The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk Parts counter

If you went up to the parts counter at your local Auto Parts store and gave them the dimensions of a seal, would you expect them to be able to find it for you?
At the store I went to, they could only search by make model and year of the vehicle.

You would have to go to a bearing supply house such as Applied Industrial, King Bearing, Motion Industries, etc.


Seals are spec'd by ID, OD, thickness and lip style and are usually available in any size, metric included.

The guy with the Mohawk and nose ring will not no how to problem solve this dilemma. The fellow at one of the above mentioned outlets will!

Stuart

duhhhhh,,does that have air conditioning????

here they would want to know if it lived in the hot climate or cold one

What makes me mad is when you go into the parts house and stat off the conversation with; "Hi, I have a 1997 chev. c2500 with a 350 (5.7 ltr) engine and a 350 transmission. I need a water pump." Then the clerk says what year was that? 1997 I say. What kind of car was that? A chevy c2500 I say. So is that a truck? Yes I say. What size engine? It's a 350 or 5.7 ltr. I say. what was it you wanted? A parts guy with a pad and pen I say.

I usually throw in that it is red in color so that I get my monies worth

Motion is good in this area, reasonable too

Too bad you don't come in where I work. Any of us can look up a seal by the dimensions, bearings too. We not only can use the comp-uter for some things, but we have a large supply of paper books to browse through when needed. The store I work at is just a small FLAP supplier. But we have knowledgable people working there.

Fred (joker) -

I like that! Red!!
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Roy -

How far are you from Fort Worth?

Joe

Any of you guys have better luck with some of the "female" parts persons? While in Carlsbad a few years ago, I ran into more parts girls, and every one of them was much more help than the guys at the same stores. We had a couple here in South Dakota and I found them to be as good as the better parts "boys".

One of the girls had multi colored hair with pig tails and tatoos, rings in her eyebrows, a little too heavy for the short t-shirt that let her belly hang out, etc. I thought of Dennis Miller saying "In todays highly competetive job market, what can I do to make my self less employable" when I saw her. She turned out to be the best parts "person" of them all.

I startd asking God if he could make her more employable in todays highly competetive job market so I could bring myself to hit on her.

Nothing like a good parts girl to go shopping for me. HEHEH

Yes, I will take a girl over a guy almost every time. The reason is that a girl will take the time to look up what that * mark means. the guy go's straight to the part number skipping the details of that the little * and sometime that * means one more trip back to get the right part. Also they are fun to deal with. More funner than that hairy leged guy.

I deliver parts "part time" at a local store and one of the girls there, Tiffiany, has been doing this for about 6 years. She can just about tell you the part #'s, what has been discontiued, and what takes it place on most any part. I always let her look up my stuff (when I can't find it). I think the ladies TRY to do a better job because they know they are being compared to the boys and want to do better. But I feel she is the exception and not the rule for all the girls. The biggest problem with the "chain" parts store is that they don't pay the help anything so its just a bus stop for most employee's being trained for another job, or in between jobs. Around here we say they get the "rejects" for other places. Please, don't anyone get offended at that as I know not all go into that catagory and a lot of them are nice, good hard working folks trying to make a living. But what I said is by far the truth!

I had real good service from one of the guys at my local Kragen. He took my old seal and started opening boxes down the line until he found one that matched. Only took him 15 minutes.

It really is all about the individual. I was at a schucks the other day to buy a simple relay. All I wanted was one with a mounting tab. The old guy said it was too much of a hassle to look thru the boxes to find one I liked. A younger kid jumped in and said "no problem, let's look. In about a minute he found what I was looking for. I made sure to thank him out loud for the extra effort he put forth when others were unwilling. I think the other guy got the hint as he wouldn't look at me when I thanked him walking out the door.

I've had pretty good luck at the local parts stores when I need a special hose or accelerator linkage... i ask if i can browse through the stock.. sure, just dont mess it up.

I won't spend my money at Kragen anymore tho.. not since they wouldnt honor an expired brake pad warrantee... they lost a $500 sale, and a customer that day.

