Tool cabinets?

[texasdiver]

I'm reorganizing my garage this summer and have my tools scattered across about 6 different tool boxes, bags, and buckets. I'm thinking about consolidating the majority of my mechanical tools into one of the big rolling tool cabinets like this:

https://www.costco.com/SPG-Internationa ... 23970.html

If I remember correctly, Costco usually brings these (or similar tool cabinets) into its wharehouses in the fall at better prices. And there are also similar items at Home Depot, Lowes, Harbor Freight, Sears, and other tool outlets.

Anyone have any suggestions on brands and what to look for in a big rolling tool cabinet? I'm looking for something in the 40" wide range to fit in a certain spot in the garage. Much wider than that and I won't have room for it. I'm not running a full time machine shop so I don't need some $10,000 Snap-On piece of tool furniture. Just something for average guy tool storage that isn't a piece of junk. Hopefully in the $500-700 range

[Sandtrap]

IMHO
Some thoughts.
1. Make sure that no matter the cabinet size or type, that the wheels and casters roll well and swivel easily. Once the thing has weight on it, it can be a pain to move around if the wheels and casters are lousy. You might think that the cabinet will stay in one place, but having good wheels will make the inevitable moving around easier.
2. A couple deep drawers come in handy for an air impact wrench, and power tools and big items.
3. Sometimes drawers can be too shallow and flat to the point where large handles on screwdrivers interfere.
4. Depending on your needs. Sometimes 2 rolling cabinets, maybe one for mechanical stuff, other for something else, can be more handy than a single monster one.
5. Some cabinets have a lid top with storage on top, others have a worktable surface on top. I've found both to be handy. Especially a vise mounted on the worktable top.
6. Tall and too skinny can get tippy if there's weight in it. Careful.

Several of mine came from Lowes, low and mid range. On sale, display, or marked down.

[McCharley]

I went through this exercise and read all the reviews, watched the videos, etc. for these cabinets. I was willing to buy a $nap-On if that was the only quality option. The big ones cost thousands of dollars, though! Fortunately, Harbor Freight makes a line called US General which is excellent.
https://www.harborfreight.com/tool-stor ... 64165.html

Note: almost everything HF sells is total garbage. This cabinet is the exception, and be careful because they do have some other cabinets that are not as good. This one has double roller slides, heavy construction, locking drawers, and quality casters. It goes on sale quite frequently (check the Sunday paper and online); I suspect it is a loss leader for them. I bought one and have been very pleased with it.

[2comma]

I just looked and mine is a Husky so I guess it came from HD. I've had it a long time so I don't know how current ones compare but I'm frugal so I didn't pay snap-on prices. Like above, it has massive casters and I'd guess with a few hundred pounds of tools it rolls easily and doesn't tip. I usually say my air compressor is my favorite garage tool I didn't know if I'd use it enough or not but now that I think about it that rolling tool box is probably the best purchase I ever made (you'll love yours!). I seem to remember paying special attention to how well the drawers slid and I could tell some I looked at seemed flimsy. I think the larger bottom drawers have ball bearing slides and they work well even heavily loaded. The smaller upper drawers don't seem special but they all slide easily so I'd look for good stability/casters and drawers that slide correctly even when heavily loaded. I'm guessing you'll find several good options in your price range.

I found that adding some kind of drawer liner really helped keep things inside from moving around when rolling it around a lot.

[texasdiver]

I went through this exercise and read all the reviews, watched the videos, etc. for these cabinets. I was willing to buy a $nap-On if that was the only quality option. The big ones cost thousands of dollars, though! Fortunately, Harbor Freight makes a line called US General which is excellent.
https://www.harborfreight.com/tool-stor ... 64165.html

Note: almost everything HF sells is total garbage. This cabinet is the exception, and be careful because they do have some other cabinets that are not as good. This one has double roller slides, heavy construction, locking drawers, and quality casters. It goes on sale quite frequently (check the Sunday paper and online); I suspect it is a loss leader for them. I bought one and have been very pleased with it.

Thanks. Lots of guys out there seem to be raving about the HF US General tool boxes on youtube and other independent sites so they must be pretty good. Guess I'll have to drive over to HF to look at them. I was not impressed with the Husky boxes I saw at Home Depot tonight so those are out. Costco has nothing on the floor this time of year so I can't see their stuff.

