Robbie260
I fix things that others have broken
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- 2,474
- Location
- Scotland highland
So i have decided to do a review of my mobile tool box.
To start with it is the rare orange one of these boxes which when i bought it meant it cost me a good £100 odd extra on top of the basic colours one. This made it some where in the region of £550 altogether. This makes it less than a third of the price of the equivalent snapon box which retails for over £1700, and cheaper than the equivalent pelican case too at about just under to just over half the price depending on which colour you want.
This has an advantage over the pelican and it is the same in this regard as the snapon variant in that it is transported up right so all the tools arent sent everywhere inside when it is being transported. The pelican requires you to tip it on to its back for transport meaning unless your tools are all in foam cut outs they will all end up all over the place inside the drawers. The snapon and pelican versions have ball bearing drawer runners which i have to assume will be much smoother to use unlike mine which just runs on plastic on plastic. Though i have never found this to be an issue. This dose how ever cause a different issue which i will touch on further into this review.
It is made for Sthalwille by GT line an Italian firm mainly making cases for the air craft technician industry. Gt line make a range of acessories for this tool box series one of which i have fitted to this particular box. Im providing a link to both the Sthalwille version and GT line one below for your reference and as i dont want to write out all the specs here.
STAHLWILLE version:
https://www.misterworker.com/en-gb/stahlwille/13217-tool-trolleys-13217/8291.html
GT lines version:
https://www.misterworker.com/en-gb/gt-line/polypropylene-tool-trolley-4-drawers-ai1kt01/13555.html
The box wheels on two pairs of casters that are at the back of the box. Both suppliers sell a kit which gives you 4 spinner casters to put on each corner. Id say that if to be used seriously with a comprehensive tool kit onboard as a mobile tool box these spinner are probably a must, for two reasons. One: that the telescopic handle while probably strong enough has a very noticeable amount of flex and feels as though it is going to get damaged overtime by wheeling it around like this fully loaded. This box gets extremely heavy when completely loaded with tools. The other reason i will elaborate on later.
The box comes with 5 drawers 3 shallow, 1 mid depth and one deep drawer, two of the drawers, a shallow and the deep one are currently in the back of my pickup being used as seperate tool boxes. The tool box comes supplied with two clear plastic lids which can be slid on too these drawers to make them individual tool boxes. They are made of tough plastic and seem to hold up fairly well. I will be able to give more detail when i have retrieved them from my pickup and i will see how well the hinges on the back of the lids and drawers have faired when not protected by the tool box. These did seem to be the flimsyest part of the whole setup. In under the top lid there is a tote tray and a compartment below it which is deep enough to hold shallow half inch sockets, even with the tote tray in place or a 36mm socket lying on its side.
This tool card is an accessory produced by gt line for these boxes, i have had it loaded with small and stubby spaners in the past and it holds up well. It seems to be a quality bit of kit with good elastic and strong fittings which just screw into the plastic lid.
This is an issue with this particular tool box the drawers dont come out all the way, meaning if you utilise the entire depth of the drawer which most will have to do with the small size of this box, if it was foamed out then you would not be able to acess the tools in the very back without taking the drawer out. While annoying this is not difficult to do. This is the problem i reffered to earlier which would be easily cure by ball bearing runners. Also in the case of the shallow drawers occasionally it is really difficult to find tools that will fit in them due to thier shallow depth i did in the end, resort to buying snapon old style handle drivers to find ones that would fit upto a no3 Phillip's and a large flat blade in that depth of drawer.
The other problem, though a minor one is the bottom drawer fouls on the front drop down door of the tool box and can be quite difficult if full of heavy tools to get open occasionally, the problem seems to be caused by the support ribs on the front door of the box meaning it sits at a slight incline and dose not lay flat. This is where i think the spinner caster kit would solve this problem as it should raise the box up a bit allowing the front door to drop down more.
All in all it is a good box and keeps you tools dry and secure in the rain and damp. Im not sure id buy one again though just maybe as my requirements for a tool box are changing and im starting too need a bigger one currently. I like that all the drawers can be taken out so you dont have to break your back taking it in and out of a vehicle.
In conclusion a handy sturdy tool box that will take just about anything you can throw at it. Id would change the factory offered drawers around so it came with 2 mids and 4 shallows, the deep one just seems unnecessary. Replacement drawers are easy to get a hold of.
