Forget inside or outside, sometimes it’s time to think about the box itself. DECKED, a company built around making pickup trucks more organized and useful, has just redesigned its Tool Box.
The company says it’s stronger and more durable, with a better lid, more security, and other upgrades. But it’s missing one of the features that helped make the original so interesting.
We’ve covered DECKED’s drawer systems before, which the company is most known for. It adds a raised flat floor to your pickup’s bed, using the newly created space for drawers that slide out. It’s covered and secured storage without stopping you from putting tall stuff in your truck bed. The company’s truck bed toolbox is something completely different.
Even the Materials Are New
It’s almost completely changed from the brand’s original toolbox, and even the materials are new. The original was injection-molded plastics with aluminum reinforcements for the lid and support rail.
This time around, it’s compression-molded. A large composite sheet is pressed into a mold under high pressure and temperatures, sort of like stamping a sheet of steel. DECKED says it offers steel-like strength without the weight. It can’t rust or dent.
One-Touch Auto-Open Lid
Instead of massive metal handles and a torsion spring to open the lid, this one has a one-touch auto-open lid. DECKED developed new gas struts that stay out of your way up against the lid, rather than poking out into the space where you need to reach.
This new linkage doesn’t block most of the opening like the struts on most boxes. But they do take up some space when the box is closed, while the old model used none at all.
The visible metal reinforcement is gone now. To help keep it secure, DECKED has reinforced the latch and lock both for strength and to make it tougher to get a foothold with a pry bar to get inside.
A new continuous gasket, integrated drain holes, and hidden hinges should keep it dry inside. It’s more dust- and debris-safe than the old box, too.
The new DECKED Tool Box is shorter in height, but at the top, not the bottom. It still gives you full-bed-depth storage, but it should block less of your back window.
New molded small parts trays at the outer edges of the box give you somewhere to keep small stuff, such as tie-downs, hitch locks, and other things you need to grab more frequently but don’t need much space. If you use modular storage systems like Milwaukee’s Packout or DECKED’s own system, the new integrated rails should help keep your boxes in place inside.
DECKED also plans more cosmetic choices. Different colors and patterns will be offered to let you customize or fit the look of your truck.
Glaring Omission
One thing missing was, on paper, the coolest feature of DECKED’s box. The optional ladder. A small ladder folded up inside the old DECKED toolbox. It didn’t block cargo space, but it did fold out quickly to let people who don’t have Michael Phelps’s arms reach into the box without jumping into the truck bed.
DECKED says it removed it because the redesign “prioritizes durability, security, weatherproofing, and internal organization, and removes external components that added complexity or potential failure points.” DECKED had already dropped that accessory from the old box anyway, so this decision isn’t really a surprise.
The company also seems to have focused on price. The old box starts from $1,399. The new one will have a base price of $1,100, and it’s still built in the U.S. The redesigned DECKED Tool Box will go on sale on Jan. 27.
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