82 PTEN AUGUST 2018 www.VehicleServicePros.com
This Snap-on KRL Series 1023 Roll Cab
toolbox is 11' 4" long, 7' 4" high, 29" deep.
Want to show off YOUR Big-Time Box?
For more information, email
Editor@VehicleServicePros.com.
by Vesna Brajkovic, Assistant Editor
OWNER:
Cody Gaddie
Brakemax Car Care Center
Tucson, Arizona
It only
gets bigger
from here
A dedicated diagnostic
cart and 11’ setup is just
the beginning.
Want to see more photos of Gaddie's box?
Visit: VehicleServicePros.com/21014616
Cody Gaddie has been a technician
at Brakemax Car Care
Center for 12 years, starting
out as a C level technician before
working his way up to his current
position as lead drivability technician
where he oversees 15 shop locations
and 160 employees.
“I get a lot of work from our other
locations, of vehicles other techs can’t
fix. These are some of my favorite vehicles
to work on,” Gaddie says. “It’s the
problem childs.”
But while his jobs can be complicated,
Gaddie says he likes to keep his tool organization
simple.
His 11’ 4” long, 7’ 4” high, 29” deep
Snap-on KRL Series 1023 Roll Cab toolbox
with side locker, hutch and horizontal
top locker, is sorted into categories using
plier racks, socket holders and foam drawer
inserts. Gaddie also labels all his tool
cases for easy identification.
Each of the 19 drawers of the main box
is home to a specific tool family, while the
Snap-on side locker holds specialty tools
like compression gauges, vacuum gauges
and smoke machines. Lesser used tools
are stored in the matching top locker,
which fits over the hutch of the main box.
In addition to his main setup, Gaddie
has a mobile tool cart from Mac Tools
which holds “90 percent of everything
to get most jobs done.” He keeps most
used tools in this 5’ long, 44” tall cart,
like select pliers and the socket sizes he
uses daily.
As a technician focusing solely on drivability,
the most used part of Gaddie’s
setup is a separate matching Snap-on cart
dedicated entirely to diagnostic equipment,
complete with computer monitor.
(Yes, you counted right, that’s two carts
in addition to the main box.)
“I’m constantly monitoring live data
from my diagnostic monitor and constantly
have multiple scan tools or scopes
hooked up at one time, since I specialize
in drivability,” he says.
Additionally, Gaddie says that besides
the size factor, those monitors help the
box stand out and it receives “a lot of
attention from customers and employees.”
Even though Gaddie says he loves
the size of his box, he has some words of
wisdom for technicians looking to make
the purchase.
“Some advice I would give would be
buy the tools first and then work up to a
box,” he says. “I see these guys buy the biggest
box possible and have nothing to put
inside of it. I would rather have the right
tool for the job and do the job correctly
than to have a pretty box and can only do
brakes because I don’t have the tools to do
anything else.”
But for himself? Gaddie doesn’t plan
to slow down with his expansion. In the
next year he says he wants to purchase
a Snap-on Mr. Big toolbox with two
side lockers, two hutches and three top
horizontal lockers so that his setup looks
“more uniform” and he has more space to
keep organized.
“I’m out of room, and I can only add
one more locker to my current box before
it’s as big as it can go,” Gaddie explains.
“I want to make the hutch my diagnostic
cart and put two monitors in it so I can
multitask even more. I would be able to
read live data and also research information
on the other monitor.
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