[F150HD]

I desperately need one too. Waiting for a Black Friday deal.

[JoinToday]

I went through this exercise and read all the reviews, watched the videos, etc. for these cabinets. I was willing to buy a $nap-On if that was the only quality option. The big ones cost thousands of dollars, though! Fortunately, Harbor Freight makes a line called US General which is excellent.
https://www.harborfreight.com/tool-stor ... 64165.html

Note: almost everything HF sells is total garbage. This cabinet is the exception, and be careful because they do have some other cabinets that are not as good. This one has double roller slides, heavy construction, locking drawers, and quality casters. It goes on sale quite frequently (check the Sunday paper and online); I suspect it is a loss leader for them. I bought one and have been very pleased with it.

Now look what you have done! You have planted the seed. Tool storage has always been a little bit of a source of irritation for me. I don't have enough space in my tool box, and it is not on a rolling cabinet. But I am 60-ish now, and getting to where I don't want to be buying more stuff. But most things I buy are pretty useful -- life is so much better when you have the right tool, rather than making do with a distant 2nd. I might drop by Harbor Freight & check out the tool boxes. I eye the ones at Costco regularly.

[ralph124cf]

It seems that Sears is going out of business, so they may have some good sales now.

Ralph

[Lynette]

/////

[smitcat]

I'm reorganizing my garage this summer and have my tools scattered across about 6 different tool boxes, bags, and buckets. I'm thinking about consolidating the majority of my mechanical tools into one of the big rolling tool cabinets like this:

https://www.costco.com/SPG-Internationa ... 23970.html

If I remember correctly, Costco usually brings these (or similar tool cabinets) into its wharehouses in the fall at better prices. And there are also similar items at Home Depot, Lowes, Harbor Freight, Sears, and other tool outlets.

Anyone have any suggestions on brands and what to look for in a big rolling tool cabinet? I'm looking for something in the 40" wide range to fit in a certain spot in the garage. Much wider than that and I won't have room for it. I'm not running a full time machine shop so I don't need some $10,000 Snap-On piece of tool furniture. Just something for average guy tool storage that isn't a piece of junk. Hopefully in the $500-700 range

Suggest one top and bottom type hand tool cabinet from Home depot for hand tools.
An additional rolling cage with large spaced shelves for batt operated and corded tools as well as larger tools.
Between the two it will make it much easier to store things like open end wrenches and skill saws.

[alfaspider]

I would also look at the units from Harbor Freight. While Harbor Freight sells plenty of junk, the "U.S. General Pro" boxes are well known as one of the best values out there. I've compared mine to high-end tool boxes from Matco and Snap-on, and I couldn't really find anything to justify the 10x price differential.

[Jack FFR1846]

I'd take a step back and think about what you need and where you need it. I'll start by saying that I probably have every tool known to man in my garage including a 220V stand up compressor bolted to the floor and a 4 post lift. The vast majority of work I do on things is in the garage. Tools I use in my basement for other things are few and left there.

For both locations, my first and most important tool storage is on the walls. I have pegboards up in the basement with hooks and loops for box wrenches, sockets and screw drivers. There, I don't keep a tool box of any type. I have a couple work benches and a vice and drill press. Small operation.

In the garage, I also have a work bench with a vice but have several pegboards again holding screw drivers and various other tools. I built a couple of devices to hold box wrenches and sockets. For the box wrenches, I simply took a 1x board and nailed in finish nails at about every inch and a half. I put box wrenches on it from smallest to largest. Since I tend to have several of each size, I simply put them in place by size. This way, if I need a 14 mm and have no room, I can select the 12 point wrench. If I have lots of room or a really difficult bolt, I can grab the 6 pointer. I do separate the combo wrenches from the double box wrenches just because I would not be able to fit all of each size on a single nail. So this board is replicated a few times. These are horizontal with vertical boards connecting them and attaching to the rafters.

I have another board with nails in a row for each size of socket. So a row might have 8 spots for 10mm sockets....next row for 11mm. This sits on a small table under the above wrench holders.

What this set up gives me is instant access where I know exactly where to find things. I can tell anyone to go to the rack, right side, find a 10mm wrench and they'll find the right nail with them.

