I have wanted to use the harbor freight cabinets for tool stands for my small drill press and bandsaw, but the website says they are 40.5" tall, but then say they are 26 5/8"L, so which is the actual height of the cabinet?
I just measured mine. Yep. 40" tall. Keep in mind, that's with the casters so if you wanted a shorter height (and don't need the casters).... I love my US General. I originally wanted the 44" but very happy with my 26" cabinet. I just wished HF had the lime green end cabinets in stock.
I've had the Husky with the additional top chest for about a year and I grew to love it for storing most of my stuff. The guage of the steel used and the overall fit is better than I expected. No issues with the drawers yet.
I picked up Craftsman tool chest at Lowes on clearance for less than $200 then I added drawer unit that fit on top for any $175. For less than $400, I got a nice setup.
I went with a HF US General 44" roller chest earlier this spring for $600 delivered to my door. The delivery guy for Old Dominion Freight was a true professional, so kudos to him and OD. The HF chest has been fantastic. My only regret is that I didn't get a 56" chest. Something to keep in mind for those who are looking for one right now.
I said screw it and got the 72" with a side box for my dad. Worst part was getting it out of the crate. Have some jacks and possibly a cherry picker to make it easier.
I bought a small red "cube" fridge for my garage. Then I had shop print me a graphic of a Craftsman tool chest and put that on the door. Now it matches all of my 80s Craftsman tool chest. Total cost less than $100.
I bought that exact blue US General last week. Nothing in this price range was even remotely close in quality. HF has the best toolboxes for the money. I'll probably get the end cabinet next as a drill press stand.
I had ordered a Heavy Duty Husky cabinet, as a tool stand. It came in damaged, actually quality was terrible from the factory. I didn’t want to go through trying different brands, etc. So I went to Rockler, bought their Legs and Stretchers to build a mobile table, and then purchased their drawer slide mounts. I will add drawer slides, and will build my own drawers. They have all the adapters to add drawers, for doors, etc. It is definitely built strong to hold any amount of weight. Then I can order the drawer slides I want for the weight I want. Yes, I have too build drawers, but it this so much better.
I bought an ultra budget Kobalt box some years ago. It’s like 14 deep, 26 wide and 30 inches tall. It has a 4 drawers and uses an external bar to lock it up. I bought it on clearance for like 50 bucks. Came with a real thin butcher block counter top. I’ve since slapped an old side cabinet on it and made a workbench top for it so it can sit in my house. I use some 2x4s under it to support the weight. I really can’t complain. Just saying don’t be afraid to find some used boxes or clearance boxes. And don’t be afraid to make it work if you don’t have the money! I’m getting into the rolling tool cases and tool bags. I don’t have that many tools and I like that things can be neat and tidy when not in use shoved in my closet or under my bed. I’m very impressed so far with the Kobalt CaseStack System. I’ve looked at Ryobi and Craftsman, Rigid is pretty out of stock where I live but they seem good too. For the money the Kobalt is pretty impressive.
I bought a couple of smaller 2000-series Craftsman cabinets. Definitely not the best out there but for what I use it for it does the job . I was able to get a good sale and store discount which worked out well. The other brands are definitely a step up but they're too big for my needs.
this is exactly what I am looking for. I have a smaller shop. just about everything has to be able to move or be tucked away. Anyway I’ve invested in the wind 12 inch bench top drill press And I really need a smaller tool cart that I can mount it to. Give me a lot to think about. Thanks for the info when there’s always shine on right back Atcha
I have that Blue US General box. I add the top box and two of the side lockers. It is a very durable box. I have had it for 4 years and it holding up well.
Wow. Thanks Bear. To be honest, I never thought to take into consideration the amount of sockets and tools and stuff I should be putting into a box. I learned something new.
I installed a HF 26 and 44 inch(lime green) in the back of my van. I never installed the wheels welded together a mount and bolted down. I have driven off several times w my boxs unlocked. The drawers will slide out w 100lbs of tool in them. Makes a lot noise but my drawers still work great.
I’ve used Craftsmen when I first started out, but when the money got right, I got a Lista rolling work center with the thick maple top and the best rolling wheels with grease fittings I’ve ever encountered. The Stanley/Vidmar cabinets are also great. Never saw a Krager in person, but that was the steepest priced cabinet I ever priced which was decades ago. The price of the Lista now is almost twice what it was when I bought mine. Tool storage is very personal thing. I’ve worked on machines in factories and on avionics in the Guard. The Lista is still the best cabinet I have ever come across as far as build quality. Opinions vary.
