HARBOR FREIGHT KILLER?? (72" Husky -vs- US General) Home Depot -vs- Harbor Freight

[Music] hey everybody today I'll be comparing two very large 72 inch toolboxes which I featured recently on our Instagram and Facebook pages in this video we'll take a closer look at the US general series 2 from Harbor Freight and the new husky with stainless steel top from Home Depot but before I start I'd like you to pause this video and leave a comment below with your guests of which one will end up being the better box and then after the video is over leave a reply to your comment and let me know if your mind has been changed here are both boxes side by side as you can quickly see they are not merely a copy of each other the Husky is shorter coming in at just under 40 inches high the width without the handles is a full 72 inches and the work surface is an impressive 24 inches deep the US General is 4 inches taller coming in at 44 inches its 71 and 5/16 inches wide without the handles and it's 22 inches deep the top work surface on it is roughly 10 percent less than the husky depending on how you plan to use the tops of these boxes now and in the future maybe something to think about especially if you're planning upgrades or changes down the road the Huskies one inch thick top is really just a large sheet of press board that has a stainless steel wrap on it tools can and will roll off of it since there's no lip there to stop them the US General has a high impact chemical resistant rubber material permanently attached to the top of the box if you look closely you'll see a raised lip across the back as well as down on both sides this prevents things like sockets or extensions from rolling off and it allows you the option of adding a top box in the future at this time Harbor Freight does not have a full 72 inch wide top box available but many people opt to add a 56 inch top that fits perfectly and you still retain a usable work surface to the side since the 72 inch series 2 is the same depth and build quality as the 56 inch version this is definitely one upgrade that you should consider when and if you need more storage space the weight of the 72 inch bottom box by itself is 542 and a half nouns adding that 56-inch top box increases it by an additional 262 pounds bringing the combined weight to just over eight hundred and four pounds that's roughly 12% of the total weight rating on these casters since they are designed to hold a maximum of six thousand six hundred pounds moving back over to the Husky it has a much lower maximum weight rating coming in at twenty five hundred pounds and that's what's listed in the paper manual included in the box however that is in direct conflict with the electronic manual that you'll find on the product page of the home depot website the digital version lists the max weight rating for this box at 1,800 pounds or 700 pounds less than the paper version each of the boxes has breathable six-inch casters and although the husky has six of them versus four on the US general they are built and are rated completely differently the US general is using extremely heavy-duty six-inch suspension casters to locking swivels and to fixed there's solid metal with a thin molded rubber tire much like what you'll find on a pallet jack the suspension design not only provides massive support for the weight of the box and its contents but also absorb shocks and bumps preventing flexing of the box itself which can weaken welds and cause the metal to bend or twist surprisingly the husky is using plastic casters they do have these chrome hubcaps to give the appearance of a metal core but due to the inferior construction and low weight rating of these it's obvious to see why they needed to add the two additional casters in the center to help support the weight of the box and the tools that will be stored inside one advantage to the Husky six caster design with the swivels on both ends is steering it around the shop because the pivot point is in the center and it allows you to move around a tight space a lot easier but when it comes to parking the US General has one big advantage especially if you want to park it flat against the wall you'll push the fixed side at an angle against the wall and when the rear corner touches simply swing the swivel side over and it's also touching the wall with the Husky it isn't so easy since the pivot point is in the middle of the box if you touch one corner and then pivot the first corner is gonna swing back out as the second corner swings in in order to position it against the wall you have the equivalent of making a twenty point turn in a car moving it back and forth over and over until it finally gets close enough if there's other equipment on either side or if the wall is not clear in both directions this is next to impossible my secondary concern with Huskies choice of casters is the way they physically attached to the box like much lighter weight toolboxes and carts husky went with ribbed nuts to hold the casters to the bottom of the frame however those ribbed nuts are only set into thin sheet metal and in my opinion that's one of the weakest links with this 6-foot wide box looking at the US general they're attaching the suspension casters directly into quarter-inch thick plate steel that's drilled and tapped as well as welded onto the frame along with those all metal suspension casters are big factors and explaining why the weight rating is so much higher on the US general when we compare the drawer layout and design they are similar with a few noticeable differences the US General has a total of 18 drawers with an average depth of 19 and 5/8 inches the husky has a total of 15 drawers with an average depth one and a half inches deeper coming in at 21 and 1/8 inches for a mechanic the wide top drawer is absolutely one of the most used and typically most overloaded drawers an entire toolbox the width allows for long ratchets breaker bars or extensions to lay flat and many times you'll see entire socket collections in there the US general has a 52 inch wide top drawer with two full sets of slides the husky has a top drawer which comes in at 49 inches wide and on the face of it it looks very similar to the Harbor Freight but moving over to the side we see that they included only one set of slides the huge top drawer in effect can only hold as much weight as one of these small drawers underneath of it with that same single set of slides I eventually pulled the slides out of both boxes to count the number of ball bearings the Huskie has 32 ball bearings on the outer portion per slide where the u.s. general has 36 ball bearings on the outer portion there are two other major differences between the slides on each box the u.s. general is using standard closing slides like you'd find on a normal toolbox the Husky is using soft closed slides preventing slamming and when you push the drawer in just before it shuts the soft close engages and slowly pulls the drawer and fully the rest of the way this is achieved using a small mechanism on the rear of the slide and it is an option that some people really like lastly is the method of how each slide physically connects to the drawer the Huskies using a design attaching it to the side using three separate