For a chest/drawers, I've got one. I can't even remember what the drawers are but the box is a cheapo plastic box that works absolutely fine. It mostly sits on top of the chest. I lay the tray from the box in front of it and keep extensions, ratchets and some random things like spark plug and O2 wrenches in it. In the box goes breaker bar, torque wrenches, pliers and such.

Where to buy? Yard sales. You can pick up a working chest for very little money from someone moving or cleaning out after a divorce. I can't list a price because everyone is different when selling. Go to enough and you're going to see stuff listed for more than new to $10 for a chest full of tools.

Where else. We have a couple used tool stores near us. "The Tool Shed". It's hit or miss but worth looking. They tend to specialize in higher end brands but the prices are like Harbor Freight junk. Overall, drawers aren't rocket science. And a tool box that's going to sit on top could literally be a couple 5 gallon pails and do the job. There's no reason to spend thousands of dollars on this stuff.

[Luke Duke]

I might drop by Harbor Freight & check out the tool boxes.

Sign up for their mailer. They frequently have 20% off coupons.

[pshonore]

I might drop by Harbor Freight & check out the tool boxes.

Sign up for their mailer. They frequently have 20% off coupons.

If you read the tiny print on the 20% off coupon, it does not apply to a lot of things including storage cabinets, chests, or carts as well some of the "higher end" private brands HF sells like Predator, Vulcan, etc.

[jadedfalcons]

I just got myself a Dewalt brand and like it very well. Well made and heavy. They're currently changing up their line, so you might keep your eyes peeled for an "old model" on closeout in your travels. The one I got was on Amazon for about $675, but I got it for about $250 through my store.

[lthenderson]

I've had one for many years and love the thing though the only time it ever moves is when I sweep underneath the thing. Other than that it stays in the same position along one wall.

Make sure you get one with good ball bearing drawer slides. So many of them save a buck by using plastic glides the wear out fairly fast with the weight of all the tools.

I tend to store mostly smaller tools in mine so I wished it had more shallower drawers in it. The deep ones become a mess because I'm always digging through everything to find what I need. I have cabinets along one wall with deeper drawers so that is where I tend to store my bigger hand tools.

They make lots of handy organizers for these things. I have bought some that turned out to be junk and others that work really well. The only thing I know for sure is despite thinking I know quality when I see it, I have a hard time figuring out which ones will work well and which ones won't until I see them being used in someone else's toolbox. So my advice would be to snoop in others toolboxes to see what organizers they use and think work well.

[burgrat]

I have a few cabinets and a workbench from Sam's Club. The brand is Seville Classics and they are really nice quality and affordable. Perhaps not as specific for tool storage as the one you posted, but may be something you could use. Here's a link to see what they have:
https://www.samsclub.com/sams/search/se ... e%20garage

[ddurrett896]

I might drop by Harbor Freight & check out the tool boxes.

Sign up for their mailer. They frequently have 20% off coupons.

The site below renews with the most recent 20% off coupon and all the person at the register needs is the 8 digit number.

http://www.hfqpdb.com/

[texasdiver]

I'd take a step back and think about what you need and where you need it. I'll start by saying that I probably have every tool known to man in my garage including a 220V stand up compressor bolted to the floor and a 4 post lift. The vast majority of work I do on things is in the garage. Tools I use in my basement for other things are few and left there.

For both locations, my first and most important tool storage is on the walls. I have pegboards up in the basement with hooks and loops for box wrenches, sockets and screw drivers. There, I don't keep a tool box of any type. I have a couple work benches and a vice and drill press. Small operation.

In the garage, I also have a work bench with a vice but have several pegboards again holding screw drivers and various other tools. I built a couple of devices to hold box wrenches and sockets. For the box wrenches, I simply took a 1x board and nailed in finish nails at about every inch and a half. I put box wrenches on it from smallest to largest. Since I tend to have several of each size, I simply put them in place by size. This way, if I need a 14 mm and have no room, I can select the 12 point wrench. If I have lots of room or a really difficult bolt, I can grab the 6 pointer. I do separate the combo wrenches from the double box wrenches just because I would not be able to fit all of each size on a single nail. So this board is replicated a few times. These are horizontal with vertical boards connecting them and attaching to the rafters.

