Tool Box Preference

[scott5]

I am an aircraft mechanic and as all mechanics know your box is your livelihood and I am looking to upgrade finally from my Kobalt 11 drawer box to a wider, deeper and better quality box. We get a Snap-on truck and a Matco truck at work and started looking at the MATCO 5s and the Snap-on KRL series box's. Anyone have both and prefer one or the other. Or had one and got the other. After doing alil research I am leaning towards the Matco 5s, but the KRL series just seems like too good of a box to pass up. I am looking to buy a box that lasts me a very very very long time. So which do you prefer and why?

 

[VRYALT3R3D]

For new take a look at Lista. Way better quality then Snap-On.

But if I were you, id look for a used snap-on toolbox on CL.

http://listabox.com/

 

[97RioRedSnake]

Snap On hands down. Can't beat the build quality and it will last a long time.

 

[2000 gt]

Im a car mechanic. I have a snap on box. My co worker bought a matco box. Hands down snap on has better quality. And is a lifetime purchase. If u buy one big enough ull never need to buy another box ever again.

 

[oldmodman]

I'm just a hobbyist mechanic.

I have both a SnapOn rollaway and a HUGE Matco box. The quality of the two seems to be about the same.

The SnapOn is just a bottom box and I got it about 1978

The Matco box I bought used from an LAPD motorcycle mechanic.

My main statement about both brands is that they are built like tanks. I have overloaded drawers in both boxes and the ball bearing slides held up perfectly.
About once every five years I take all the tools out, remove all the drawers, clean and oil the slides, polish the cabinets (and wax them too), and of course clean and wipe down with oil all the tools.

My recommendation is to search out the best deal you can find on a used box from either brand.

Of course if my name was Treynor I would order brand new, fully stocked, custom painted motorized boxes from SnapOn and spend many a happy evening fondling my tool(s).:dw:

 

[coposrv]

I have 2 different lista boxes. Im not too impressed by either. The locking mechanisms have already been punched out because they self lock and the drawers are beat to shit from 2 years of general use.

 

[hb712]

Coming from the technical side of Mac, and being required to know as much as possible about the competition, I see the box order as:

1. Mac - they still make the best box (not stereo, graphic covered madness) in the business. It's almost a coin flip between 1 and 2, but Mac just edges Snap-on in consistency and workmanship.
2. Snap-on - they do a hell of a job on most everything they make, boxes included. They also have moronic options for people who want to "express" themselves a little more.
3. Matco - it's not that their boxes are bad, it's that they're not made as well as the other big guys. The entirety of Matco's line is like that, just not quite as good as it should be.

Do you need anything for FOD? Have you considered Vidmar (better quality than Lista, although Stanley did recently buy Lista)?

 

[mifordman]

a guy i work with has an older triple bank matco 5 box, completely loaded down. according to him he has never has an issue with it. also at our shop we roll out boxes from job to job, the shop is too big to leave your box in just one spot. most of the guys i work with have snap on boxes and most seem to have problems with the drawer locks, the little plastic piece that you slide over to open a drawer, breaking on them. other than that they are great boxes too. i have a triple bank mac tech 1000 for just about a year now.....not one single problem with it yet other than im completely out of space already...should have gone bigger. oh and the drawer detentes are too damn stiff on the mac boxes....more of a complaint than a problem.

cost vs. size matco seems to be the way to go

 

[1wild-horse]

same snap on box here since 98. Keep stuffing it full and it takes it. Worked with a guy who hung 4 side cabs off a snap on bottom and filled them with so much shit, when the wheels fell through the bottom cab, our salesmen made him a hell of a deal on the new box he got.

 

[GOTSVT?]

Snap on

 

[kevinatfms]

for my few years at a dealer i just kept adding smaller boxes to my fleet after my 1 bay roller. its much easier to haul all them in the back of a pickup then paying some tow truck driver to haul your shit everywhere you want to work(if you ever quit and move).

most of my buddies bought the 5-6k boxes and they were nice but it just seemed like way too much money for something that held tools. my 4-6 smaller boxes did the same job, weighed a ton less and gave me options about where i could fit my boxes as the shop i worked in was a rather tight space.

if i wanted to buy a box it would def be the Matco signature series with your name imprinted on the front. looked badass in black with chrome trim and had a killer "side locker for free" deal if you bought it at certain times of the year.

 

[SID297]

for my few years at a dealer i just kept adding smaller boxes to my fleet after my 1 bay roller. its much easier to haul all them in the back of a pickup then paying some tow truck driver to haul your shit everywhere you want to work(if you ever quit and move).

most of my buddies bought the 5-6k boxes and they were nice but it just seemed like way too much money for something that held tools. my 4-6 smaller boxes did the same job, weighed a ton less and gave me options about where i could fit my boxes as the shop i worked in was a rather tight space.

if i wanted to buy a box it would def be the Matco signature series with your name imprinted on the front. looked badass in black with chrome trim and had a killer "side locker for free" deal if you bought it at certain times of the year.

That's basically what i do because I have to haul my box to different locations to work on articles.

I do want a larger box for home, but I need nothing approaching professional quality.

 

[shanezt]

I have Snap on Epiq series. i will never buy the cheap crap mac and matco sell.

 

[scott5]

Talked to the snap-on guy and getting an AWESOME deal on a new KRL series tool box. thanks for the opinions guys. Just got to decide on color combo.

 

[98$vt]

snap on hands down
awesome tools. awesome boxes. awesome quality and even better is their service

i have had a snap on box since 2009 and love it to death. broke a drawer off in the shop and it was replaced rapidly. i have and will continue to only buy snap on

 

[brett15]

Masterforce lifetime warranty on box's thousand's of dollars cheaper... got a 42" chest for 330 ish lifetime warranty can't go wrong.... 56" are under 500....

 

[Kevins89notch]

Old used, and with character would be my choice.

I picked up this Mac set for $550, and it came loaded with all sorts of tools. Not just wrenches and sockets, but hand saws, sandpaper, screw drivers, an axe, etc. The guy got divorced and was moving across country. It also has several old Ford stickers on it too.

 

[99cobrablack]

Ive got a buddy that sells pit boxes. I would like to try one for ease of travel.
http://www.pitboxes.com/

 

[SID297]

Ive got a buddy that sells pit boxes. I would like to try one for ease of travel.
Pitboxes - Ricky Sanders Racing - World Class pit boxes

Saw those at SEMA. They're pretty nice.

 

[03snkvert]

Masterforce lifetime warranty on box's thousand's of dollars cheaper... got a 42" chest for 330 ish lifetime warranty can't go wrong.... 56" are under 500....

I have been looking at these at our local Menard for my garage. Quality seems good and has a great price, roller bearings in the slides, roll out work stand!

MASTERFORCE 41" Tool Chest & Cabinet Combo at Menards