The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk Now where in the world did I put that part???

So last week I got my order and was so upset with the pi## poor quality of the floor mat that I just pushed the rest of the order aside while I was *****in’ about the mat. Now here I am five days later, looking for the rest of the order (only four items total). Been searchin for the last two days and am comming up empty.
The object of the order in the first place was to get a new 1/4” brake tee to replace the one that’s mounted on the rear housing, and two rear seals for the floating hubs. It really bugged me that I had to pay $25 for a 1/4” tee, but it's the same price at all the vendors. The mat was an after thought, I figured I would fill in the order with the mat, which I needed somewhere down the line anyway.
Object of the thread; It seems like every section of the restoration that I tackle, I end up missing one or two parts, so I put it aside and start another till I can find the part or tool that I need. One day ya turn around and you have four-dozen projects hanging half finished waiting for those parts. Then it takes you twice as long to finish the task because ya can’t find all the pieces. I’m sure I’m the only guy here that is this disorganized, right?????
Well back to looking for that TEE and those seals.
Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL

Nah, it happens to everyone. Some just worse than others. What I am finding is that I have the parts to build about 2 trucks spread around in 3 different barns and 1 garage. One of the barns is 35 miles away from my house, therefore, it seems like without fail, I either forget what I have, or I take off after a part that I know I have that I want to start working with and find out its in the barn thats 35 miles away. I NEED MORE SPACE!

I'm still missing a box of spare parts. I just don't know what happened to them. The number of nuts,bolt,clips and screws I've bought is crazy. I set them down and they disappear(it must be the gremlins that keep taking them) As far as tools go it takes me longer to find the tool I need than the amount of time I use it for.

I know what you mean. But I find that if I don't rush the truck, waiting for parts is no big deal.

Hey Dad...one more post and you'll be a "Shop Shark"! Way ta go!

~Ron

Don't worry Denny it will be in the last place you look.

Denny:

Take some comfort in the fact that you are not alone in this situation. My shop walls are completely covered with the many parts that are "waiting". I have purchased 3 of those plastic drawer modules for the smaller parts which are rapidly approaching full. Besides waiting for parts there are those being prepared for the 1 hour drive to the brother-in-law's for weld repairs, those waiting for warmer weather, those waiting for budget / funding, those waiting for ordered items, and those set aside waiting till I get into the correct state of mind to tackle them.

In the end it's the work that I enjoy and I don't mind having lots of parts "hanging around" I just hope my storage system works and they can all be found when I'm ready

Denny the only thing that I don't seem to lose is the truck its self.
And every time I need to go from the shop to the house. It seems to take about five minutes to remove coveralls and get clean enough so not to trash my home. By the time I get in side I forget why I am there.

Yeah, parts and tools seem to crawl away and hide in dark corners. It's amazing how many times I KNOW I have a tool but I can't find it when I need it so I trip on down to ACE and buy another one and......you guessed it.....the first one miraculously appears!! I have all my tools hung on the wall so I know exactly where they are at all times except when I need one.

I tried a multitude of ways to keep and store parts. By far the best I've done is to place small items in packing list bags sealed with description on the exterior. I tried keeping like items (interior, dash etc) in a box. Taking a lot of pictures help. It has helped alot but after 3-4 years in the process and a little more senile where is that interior box? Good luck

Dan

I have a collection of mason jars sitting around my garage with assorted nuts, bolts, clips, and doo-dads in them. I label them what part of the truck they go to. The problem is, I loose the jars :confused: and can never find them until after I've went and got more parts. Keep trying, you'll find them eventually. We all do it at some point in time working on our trucks.

Denny,
tell us about the mat. I haven't opened mine yet but it probably will be the same thing.

Fred

I put stuff down all the time and 30 seconds later forget what I did with it. Sometimes I can usually do a trace based on the beer run I just made, but not always.

To add insult to injury, I hate it when once I've completed the project I still have parts left over.

Who was it who said that "Murphy was an optimist?"

Murphy's law has it covered. If you put it down you will have to look everywhere for it when you need it. Of course it will be in the "last place you look for it" (why not, you found it!) The removed part will automatically be in the wrong garage, too. 39AZ3/4ton, use those left over parts to start your next project. If you do enough you will have another vehicle from all the left overparts.

My neighbor put me on the right track by insisting I tackle 1 or 2 projects at a time. I've been doing it that way for 4 years now and it definatley has it's advantages. You know, like not as much clutter, more focus, and the best is being able to use the truck in between. But I still manage to lose tools and parts. So stop looking for it and it might jump in your lap tomorrow. Or look for something else and you'll probably find it.

I have several shop gremlins.I have learned to live with them though. When I'm working on a project and a grimlin takes it, I know that he or she is only fasinated with the item that I'm working on, and will put it back when he or she is done with it.("They" always put it back in the same place they found it). I allways have at least two projets going at the same time for this reason. If grimlens are awake and courious, I just start another, and before long the will put the part or tool that I need back, then I can get back to the origional projet I was working on. As far as kepping up with parts for the truck, "THATS WHY IT TOOK ME 12 YEARS".

Glad to hear I'm not alone here.

Thanks Joe, I ordered the new tee because the old one had the flares flattened out, pretty common. The double flare is not the only thing that gets crunched when you tighten the nut. After the line has been taken off a few times the tube is compressed about as far as it’s going to go and the brass becomes the part that gives.

Fred, we about talked it to death over here; http://www.stovebolt.com/bboard/cgi-bin//ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=20;t=000631

Well I looked again today, all day, guess I’ll just have to order another tee.
Denny G

Denny,

I misplaced two brand new rear tailgate hinges. I've got everything else, including the chains, protectors, tailgate (hard to lose) etc.

The worse thing I lost two days ago was my hard drive on this laptop. All of my restoration photos were on there plus 100's more. Fortunately for me I did start posting restoration photos on the web so at least have the low resolution ones there. Not an hour on the computer goes by when I don't discover something else that I've lost. I've actually got an external 300GB hard drive in my home office that I was supposed to diligently back up all of my stuff from two laptops and one desktop to but....

I've also misplaced an envelope, sometime in 1990 or so, that contains all of the photos of my '41 PU. Dmain Bramage is a terrible thing.

What bothers me the most is when I'm looking all over the shop for that tool or part that I just laid down, and my wife comes out to visit for a minute. She asks what I'm looking for (and truly has no clue about tools, parts etc.) I tell her it's a twidget about this long, and has a thingy that turns. She'll make one pass and come up with it! And she doesn't have any idea of what it is, or what it does. Go figure.....

Yep

I go horizontal space mining from time to time. I dig to the bottom of one horizontal space at a time, putting everything away during the process. At the bottom of every dig is a bench or the top of something flat. I usually find those things that I couldnt find this way.