I have another board with nails in a row for each size of socket. So a row might have 8 spots for 10mm sockets....next row for 11mm. This sits on a small table under the above wrench holders.

What this set up gives me is instant access where I know exactly where to find things. I can tell anyone to go to the rack, right side, find a 10mm wrench and they'll find the right nail with them.

For a chest/drawers, I've got one. I can't even remember what the drawers are but the box is a cheapo plastic box that works absolutely fine. It mostly sits on top of the chest. I lay the tray from the box in front of it and keep extensions, ratchets and some random things like spark plug and O2 wrenches in it. In the box goes breaker bar, torque wrenches, pliers and such.

Where to buy? Yard sales. You can pick up a working chest for very little money from someone moving or cleaning out after a divorce. I can't list a price because everyone is different when selling. Go to enough and you're going to see stuff listed for more than new to $10 for a chest full of tools.

Where else. We have a couple used tool stores near us. "The Tool Shed". It's hit or miss but worth looking. They tend to specialize in higher end brands but the prices are like Harbor Freight junk. Overall, drawers aren't rocket science. And a tool box that's going to sit on top could literally be a couple 5 gallon pails and do the job. There's no reason to spend thousands of dollars on this stuff.

Some good advice here but my own garage layout doesn't really lend itself to a wall of pegboards. What I have is a 3-car garage with the small door on the left and the big 2-car door on the right. We park 2 cars in the garage. The left side wall has no space for tools because the car parks too close. The right side wall is full of bike and ski storage. I have 7 bikes hanging from heavy duty storage shelves all along the right wall along with other outdoor gear. The back wall has water heater, furnace, and vacuflo whole house vacuum system covering the entire right side of the back wall. That leaves half the back wall where I currently have a workbench with shelves above it where I have all the cordless equipment and chargers mounted and no real room for a big pegboard. Between the single and double bays of the garage I have two large heavy duty freestanding metal shelving units from Costco. That's where a lot of tool boxes, coolers, camping gear, etc. is stored.

My idea is to use the space on the end of these shelving units that separate the two garage bays to put a big rolling tool cabinet to get rid of all the plastic tool boxes I have scattered everywhere. It is really the only free space that I have available without exiling one of the cars to the driveway which I don't want to do.

[fishmonger]

Wife got me one of these last Christmas and I love it. Depending on how many tools you have it may not be big enough but I've found it to be quality construction overall. Not super low gauge sheet metal but you get what you pay for. Wood top is nice too

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Husky-46-in ... /303101236

[lthenderson]

I have 7 bikes hanging from heavy duty storage shelves all along the right wall along with other outdoor gear.

One of the most underutilized surface in a garage is the ceiling. I hang all my bicycles from the ceiling above the front hoods of our vehicles. They are out of the way and free up precious wall space for other things.

https://www.amazon.com/Bike-Mountain-Or ... B01L20SDPK

[barnaclebob]

I'm happy with this box but it was only $500 delivered when I bought it in 2014: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00AC ... UTF8&psc=1

I've got the drawers loaded up pretty heavy and the shelves still work great and the castors roll smoothly.

[texasdiver]

I have 7 bikes hanging from heavy duty storage shelves all along the right wall along with other outdoor gear.

One of the most underutilized surface in a garage is the ceiling. I hang all my bicycles from the ceiling above the front hoods of our vehicles. They are out of the way and free up precious wall space for other things.

https://www.amazon.com/Bike-Mountain-Or ... B01L20SDPK

I have 3' wide Rhino Shelves around the perimeter of the garage at about 8' with storage bins stacked on top of them holding infrequently used bulky stuff like Christmas and Halloween decorations: https://rhinoshelf.com/ The bikes are hanging from the bottoms of the Rhino Shelves. If I used pulleys to hang some bikes from the actual ceiling they would be blocking access to the shelves but that is a potential possibility. I dont't want to make to difficult for the kids to get their bikes up and down or they won't use them or just leave them on the floor instead.

[texasdiver]

This guy went crazy comparing tool cabinets. https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/sho ... p?t=153445

Apparently in 2018 Harbor Freight re-designed their tool cabinets to make them heavier and deeper and the newer "series 2" models are getting good reviews as well. Gotta wonder how all this new trade war with China will affect Harbor Freight pricing and frankly their business model. Might be time to get one now before that happens.

