Kennedy tool boxes

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asicer

Touchdown! Greaser!
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asicer
So I'm on the hunt for a tool box. I spot a Kennedy on Craigslist but one of the drawers is dented up. How hard would it be to get a new drawer for it?
 
Tough to find parts. Kennedy is based in my home town and is actually still a going concern. I remember buying tool boxes from their scratch and dent store when I was a kid.
 
It's not bad at all. Call up MSC and they can get one for you. Not sure about the price but if it's very much I would skip. Kennedy boxes aren't that great anymore compared to the competition.
 
Grum.Man said:
It's not bad at all. Call up MSC and they can get one for you. Not sure about the price but if it's very much I would skip. Kennedy boxes aren't that great anymore compared to the competition.
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So who still makes great tool boxes?
 
Just about everyone. Kennedy used to be a premium brand but now everyone has caught up. Even the boxes at Harbor Freight are just as nice and durable. My personal favorite are the Craftsman ball bearing boxes with the grip lock handles. They are the least intrusive design for keeping the drawers closed. They don't add any effort to closing, you don't even notice when you open them, and they never let go on their own.
 
asicer said:
So who still makes great tool boxes?
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Snap-on... if you want to pay big bucks. But I preferred to put money into tools vs the box. Bought most tool boxes in pawn shops cheap. Even found some free tools under bottom draw. However, once I consolidated all my tools boxes after I retired, bought several Harbor Freight ones and found them to be a good deal.
 
I got Craftsman on sale. Sears has an outlet store nearby me. Who knows what is happening to them, now, though. Didn’t they sell off the Craftsman brand? It seems to work well and the drawers slide nice.
 
I have a Harbor Freight ("US General") toolbox. It was something around $300-350 for a brand new one, 48", I want to say 13 drawers. My wife bought it for me because it had good reviews on Garage Journal (actually a really good place to look for info on garage stuff). I've had it for about 5 years at this point and I'm very happy with it. My only complaint is that the lock on it doesn't work very well, specifically you can lock it but then it's hard to unlock, so I don't lock it. This creates a bit of an issue since my kids will go rummaging through it at times, but they're mostly over that now.
 
John221us said:
Didn’t they sell off the Craftsman brand?
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Yes, to Stanley/Black n Decker who also own Portor Cable, Bostitch, and Dewalt. I hope the quality/warranty stays in the brand as they become more available in big box stores.
 
Ted DuPuis said:
My only complaint is that the lock on it doesn't work very well,
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FYI: while I didn't mod my current HF boxes, I installed metal tabs on top/bottom of all my previous boxes and ran rod/strap through tabs blocking the drawers and secured with high end padlock. Most OEM locks can be defeated very easily or are difficult to work as you mentioned.
 
Bell206 said:
FYI: while I didn't mod my current HF boxes, I installed metal tabs on top/bottom of all my previous boxes and ran rod/strap through tabs blocking the drawers and secured with high end padlock. Most OEM locks can be defeated very easily or are difficult to work as you mentioned.
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In my case I'm not actually worried about people trying to steal things, just about my kids losing my tools. "Keep the honest people out" so to speak.
 
Milwaukee makes some pretty amazing tool boxes, but they're pretty high dollar. I recently got myself a DeWalt (Stanley/Black & Decker owned) with soft-closing drawers that I'm thrilled with. It's in my hangar now and happily working along.

My main complaint with all of these toolboxes with all except the most expensive one is that I wish they would use a thicker gauge of steel. All of it feels a bit flimsy when you actually apply a pressure.
 
I don't think there's a better value than the US General line of tool chests from Harbor Freight. Ball bearing slides (dual slides for deep drawers). Heavy gauge metal than typical Craftsman as well. Now, it's not going to be built as well as a Snap-On/Matco/etc., but it'll be 25% of the cost as well. Menards Masterforce brand has a pretty good reputation as well. I don't mind Craftsman for some stuff, but I honestly think HF is a much better-built tool chest for the money.

Full disclosure: My father has had one of the 3pc 26" Craftsman boxes for a few decades and it's still just fine. Doesn't have ball-bearing slides though, and the tool trays don't work well with any significant weight in them. I have a Craftsman std red tool box (portable/top handle) that works just fine, too.

Once I finish painting the drywall on my new garage, I'll be getting a HF rolling tool chest. Probably 44", but I may talk myself into the 56" top and bottom chest. If I were spending money on a higher-end tool chest to get daily use, I'd probably go with Extreme Tools 55".
 
I've never understood the appeal of spending $2.5k on a toolbox just to get a Snapon logo on it. My $500 Craftsman box is 10 years old, and is in exactly the same condition (Like new and functioning perfectly) that any Snapon box I could've bought would have been in at this point. Snapon tools? Sure. I get it, they're that good. But their toolboxes cost 5x as much and for life of me, I don't see any way to bring 5x more value or quality to what you get in a Craftsman box.

Unless I can stand in front of the box and say out loud '3/8 drive 5/16 deep socket with 6" extension' and have a gloved robotic hand open the draws, retrieve the tools, clean them and then hand them to me, it ain't worth the price Snapon is asking.
 
Note on the Harbor Freight toolboxes. The Red ones and the Black ones are built differently, not just painted differently.
I have one of the red ones that has proper rollers on the drawers and has held up very well. I am not a mechanic by trade, but I am in and out of it a lot.
 