About 100 miles west on I-20. We have to be able to build a/c hoses and hydraulic hoses and all kinds of things for people. We have to look up items for older cars due to the antique cars and trucks around here. Farm bearings and such, no problem either.

I don't have a carquest here. We do have Advance and those peeps. know what they are doing. We also have O'rilley good parts house, NAPA expensive but they have lots of parts and they know where they are to be found, Auto Zone--Won't darken thier door again.

I'm a Parts Manager in a new car dealership. I usually get the opposite problem-- people who have no idea what they drive. I don't get that. :confused: Guys are getting increasingly worse about their vehicles. I once asked a guy what year & make of vehicle and got "He!! if I know! I bought it from here, don't you guys know or keep a record of it?" :rolleyes:

we've been a carquest for over 25years and i'm glad they still send the paper books when the new ones come out. I actually enjoy looking up seals and bearings by measuring them out. it breaks up the monotony.

this store's been here since 1972, my father helped lay the block walls. I was born shortly there after.

I'm late reading this but I work for a parts store part-time on my off days and we have a gal that works for us and she gets guys that tell her they need to talk to someone that knows something about cars, she'll call me over and tell me this gentleman would like to talk to somebody that knows about cars, I smile and say you are and turn and walk away........
And I've been in this same discussion on another board and yes the younger kids, puter smart only are hard to work with but hey some of us older parts guys are trying to teach them how to read also.

I think there's hope for us....yeah, use guys that go in with a special need that doesn't pop up on the computer. Both Advanced/Discount and AutoZone locally, are back to using the books for items that aren't in their "machines". It might be that they recognized they were loosing the market-share to Napa, who has always been quick to dig up those "hard-to-find" DIY parts.

And as for female employees....it really depends on the store manager who does the hiring. It's easy to recognize the "greeters" who will open with a smile and the "diggers" who are confidently waiting for my next off-beat parts request. Both have their places in retail and it doesn't take long to figure out which is which.

In this day where new car prices are approaching real estate values, there are more and more folks opting to undertake more routine maintenance than ever before.

What alarms me, is that our schools seems to be
missing the boat by trying to prep every student for a college education. Vocational education....yeah, GENERAL SHOP, AUTO MECHANICS, AG and the other so-called "manual arts" have given way to more computer-based "exploratory" programs that lack substance and actual hands-on experience. It's cheaper to build a secondary school without "Shops", less liability from shop-related activities and you can hire a "certified" teacher for less than you can hire a "certified" experienced mechanics instructor.

I spent 33 years as an advocate of strong Vocational education in our public schools and watched as our programs were gutted by pea-brained school administrators who didn't have the foresight to see what has happened in America. We've lost much of our manufacturing base....our industries have bailed out to "off-shore" facilities and for the most part we've become a "throw-away" society. We have to be satisfied with mediocre products that nobody can fix....easy credit to replace them and all the while we're being "stroked" like a big fat dumb cat, into believing that this is the American way.

So the next time you go into your favorite parts house or machine shop and are met with those blank stares and get a shoulder shrug instead of the parts or service you need, you can thank the folks that are running our public schools. Don't waste your breath trying to explain to them that less than 50% of the jobs today require a Baccalaureate degree and that more emphasis should be placed on those kids that are not going to be headed for college. Yeah, that's the person you're going to have to deal with on a daily basis. Don't be too quick to turn them off because for the most part, that's exactly what their schools did. Give them a little extra info about what you want, take a minute to look them in the eye and let them know that you are really depending on them and you might be pleasantly surprised.

