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Anyone have any input on adding cabinets to a trailer. Which brands are good bang for the buck. I would like to have a built in tool chest. Anyone have Midwest race trailer cabinets? What about .using some Home Depot garage cabinets?
The one Zip showed is nice but expensive. If you are just looking to bring a few tools to fix minor problems I bought a Husky toolbox from Home Depot and bolted it to the counter top. It has worked great.
I have been thru a bunch of trailers (gooseneck, bumper pull) and what I find is that having a nice tool cart makes the most sense that can carry tools and some spares (like pads, rotors). A tire trolley or dolly, and then a few plastic binns for the spares on a dolly too, so everything can wheel in and out of the trailer.
Cabinets wise I would have drawers for some immediate trailer tools or roadside stuff, and then maybe a waredrobe closet for clothes and uniforms, and then a few upper cabinets to store some driver stuff.
I would also take a very analytical approach to weight - it is very easy to add 500-1000lbs to the very front of your trailer with a heavy cabinet setup and lots of tools & spares within. While some tow rigs may not notice that, a shorter 20' trailer and a more modest tow rig could result in this dramatically changing the tongue weight and the towing characteristics of your rig.
I purchased a used Snap On box, removed the wheels, bolted to the floor, and had a sheetmetal fabricator make a cabinet top. Much cheaper and better quality than purchasing from the higher end trailer cabinet manufacturers.
I went to PRI to check out cabinetry for both the home and the trailers. I think Ctech probably makes the best, between the pulls, bearings and finishes. This is followed closely by Arrow and Moduline.
I do agree with the above, that a cart makes a ton of sense, but I'd look at one that is either small enough to manage on the ramp door, or make sure it has brakes, like most do. The steel offerings like Lista and Snap on are nice too, but again, can be close to 500 lbs before you add a single tool depending on the set up.
I did put technocraft in a hangar, and they are about 1/3 the price of Ctech, and about 80% of the product.
The cheap route, buy a Craftsman (or similar) rolling cabinet, take the wheels off and bolt it to the floor of your trailer. Be advised that these cabinets are built of heavy gauge steel and will weigh over 200 lbs before you start adding tools. You will want to make sure the cabinet has a positive locking drawer mechanism. I installed a 12 drawer Craftsman with a butcher block counter top from wall to wall on one of my trailers and it worked great, but added around 300 lbs to the tongue weight, 600 lbs overall.
The more expensive route is to do the same as above but substitute a moduline (or similar) Aluminum cabinet and Aluminum counter top. This will save you over 100 pounds. I had a couple of trailer with complete moduline suites and it is good stuff.
The best route IMO, is to go with a mobile cart. RSR makes a line of carts that work great. The carts are made of Aluminum and come with a lot of useful extras like N2 storage and tie down hooks. The advantage here is you can wheel your tools right to where you are working. Also, because it is mobile, you can move it around the trailer to adjust your tongue weight if that is a concern. This route is the most expensive of the three. Here’s a link to RSR’s website: https://www.redlinestands.com/catalo...rts-c-286_343/. I went with their 26” cart on my last trailer and it worked a treat. The cart weighed a little over 300 lbs and had the equivalent storage of two standard roller cabinets. Even when fully loaded with tools, it was easy to move and control up and down the ramp door and having your tools readily at hand saves a bunch of time and energy.
...I installed a 12 drawer Craftsman with a butcher block counter top from wall to wall on one of my trailers and it worked great, but added around 300 lbs to the tongue weight, 600 lbs overall....
And that is when you reposition and rebalance to lessen the TW impact.
I currently have a built in table in the front of my trailer and I roll in a harbor freight tool chest. It works ok, but at the track I basically have the tool chest kinda in the middle of my trailer, and I have not default storage. Rolling the harbor freight chest into my trailer is difficult. was thinking of just keeping a spare set of tools int he trailer toolbox. As far as tongue weight goes, I could use a bit. Right now I have to pull my car very far to the front (26' trailer) to get it balanced correctly.
I went with Pit Posse diamond plate cabinets for my upper cabinets. I added small "struts" for RV cabinets to hold the doors open. For the front - none of the premade cabinets would fit so I found a diamond plate detailing cart in the right dimensions, modified it by adding husky toolbox to the top. I have all the storage I need - your needs may vary. Have a fold down shelf on the left, which holds the laptop etc. Everything is powered by a 100 watt/100ah solar system which has an inverter/converter which feeds a dual 110/12v ac/dc panel. At the rear I have a two helmet shelf which has fans wired into the bottom to dry the helmets. Now I have plenty of room upfront with the Boxster in the trailer and can easily access everything. Not bad for a 20 foot featherlite.
04-02-2019, 01:37 AM
Let’s talk cabinets