[SuperGrafx]

Just go to Sears or Lowe's and get a Craftsman model.
Most of them are still made in the US and priced competitively.
No need to over complicate this.

[sco]

I have the red American general from harbor freight, don’t forget the 20% coupon when you go.

[McCharley]

Just go to Sears or Lowe's and get a Craftsman model.
Most of them are still made in the US and priced competitively.
No need to over complicate this.

I took the cheapo Craftsman toolboxes that this roller replaced and put them out on the sidewalk with a free sign.

Craftsman used to be quality, but they have really slid. Granted, those were yardsale specials that had lived a life of abuse, but their construction was so bad that they depressed me. The drawers would stick and jam, the lid never shut right, and everything was plastic that could be. Ugh.

[plantingourpennies]

Just go to Sears or Lowe's and get a Craftsman model.
Most of them are still made in the US and priced competitively.
No need to over complicate this.

I took the cheapo Craftsman toolboxes that this roller replaced and put them out on the sidewalk with a free sign.

Craftsman used to be quality, but they have really slid. Granted, those were yardsale specials that had lived a life of abuse, but their construction was so bad that they depressed me. The drawers would stick and jam, the lid never shut right, and everything was plastic that could be. Ugh.

DO NOT go with Craftsman-their toolboxes are now junk! I made the mistake of buying one in 2008. 10 years later plastic nubs that hold the drawers closed are turning into dust. These little nubs are no longer available from the manufacturer, so now my drawers don't stay closed.

If you can find a box from the 50's-60s-70s, different story! In retrospect I should have bought an older one and restored it.

[alfaspider]

This guy went crazy comparing tool cabinets. https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/sho ... p?t=153445

Apparently in 2018 Harbor Freight re-designed their tool cabinets to make them heavier and deeper and the newer "series 2" models are getting good reviews as well. Gotta wonder how all this new trade war with China will affect Harbor Freight pricing and frankly their business model. Might be time to get one now before that happens.

I have to note that this was much to my chagrin. I was planning on buying a matching top-chest for mine as my tool collection has expanded, but they've now discontinued the top chest that fits

[Bacchus01]

Just go to Sears or Lowe's and get a Craftsman model.
Most of them are still made in the US and priced competitively.
No need to over complicate this.

This is largely false.

I have a large craftsman set in my garage. That said, if I was buying today, US General would be the choice.

[lazydavid]

Just go to Sears or Lowe's and get a Craftsman model.
Most of them are still made in the US and priced competitively.
No need to over complicate this.

Nothing could be further from the truth. Read the reviews in the post above yours. Here's the Craftsman summary:

All the floor models are overpriced, underbuilt disappointments. I’m fine with their hand tools, but the chests and roller cabinets are not worth the price, not by a long shot. The tool chest buyer at Sears should be publicly run out of town.

I certainly haven't gone to the exacting detail that reviewer did, but remember being generally impressed with the build quality of MasterForce (Menards house brand) tool chests when I looked a couple of years ago.

[Ged]

I bought a Kennedy Maintenance Pro about 15 years ago when I realized the tool cabinets at Sears and Home Depot weren't great, and I couldn't justify the high end stuff like Snap-On.

I've added smaller boxes on top with no problems (yet anyway).

The US General probably are half the cost of the Kennedy. Or maybe less. But I didn't have Bogleheads back then.

[snowman]

I bought US General black box (smaller than what you are looking for) maybe 10 years ago, I was tired of my tools being all over and it took some time to find what I needed. I don't have a shop, I just fix/maintain our cars and whatever else in the house that breaks.

I remember visiting Costco, Lowes, Home Depot, Sears and Harbor Freight. I found US General the best value, by far. I use it very often (not daily though) and everything is as good as new! It was one of those "perfect" purchases - good function, low price (after usual discount). I highly recommend HF. This looks similar to one I purchased (might be the same):

https://www.harborfreight.com/30-in-4-D ... 64096.html

I know their reputation is not the best, but over the years I bought few items at HF that I use constantly - the extendable ratchet is my favorite tool for oil changes and any other car work. Probably best $15 ever spent.

https://www.harborfreight.com/14-in-x-3 ... 62312.html