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Wed Oct 12, 2016 4:02 pm

Have any of you left tools behind. I have. Vice Grips on the clutch cable. Found them when I went to adjust clutch again. Wonder what had happened to them.

Wed Oct 12, 2016 5:55 pm

I'm missing a couple of wrenches and I cleaned the crap out of my garage at the beginning of the summer so my guess is... yes.

Wed Oct 12, 2016 6:33 pm

I don't have any tools :lol:

Wed Oct 12, 2016 7:36 pm

I bought replacements for pretty much every tool I own at least 3 times over...

"He who looses tools" would be my Native name in a crappy low budget western about aircooled VW's.

Wed Oct 12, 2016 7:42 pm

back in the early 80's I was working in one shop on a squareback and my magnetic screw starter came up missing. Oh well. Fast forward to the late 80's, I'm working in another shop on the same squareback and I found my missing screw starter hanging from the body under the compartment lid. :shock:

Wed Oct 12, 2016 7:53 pm

60ragtop wrote: back in the early 80's I was working in one shop on a squareback and my magnetic screw starter came up missing. Oh well. Fast forward to the late 80's, I'm working in another shop on the same squareback and I found my missing screw starter hanging from the body under the compartment lid. :shock:

now that's a trip...

Wed Oct 12, 2016 9:16 pm

Not a tool exactly but I left my Bus church key hanging from the back gate latch of my Single Cab years ago while working on it in my driveway.

I could have swore I never drove anywhere before it went missing but it was gone later the same day.

Wed Oct 12, 2016 9:45 pm

most found tool was the magnetic wrench used to secure the long starter bolt nut.- back before D heads.

Wed Oct 12, 2016 11:00 pm

I worked on a customer's T4 bus in 2013, and left my ratcheting 10mm box wrench on the distributor timing clamp. Three years later, I bought the bus from them and got my wrench back. I was ecstatic. Totally worth $1500 to get the wrench back. :lol:

Robbie

Thu Oct 13, 2016 4:07 am

I lost a 13/16 socket and 3/8 drive ratchet momentarily while doing a valve adjustment on a customers car. I found it when I went to start the car it spun around and off the generator pulley nut into the deck lid making a small dent. Neither my boss nor the owner was happy but it was a teaching moment. Here at work a fellow left one bolt in the intake of a jet engine on a DC10. It subsequently was ingested upon starting. It caused 6 million dollars damage and he got a week off. The rest of his career we called him "the 6 million dollar man". You gotta love it.

Thu Oct 13, 2016 4:25 am

I have a 21 year old son and a neighbor. Both like to borrow my tools. Unfortunately some never make it back.

Thu Oct 13, 2016 6:25 am

These stories are interesting. By the way I do not leave my vice grips on the clutch cable anymore.

Thu Oct 13, 2016 7:58 am

Not a tool, but I just found a pair of sunglasses that "disappeared" back at the start of Summer, when I re-charged the A/C in girlfriends car.

Yesterday, I rec'd a shipment for ISP that contained someone's box cutter. :lol: Wonder if I should pay the postage to ship it back? :?

Thu Oct 13, 2016 8:43 am

gt1953 wrote: Have any of you left tools behind. I have. Vice Grips on the clutch cable. Found them when I went to adjust clutch again. Wonder what had happened to them.

I worked at a VW/dune buggy rental agency in 1974 "Sun Buggy Rentals"), we also did work for outside customers. I did EXACTLY the same on one of the dune buggies, found Vise-Grip and retrieved it a month later.

Years later, I had broken off the battery retaining stud off my 1971 VW, nut must've rusted on. I drilled a hole through the pan, pushed a hex bolt up from underneath, put on a nut to hold that bolt in place as a "stud", and used the same Vise-Grip horizontal on that bolt head to hold it from turning as I tightened that holding nut, and again forgot about the Vise-Grip. Months later, it was still holding on.

That Vise-Grip was purchased in 1962, I still use it all the time. I don't like aftermarket, off-patent copies of these, have recently bought some genuine ones at garage sales for 50 cents to $1, they clean up well in vinegar. On one I had to add a new spring.

VERY handy Vise-Grip line extensions were the needle-nose (which I actually envisioned way back, turns out Vise-Grip was trying to find an alloy strong enough for the narrow snout), bent needle nose VG, and especially the LC-12

One tiny bent needle-nose VG I had since new was defective as jaws wouldn't tighten all the way for small stuff; just recently I drilled out the rivet, and ground down the metal a little, then re-assembled with a screw and locknut, works great now.

Thu Oct 13, 2016 8:44 am

Quote: Vice Grips on the clutch cable.

And I thought I was the only one who did this :oops:

Thu Oct 13, 2016 8:54 am

Lets pour a little out, for all the tools we have lost along the way.....

Thu Oct 13, 2016 4:30 pm

60ragtop wrote: back in the early 80's I was working in one shop on a squareback and my magnetic screw starter came up missing. Oh well. Fast forward to the late 80's, I'm working in another shop on the same squareback and I found my missing screw starter hanging from the body under the compartment lid. :shock:
Deja vu for me, except it was needle nose vise grips inside a door and it was almost 20 years later I found them.

Scored a few other mechanics' leavings as well over the years, the memorable ones are a sweet pair of Snap on slip joint pliers in a car, and a rivet bucking bar inside the wing of a Piper Cherokee that had been riding around in there for 40+ years.

And yes, I did the wrench on the generator nut deal just once as well.

Thu Oct 13, 2016 7:40 pm

busdaddy wrote:
And yes, I did the wrench on the generator nut deal just once as well.

Me, too. No damage, but a helluva bang and a new stripe in the shorts.

Also have done the clutch cable/vise grips story. Thankfully only on my own VW.

Thu Oct 13, 2016 8:05 pm

I use a 3/8" 13mm universal snap on socket to loosen the distributor and it went missing in action. I found it a few years later in front of the rear pulley slightly ground down
cheers
Hank

Fri Oct 14, 2016 7:45 am

...Can't even count the sockets & wrenches that always seem to fly out from the frame head area within 1 mile of pulling out of the driveway after doing anything up front. :oops: