Today's short battle with gravity...

[39portlander]

We all do it, and try to be carefull not to but it's gonna happen sooner than later. The small part that just dropped from your hand, "somewere"

Well to day after an hour of looking, I found that little 1/4" x 1/16" accelerator pedal guide pin. Not sure if that is the proper part name but would like to know seeing I used a few choice words to describe it as I looked for it.

Per usual I new were it was to re-install in my well marked boxes and with my painted "throttle spoon" ready to put it together, and gravity hit's me

[Clem Clement]

Stick a llittle part on some duct tape.

[Shadetree]

Last Spring I replaced the spindle bearings on my lawn tractor mower deck. I lost a washer with a big hole in it. I did this operation on my concrete driveway. I looked everywhere for it. I even backed the tractor up to make sure it wasn't under a tire. Frustrated, I put it back together without it and it works fine. Thursday I was weed eating around a raised flower bed. There laid the washer! The flower bed is at least 40' away and around the garage from where the tractor sat when I was working on it!

I am not the most organized individual anyway and I drive myself nuts looking for a small part or tool that I just used a few minutes before.

[34pickup]

As I get older and my eyesight gets weaker and my coordination gets clumsier I find myself spending more time finding what I drop or misplace than I do actually doing the job.

[ford38v8]

My garage being concrete, I wanted a more welcoming surface for my old bones, so I put in a shag rug that had been removed from the house.
Of course, small parts and even screwdrivers become invisible in shag carpet! That shag was very soon replaced with a short nap Berber.

[B-O-B]

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At my age & PP eyesight & nerves I'm always droping & losing springs & small parts hell even wrenches. I keep one of those magnets on an extension handy. Don't usually have to look long or reach down to find them UNLESS they are stainless or aluminum.

[Ian NZ]

When I drop a small part on the floor and I cannot find it, I get the broom out and sweep the floor carefully.

[Tinker]

It's really fun when you drop one down the intake! I like magnets, maybe get one of those ones on wheels that they use to look for nails on construction sites.

[Fibber Mcgee]

I spent 30 minutes looking for a screw for my motorcycle with a magnet before checking and finding out it was aluminum.

[FL&WVMIKE]

SHADETREE .....................
Don't dispare. You have been infested with gremlins. There is nothing that you can do about it !
That is what they do. They hide the tools, parts, etc., that you just had in your hand. Then they sit back and laugh.
MIKE

[peewee2you]

lol, too funny! yep took the plastic dash pieces off me 47, and sure enough one of the tiny scews end up on the lip of the underdash reach up and try to guide it off into my hand and there it went down the panel hole of the body, because I also took the passenger cardboard kick plate that's what I'll call it, and the screw bounced up from what I figure and down it went, so I think I know where I lost that, then I set out too look for my harbor freight magnet on the end of a long flex line with the red handle I know it's here just used it a few weeks ago, this garage is only so big, I have yet to find it, and have yet to get that screw, and have already put the dash pieces back in, and need to fill that one hole, damn age.

[Old Henry]

Originally Posted by 34pickup

I find myself spending more time finding what I drop or misplace than I do actually doing the job.

Amen to that. I thought I was the only clumsy one.
I save a lot of time with my magnet sweeper to find and retrieve stuff I just dropped through the engine compartment.



Available at Home Depot for $15.00.

[Mart]

The little part of my garage where the workbenches are has a wooded floor. I used scaffolding planks to make the floor. Problem is, they were damp when I put them down, now they've dried, there are gaps between, big enough to drop screws and circlips through. I need to put a layer of plywood over the area to save losing stuff.

I do get frustrated when I lose something I only had in my hand a short while before. I saw a complete set of brake nuts recently, when I needed them I couldn't find them and had to salvage all the old ones and re-use them. I still havn't found them. You can't just go down the road and buy that stuff here in the UK.

Mart.

[PeteVS]

One of the scary things when working on a car is to drop something under the hood and not hear it hit the floor. Then, you know you're in for a long search...

