How To Fix Stuck Drawers On Your Craftsman Tool Box With This Easy-To-Follow Method

You might have a small, adorable toolbox that you've chaotically tossed every tool you own into, or several much larger and more elaborate ones, with each section neatly arranged and labelled, and every individual item inside painstakingly placed. However you work, and whichever tools and toolkits you own, it's a pain when the drawers in them get stuck. Fortunately, if you're the owner of a Craftsman 41 Inch tool cabinet, YouTube's Tools. Electro. DIY has an excellent solution for your stuck-drawer woes. The content creator explains, "long story short, if you only have access to this one drawer, or any drawer you can see the pin ... you can push up the pin with your hand and the whole thing will unlock." 

This is particularly convenient because, sometimes, it won't be the full system that locks you out, but certain pesky drawers. They reported that Craftsman's customer service suggested carefully turning the whole unit over and shaking it, in hopes of releasing the drawers by realigning the locking mechanism. This is because the box has a complex locking system intended to unlock every drawer with just a 180-degree twist of the keys in the lock at the top, but this requires all the individual drawers to lock together as one within the unit. The small hack demonstrated that locating and gently pushing the pin upward raises the rest of the system to meet it. As such, it can bypass the need to turn the entire system over and shake it in the hopes of loosening it. Unfortunately, though, it depends on where your Craftsman cabinet is locked, because you may not be able to access any of the pins if there isn't a drawer that can be removed to do so. 

With heavy use or through not being careful enough with the positioning of items inside, the drawers of any unit can become stuck. In the case described by Tools. Electro. DIY, though, it can happen before it even arrives. The content creator states, "I called Craftsman customer support, and they told me that, during transportation, the locking mechanism may get stuck." In addition, the product's box demonstrates a recommended way to remove the chest from the packaging: lift the cardboard away while keeping the package upright, to prevent the mechanism from slipping after opening. Of course, there's no way of knowing how the system may have shifted during transport, which is why this is an important step to take first.

Another important thing to bear in mind is the difference between a toolbox and a tool chest, and other larger products like a tool cabinet. The most notable one, perhaps, is that a tool cabinet is considerably larger. The particular system in question is Craftsman's 41-inch rolling tool cabinet, a unit considerably larger and heftier than a toolbox you can carry in your hands. As such, it could be storing every tool in a sizeable collection, thereby making it considerably more troublesome to maneuver the unit as described by Craftsman to release the mechanism. The first thing to try is turning the key in the lock on top of the unit, which is designed to free all drawers at once. If it doesn't, it then becomes much easier to identify the individual cause of the problem. Bear in mind, though, that there's always a chance that there's an issue with the locking mechanism.

The technique demonstrated by Tools. Electro. DIY on YouTube seems ideal. Sometimes, you can press the drawer release from the sides to remove one or more drawers, giving you a better view of the unit's interior and what to press (or what the obstruction may be). For instance, an object inside that's become wedged could be extracted that way. With the specific tool cabinet the YouTuber demonstrates, they note that they received email instructions from Craftsman about different scenarios and how to resolve them. The first was intended to address issues that prevented only some of the drawers from opening. Craftsman recommends trying the key first, then removing the drawer closest to the stuck drawer (s) to gain access space. You can then determine how the bars that lock each drawer are moving. Or aren't. 

 "If the lock bars are stuck," the reply reads, "reach to the back and lift up on the bars. This should release the drawers." The bars, which you'll usually see running vertically up the interior of the cabinet, may instead be moving freely. In this case, the guidance is to try the drawers after moving the lock bars into place. This should correct the alignment and ensure smooth drawer movement. The critical point is that, generally, there are two pockets at the back of the drawers for the lock bars, and they won't work until both are engaged. This means that both sides must be correctly aligned, and a rather more complex operation, such as replacing the lock, could be necessary. Despite the handy hack, the content creator also consulted the manufacturer, which is typically the safest and most reliable course of action.