that. It wouldnt have worked at all and I would have completely lost intrest ,thinking it was too far over my head.(I'm a bit of an idiot) ...thanks to HF and their cheap tools got got a foot in the door of the metal shaping world...Unfortunately I am completely addicted to it now and thanks to sites like metalmeet .com and all metal I'm now ready to build a real E wheel that works ,not to mention my powerd bead rollerand a few other goodies...

I was in HF just today to buy the 5' extended die grinder and had to pay 49.99 but I had to have it for one particular job ...I noticed the same screw driver i bought for 4.99 a few years ago was now on sale for 19.99..The economy is getting better looking forward to the next prez so dont wait to get that 800.00 box but get the 20% off coupon and enjoy ,it'll never be this cheap again
 
#17 · (Edited)
Well, I just picked up a second 42/44" (extra 2" is the handle) roller box and a second 17" side box. Seems that it was time to get my work bench built. So I put them together with a 36" gap in the middle for storage and a spot to sit at the bench.

I don't have a frontal view because of the room in the shop to get the full 13' width of this construct! Here is an angle view which of course immediately started getting filled up with parts and tools.

I still haven't filled out the new 20 tool drawers but I am sure they will all get something hidden away in them!



I will add quad wall plug-ins later, after the Electical Inspector checks the number of sockets on the GFCI circuit. Being a single operator in the shop it is not a situation where I would be using more than the 6 sockets + one 50watt outside light/switch at the same time but Code says 7 total so I won't take a chance on him saying no to the layout.

Swiss

Forgot to mention that they have an advertised special weekend sale price on the 42/44" 13 drawer roller box for $359 right now. Will probably go back up to the normal $379 sale price after the weekend. Sears and Home Depot have also had 42" and 52" boxes recently on sale for around $450 or so but they do not have the dual ball bearing slides on the deeper drawers. The HF General units also come with rubber drawer liners which are extra on most of the other brand boxes.
 
#19 ·
Stop by Sears and look through their Craftsman boxes, then go to HF and make your comparison. They always have one on display that you can open the drawers, look at the wall thickness of the drawers and the box. You could easily slide out one of the larger drawers and look at the internal reinforcement of the cabinet. Kind of hard to look underneath but the same HF will probably have an extendable inspection mirror that you could use to check out the layout of the frame.
Is it Snap-On? No and the price reflects that! Compared to the Sears Craftsman though I found it equal or better than most of what Sears had on the showroom.
Your call, your cash! Take a look and see if you like it. The casters are pretty solid and even have lube/grease fittings on the two swivel casters.

Swiss
 
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