Coming soon to Sears are these great-looking special edition Craftsman Harley-Davidson tool boxes. These boxes look great to me, although I must admit I seem to be a sucker for orange tool chests and cabinets. The contrast of the decal lettering makes them look even better.
Craftsman has come out with a couple of other limited/special edition ball bearing tool chests and cabinets in recent years. There’s their blacked-out combo (which we liked), a new white dry erase-finish combo, a red Griplatch combo, a burgundy combo, and a black and platinum chest.
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5-Drawer “DynaGlide” Tool Chest
DynaGlide ball bearing slides give the chest a load rating of 75 lbs per drawer, which is appreciably higher than the 50 lbs per drawer rating of the blacked-out ball bearing combo I reviewed.
If my memory is correct, Craftsman’s older Griplatch and Professional chests had similar 75 lbs drawer load ratings. Craftsman’s new “heavy duty” storage products also feature this higher rating.
The chest is 26″ wide, 19-1/4″ tall, and 12″ deep. That gives the drawers a width of 22-3/8″ and depth of 10-3/4″. The top two drawers are 2″ tall, and the bottom three are 3-1/8″ tall.
It features gas struts on both sides of the top lid that keep it open for quicker top-compartment tool retrieval, enlarged drawer pulls for greater finger clearance, heavy duty handles, integrated key lock, and a Harley-Davidson inner lid decal.
Full Retail Price: $320
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Buy Now(via Sears)
If you want more bang for your buck, there’s a new Craftsman heavy duty 6-drawer 16″ deep chest ($320 normally, currently on sale for $272), and a heavy duty 5-drawer 16″ deep chest ($275 normally, $234 currently on sale), with both also featuring a load rating of 75 lbs per drawer.
4-Drawer DynaGlide Mobile Tool Cabinet
The 4-drawer rolling tool cabinet is similar in construction to Craftsman’s other I-frame cabinets, with a few differences. First, it has the same DynaGlide ball bearing drawer slides as the chest, giving the drawers a load rating of 75 lbs. You also get what Craftsman describes as 4-1/2″ stylized casters. And of course there’s also the Harley-Davidson decals.
The tool cabinet measures in at 26-1/2″ wide, 34″ tall, and 18″ deep. The drawers are 22-3/8″ wide and 16-1/2″ deep, with heights of 3-1/8″, 4-1/8″, 6-3/8″, and 9-1/2″.
It features a keyed internal locking system, 4-1/2″ x 1-1/2″ casters, and a chrome tubular pull handle.
Full Retail Price: $380
Buy Now(via Sears)
3-Drawer Portable Tool Chest
This portable tool chest features a comfort grip handle, three full-extension tool drawers, large drawer pulls, and two heavy duty drawbolt latches. It comes with H-D decals and drawer liners.
Dimensions: 20-1/2″ wide x 12″ tall x 8-1/2″ deep.
Full Retail Price: $80
Buy Now(via Sears)
First Impression & Pricing Comparison
I’m liking the 75 lbs drawer ratings, which is 50% higher than with some of Craftsman’s other limited edition and regular ball bearing tool storage, chests, cabinets, and combos. I am familiar with DynaSlide drawer slides, but not DynaGlide – perhaps these slides were specially developed for Craftsman by the same company.
The new H-D products are timed to entice Father’s Day gift shoppers, but with a combo price of $700, they will probably be more popular with H-D motorcycle enthusiasts shopping for themselves.
A $1400 40″ combo is also due to be released, and additional all-black with “custom decaling” storage products will be available exclusively at Harley-Davidson dealers starting in the mid-summer 2013.
If I were a Harley enthusiast and were in need of new tool storage, I would probably be eager to see what the “dealer-exclusive assortment of three, four, and five-drawer products… with load rating of 1,000 lbs” look like before deciding what to buy. They will probably be priced higher than the $700 for this combo, though.
If you don’t particular care about the H-D color scheme or branding of these tool storage products, there are other new Craftsman heavy duty ball bearing products coming out with better pricing.
I don’t mean to discourage any Harley Davidson fans from purchasing this combo, I just want you to be fully aware that there’s a price premium associated with the color scheme and decals. Personally, there are times when I would gladly pay more for a special color scheme, but only up to a certain limit.
That all said, I’ll be watching the pricing on the 4-drawer cabinet like a hawk. Like I said, I’m a sucker for orange tool boxes.
Steve R.
I think Paul is right; I had the same thought when I saw the term.
I dunno about the paint/decal scheme; it’s a bit much for my taste. I’m not so sure I’d want to have that blaring at me every time I went into the garage. That would be the 800-lb. gorilla in the room for me.
It reminds me of that joke about the Declaration of Independence: Ben Franklin went to sign it, looked down at the document and asked, “Oh, has John Hancock signed yet?”
Stuart
I don’t think so, because the same DynaGlide slides are mentioned in the product description pages for some of Craftsman’s non-Harley-partnered tool chests and cabinets.
P H
Made in china just like the bikes
Seth
Assessmbled in the U.S.A. actually. Only the 3-drawer handbox is made elsewhere, and that’s made in mexico.
Stacy
You might want to brush up on your geography because, last time I checked, Milwaukee, Kansas City, and York were still part of the United States, P H.
Laura
Right!😁
Phil
Just what I need, a tool cart that leaves oily puddles on my shop floor. 😉
jorge
you are still living in the past let it go man.
Colin
Can you get the boxes without the decals applied? I like the orange/black…
Stuart
Possibly. When I bought an “80th Anniversary” chest a few years ago, the decals were not pre-applied. In this case, since these decals are quite large and complex, they might be pre-applied to avoid misalignment issues.
mike
Man if those werent Craftsman boxes id be all over those. Buying these is like buying a Harley that was made in China. No bueno.
jorge
dont you know by now everything is made in chine
Hang Fire
My personal threshold for buying Craftsman toolboxes is they need both ball bearings and “GripLatch”, the pivoting drawer front that prevents drawers from sliding when shut. The ones without ball bearings don’t slide well with any weight in them, and with ball bearings they open too easily. I don’t see that these boxes have the GripLatch, but the prices are right up there with the ones that do- pass.
Stuart
You still have to be careful. Some recent Griplatch ball bearing units, such as their limited edition red one, have ball bearing drawer slides rated at 50 lbs per drawer.
There is one combo that features Griplatch drawers and 75 lbs per drawer DynaGlide ball bearing slides. Older and the larger (40″) Griplatch units have 70 lbs per drawer ratings.
Adam
Will you post complete tool box to Australia?
Don Martin
Nice looking box, But Ill stick to my Snap-On
Brad
Just bought a combo set including 4 drawer cart and 5 drawer chest, local store closing shop so price was as good as I could find.
The drawers do have a “positive stop” so they will not open unless you put some effort to it, you can feel them get tight and stop in place when closing, last 1″ or so.
Brian brrwer
Spend all big bucks on snap on boxes….all they do is hold tools. Spend your cash on tools. A check will get you to Vegas cheaper then a Benz!!!!
Nikie
this is sth I need for sure.
Darrell Kelly
Yea getting ready to purchase this combo set used, why I came on here to get some opinions of its quality, Really haven’t heard remarks referring to quality. The one guy making remarks referring to Harley Davidson being made in china, Wow what planet is he from..