De-wonking your rolling toolbox
Posted: Fri Sep 13, 2019 9:08 am
If you've ever bought a rolling toolchest for less than $500, you're probably familiar with the following scenario: the thing is square and perfect when you get it home, but the more you load it up, the wobblier it gets and the harder it becomes to push the damn thing around.
This is all caused by cheap-ass manufacturers using an unreinforced sheet metal bottom. As the chest gets heavier and heaver, the sheet metal starts to deform around the base of the four casters holding the chest off the ground. The metal around the front casters always show more of this wear since part of the load cantilevers forward every time a drawer is opened.
This is the bottom, where one of the rear casters would normally be installed, of my lightly used Craftsman tool chest. Larger dents and bends have already been corrected as best I could without creasing anything. You can see that the metal is actually drawn around the caster base like an incomplete stamping.
To distribute the load more evenly and to ensure the casters function as designed, go get yourself a nice piece of 5/8" plywood and cut it to fit the bottom of the chest. Mark the locations for the casters. Yours may be predrilled for multiple caster sizes...mine was, so I was able to switch to a larger caster without needing to put any new holes in the toolbox.
Here's the inside (bottom) of the toolchest. The stock casters used the smaller set of pre-drilled holes; since the chest was pre-drilled for both sizes, I selected a larger caster with a much greater load rating than the crappy originals.
Old compared to new. In addition to tearing up the bottom of the toolbox, you can also see that the caster housing has been deformed due to the unanticipated loading caused by the uneven toolbox floor.
I need to make one more Home Depot run at lunch for stainless bolts and nylock nuts to get it all back together properly.
The original configuration included two fixed locking casters and two swivel casters. I replaced these with two swiveling and two swiveling+locking casters to make it easier to negotiate my wee garage.
In addition to keeping the bottom square and helping ensure that the wheels roll, the plywood will also prevent the chest from buckling along the longer edges so I can avoid ever buying another one.
This is all caused by cheap-ass manufacturers using an unreinforced sheet metal bottom. As the chest gets heavier and heaver, the sheet metal starts to deform around the base of the four casters holding the chest off the ground. The metal around the front casters always show more of this wear since part of the load cantilevers forward every time a drawer is opened.
This is the bottom, where one of the rear casters would normally be installed, of my lightly used Craftsman tool chest. Larger dents and bends have already been corrected as best I could without creasing anything. You can see that the metal is actually drawn around the caster base like an incomplete stamping.
To distribute the load more evenly and to ensure the casters function as designed, go get yourself a nice piece of 5/8" plywood and cut it to fit the bottom of the chest. Mark the locations for the casters. Yours may be predrilled for multiple caster sizes...mine was, so I was able to switch to a larger caster without needing to put any new holes in the toolbox.
Here's the inside (bottom) of the toolchest. The stock casters used the smaller set of pre-drilled holes; since the chest was pre-drilled for both sizes, I selected a larger caster with a much greater load rating than the crappy originals.
Old compared to new. In addition to tearing up the bottom of the toolbox, you can also see that the caster housing has been deformed due to the unanticipated loading caused by the uneven toolbox floor.
I need to make one more Home Depot run at lunch for stainless bolts and nylock nuts to get it all back together properly.
The original configuration included two fixed locking casters and two swivel casters. I replaced these with two swiveling and two swiveling+locking casters to make it easier to negotiate my wee garage.
In addition to keeping the bottom square and helping ensure that the wheels roll, the plywood will also prevent the chest from buckling along the longer edges so I can avoid ever buying another one.
Since the wood was oak and 3/4" thick at the smallest panels, I used large metal angle brackets to reinforce the top, sides and bottom and did the heavy-duty caster replacement. Now it'll hold that loaded Snap-On box and then some. Rolls easy, too.....imagine. 