What is your socket organization method?

Viking Jeeper

Viking Jeeper

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I spent a bit of time researching and calculating socket organization methods and settled on this one from Amazon. I like it but my biggest mistake was not posting here BEFORE I bought something. What I like about these is I can color code and mix drive size/metric/sae on same rail. The sockets are held on secure enough but not so hard you have to use a vice to remove them like some of my cheap holders that I was still using. If some of the sockets look unused I bought new sets of 6 point shallow 3/8 inch drive as my Craftsman set from 30 years ago used 12 point for those.


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I run ones like this from Harbor Freight in black and red. The down side is I can't see the size when it's in the drawer. I have to eyeball it to get close and then go from there if I'm wrong.
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MeanGreen86 said:
I have my sockets on my top shelf with the harbor freight socket organizer. I like how you can read the sizes.
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Being able to see the sizes is definitely an advantage to that system. I wanted to avoid empty spots and since there was no chance my socket sets matched the trays I got the rails. I also find that unless its a 10mm, 13mm or 7/16 I'm often a size or two wrong when guessing so I grab the whole rail.
 
flyinfish said:
Ernst
https://www.ernstmfg.com/Socket-Organizers.aspx

I like the two removable socket rail trays so you can access each socket set from outside versus a three rail which is hard to get to center rail.
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These have been on my list for a while now. A mechanic buddy of mine uses them in his box at work and has been very happy with them. I'm in the process of trying to talk myself into going ahead and buying a new 56" tool box so I can finally get at least most of what I own in drawers. Once that happens, I'll probably go ahead and pick up these Ernst organizers.
 
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Apparition said:
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mine is a 3 drawer kobalt, but similar in concept. I need a dedicated location for every piece, that only that piece will correctly fit in, so I can see at a glance what's missing. I've tried the strip things but since any socket can go in any spot it just ends up scrambled until I give up and stop putting them back.

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I am trying the strips for the kit that rides along in the Jeep, because I don't intend to use it except on the trail. I got tired of the weight and space taken up by the Kobalt kit.
 
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I use the socket rails from ares (on Amazon). They hang on my pegboard near my work bench and I can grab them. All my “common” tools are hanging on the pegboard, and less common go in the box.
 
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Well, I recently started building myself an all new toolbox setup... I looked at multiple options for socket organization but the only one that worked to get all my sockets in the same drawer (56" USG) was Toolbox Widgets. Expensive but they work. Toolbox is like 6 feet from front of the Jeep (or any other work space in the small garage) so pulling out 'sets' of sockets isn't really needed for me.

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freedom_in_4low said:
I need a dedicated location for every piece, that only that piece will correctly fit in, so I can see at a glance what's missing.
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Me too. I was a Navy Avionics Tech when I was 18. All of our tool boxes were completely inspected when we left the shop and first thing when we walked back in the door. Each tool box was task specific with a place for each tool no matter how small.

My sockets will fit in other spots but it's my new resolution to keep a neat work area rather than a pile of shit. I spend more time finding tools sometimes than using them.
 
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What I keep in my tool box pretty much never leaves the shop. I have tool bags for each vehicle. For the shop, I like the rail organizers and I have a few of these trays from Ares. I also got one that was without the rails and put my existing Ares and Olsa rails in it.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BS4BBQHD?tag=wranglerorg-20

I have a mix of Ares and Olsa rails (same thing just different brand name) in a mix of different lengths. I don’t know how I ended up with so many, but I ended up cutting a couple down and drilling a new hole in the end for the plastic clip to snap into. Those were good for specific sockets in vehicle tool bags without the extra unused rail.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07VTRDYWB?tag=wranglerorg-20

I also have some old Kobalt plastic socket rails from years ago. Craftsman makes the same things now just different color and branded accordingly. I found that the extra craftsman socket clips that you can purchase separately are the exact same shape as the old Kobalt ones. That also came in handy for a couple of the old rails I had laying around.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01D2M2HOE?tag=wranglerorg-20

I also have SAE and metric versions of these for my 1/4” sockets. I like these a lot.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07VPXSV25?tag=wranglerorg-20


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