REVIEW – My neighbor is an electrician, and like a lot of folks in the professional trades, he travels to the job sites where he works. He brings his own tools, which are inevitably piled into the back of a large pickup, and then hauls them around from room-to-room as his works. For craftsmen like this, Makita has created the Maktrak storage system.
︎ Jump to summary (pros/cons)
Price: $249.99 rolling tool chest, $159.99 large tool box, $89.99 medium organizer
Where to buy: Home Depot
What is it?
Maktrak is a set of rugged, portable, and modular components for hauling and storing tools and supplies used on location by workers. The base is the rolling tool chest and various tool boxes and organizers can be attached on top of it.
What’s included?
Makita has seven different modules available: The rolling tool chest, three tool boxes, and three organizers. Makita generously sent me the rolling tool box, the large tool box, and the deep medium organizer.
The rolling tool chest includes:
- One divider panel
- One storage tray
- One anti-close bar
The large tool box includes:
- One divider panel
- One storage tray
- One anti-close bar
The deep medium organizer includes:
- One large organizer bin
- Two medium organizer bins
- Eight small organizer bins
Tech specs
- Colors: Teal and black
- Material: impact-resistant copolymer (resin)
- Latch points: Metal-reinforced
The rolling tool chest also has these specifications:
- Dimensions: 40 x 23 x 12 inches
- Weight: 38 pounds
- Wheels: 9-inch plastic
- Max handle length: 15 inches
- Max weight capacity: 250 pounds
The large tool box also has these specifications:
- Dimensions: 32 x 22 x 10 inches
- Weight: 22 pounds
- Max weight capacity: 100 pounds
The deep medium organizer also has these specifications:
- Dimensions: 22 x 15 x 6 inches
- Weight: 11 pounds
- Max weight capacity: 50 pounds
Design and features
The components all share the following features:
- They have a track design that allows the various components to attach to each other. They have a locking mechanism that keeps them in place until the release lever is popped.
- The large handles have rubberized grips made with Gecko Grip that allows for a better hold when loading and unloading the tool box in and out of the truck.
- The latches are extra-large so that they can be opened or closed while wearing gloves.
The rolling tool chest has a large, heavy-duty handle on one side that automatically extends when I start to pull the tool box on its wheels. Another handle and the wheels are located on the other side. The handles allow two people to lift the tool box from the truck bed and set it down, and the wheels allow one person to pull it to wherever the tool box will be used.
The large tool box has handles on both ends so that two people can carry it horizontally, and it has one handle in the middle that allows a person to carry vertically (like a suitcase). The handles snap down, which keeps them out of the way when attached to the rolling tool box.
Both toolboxes have dual hinges so that the lids can be opened from either side. They have a metal cable inside that prevents the lid from opening too far. If the cable is popped off, both hinges can be opened at the same time which allows the lid to be taken off completely for extra easy access.
They have a rigid metal bar that can be slipped into place next to the cable screws that will prevent the lid from accidentally closing.
The bins of the deep medium organizer are five inches deep. While they don’t connect to each other, they do have grooves on the bottom to keep them in place.
Assembly, Installation, Setup
The Makita toolboxes and organizers all come pre-assembled. The only thing I had to do was remove them from the box.
Performance
When I pulled these components out of their boxes and attached them together, I had three “first impressions.” One, they are big, a lot bigger than they look on Home Depot’s website. Two, they are quite heavy. These are not the little tool boxes of yore. Three, they feel very strong and durable; I expect they will last for a long time, even when taking the wear-and-tear from heavy use.
Most tool box systems, like this one from Ridgid, are vertical in their design. The Maktrak’s horizontal design is an improvement for two reasons. One, it’s easier to find tools and supplies in a shallower tool box. Two, it will be easier to store in a pickup, especially one with a bed cap, or an SUV. The whole set can be lifted up and slid into the back without any need to take them apart.