8 years or so ago, I needed some extra tool storage and didn't want to spend a lot of money. I ended up buying a 26" Chinese made Craftsman set with a 4 drawer bottom roller an 4 drawer top chest at my local Ace Hardware. I still use it for overflow and it's never let me down. After looking at the newer Craftsman stuff, I honestly think that mine is higher quality. My set doesn't even have ball bearing slides but, then again, my high dollar Kennedy boxes don't have them either.
After building many of the craftsman toolboxes for Lowe's the casters on many especially the low end boxes suck. You will either be replacing with stronger better casters or don't move the box but what's the point in that. Nuts coming loose..bolts coming loose..just about as bad as the damn grills that were outside the front of the store. I could go on Forever about parts loose and missing..another day. Oh you had to show the frig..on the wish list it goes, Thanks Bear 👍.
I had a budget craftsman box o so long ago from sears outlet. I put plywood in the bottom of each drawer and on the top of the box and that thing held up way longer then it should have.
I have the 5 drawer version of the husky tool box and it's pretty decent. I was looking for the cheapest tool box out there and it was on sale when I bought it. I use it at work, it's kept inside a larger locker that's near machinery I work on. It does a pretty decent job of keeping the dust out and I have it way overloaded but it doesn't seem to mind, I never installed the casters so that probably helps.
Pro tip. Print your labels out and glue the paper onto the magnetic vent covers and now you’ve got magnets to label your tool box. Super clean when they come off and easy to move around
I have the small 5 drawer red and black Craftsman you showed. I believe it's 26 or 27 inches wide, 18 deep. I forget the height. I got it last year when the last Sears in the area was closing. Marked down, I got out the door for a little over $200. The regular price has gone up at least $60-70 since then. I have it at my mom's house in her laundry room. It fits neatly under the table there. I keep some pretty basic household, plumbing, and electrical tools in it for when I need to go over there to fix something. It works fine. It is 'Made in USA with global materials' but for the price is decent enough. If it gets to $400, I would look at other options.
i have a small shop everything on or in a mobile tool cabinet each one has a certian purpose like my drill press has a cabinet all the drill accessories and attachments that i use with it large drawer on bottom has my portable drills
I have a 4ft tall 4 drawer metal file cabinet that I got for free, using it as a tool chest for bulky semi-lightweight items. Power tools, batteries, items in plastic blow mold cases, etc. 👍
i put casters on the bottom of my mini fridge ,the great thing is what ever your going to use its all there when you pull out the cabinet everything is there to work with that tool,no hunting for something screw driver ,wrench ,sand, paper, etc the onlything thats not set up this way in my shop is the table saw but i,m working on it
Hi, I was just walking thru the Burlington Wi. walmart and saw two 5 drawer cabinets in the tool isle, had to find a team leader to find out the price. 199.00 ea. I picked one up and the team leader took the other one. What a steal.
Look for used Kennedy boxes locally online. They were made by craftsman, but were their upper line. Like Chevy makes Cadillac. Oh...Many smaller Kennedy boxes that have pull out drawers have locking covers too. They usually flip down and slide in a slot to be out of the way while you are using the box. Half the time the locking covers are missing. If that's the case you might bargain to get it cheaper if you dont need to lock it. One pervious owner of a Kennedy I own put two eye bolts (one top middle, one lower middle) to lock it with a pipe.
Open to recently craftsman never made anything it was just a brand that Sears slapped on other tools. My understanding is the old craftsman boxes were made by a company called Emerson. Kennedy boxes were made by Kennedy manufacturing and that was purchased by JVA in the early 2000‘s. JVA sold them to Cornwell tools in 2016
Just got back from local wal-mart, they didn't have the hart 5 drawer w/ wood top, but they had a hart 6 drawer for $169. Will be a great extra tool chest!
I have a Craftsman setup from about 10 years ago. It has been fine for my home use, but I plan to either upgrade to a US General or a used higher end cabinet in the next year or so. Pass the old Craftsman setup down to my son.
The steel gauge used in these boxes varies and can really give you a good idea of how strong they are.They run from like 22 gauge down to 14 gauge so its really something to look at....if you can get that info.I have noticed in the past some pretty flimsy gauge steel boxes going for more money just because of the brand.I really think the gauge of steel used should be what you look for first when buying these boxes.
