Tool box upgrade

Update your progress on your various car projects.

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MostMint
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Tool box upgrade

Post by MostMint »

A couple years back I bought a John Deere toolbox and thought it would provide me enough drawer space. As it turned out not all the tools fit in the box, though it was a big improvement.

https://www.tiresmoke.org/viewtopic.php ... box#p15084

In my mind and kinda low on the list was adding a second box. Well BP had a connection, and I acquired a large tool box along with a little side tool box - both full. It is a three piece unit from Waterloo - with a base 15 drawer cabinet on casters, 11 drawer top cabinet and a 6 drawer hang on side cabinet. Lower level cabinets are 18" deep the top is 16". Waterloo was acquired by Stanley Black & Decker in 2017, and I don't see the large cabinets offered under this brand any longer. This one is older, you can tell by the Waterloo label script. I can only guess it's 30 years old. The extra cabinet is a Craftsman - no casters though. With nice weather hanging on Rhonda, Kurt and I went to get the box.

We used Rhonda's Colorado. I brought a large tub to put between the wheel wells in the bed, to load a lot of the tools into. There was no way we were lifting that box loaded with tools. So we filled the tub over full, put a lot of the trays and boxes in the back seat, put the top box into the truck, then loaded some tools from the bottom box into it, and put the bottom box into the truck. This only left about 6-8" to the bed so there was no floor space for the side box. So we laid the side box on top of the tool pile in front. It was only then Fred32v pointed out we didn't have the Craftsman box loaded either. I had brought some blankets so we were able to lay the Craftsman box on top of the top box. I used a few ratchet straps to help keep the boxes in place, though the single strap holding the Craftsman was probably not doing much.

While we were there we had a nice chat with Gary (the box was his deceased brother Dave's).

We were probably over the weight limit of the truck by a bit, but it made it home with no incident.

Once we got it home we needed to free up the truck, so the stuff got emptied onto my bench and it looks like this:
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I can't have these piles in my garage I want to get this organized. So I've cleaned most of the drawers, and temporarily labeled them and started putting like tools together. So far my experience with the Waterloo box is its probably about Craftsman quality level, though it does have better casters.

Once I know what tools I have I'll decide which tools are staying, which are going to Kurt, which are going to other places. After that I'll have to figure out how to rearrange the garage to fix this box in place of my current Craftsman, and transfer everything over. One of the Craftsman boxes will end up in the basement for a second set of tools there
[quote="Basement Paul"]Is that a mint rocketship on the hood?? :shock:
-BP[/quote]
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MostMint
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Re: Tool box upgrade

Post by MostMint »

I'm probably six hours in and I am not done organizing. Made a lot of progress though.

There are some really interesting tools - like a hacksaw that has the support directly above the blade instead of the bow type - to fit in tight spaces. There are a couple 90 degree die grinders that will be nice, hammers and dowels for shaping metal, many wire stripping tools, too much to list.

The box design is not the best though for my tool range. For flatter tools and things it is great as it give you a lot of drawer surface area. Main issue is the drawers are not that deep so tools with any depth won't fit. I'll have to look at this box and my Deere box and see if my tools can be rearranged to fit and be organized. If I don't like it then Kurt will have a nice box to start.

Assuming it is staying, the other challenge is where to put it. A quick measure tonight tells me there is not enough free space on the north wall to replace the Craftsman box with this one. In order to fit it there will have to be a cascade of rearranging.
[quote="Basement Paul"]Is that a mint rocketship on the hood?? :shock:
-BP[/quote]
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MostMint
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Re: Tool box upgrade

Post by MostMint »

The green tub and the table are now cleared. I'm labeling the drawers as I use them with green tape.

Cleaning up the box I have been removing the drawer liners and wiping them down. Under that I found where it was made
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[quote="Basement Paul"]Is that a mint rocketship on the hood?? :shock:
-BP[/quote]
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Basement Paul
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Re: Tool box upgrade

Post by Basement Paul »

That's a nice looking box. Made in USA is a huge plus.

-BP
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Fred32v
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Re: Tool box upgrade

Post by Fred32v »

That's a really impressive box! Neat that it was made in America and you know when.
Fred32v
GMC Canyon Crew Cab Short Box 4x4 V6!
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MostMint
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Re: Tool box upgrade

Post by MostMint »

Progress on this project:

Finished the business of sorting what came with the box. I was able to fit all of it into the Waterloo box, leaving the little Craftsman base box free to go to the basement.

the next step was to fit the new box in place. It was too long to fit in the space where the old box was, and there was not adequate room to move the green box over. To address this several items had to move. The desk to the right of the green bench I turned 90 degrees, the purple bench to the right of that had to move also. Items in the corner next to the bench also had to go.

Took this opportunity to move the TV, audio amp, and the PC off the desk and onto a couple newly added shelves. This whole corner of the garage is a lot cleaner now.

After that the next step was transferring tools out of my old Craftsman box and into the Waterloo box. To do this I had to do considerable tool reorganizing. I merged together like drawers in my green box with those in the Waterloo box to make some space. I also had a clear bench so I stored quite a few tools there to open up some drawers in the Waterloo box. After several iterations of this through a couple sessions I was able to get all my tools from the Craftsman transferred into the Waterloo box, while taking extra tools from Dave's and putting them into the Craftsman box.

There are a few open drawers in the Waterloo box, and still a few drawers to consolidate and or sort, but all my tools are in the Waterloo box.
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[quote="Basement Paul"]Is that a mint rocketship on the hood?? :shock:
-BP[/quote]
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wxo
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Re: Tool box upgrade

Post by wxo »

Impressive, Andy! I've been wanting/needing to do a similar reorganization of my garage, but my girlfriend Silvia has kept it in a constant state turmoil. I have to occasionally go out and find horizontal space to work just to keep the work going. Many times I have to stop working and collect tools just to be able to find them quickly. I think there is a kind of psychology to working on projects and using tools that I haven't mastered yet.
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MostMint
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Re: Tool box upgrade

Post by MostMint »

Above the toolbox in its prior owners garage was a sign. Since he passed on I figured it would be appropriate to keep the sign with the box and his brother agreed and gave me the sign.

Yesterday BP delivered the sign so I took a few moments today to install it.
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[quote="Basement Paul"]Is that a mint rocketship on the hood?? :shock:
-BP[/quote]
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TireSmoker
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Re: Tool box upgrade

Post by TireSmoker »

I like it!

-Dave
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Basement Paul
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Re: Tool box upgrade

Post by Basement Paul »

From the Dave Bales collection comes this fine Homak Professional tool box. Kurt helped me bring it home last week and today I spent a couple hours in the garage organizing a couple of bins full of tools I bought home (there's still 5-6 more) and cleaning the tool box up. Although it wasn't very dirty, or very used at all, I figured I'd give a good wipe down and vacuum all the drawers out.
Sometime next week I'll be back in the garage sorting more tools and begin reorganizing all my boxes.

-BP
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