perhaps you should have went to a hardware store for a door seal or a plumbing shop for a commode seal or possibly Grainger or MacMasters catalogs for just about anything else of a mechanical nature... not to mention Christmas seal; Easter seal; fur seal; trained circus seal; etc...
most auto parts dealers sell parts for cars and trucks and those parts are listed by the vehicles they are supposed to fit which very often have multiple applications... it is not unusual at all for these parts to have multiple cross-references...
the clerks are seldom being paid the same salaries as the engineers who are working on their own junk and they are doing the best they can with what they have to work with whether it be a rack of old parts manuals or an unforgiving computer or some half-scrawled number on a scrap of greasy paper or the back of the hand... they don't own the place they just work there...
if they were even remotely as brilliant as most of their customers perhaps they would be top mechanics in a shop and earning the kind of money the backyard mechanic doesn't want to pay out...
these clerks are just trying to make a living like most of us and run into the same problems we do when they need to buy something for their own use...
it also helps to be able to supply enough accurate information so that somebody else can discern what is needed and not have to go through a mind reading session everytime a customer comes through the door...
bill in VA

Given that my local Autozone couldn't figure out how to find a front wheel bearing seal for my '97 Sonoma, I seriously doubt they could find any other kind of seal.

Rusty Rod always sent the "Ronj Rowwver" wieners to the dealership...

Rusty Rod,

You got your wish...this thread has morphed into the Spoon Room. 10k ain't far away.


Stuart

Most parts houses that primarly use computers also have books. There is tons of turn over in FLAPS counter personnel and sometimes no one in the store knows how to use the books, so there's no way for them to learn. They all have books behind the counter, whether they know it or not. So, when you know more than the counter guy/gal, why not take the time to calmly teach them how to find the part? That way the next guy will know.

It's easy. say to them: "do you have a X book" (seal, bearing, brake parts, etc..) Then open the book- Tell them that all these books list the stuff by application AND spec, and usually have pictures too. Then go to the application section, find the type you need and then look for the dimension. Get the part number and then have them pull it for you.

As someone else mentioned, they will usually also let you behind the counter to go through the stock. That is how I've found radiator hoses, bolts and other items that are difficult to find by application when you are building a rod.

I just started working part-time at a local FLAPS-it is an Auto Value/Part Plus the only non-chain owned store in town-turnover is high there because the owner(like other sm. businesses) won't pay squat. One girl last week worked one day & never came back. I could make more $$ working @ burger King but I have no desire to flip burgers. there are hundreds of books w/more stuff available than you can imagine. I am mostly there to get parts for my project. I am old school & have an easier time w/books than the comp. I like working there but no way I could afford to feed a family on the pay($7),,brian

Whew a lot of steam has been blown off here.

But, it realy does not take a rocket scientist to look up a seal by size. The sizes are the part number. The width,inside dia. and outside dia. are the numbers that make up a seal part number.
I was a part of the process to assure that our high school got its certification for teaching automotive mechanics.
Now I know the reason students don't learn anything in automotive shop.
These kids taking automotive mechanics are taking the course because thier school counsler told them to. Seems only the kids that don't make it in computer class,science, and math are sent to auto mechanics class.
Geeze guys do the counslers not know that it takes math,science, and computer skills to work on todays autos?
I swear while watching these kids most of them could not pass Mcdonalds 101 (burger fliping).
And all they can see is getting that big pay check. They don't see the 30k investment on tools and yearly update training.
I once worked for a guy that was a med. student, he had quit med. school because he didn't like blood and guts. He put it this way, a Doctor works on the human body and it hasn't changed much in 4000 years. The auto mechanic has to keep up with changes on carS 2 to 3 times a year. So who has to be more on there toes when it comes to accurate diag. and repair? The doctor has you come in and makes his inspection then gives you pills or other tests then give you pills and says come see me in a week. An when you do come back he charges you again. Try that at an auto shop, youll get a visit from a lawyer.

Tovyo-

Your comment reminded me of a joke about mechanics and doctors- A heart surgeon takes his porche to the mechanic who gets it running and tunes it up so that it purrs. When the doctor picks the car up the mechanic says- 'what I do is sort of like what you do, I figure out what is wrong, open up the engine, fix the valves and circulation, and then everyone is happy.' "So," says the mechanic, "why do you doctors get paid so much more than mechanics?" The doctor winks at him and says 'try doing the repairs with the engine running...'