Tool box wheel sizes RANT.

[EVILDR235]

Most of my tool boxes are Craftsman because they are pretty well built for the price and can be picked up cheap on the used market. My gripe is the tiny wheels that all seem to have from the store. Yes i know they offer a upgraded larger wheel set for more money. Most people don't spend the extra money at time of purchase thing the little wheels will be fine. It is only after one loads 300 pounds of tools and then tries to move the box do they realize the mistake they have made in not getting the big wheels in the first place. Now the tool box buyer is faced with the decision, do i go and buy the big wheels and unload the box to install them, or do i go in and watch Danica crash into people at 200 miles per hour ? So now in my shop i have placed tool boxes in places where i will never have to ever move them again. Sears just place the big China made wheels in the first place and just charge $20.00 more for the friggin box. PS, i wonder how many people have dumped their boxes over trying to move them and wound up crushing Fluffy the cat. Rant over.

EvilDr235

[amecks]

For Christmas last year (in addition to a bonus!) my boss gave me a C-man mechanics stool.  The wheels started to fail after a few months and now are barely functional at all.  I have a new different set on order from a company source.
Also the seat is about 30% smaller and thinner than the one my wife bought me from Tractor Supply - and that one still works fine.  The C-man stool also seemed to be too low when extended up all the way.  I had to add a 3 or 4" spacer to work at table height.
I have a Craftsman box set I bought on sale.  It is nothing special but it is used stationary so the wheels don't get used.
Al

[geneg]

After seeing a triple high box spill for a coworker when he rolled over an expansion joint in the shop floor,  I have upgraded every box I own with 5 or 6 inch casters.  The exception is the Kennedy's, they are made right!!!  Just to stiffen up the box bottoms on older roll-a-ways with wallowed holes or rusted corners,  I cut a piece of 14 ga. steel the size of the top plate of the new caster and drill it the same.  Use decent bolts with lock washers also.  With the orig bottom sandwiched between larger plates & rolling on better casters, I have never had a failure.   

[Bill Houghton]

Probably most of the target customers for Sears don't move the rollaway once it gets installed.  Mine don't move - my shop's too small, so the four rollaways in there are fastened to the wall.

[scottg]

I particularly loved this line:

It is only after one loads 300 pounds of tools and then tries to move the box

You'd try that? really? heeheh
   And you don't collect casters for these past 40 years?

Yeah I have always sought out and lugged home casters, when I had no immediate use. When I can get them cheap, I always will.
  I used to scavage broken shopping carts at the dump, just for the wheels.

 Its all academic now though. There are so many casters coming out of Asia, if you look around. Any size any load capacity. And cheap
      yours Scott

     

[amecks]

"I used to scavage broken shopping carts at the dump, just for the wheels. "

Scott,  Do all your tool carts shimmy, squeak and pull to the left? .......just kidding just kidding!!
If I knew of a place around here to scavenge parts from I would be there on a regular basis.  A local landfill closed in 1993 and I haven't since found any metal yards that will let you look around.
But you're right - there is a proliferation of cheap wheels out there.  Here at the rental store we are affiliated with TrueValue and we are able to order at cost through the "warehouse".  That's where I am getting wheels for the mechanic's seat
Al.

[EVILDR235]

I am thinking of getting some angle iron, building a frame that i can put 2 bottom boxes and 2 top boxes on and putting 6 to 8 large wheels on the bottom. I could even get crazy and motorize it. I have a heavy duty 12 volt motor off of a van wheel chair lift. It has a 40 to 1 ratio gear box on it. Or i could move my table saws to the garage and have all the room i need as i rarely use them.

EvilDr235

[scottg]

   Funny thing about those grocery cart wheels.
 When you get them home and strip them down you will invariably find about 2 miles of long hair packed inside. 
 This is where the shimmy and squeaks come from
   But the older ones are 5" diameter, beautiful rubber. Removable axles and double row big ball bearings. Good bearings in the swivels.

Sears sold what they called a garage workbench all through the 80's and into the 90's, and maybe even still. They came in several configurations.
 When they put a decent model "on sale" I looked up if I could the, best for our uses, shallow drawers separate.
 I found out the drawers I wanted could be had reasonable.
 I ordered my stuff and had it sent to the nearest store (free to ship that way).
 
 Assembling it, I found most parts were good enough but some were too thin. So I got some sheets of 1/2 hard aluminum and reinforced the back and the sides from inside (that hold up the slides).

  I took a piece of 2" schedule 40 thick steel pipe (plain pipe no zinc) and split in in 1/2 the long way.  I used this to make me frame. Gave a nice rolled appearance.
 Some extra steel for support where the sun don't shine, and a piece of bent safety handrail tubing dropped into larger pipe welded on, made me a removable handle.
 Using the extra slides from the deeper drawers I took out, and 1/8" plate steel (safety kickrail) I made a huge bottom drawer with expanded steel bottom, just to take up the extra space.
   Its been a a good box
     yours Scott

[kxxr]

Well done! Bubbles would be proud :)