Nice job showing whats out there. Harbor freight is the only place local that keeps stuff in stock. I have the us general 4 and 5 drawer carts. Plan on getting more. All the other places you wait for parts if damaged in shipping. Plus nobody offers colors except harbor freight.
I went with an HF US General Double Bank roller for the home shop after visiting the big box stores earlier this summer and looking at the other offerings mentioned here; it costs more but the quality is there for similar-sized units. The only downside is HF shipping left little to be desired and took about a month to arrive. Thanks, Red!
I had a Hart cart and top, but I could not get the cart without the wooden top. So I just removed the top, and it stacked just fine. For the money, it's a nice piece of kit.
I have the 30in 5 drawer US General from harbor freight. They're on sale now for $229. I love my cart. I'd say that it's the best deal around. Even at the retail price of $289.
I originally had a Walmart Hyper Tough tool chest and top box. It was ok at first but I upgraded to a US General tool chest bottom and top. Much more expensive but I have far more room for my expanding tools of Stanley, Klein and DeWalt.
Whether I like a lot of things at Harbor Freight or not, U.S. General tool chests are great for the price. It’s too bad they raised the prices significantly over the last few years.
Great video. I'm sure a lot of people will appreciate this. I'm not sold on any of the. "Good for the money" products, simply means something to get you through a project, that is all but guarantee'd to be disposable in a year or two....especially in humid climates where anything in a garage can and will rust. I'd be interested in small 40" tool boxes that you can have indefinitely. Not 22-gauge aluminum, junk designed to be thrown away eventually, but, chests that are on rollers because they're impossible to pick up, made from sub-18-gauge steel throughout the entire chest. It seems to me that most of these companies are using cheap, thin gauge metal, then justifying it by saying that the drawers have a 100lb capacity....which is odd given it's all but impossible to put that much weight in a drawer. Weight capacity before the thing buckles, doesn't mean nearly as much as the drawer sliding smoothly, and not shaking with it's full of an average amount of tools. But, I digress....
Then get the USG. Built like a tank and stood up to being outside for a year at my home in Montana. 107F in August, -50 in January, snow, wind and rain. Did just fine.
@@denoftools You're a rockstar....thank you brother. And, thank you for ALL your videos. I'm the type of guy to just jump all in on a given brand, for the sake of simplicity, and I'm learning that that isn't always the wisest thing to do in many cases. Your time with these videos, is priceless...👍
If anyone needs to know what is the biggest US General roller cabinet that will fit into a 2004-2009 Prius that still lets you close the hatch and easily drive it home, the answer is the 56in. You do need to uncrate it and remove the wheels. You can probably win enough bets with HF employees about the hatch closing, that it's a free roller cab.
If you want bang for your buck go buy a hf dolly and secure it too a used two draw lateral file cabinet. Comfortably fits all my power tools and their bags and they come pretty beefy since they are built to hold a lot of paper.
The USG boxes used to be the go to but the price has gone up quite a bit in the past few years. I probably would have picked up a Masterforce box from Menards if it had been in stock since it would have matched all thr MF cabinets in my garage. Unfortunately we don't have one locally and I wasn't going to drive back several hours to pick one up. I wish you could still get made in usa prosumer boxes. Waterloo used to be my go to. I out grew the one I have and wanted a different drawer arrangement. It will probably go to one of my kids in 15 years.
I hear you about the USG prices going up but I'm at a loss. In fact, in one of my Deals of the Week videos, I put the question out to the viewers. I said USG has gone up so much there has to be a better box for the buck out there but I can't find it, so tell me what you would recommend. I got a lot of responses but it was all them just saying the thing I was. Yep, the newer price sucks but you will have to spend 2.5 times more to get a truly better box. BTW I do like the Masterforce boxes, they remind me of Homak. That said I'm in Montana so still no Menards for us.
@@denoftools I don't know either. If it was just rising material, shipping etc over the past 4-5 years, I would give HF from grace. I always feel that they realized they could charge more and decided too. I still don't think there is a competitor at the price point. I think the Masterforce is close (just a hair more) and is at least as well built. I used to live 20 minutes from one but now I am hours. If they go up much more though, I would probably consider paying the premium for a Proto or Homak.
I also thought the Seville looked familure. They are quite a bit less at Sams. I am now considering ordering a pair of 72s. One for my metal bench (drill press, grinder etc) and one for my wood bench (miter saw).
