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So I have had this roller tool box since 97ish and it’s been a great one. I honestly have never upgraded it. It has gotten me through a lot of projects, life, the garage fire it survived somehow, and a few moves over the years. I was reading on how to restore them and I am trying to run down really one part. I am waiting for Craftsman to email me back. I lost a stainless steel drawer handle cover in one of my moves. The lady is going to see if she can locate them all since the bigger ones are only 8.00. I started disassembling it yesterday and hopefully tomorrow of Sunday I can degrease and pressure was it.
Things to do:
Degrease and pressure wash it.
Get a few small bolts to replace the ones that have fallen out. I believe it is only 2.
Order new stainless steel drawer handle trim
Fix a few small dents
Replace both locks
Fix the door on the front and make it functional again
Take care of the surface rust on it
Prime and Paint it. Rust oleum Regal Red is the closes you will find to the Craftsman red. I will fire up my paint gun and shoot that. My neighbor is the head paint guy at our local home depot so I have the hook up lol.
Repaint using my airbrush the original emblems
I may ceramic coat it I will see how it turns out.
Possibly replace the wheels they still rolls so I may just lubricate them.
I believe that is it. This project should be 200 dollars or less. Not the best before picture
I still have my made in Canada Napa box. All the draws are there and its still in pretty good shape but it’s Old, dirty and unused. lol 😆 I hope you can restore your box like new.
I still have my made in Canada Napa box. All the draws are there and its still in pretty good shape but it’s Old, dirty and unused. lol 😆 I hope you can restore your box like new.
Maybe these pics can help.
That is awesome! It looks brand new! That is really cool! Mine is missing one of those bigger beauty strips across the drawer as well. Craftsman got back to me and said after a second email from me that they never received my pictures…. Hopefully we can stop playing email tag and figure out if they still make them. My drawers are 23 inches spot on and they have 23 2/3 inches.The other ones I want to replace are 17 inches but being as it survived a fire things like the serial number sticker got wet so its been hard to find parts lol. It was purchased in the summer of 97 from Sears but it’s not like I can go back to that sears at the mall anymore lol.
I got a little done on it yesterday. I straightened out some drawers and I got the top tool box corner gap really close. I cleaned up the wheels and got those oiled. I also got the plastic drawers cleaned up as well. Tomorrow I am going to degrease and pressure wash everything. I will then decided if I need to sand blast it or if I can just sand it down. I also found 3/4 of the model number of the bottom drawer set so I got that emailed over to Craftsman as well.
I got word from craftsman that they no longer make any replacement parts for it. So I am emailing to see if I can make the newer trim work if I trim it to fit.
So little update. I finally had time this morning to degrease and wash it. It looks great for its age. All of the rust is surface so I won’t need to sandblast it. I will run my palm sander over those spots and then sand the rest down. I would like to have it in primer by the end of the week.
A little bit of an update. I got it all sanded down yesterday. I then sprayed Eastwood rust converter over the spots where the rust had formed. Today I am going to start doing some body work to it. I have straightened out most of the dents. I will start the body work today.
More updates. I was fighting the wind all day yesterday 50-60 mph winds all day. I was able to get most of the cabinet painted. I still have a few things left to paint, and a few fish eyes to fix, but for the most part it is turning out great! Here are a few pictures I took.
I finished almost all of the painting. I started reassembling what I could. There is a door on the front that I am not happy with some hit it with a thin layer of body filler. I will sand two spots down tomorrow. I put a feeler out in our Camaro club to see if anyone had my missing trim piece. Well some did and now I am getting another full size craftsman roller. It needs work, but now that I kind of see how they work, I will tackle that one in a few weeks. I pick it up on Friday. I will start reassembling tomorrow and Friday. Here are a few teaser pictures. What I am getting on Friday.
I got the door sanded down, primed and painted. I was also able to get it all reassembled minus the lock at the bottom which was supposed to be her 2-28 and still hasn’t arrived. Last known destination was Chicago 2 days ago. I still need to figure out how the door mounts. I hadn’t used it in years so there could be something missing. I have the door and locking arm. From what I remember that is all it had new. I will start messing with that either tomorrow or Sunday depending on how fast it cures.
Well the guy kinda lied to me, but it all turned out ok. He gave me a drawer instead. The locks I ordered were not correct at all so I just got the correct ones last night. After straightening out the trim piece as best as it could be. It is done minus stabbing the new locks in. I have decided to let 14 years old have it on his 15th birthday. He helped me do most of the work and has fallen in love with it. I know he will take care of it and appreciate it. I will stock it with all of my older tools. Saturday I went and bought the exact same Tool box, but in damn near mint condition. I did a small two step paint correction on it. Then I bought the project. It’s from the 1980s. I need to figure out what year, The paint was in rough shape, but not much rust on it. So yesterday I spent all day taking it apart and getting it ready to paint. I have decided not to paint this one traditional. I am going to paint it my business colors so turquoise and black I am going to work on the aluminum emblems and I will do those hot pink. We did find that different era Craftsman tool boxes are different shades of red. Anyways here are the pictures. The one I just finished restoring, excuse the smudges on the bottom drawer. I had just been fighting to get the trim on. Its almost identical twin before During the two step Finished The one I am painting The top to the one I am painting Some of the drawers and aluminum emblem.
The oldest one I have Early-mid 80s. Same time frame as the one I redid just in a lot better shape. Late 90s. Still waiting on more doubles to arrive. Misc Waiting on more double 1/4 to arrive Waiting on more double 3/8 to arrive My poor 1/2 game… I have more doubles coming as well My wrench game is spot on lol SAE Metric Ratchet end SAE and Metric, Breaker Bars, and Torque Wrenches Torq bits Star head and punches pliers allen heads crecent wrenches Trim removal tools in the black bag, misc tools You can never have enough screw drivers The start of the tool box I am giving to my son. I have a few months to add screw drivers and what not to it.
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Project Craftsman Tool Box Resto 
