The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Tool Chest Bad Day in the Garage

Any of you guys ever dump over your entire tool chest?
Well this dummy did, trying to push it up a small incline outside the garage, bottom drawer with all the heavy stuff popped out and it all went over. Screwed up the bottom two drawer guides and dented the hell out of the top box. Lid had to be banged out to fit again, all looks like sh!t now. It is a cheapy harbor freight so I won't loose too much sleep over it but it won't get me my 4 hours back that it took to put it all back together, I had 1/4" sockets travel 20 plus feet away. Managed to find everything. Friggen dork. Rant off, Idiot over and out.
Oh and btw, I am indeed a wrench fetcher and will always be no matter how many posts I make

Anyone who hasn't had a moment like that in the garage hasn't spent much time in the garage. You're among brothers here. As my dad said, "What did you learn?" Whatever the lesson is, learn it and move on. Today is a better day

Remember many years ago changing the oil in my GTO and as I just finished adding in the 5th quart of oil looked down to see it puddling around my shoes. 5-quarts of oil on the garage floor takes forever to clean-up. Best part was I got to walk to the store to pick up 5 brand new quarts! Never forgot to put the drain plug in again I can tell you that! As John said most all of us have had a day like that. All worth it though for a day like this.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/advance-design_parts_co/8129179759/in/set-72157631867396207

I don't ever want to see my box go over. 12' long, 3' deep, it just wouldn't be pretty. But, any day in the garage, good or bad, beats any day not in the garage!!

Get caught under that one Mark and we'll be reading your obituary.
I bought a tool cart from HF and put an eleven drawer tool chest
on it. Thought it would be a little handier than rolling the
big one around. It wants to go over every time I move it, even
on smooth level ground. They put the wheels WAY to close
together and if you get it at all top heavy it's real unstable.
Been thinking bout putting a 3/4" plywood base under it and
moving the caster out about 6" or 8" before I have the same
disaster that your dealing with.

Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL

I had the exact same thing happen with my then new Stainless Steel roller cabinet and it was totally full. I was pushing it back into the shop up the approach incline and it went over.
Well....at least I found some of the small tools I thought I'd lost. *^%(*#%!! Grrrr. The worst of it was it put some bends and dents in my brand new shiny toolbox.

I guess it may be more of a common occurance than I thought.

Ever try to teach your friend that it is a bad idea to pull more than one drawer open at a time? Picking up after wards is fun to watch. Fixing the damage that was done to the truck it fell on not so much. At least we were lucky, no one got hurt.

Learned about that hazard when I was just a sprout Steve,
but it was with file cabinets, not dads tool chest.
Denny G

there will always be days like this

Forgot about them file cabs, must be getting old..:)

What did I learn?

1. Not to stand on a 3-legged stool when wanting to reach far under the hood, because they're unstable I might get tooth-holes in my lower lip when it jumps out from under me, and my chin comes to a sudden stop on the rad.

2. Not to get frustrated and slam a tool on the concrete floor in case it bounces back and hits me in the temple.

3. To remember to reconnect the lower rad hose after flushing and adding new anti-freeze.

4. To remove the wedges from behind the rear wheels after letting the front end down from the jack, and trying to back out of the garage.

5. Check the fuse FIRST!

And a bunch more.......

One more: ALWAYS use the correct size screwdriver.

One more: ALWAYS use the correct size screwdriver.

Now this is funny, and has been very therapeutic.

I once had diagnosed a bad voltage drain and took it to a friend who is a whiz at electrical troubleshooting. He strongly suggested that I turn off the dome light.

I once drained a water heater to change out the heater element. After the longest time, I couldn't believe how much that tank held. Then I turned off the water supply to the tank. I don't know how much of the local reservoir I drained, but the City never called.

I was unrolling some 2/0 wire and hooked the loose end on the tool box so it wasn't trying to coil back on itself. BLAM! The whole toolbox fell over.

You have to keep an eye open for kids as well. Mine almost pulled a bookcase over on her trying to climb up it. Same thing with the tool box when I left a couple of the bottom drawers open.

Ive never had that happen to my own as its to large to roll around and it just sit's in front of my bay. but when i was in tech school, we used the schools 40 inch top and bottom. one day we were in a hurry and the wheel caught the floor drain. tipped it right over, bend the bottom box all up, tools EVERYWHERE, the shop got silent and all eyes where on us. lol.

You all convinced me to buy the new locks for the Craftsman 12 drawer I just bought off CL. There are no keys, but at $155.00 I believe I can afford to buy the new locks and use them when moving the box.
I once saw a guy topple his fully loaded machinist tool tower (roller, middle, top and side shelf). The side shelf had a complete 0.00 to 12.00 inch wood boxed micrometer set on it. I just ran the other way. I didn't want to witness the aftermath.
I guess when nobody gets hurt it's all good, but doesn't ease the pain to the psyche. Have fun and be safe.

I forgot the most important one.

6. Put ALL the new rings on the pistons before putting it back together and starting it up.

Aren't some of those supposed to go in the pile of "parts not to be installed?" I used to work with a mechanic who had a lot of those piles. I remember seeing rings in some of them.

Was at a buddys shop and his son was getting readyto put the motor back in his truck, motor tranny all bolted together hanging on the cherry picker. His dad told him soon after the install, "might as well pull it back out, you forgot to put the torque converter on it. I wanted to say something but he said NO they will learn to pay more attention next time.

I put compression rings in upside down on a Harley piston once. Made a mosquito fogger out of it.

Rebuilt a 307 SBC once, realized I forgot to add coolant to the radiator. Shut her off before any harm was done. From then on I always make a notation on all orifices to add fluids before start up on a new engine.

Another one is when repairing a extension cord always make sure you put the correct ends on. once I put 2 male ends on and shocked myself.

Don't feel bad.
Once I repaired a leaky garden hose by cutting out the "good part".
I put a female connection on each end of it, and when I went to hook up the sprinkler I stood there staring with the sprinkler in one hand and the hose in the other.
It took quite a few seconds to realize how stoopid I was.