Stupidest ways you temporarily misplaced a tool while working on something?

[Dennis Leigh Henry]

Just did it earlier this afternoon..if you consider a pencil a tool.... Looking all over the place for it.. flipping pencil..... rolled underneath something.. get the flash light, no... kept looking and looking...even in places I hadn't been in today.....and low and behold, its right behind my right ear where I placed it... dooohhhh..........

 

[skruft]

Possibly allowing an electric screwdriver (one of the round, low power ones in the 90s) roll overboard while I was working on a boat. Was not temporary though.

 

[dacuda]

reading this thread made me think of my friends '63 vette we were putting the motor in back in the 80's and everything went great.for years after he heard a tapping sound we just never could locate.sounded like an exhaust tap but was not frequent enough to cause concern.like 20 years later the car was going thru a full resto and low and behold there was an 11/16" wrench wedged down in one of the exhaust pipes coming from exhaust manifold.we had a good laugh.

 

[Corndoggeh]

I left a rack of wrenches on top of the supply fan on the roof AC after changing the motor. Had to take the covers back off 30 min later when i realized i left them. They were nice and cold though!

 

[jeason15]

I sent a spool of safety wire flying in a wheel well when I was a very young aviation mechanic...

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

 

[Jacobson]

So I am not the only one!!

This is what happened a couple weeks ago when my 22oz estwing hit the glass cooktop... Was a 6 foot ladder though... #DUFUS...

That shattered cooktop must have made your OCD redline.
Did you start twitching?

 

[jeffmoss26]

Lost my Klein #2 phillips doing a cabling job. Bought a new one...went back to a customer 2 years later to do some other work and found my screwdriver. Good thing I put orange tape on all my tools!

 

[hdossett]

So, two or three weeks ago I bought a pocket hole jig. Did not need it right away, didn't even have screws for it. Open the box, looked at all the parts, closed it up and put it away. Have been looking for it for three or four days with no luck! And I could use it right about now. I even bought some screws.

Years ago I was reroofing my house in FL. Could not find my utility knife after looking everywhere. So, I drive five mile to HD and buy a new one. Got home, climbing the latter to the roof and feel some thing in my hip pocket... of cource it was my utility knife!

H

 

[jumbojak]

Not a tool but last night my car started to overheat on the way to the ferry so I pulled off the road, popped the hood, and used an old jacket to shield myself as I removed the cap. Got the coolant system filled and did a quick bleed so I could be on my way and I couldn't find the radiator cap. I checked all under the hood, on the ground underneath, all along the outside of the car from the front to the trunk. I was starting to lose my temper when I remembered the jacket. Sure enough, the cap was rolled up in the jacket laying on the front seat.

 

[Dennis Leigh Henry]

reading this thread made me think of my friends '63 vette we were putting the motor in back in the 80's and everything went great.for years after he heard a tapping sound we just never could locate.sounded like an exhaust tap but was not frequent enough to cause concern.like 20 years later the car was going thru a full resto and low and behold there was an 11/16" wrench wedged down in one of the exhaust pipes coming from exhaust manifold.we had a good laugh.

We had that happen on an engine in a dynamometer test here... some weird but notable tapping inside the engine... valves OK... what the heck.. decided to drop the intake manifold and low and behold, the tech's missing 8mm wrench........

 

[top drive]

theres an 8mm 1/4 drive socket in my van engine bay at the moment. Dropped it off the end of an extension when i was changing the battery and it dropped down into the bay but not onto the floor.

can i find it - can i **** . Have not driven the car since other than back and forth while braking hard to dislodge it on the drive. have jacked it up as high as i can and even dropped it. Its not for being found. HAve had my hand into every hidden area where it could be but nothing.

I know as soon as i buy another itll appear in the tool box or something silly.

 

[kiatech]

I can tell you its slot easier to loose stuff when working on semi trucks compared to cars, SO many places to lay a tool down and forget about it until your pulling it out for a test drive.

 

[Roberts210]

Back in the 1990's I got ahold of 2 really good oil-change containers. These have screw-on dinner-plate sized funnels so no oil splashes out when you pull the drain plug. My Dodge/Cummins holds 11 quarts of oil, so I need both containers when I drain the oil. Sure enough I ran over one summer before last. I've never seen another as good either.

 

[Project_shadow]

I can tell you its slot easier to loose stuff when working on semi trucks compared to cars, SO many places to lay a tool down and forget about it until your pulling it out for a test drive.

This is true


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Lassen Forge]

Set a screwdriver on the fan shroud of a car I was working on, and it vanished. I knew it was there, but darned if I could find it... until we were test driving the car, and WHANG Winka winak Brrrrrrrrrrrr... It had fallen to the bottom of the shroud, and during the test, had ended up getting picked up by the fan and flung into said shroud. About 1/4" forward and I would have bought a new radiator.

I was working on a 1923 Model T, I had several tools out. When I finished, I moved the tools that were under the car to the center of the floor, under the car. When I moved the car out of the shop, leaving the tools centered on the floor. It's easier to pick them up when the car is gone.

