Need some help, I finally expanded at work with a new primary box for keeping all my tools in except for the most used tools which will stay in my service cart I have.

With that said I got a small used Husky brand tool box that has a nice big top drawer which will allow me to finally get a full set of 1/4, 3/8, and 1/2 sockets. Thing is though the top drawer is 41 1/2" wide by 16" deep and I just cant find anything to organize sockets that looks good or will be stable enough to not flip over when moving.

I really don't care for the strip socket holders, and I have one of the Ernst rail systems in my service cart but that is not cost effective for me for organizing sockets especially considering I am looking at getting the craftsman 299 piece socket set.

As of now I looked at buying two Eastwood 5 rail socket holder trays they are 21"x 7 1/8", I could set them front to back and still have room on the left or right half of the drawer. Two of theses will hold 176 sockets. This is possible as I got a Ernst socket rail system in my service cart which will be used to hold the most common 1/4, 3/8, and 1/2 sockets out of the set I buy.

Another option was from northern the Ironton socket holder set that is a 6 piece set for $30 and will hold 152 sockets if I purchase two sets.

So what are some other alternative ideas for socket organizing without the use of those stand alone rails?

 

Don't know if you can make it out or not, but on my cart I've got two socket trays, one metric one standard. These are the best solution I've found so far. The rails are mounted to a board so they stay put without falling over.

 

Those are sold at Lowes - Kobalt brand (I bought up the last one at my local Lowes, ordered 2 more off of eBay)...might be discontinued. Goliath makes an ABS set that is just the rails (not the steel backer), but the rails can be mounted...could always mount them to a board or similar.

 

https://www.lowes.com/pd/Kobalt-Stee...e-Tray/3381278

Don't show as available in any of the Sacramento area stores, but seems to be available on line still...my guess is they are going out of production soon.

 

I use one chest for SAE and a second for metric. I have a drawer for wrenches. Then a drawer for each drive both SAE and metric. I have trays for sockets. In the lower drawers I keep electrical, pneumatic and specialty tools. It may be madness but there's method in it.

 

I can't keep stuff organized you should be bitch slapped for letting me see what I could do .

 

You could put strips of magnet down to set them on. Guys on the farm here use magnets all the time in the tool boxes to keep the wrenches from banging around in the trucks, and help keep stuff organized.

MT

 

I realize this is a couple months old, but thought I would throw in my 2 cents. For the record, I am not a professional mechanic, but have had tools and have been trying to organize them for 30+ years.

I am not a fan of rails. My reason for this is the fact you can't see the size of the socket, and have to figure out what is missing. This might not be a big problem if you are using them everyday.

I have something similar to the ironton but from harbor freight. They are not very tough. I will be replacing them with the hansen ones piece by piece. They are much more expensive but are heavier and have better visibility of the socket size.

I really like the magnet socket holders from Mac I believe, but again since I don't make money using these tools, it's hard to spend the money on them, They are in the range of $70 per piece.

https://goo.gl/images/wXGsW1

 

The rails never bothered me. I usually can look at the rail and figure out the size.

While, I might not spin wrenches every day, if I can keep my vehicles and equipping running that's less I need to pay a mechanic. That is okay with me. I don't mind spending money on good tools and machinery. When I do work on something the right tools and good quality make it worthwhile.