My New (Used) Cherokee Part IX

For the last two days I’ve been working on getting the tools organized. If I plan to continue improving me new (used) 2001 Jeep Cherokee, I need to have quick access to my tools. I have a set of tools that I received as Christmas present about four years ago. It’s only a 54-piece set, but has metric as well as standard tools and comes on handy when it comes to doing simple work; I carry it in my Jeep me just in case.

 

However, sometimes I need others tools, which I have, but finding the specific tool I need is not that simple. So I bought myself a seven drawer tool box, inexpensive but practical and it also has a compartment for large tools and equipment. The problem, again, is finding the right tool. If you throw the sockets in one drawer, open wrenches in another, screwdrivers in another, etc., though an improvement, in most cases it’s still difficult to find the correct tool you need. So my solution was to organize the tools into shadow boards.

 

Making shadow boards tool holders can be simple and inexpensive, or not so simple and expensive, depending how you choose to do it. There is shadow board material where by heating the tool and placing it on the material, it creates a perfect holder for the tool; however, the material is expensive. For my tools I chose a camping air mattress foam pad, though a rubber exercise matt will do as well.

 

To create the board, I simply measure the length and width of the drawer where I plan to place the tools and then measure and cut the foam to those dimensions. The next step is to place the tools on the foam and arrange them so I can get as many tools on the board as practical, leaving enough room between each tool for handling purposes. I then trace the tool onto the foam using a marker, remove the tools and cut the tool layout.      

 

One drawback of using a shadow board is that though the tools are well organized, they take a heck of a lot more room than if the tools were just placed inside the drawers. One of my options was to get a larger tool box with many more drawers, but I wasn’t about to spend my money on a toll box that will only be used occasionally. My other option was to create shadow boards, using a piece of ¼” plywood as a backing and placing them on top of another inside the equipment compartment. When working on my jeep, I can easily grab one of the shadow boards and have the tools closed by. To keep the foam from sliding off the plywood, I use a good quality double-sided tape.

 

You can take a look at some of the shadow boards I’ve completed by using this link http://felix1956.spaces.live.com/photos/cns!7F3406706715C95A!23921, then select Tools from the left pane. If the link doesn’t work, just copy it and paste it to your browser. Well, I must complete my project, so I’ll say good bye for now. Have a great day you all!