To start with it is the rare orange one of these boxes which when i bought it meant it cost me a good £100 odd extra on top of the basic colours one. This made it some where in the region of £550 altogether. This makes it less than a third of the price of the equivalent snapon box which retails for over £1700, and cheaper than the equivalent pelican case too at about just under to just over half the price depending on which colour you want.
This has an advantage over the pelican and it is the same in this regard as the snapon variant in that it is transported up right so all the tools arent sent everywhere inside when it is being transported. The pelican requires you to tip it on to its back for transport meaning unless your tools are all in foam cut outs they will all end up all over the place inside the drawers. The snapon and pelican versions have ball bearing drawer runners which i have to assume will be much smoother to use unlike mine which just runs on plastic on plastic. Though i have never found this to be an issue. This dose how ever cause a different issue which i will touch on further into this review.
It is made for Sthalwille by GT line an Italian firm mainly making cases for the air craft technician industry. Gt line make a range of acessories for this tool box series one of which i have fitted to this particular box. Im providing a link to both the Sthalwille version and GT line one below for your reference and as i dont want to write out all the specs here.
STAHLWILLE version:
https://www.misterworker.com/en-gb/stahlwille/13217-tool-trolleys-13217/8291.html
GT lines version:
https://www.misterworker.com/en-gb/gt-line/polypropylene-tool-trolley-4-drawers-ai1kt01/13555.html
The box wheels on two pairs of casters that are at the back of the box. Both suppliers sell a kit which gives you 4 spinner casters to put on each corner. Id say that if to be used seriously with a comprehensive tool kit onboard as a mobile tool box these spinner are probably a must, for two reasons. One: that the telescopic handle while probably strong enough has a very noticeable amount of flex and feels as though it is going to get damaged overtime by wheeling it around like this fully loaded. This box gets extremely heavy when completely loaded with tools. The other reason i will elaborate on later.
The box comes with 5 drawers 3 shallow, 1 mid depth and one deep drawer, two of the drawers, a shallow and the deep one are currently in the back of my pickup being used as seperate tool boxes. The tool box comes supplied with two clear plastic lids which can be slid on too these drawers to make them individual tool boxes. They are made of tough plastic and seem to hold up fairly well. I will be able to give more detail when i have retrieved them from my pickup and i will see how well the hinges on the back of the lids and drawers have faired when not protected by the tool box. These did seem to be the flimsyest part of the whole setup. In under the top lid there is a tote tray and a compartment below it which is deep enough to hold shallow half inch sockets, even with the tote tray in place or a 36mm socket lying on its side.
This tool card is an accessory produced by gt line for these boxes, i have had it loaded with small and stubby spaners in the past and it holds up well. It seems to be a quality bit of kit with good elastic and strong fittings which just screw into the plastic lid.
This is an issue with this particular tool box the drawers dont come out all the way, meaning if you utilise the entire depth of the drawer which most will have to do with the small size of this box, if it was foamed out then you would not be able to acess the tools in the very back without taking the drawer out. While annoying this is not difficult to do. This is the problem i reffered to earlier which would be easily cure by ball bearing runners. Also in the case of the shallow drawers occasionally it is really difficult to find tools that will fit in them due to thier shallow depth i did in the end, resort to buying snapon old style handle drivers to find ones that would fit upto a no3 Phillip's and a large flat blade in that depth of drawer.
The other problem, though a minor one is the bottom drawer fouls on the front drop down door of the tool box and can be quite difficult if full of heavy tools to get open occasionally, the problem seems to be caused by the support ribs on the front door of the box meaning it sits at a slight incline and dose not lay flat. This is where i think the spinner caster kit would solve this problem as it should raise the box up a bit allowing the front door to drop down more.
All in all it is a good box and keeps you tools dry and secure in the rain and damp. Im not sure id buy one again though just maybe as my requirements for a tool box are changing and im starting too need a bigger one currently. I like that all the drawers can be taken out so you dont have to break your back taking it in and out of a vehicle.
In conclusion a handy sturdy tool box that will take just about anything you can throw at it. Id would change the factory offered drawers around so it came with 2 mids and 4 shallows, the deep one just seems unnecessary. Replacement drawers are easy to get a hold of.