The US General 5 drawer tool cart.
Yes I do have this in my personal garage and I love it!
This tool cart available at Harbor Freight retails for $349.99 but occasionally goes on sale $199.99 which is a steal on it's own but print off a 20% coupon and it becomes one of the deals you just HAVE to buy!
I emptied out most of my tools that I leave in my cart in order to take pictures. I mostly use it for tools that I have for engine building.
The cart comes complete with drawer liners, 2 heavy duty lockable casters, and 2 fixed wheels. It also comes with a few extra bolts, nuts, and washers used during assembly. It has an advertised 704LB capacity.
Assembly was easy. I do however suggest having someone help getting the box onto the cart portion. Not that it's heavy or impossible to do this yourself but it is cumbersome and awkward. Having someone help saves a little frustration.
All hardware was included and material that you would typically expect from Craftsman, Matco, and Snap-On. I believe it is grade 5 without the stamping but could be wrong.
The material the cart and box is made of is not your usual cheap chinese steel. It doesn't flex, dent or scratch easily.
The cart also includes little features like you see here:
The tool holders are on both sides of the cart. The holder located on the handle side is great for spray can storage like lubricants, spray paint, etc.The hydraulic lifts work great and stay out of the way.
All of the drawers have ball bearing sliders and are decent enough size to hold more than enough wrenches, sockets and ratchets of all sizes. All of drawers and the top are lockable and have a spring loaded latch to hold them closed when not in use. I currently use the bottom of the cart to hold both of my metric and standard 3/4" Socket Sets.
Complaints:
I only really have 3 complaints with this tool cart and they can be easily fixed if I wanted to
- Only having 2 casters instead of 4. This becomes a nuisance in tight areas like my 2 car garage but can be easily fixed. Harbor Freight sells the 2 casters that comes with the cart to begin with so you would just buy 2 of those and replaced the fixed wheels with them.
- The handle sticking out of the lid. This widens the overall width of the cart and makes it one of those things you have to watch out for while rolling it around your shop. Personally, my cart doesn't get moved much but my previous experience as a mechanic knows how much of a pain this can be when getting close to cars. If it was getting moved around a lot, I'd probably just remove it. If I absolutely needed it, I'd just drill new holes on the top of the lid for it.
- Closing the lid doesn't allow operation of the drawers. This is an annoyance that seems to be industry wide. All of my tool boxes and carts I have owned suffer from this and it doesn't matter if it was from Snap-On, Craftsman, or Harbor Freight. I usually just put up with this because disabling this locking mechanism usually results in the drawers no longer staying in place. I'd rather have the drawers stay in place while I roll it around than have one swing out and ruin the paint on my car or a customer's.
All in all the tool cart was A LOT more than expected! So much so I bought one for the shop at each one of my buildings and the guys like them there as well. I also have a mechanic friend that purchased 2 of his own. One to use in garage at home and to use at his bay where he works. At $350, you can probably find a tool cart with all 4 casters and a higher weight capacity. At the sale price of $200, you'll never find a tool cart like this in that price range!
