How to Choose the Right Truck Toolbox

Why should I buy a truck toolbox?

Sure, letting the tools of your trade roam freely in your truck bed seems budget-friendly. But consider what you may lose by leaving your gear loose in the bed. Tools can crash into the walls and break. Thieves can make off with your best stuff. Or, nasty weather can rust-out your tools and render them useless.

Good truck toolboxes can make your tool-carrying life much better. Consider your truck toolbox a sturdy sidekick that looks nice ‘n burly, and provides these three big benefits:

• Storage that keeps all of your gear in one central, contained spot
• Security that ensures your tools stay where you left them
• Protection that safeguards your pricey automotive tools and automotive hardware from damage

The storage advantage of a truck bed toolbox: a fast guide

Thanks to substantial size and smart trays, a truck toolbox gives you nearly infinite storage options. Most notably, the ability to keep the equipment you need for your life and livelihood right at hand. Those days of scrambling all over your bed for the tool you need are long over.

There are plenty of other things you can secure in a truck toolbox besides your tools, too. As most true pickups lack a trunk or similar storage area, a good number of truck toolboxes are used simply as locking, confined storage areas for a wide variety of items. Everything from shopping bags to groceries and emergency supplies like jumper cables can make their home in your truck toolbox.

Best yet, as you’ll find out when we cover truck toolbox styles later, the options for toolbox storage are almost limitless. There are toolboxes for the front, sides, rear, and even underside of your truck bed.

Truck bed toolboxes and security: a key reference

Ever had your Sawzall or nail gun ripped-off by some faceless punk? It’s not only costly, it’s infuriating. What’s even worse, you have to haul yourself down to the home mega store and plunk down for a new one. This is where a truck toolbox can pay for itself, with sturdy metal walls that keep your gear out if sight, and rugged locks to keep things where you leave ’em.

Truck toolbox employ a variety of keyed lock styles, most notably rotary latch lock mechanisms with spring-loaded paddles or push button assemblies for opening the lid. Most boxes also feature adjustable or self-adjusting lid strikers for the tightest possible seal. Unless a thief has polished lock picking skills or a cutting torch, there’s no getting into your toolbox. Truck bed toolbox locks are often built flush with the side of the lid to keep moisture from entering the lock and freezing. Select models even feature a cap over the lock.

Another key security feature of a truck toolbox is that the box itself is difficult to steal. Aside from the sheer weight of a full truck toolbox, the drilled-in or clamped installation makes the task of making off with your entire toolbox extremely difficult. If a thief wants your gear that bad, they’ll have to hotwire your truck to get it.

A guide to truck toolboxes and protection

Rain, extreme sun, snow and random debris. None of these are good for your tools. A truck toolbox keeps each of these enemies from doing their worst to your gear. And, your tools are guarded from busting in the bed when you make screeching stops, sharp turns and quick starts.

Not only does a truck toolbox keep your gear in a protective box that shields the weather out, each typically employs a weather seal between the lid and the box. Running or seeping water is prevented from getting into the seams of your box by rubber or foam tape seals that channel moisture away. In any situation short of driving into a lake, your tools will stay dry.

A guide to toolbox materials and construction

Truck bed toolboxes come in a variety of materials, each with their own virtues for tool storage. In our department of truck toolboxes, you’ll find three familiar metals employed in the toolbox walls: aluminum, steel, and stainless steel.

Aluminum

The bulk of truck bed toolboxes are made from bent sheet aluminum. Typically, the aluminum sheet also features a rugged diamond plate pattern. Not only is diamond plate aluminum durable, lightweight and tough-looking, this sheet material will not rust or deteriorate.

Steel

Steel is the old-school truck toolbox material. A steel truck toolbox is heavier than an aluminum one, but that weight isn’t necessarily a drawback. Fans of steel toolboxes like the more traditional truck box material because it’s tougher and resists more dings/dents caused by shifting tools. Steel truck toolboxes are topped by a powder coated finish to protect the walls from corrosion. However, any chip or gouge in the paint will invite corrosion right in – a drawback that aluminum and stainless steel boxes don’t have.

Stainless steel

A few of our truck bed toolboxes are made of stainless steel. This more expensive truck box material is reserved for premium toolboxes. Thanks to the composition of stainless steel, it provides superior corrosion resistance and can be polished to a much more brilliant shine than an aluminum box. And, it doesn’t require the same powder coated protection a steel toolbox does.

Installing your toolbox: a basic overview

Mounting a truck bed toolbox to your rig is a straightforward job. Each box includes all of the clamps and hardware you’ll need to secure it to the bed rails. And, most toolboxes require only simple hand tools you probably have in your truck right now.

How to measure your bed for adding the right toolbox

Before you buy a truck bed toolbox, it’s important to measure your truck bed to make sure the box you want will fit right. Follow these steps to get all of the measurements you’ll need.

Truck toolbox sizes

Because many truck bed sizes are similar across all makes and models, most truck toolboxes come in semi-custom sizes that fit trucks of the same class. Here are the typical size names you’ll see when shopping for a truck bed tool box:

WHICH TOOLBOX IS RIGHT FOR ME?

Picking the right toolbox for your truck is a cinch thanks in part to a wide selection of toolboxes available at AmericanTrucks. When picking your box, consider these:

That's a basic guide to choosing the right truck toolbox. Make sure to pick one that suits your needs and fits your truck perfectly.