What if the pickup has a bed cover? I took the Maktrak system over to my neighbor’s Ford F-150, and I surprised to find that when the tool box was on the rolling tool chest, they were too tall to slide under his bed cover.
To solve this, he would have to put them in separately. Easy.
The rolling tool chest is the base of the system. Having a mobile tool box is important for two reasons. One, there are always times when a worker can’t park right next to the job location, and it’s much easier to wheel the tools back and forth to the truck instead of carrying them. Two, large job sites can have personnel from several companies all working at the same time. Tools left alone tend to “walk away,” so being able to easily pull the tool chest from room-to-room is important.
The wheels are nine inches in diameter, which makes them large enough to pull over many obstacles on a job site without getting stuck. They are not, however, big enough to easily navigate steps.
The rolling tool chest is large—it has over 82 cubic liters of space—and is capable of carrying large tools, like a band saw. The tray and divider are both removable (and can be reused in a different tool box), giving even more space for large items.
The tip of the handle has a lip on it that is designed to catch on the edge of a pickup tailgate. This allows one person a slip-proof way to latch and lift the tool box without a second person. The handle can be pushed into the base of the rolling tool chest when the chest is on the ground, which will prevent people from tripping over it. It automatically extends when I lift it up and begin to pull the tool chest along. The handle is the only part of this system that I would change: I’m not a fan of the way that it slides in and out on its own, so I wish I could manually lock it into position at different lengths. It’s not a dealbreaker, just a small quality-of-life adjustment.
The large tool box fits perfectly on top of the rolling tool chest using Makita’s track system, a set of corresponding grooves that allow one component to connect to another.
They remain snugly in place until the latch is popped.
The track system makes it possible to open the lid on a lower component, like the rolling tool chest, when other components remain attached.
The lids for both the rolling tool chest and the tool box have latches on both sides, and they can be removed completely. When fully extended, the lids open to a generous just-past-90-degrees, so I’m not sure how often this will be needed on the job site. At the very least, this feature will be handy when it’s time to wash the tool boxes out.
Electricians, like all professions, has a plethora of smaller supplies that are necessary for the job, things like nuts and bolts, screws, wires, fuses, and switches. The medium organizer is the perfect home for all of these things. The containers just sit inside the organizer, and they can be picked up and used wherever they are needed. There’s a notch cut into each of the organizers that makes it look like they can be latched together, but Makita didn’t include any clips for this.
Inside the lid of all three components there is a rubber gasket. It creates a seal to keep moisture and dirt out when the lid is closed. To test the gasket, I put the entire setup outside during a light rain. I found that the gaskets worked perfectly, and there was no moisture on the interior of the components. Of course, moisture will inevitably find its way into tool boxes when the lids are open, and the result is that tools begin to rust. One hint for reducing this problem is to save the little moisture absorbing gel packs that you get in products like shoe boxes and purses and toss them into the tool box. The more the merrier. Makita does not currently sell replacement gaskets, so once they dry rot, as all eventually do, there’s no way to replace them.
Each side has a slot for a lock.
The only thing that I see missing for the working man is a place to put his lunch. Thankfully, there are plenty of places to hook bungee cords, so the lunch box can fit right on top.
Final thoughts
If you’re a professional who takes their tools to work or a DIY’er who often helps out their friends, the Makita Maktrak is an amazing system for storing, organizing, and hauling your gear. I love how this system is wide instead of deep, how the components can connect to each other, and how there’s a place for most any tool or equipment. This is a heavy-duty system that will last for years. I highly recommend the Maktrak.
What I like about the Makita Maktrak
- Lots of configurable space for tools
- Strong, hefty, durable
- Track system for connecting components
- Big handles and grips
What needs to be improved?
- Add a way to lock the handle of the rolling tool chest in place
- Include or sell replacement gaskets
Price: $249.99 (rolling tool chest), $159.99 large tool box, $89.99 medium organizer
Where to buy: Home Depot
Source: The sample of this product was provided for free by Makita. They did not have a final say on the review and did not preview the review before it was published.
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