Juliet Hotel said:
I've never understood the appeal of spending $2.5k on a toolbox just to get a Snapon logo on it. My $500 Craftsman box is 10 years old, and is in exactly the same condition (Like new and functioning perfectly) that any Snapon box I could've bought would have been in at this point. Snapon tools? Sure. I get it, they're that good. But their toolboxes cost 5x as much and for life of me, I don't see any way to bring 5x more value or quality to what you get in a Craftsman box.
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Well, the point where the more expensive boxes shine over a Craftsman or Kobalt is when you load it up with heavy tools. When you work with diesel equipment and have 3/4 and 1" drive sockets, breaker bars/wrenches, the drawer weight becomes significant enough that a Craftsman will start to bend/tracks won't glide smoothly. The Snap-On/etc. will be built to handle those increased drawer loads and have thicker gauge metal/structure to deal with it. However, I think they're absurd for the shade tree mechanic like myself.
 
Juliet Hotel said:
I've never understood the appeal of spending $2.5k on a toolbox just to get a Snapon logo on it. My $500 Craftsman box is 10 years old, and is in exactly the same condition
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Because 10 years ago Craftsman was quality. Most of the stuff they put out today is junk. I have several newer Craftsman boxes that are garbage.

While Harbor Freight has stepped up their game, there is a still a place for a SnapOn level brand for the person that needs/wants that quality. Yeah, for most weekend warriors it is a luxury but there are plenty of high end shops that need that.
 
Grum.Man said:
This is the one I have and love it!

https://www.searsoutlet.com/Craftsman-41-in-Wide-9-Drawer-Ball-Bearing-GRIPLATCH-Workstation-Black/d/product_details.jsp?md=ct_md&cid=0&pn=1&ps=25&pid=168557&mode=seeAll&itemSelectionType=all&uid=40515345
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Nice.

To be clear, I already have a Craftsman bottom chest. Got it dirt cheap on Craigslist because it needed work. The slides were bone dry and the lock cylinder fell out. A few shots of garage door grease and a retaining wafer from a trashed cam lock later and it's looking and working quite nice.

What I'm looking for now is a bench top and/or portable box. Definitely with drawers and preferably with a removable tray.
 
Ted DuPuis said:
I have a Harbor Freight ("US General") toolbox. It was something around $300-350 for a brand new one, 48", I want to say 13 drawers. My wife bought it for me because it had good reviews on Garage Journal (actually a really good place to look for info on garage stuff). I've had it for about 5 years at this point and I'm very happy with it. My only complaint is that the lock on it doesn't work very well, specifically you can lock it but then it's hard to unlock, so I don't lock it. This creates a bit of an issue since my kids will go rummaging through it at times, but they're mostly over that now.
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That's what I have also. Pushing 10 years with mine, it's loaded to the gills...heavy stuff...including huge wrench & socket sets for dump trucks and tractors and backhoes, etc., and it handles it just fine. Regarding the lock, I never lock mine so I wouldn't know.
 
timwinters said:
That's what I have also. Pushing 10 years with mine, it's loaded to the gills...heavy stuff...including huge wrench & socket sets for dump trucks and tractors and backhoes, etc., and it handles it just fine. Regarding the lock, I never lock mine so I wouldn't know.
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Mine's pretty loaded up as well. Mine went through one move (Ohio to Kansas) and looks just fine still.

I did remove the "US GENERAL" decal on mine.
 
ja_user said:
Note on the Harbor Freight toolboxes. The Red ones and the Black ones are built differently, not just painted differently.
I have one of the red ones that has proper rollers on the drawers and has held up very well. I am not a mechanic by trade, but I am in and out of it a lot.
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Where did you hear that they were different? They also offer them in Blue as well. It would seem odd to build them to different specs, but look identical other than paint job. The Series 1 boxes were 18"D, the new Series 2 boxes are 22" deep, so more storage space.
 
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I know a guy that has one of the trucks, not Snap On. He has sold 15-25k tool boxes. All custom of course, and on credit..
 
I don't get the larger, rollaround tool boxes.
Most of my hand tools are in portable tool boxes because I am either in the hangar, in the garage, at work, in the field (really, the pasture). Ie very mobile. If they were in a truck-bed toolbox, I'd be doing miles carrying tools to and from the truck.
Also I can pack the important ones in one of these boxes, in the airplane.
Do you guys have rollarounds and a duplicate set of tools at each location?
 
Juliet Hotel said:
box and say out loud '3/8 drive 5/16 deep socket with 6" extension' and have a gloved robotic hand open the draws, retrieve the tools, clean them and then hand them to me, it ain't worth the price Snapon is asking.
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I guess you don't have a Snap-On then. That's exactly what they do !
 
I’ve had a roll around from Waterloo for 30 years and it’s still in good shape. Back then the Craftsman boxes were made by Waterloo, but you paid for the Craftsman logo.
 
ja_user said:
Note on the Harbor Freight toolboxes. The Red ones and the Black ones are built differently, not just painted differently.
I have one of the red ones that has proper rollers on the drawers and has held up very well. I am not a mechanic by trade, but I am in and out of it a lot.
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Didn't know that but mine's red also.
 
Let'sgoflying! said:
I don't get the larger, rollaround tool boxes.
Most of my hand tools are in portable tool boxes because I am either in the hangar, in the garage, at work, in the field (really, the pasture). Ie very mobile. If they were in a truck-bed toolbox, I'd be doing miles carrying tools to and from the truck.
Also I can pack the important ones in one of these boxes, in the airplane.
Do you guys have rollarounds and a duplicate set of tools at each location?
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I have a large rolling one in my garage with another chest on top (it keeps my tools organized and in one place). I have a canvas tool bag that I throw what I need in, when I am mobile. When I get back to the garage, I put my tools back in the toolbox. So far, this has worked out great, because I would not want to haul all my tools around everywhere, just the ones I need for a particular task.
 
Let'sgoflying! said:
Do you guys have rollarounds and a duplicate set of tools at each location?
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Yup....have two rolling tool chests worth of tools in my garage/shop that has everything then keep a carry around tool bag in my truck, small tool bag in my plane and a small tool chest in my hangar with the most common used items in each.
 
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