ribbits the u.s. general is using a combination of metal tabs as well as a rivet to attach it to the drawer to hold the weight and to prevent it from slipping off the total weight of each box appears to be surprisingly similar to one another the Husky has an empty weight of five hundred and twenty-two and a half pounds the u.s. general is 20 pounds heavier coming in at five hundred and forty two and a half pounds however it turns out that this number is also a bit misleading while it is true those technically are the empty weights of each box giving the illusion that they are similar in construction the stainless steel and pressboard top on the husky greatly adds to the overall weight of it I remove the top and weighed it separately and it came in at a massive 57 pounds that's more than 10% of the total weight of the husky and if you compare the boxes - that thick wood and stainless top the actual weight is four hundred and sixty-five pounds versus five hundred and forty two pounds for the US general which is almost 80 pounds or 17 percent heavier than the husky why is this simple it boils down to the gauge and thickness of metal used in the boxes remember the lower the gauge the thicker the metal using calibrated equipment I measured every panel on both boxes and in almost every single location the metal is thicker on the Harbor Freight the back and side panels are 16 gauge on the u.s. general those same panels on the Husky are 18 gauge the drawers are 16 gauge on the US general husky's using 20 gauge this theme is repeated on the bottom skid u.s. general 13 gauge Husky 14 gauge underneath the bottom panel is 16 gauge of the Harbor Freight Husky went with a thinner 18 gauge metal in fact the only metal on the two boxes that I found to be the same thickness was with the slide panels both boxes are using 18 gauge metal for those this 100% confirms my suspicions of why there's such a huge weight difference even though the outside dimensions look very similar Husky is thinner all the way around and is using a cheaper gauge of sheet metal to construct their boxes the powder coat finish on the exterior of each box looks nice and even and the US general continues the trend of also coating the interior of their boxes with the inside of this one looking almost as nice as the outside Husky absolutely has a better paint job than that yellow Blue Point cart that I featured earlier this year which only had minimal overspray but looking in there I saw two things that concern me number one is rust inside of a brand-new box where there was bare metal showing no primer or powder coat was applied and number two are these strange globs that at first glance appear to be a bad weld or damaged metal in reality it turned out to be trash left behind from assembly and these are what's known as rivet studs they break off when a rivet is installed and it appears that this manufacturer didn't bother cleaning them up and instead just left them inside to be sprayed the powder coat attached and acted like a glue holding them in place both boxes are lockable and come with keys the Husky is using one standard lock that engages all the drawers at once and includes two keys the US general has an upgraded tubular lock design with two separate locks as well as a total of four keys the lock on the right will lock just the right bank of drawers the lock on the left will lock the center and left bank of drawers when the rear of each drawers how those locks engage and the husky has a cutout that's pushed out slightly and creates a place for a locking bar to slide down and engage it the u.s. general has a unique sliding catch assembly riveted to the back of each drawer it freely moves allowing you to still push a drawer in after you've locked the box and it will engage with the locking bar once it is locked in place you must use your key to unlock the box in order to disengage it safety drawer latches are not installed on the husky and merely pulling on a drawer will open it the u.s. general has an individual spring-loaded latch on the right hand side of each drawer in order to open a drawer up you must first push that latch over to the side and then pull on the drawer to open it and both boxes include a full set of premium-grade pre-cut drawer liners and in my opinion are a perfect fit for each drawer the husky will run you about a thousand bucks and it's sold exclusively at the Home Depot it does come with a five-year warranty but that's only gonna cover faulty materials or workmanship they don't offer any coverage for misuse abuse accidents modifications alterations neglect or mishandling and the warranty also specifically excludes labor for repairs or transportation of the box to and from a repair facility most interestingly they exclude any finish meaning that any powder coat that might chip scratch or crack you're basically out of luck the u.s. general is in the store at Harbor Freight normally for $1,100 however you can easily find coupons to knock that down to a thousand bucks on a regular basis essentially matching the price on the husky it's covered with a 90-day warranty however you can buy one or two-year replacement plan and if you do run into a problem with it during that time frame you can simply exchange it for a brand new box for any reason at any time if you aren't happy features unique to the husky or the stainless steel top a power strip installed on the side soft close drawers as well as a bottle opener and the u.s. general includes much heavier duty casters a weight rating over 250 cent higher than the Husky thicker steel in its construction a higher total storage capacity and the ability to add a top box in the future if needed for the casual home user the features on the Husky may be a big selling point but if you're looking for a professional-grade box that's built to last and won't get damaged when you load it completely down with tools the u.s. general is a much better choice if you liked this video please click like if you like my channel please click subscribe and thanks for watching

Channel: Real Tool Reviews

Views: 2,280,373

Rating: 4.8897052 out of 5

Keywords: harbor freight, harbor frieght, harbor freight 72, us general 72, us general, us general toolbox, husky, husky toolbox, toolbox, best toolbox, best tool box, mechanic, auto repair, chrisfix, humblemechanic, sema, sema 2018, harbor freight killer, snap on, mac, matco, sunex, milwaukee, craftsman, best tool, best tools, real tool reviews, ave, boltr, h72mwc15r, 64167, us general series 2, series 2 us general, us general review, harbor freight review, harbor freight vs snap on

Id: jZl7hVhD3Gw

Length: 13min 52sec (832 seconds)

Published: Fri Oct 26 2018

Reddit Comments

[u/hammer696969]

I've got a 52 inch husky that I paid 698 for. Both top and bottom box together was 698. You can't even get a 52 inch bottom box from hf for under 700, and my box was made of thicker gauge steel than the hf one also

[u/Aijames]

I’m actually in the market for a 72”and the US General would have my money already if it came in black like the husky does. Looks like I’ll have to wait and see if they make a black one. Some of the things he pointed out on the husky made me cringe, plastic wheels, no thanks,. 20gauge drawers , no thanks.