I've been looking at these too but I can't find any I like as they don't have top drawers that are tall enough for sockets. Shame as these smaller boxes would be easier to move and more flexible than the larger ones.
I bought a larger heavier duty craftsman. It's pretty tall about 5'5" holds a ton of stuff and I've beaten it up. I'm a DIYer not a mechanic, but I would use it if I were a mechanic too.
I followed my father's recommendation to get that exact 2000 series Craftsman tool cabinet for my job as a tire tech. Here I thought it had all the space I needed. But because I'm learning I always need more tools, I'm wondering if I should start looking at larger tool cabinets. Are there brands you recommend more than Craftsman?
Love it Tool Bear. Looking forward to the other tool chests. That fridge chest is awesome and in Crafstman colors. You gotta buy that. Business expense.
Whatever you do, DO NOT use the Craftsman boxes as rolling boxes unless you replace the over-sized sheet metal screws holding (not for long) the wheels on!
What is you take on this saw? HERCULES 12 in. Dual-Bevel Sliding Compound Miter Saw with Precision LED Shadow Guide. My dad's Dewalt finally died, he is debating on getting this one with the stand, one of his dilemmas is that he can't find a crown molding stop for it. The parking lot sales end tomorrow. The saw is $339 and the stand is $149.99
Hello again Red and Mrs.Bear Thank you for another Great Video 👍 I am hoping that you do more Toolbox video's. I am researching for my next box. Thank you RU-vid LOL. I currently have a 41 inch, 9-drawer Craftsman box. I've had it for about ten years. And it's just about full (316lbs). I know Craftsman has a 52 inch. I do like the double bank drawers. The main issue I see the empty weight. I have to be able load/unload this box usually by myself. Any thoughts that come to mind? Again thank you
My craftsman rollaway, like the one you show about the 4 minute mark, lasted me over 30 years in a maintenance enviroment. Of course, at the time, it was made in the USA. ( I don't know if the new ones are today)??
I bought the small Craftman set, top and bottom on sale (otherwise they're overpriced). No where near as good as the US General BUT they had taller drawers. Both top and bottom boxes from HF have these skinny drawers, you can't organize your pliers on edge, they must lie flat. Anything "fat" must go into a lower, taller drawer. I was prepared to accept this on the top box but not on both top and bottom. US General really needs to rethink their bottom box design, less number of drawers but taller for the larger tools. If it had been on sale at the time, I would have bought the 36" Husky set. Or the nearly identical version from TSC (Big Red).
Yeah I agree with you that they’re not as good as they used to be I always considered craftsman as a good toolbox but I recently bought a smaller one it was very disappointed in the quality of it and it literally had to be re-welded by my friend because of the construction was so poorly put together not to mention the fact that I ended up breaking the bottom drawer because I put too much weight in the bottom of it self reality craftsman it’s not the same company
Due to the way my garage and heavy steel workbench is, I need two of the small 36” roller boxes to fit under my bench and because of the middle leg, I cannot do a longer one and have to do two 36’s. My Craftsman units I have now are 30 years old and are becoming HARD to open and close. I was about to purchase the Kobalt from Lowes, but I wanted to know your opinion of them for $399, are they better than the Hart you showed from Walmart. If they are good or another of the same size is real good, I don’t mind paying $399 each. I would appreciate your advice. Thanks!!
Hey, Tool Bear Looking at the Harbor Freight 26," 8-drawer tool cabinet per your recommendation. I see they have a "Series 2" designation on some of their cabinets. What is so special about Series 2? Heavier gauge steel and/or slides? Need your knowledge here, Red. Thanks for doing this.👍
Series 2 has been the designation for I think almost 10 years at this point. Slightly different dimensions, better construction, and more paint colors.
Don't buy the 1st 2nd or 3rd ones. @ 5:50 I agree 👍👍 8 drawers is a Much better deal compared to 4 or 5. I have an old school (NO ball bearing slides) 5dr Craftsman. Just put it back into circulation.
Hello Bear. I heard that places like HD and Lowe's have overstock on tool storage and the sales might be coming soon. Do you think this is true or just a bunch of smoke?
Okay, so I was laughed at a lot. I used saddle boxes on pick ups and a bulky job box in my van. They somewhat worked because Paslode guns were in orange plastic cases, circular saws and power miter boxes. Yeah, you got it. It was a mess.(They said just like a hillbilly to have 20,000 dollars worth of tools and no way to carry 'em) So I am behind on roller carts/top boxes. I only have one of each.