[41LjH]

The easiest way for me to find something is to go buy it again ! When I do this whatever it is turns up within a couple of days.
Seriously I use business envelopes, label them then put them in a storage bin. Works pretty well.

[Walt Dupont--Me.]

I lost a comlete flathead the other day. Got put my magnet, that didn't do any good. I finally found it on the other side of the garage snuggled up against the wall on the other side of my 40. To many flatheads to keep track of. Walt

[39portlander]

Originally Posted by PeteVS

One of the scary things when working on a car is to drop something under the hood and not hear it hit the floor. Then, you know you're in for a long search...

Luckly I located this tiny little pin that found it's way into the saw grooves they cut in the cement floor for cracks

Hey Walt you get to many Flatheads hangin around, you'll have to start claiming them as dependent's Scott

[41Fordor]

My wife usually groans when I pull into Harbor Freight, but she bought one of those magnetic dishes that hold small parts and sticks to a fender or any ferrous surface. She uses it in her sewing room for pins. Hate when one of those drops on the carpet unseen until you step on it.

When I was in the Air Force we would sometimes switch hex head bolts in hard to reach areas with allen drive screws. Then tape the screw head to the allen driver to get it into tight spots. I worked on the little planes, I can only imagine how hard it would be to find a washer or screw in a C-5!

[Mike51Merc]

We've all been there and done that. I was buffing a brass screw for an antique table fan and it got away from me. Plinkety-plink and it was gone. Searched on my hands and knees for hours. Swept the floor, moved stuff around, looked in every nook and cranny.

Damn screw was so old and unique that you can't find a replacement. Well that was about 4 years ago and I still haven't found it.

[TobbyT]

Originally Posted by 41Fordor

When I was in the Air Force we would sometimes switch hex head bolts in hard to reach areas with allen drive screws. Then tape the screw head to the allen driver to get it into tight spots. I worked on the little planes, I can only imagine how hard it would be to find a washer or screw in a C-5!

Big aircraft can be a challenge. I dropped a SET of ¼ inch sockets while climbing up inside the “T-Tail” of a C-5. I was almost at the top when I dropped it. It hit a latter rung and came open. It seem like a life time as I set there listening to that awful sound of metal clinking as gravity took them down. The plane couldn’t take off until they were all found. Needless to say, it took a while.

[Shadetree]

It's really fun when you drop one down the intake!

I have had my intake on the `51 covered with the lifting device that I installed the engine with until last Friday. I removed it Friday and installed my carburetor. Before getting even close to the engine I taped a baggie over the opening of the carburetor. It will remain there until the engine installation is complete and ready for the air cleaner. You learn to compensate for your clumsiness. Life experiences leaves a lasting impression...

[39wdy]

Hey Scott, Why do you think I have all of those extra parts? A gyu really needs 26 water pumps, 15 starters, 31 distributors, and of course all the back up hardware to mount them. My floor can and has swallowed entire assembled components of my restorations. Did you get those extra distributors i sent you yet? It took me a while to find them of course and then locate the special screws and fasteners. I hope all the pieces finally got to you. Best wishes, Toby (also gravity challenged)

[34pickup]

Originally Posted by Tinker

It's really fun when you drop one down the intake! I like magnets, maybe get one of those ones on wheels that they use to look for nails on construction sites.

I had a buddy that dropped a washer down and intake. He looked for a long time and didn't find it but thought it must have gone somewhere else besides down the intake. Finished the engine and cranked it up. Needless to say he had to pull it all apart again after the racket. It ruined a valve and put a nasty dent in his piston.

[Kurt in NJ]

Having enough clutter in the work area actually helps in finding that wayward part that jumped out of your hands, --if you listen ---it's the sound, as the part tries to run and hide it bounces off several items, each makes it's own sound ---leading to the location of the trying to hide part.

[Ian NZ]

I was holding on a special stainless steel washer with my fingers and buffing it up and the next thing it flew out of my fingers I looked around for it for a long time and then gave up and decided to go some where in the car which was parked outside the garage door on the drive about 20 feet away and here was the washer alongside the car, it must have rolled out there.