Not a tool... I was tightening bands on the '15, and went to button it up... and was missing a nut. Anyone who has worked on these knows that anything can (and will) fall in that big inspection cover hole on the hogshead (the cover over the transmission and flywheel), and fall to the bottom of the engine pan under the flywheel. That little wrench that came with the car is usually the culprit, but the nuts off the end of the shaft can do the same thing. If you DON'T get it, whatever will then find its way to the magnets on the flywheel, thence to chew up your magneto coils, which makes that a real expensive and time consuming mess.

So here I am fishing around with a magnet feeler in the bottom of this flywheel case, where you can't see, and thereabouts a gallon of dirty oil lives... and nothing. So realizing It's gotta be in the flywheel, I pull the hogshead off (a whole new not a fun job either), and check... Nope, not in the magnets, not in the bottom of the pan, not in the transmission, not between the bands and drums... and now I'm getting pissed and frustrated, and I look over at the seat, where I put it so it wouldn't fall into the transmission...

So I get the whole cursed thing back together, an snugging the last band, and the little wrench slips out of my hand. Actually, I think it was Henry's ghost that slapped it out of my hands, into the depths of oily hell...

All over a stupid nut. Nuts is just about right!!!

 

[mbshop]

Long ago into my first or second year of being a so called pro mechanic I couldn't find my flashlight. So being me I started blaming everyone for taking my flashlight. Actually ranting. After going off for minutes I hear a voice say "like the one in your back pocket?" Sure enough, there it was. Took a long time to live that one down. Otherwise there are waaay to many stories to tell. Retired now so when I loose something I just ask the wife as she finds things in a heart beat like last week when I couldn't find my scissors. When I explained why I was ticked she just reached over and picked them up right in front of me.

 

[Wcs6363]

Adjusted valves on car --- couldn't find my ratchet til I started car and saw it come flying off the crank bolt

 

[Coco73]

couple years ago while working on HGV's couldn't find my worklamp after servicing a Volvo FH12 .Six weeks later the vehicle returned to the workshop for a repair and as i was jacking the cab,what did i see only the lamp which was still attached to the chassis leg by its mag base. Happy days

 

[txvwnut]

When snap on came out with the orange handled screw drivers my dealer convinced me to buy a set on the premise of not loosing a bright orange handle.

So I bought a set and was the only tech in the shop with them. I was doing a carb rebuild on a MGB and when I went to pull the carbs apart on the bench I couldn't find that number four straight anywhere. Grabbed the number two and did all the bench work with it cussing the so dealer all the time for telling me I couldn't loose an orange handled screwdriver.

Went to put the carbs back the B and got to where I needed to tighten the hose clamps on the fuel lines. Reached into my hip pocket and pulled that number FOUR straight blade.

Phuk me! I had that damn screwdriver in my pocket for over an hour.

 

[larry_g]

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=113009&highlight=stupid

Yes, in fact I started the thread above to admit it. Basically built my tripod into the wall.

lg
no neat sig line

 

[CJM8515]

Ya know it isnt a tool, but I lost my temper working on an E250 once. Driving along and all of the sudden bad misfire, flashing CEL. bring it into the shop and figure out plug is toast. Cant get the damn plug out, realize its a 5.4L V8 and has one of those inserts where you have a plug adapter. Got that loose and couldnt fish it out, decided to crank the engine over and push it out. Pushed it out and low and behold I cant find the thing!

Looked all over for hours, floor, engine, etc, etc. Gave up. Next morning I and the other mechanic are looking over it and find the damn thing tucked into the frame rail!

 

[Jacobson]

Interesting to see how many people leave stuff in their pocket.
That is the first place I look, and then I keep looking there repeatedly!

 

[K-Dog]

Interesting to see how many people leave stuff in their pocket.
That is the first place I look, and then I keep looking there repeatedly!

Yes THAT.
I mean what could really happen there.

No, that socket wasn't there the first fifty times I checked my pocket, but maybe it will be there on the fifty first time.

 

[bigcreek]

no kidding. I have probably 15 tape measures lying around the shop so there is one not too far distant regardless of where I may be at the time. Saves a lot of time in hunting one down.

 

[bigcreek]

I moved a forklift with a attached hydraulic boom last week on my trailer. The boom has a hand held remote which Id left sitting on top of the forklift next to the seat. After a few miles of driving it hit me Id left it up there so pulled off the road hoping like crazy I got lucky and it was still there. Well I did get lucky. Instead of falling off to the side and to a certain doom it fell right into a little spot by the forklift seat. Celebration time!

 

[speedfreek1210]

Still haven't found the 1/2" ratchet I lost at the beginning of the summer. I know it in the garage... somewhere...


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

 

[97audia4]

took my Craftsman LED light for a ride last weekend. Finished up U joints and went for a test drive down the street and cleaned up everything and went searching to plug it in. Looked around and scratched my head then I got worried. But there it was still stuck to the frame of my truck.

 

[WoodShopDisaster]

I used to use my little snap on magnetic led light inside door panels. On a few occasions I forgot I had the light in there and found it later on still lit up. One time I even finished up a job and buttoned the door all up. I was at my box putting my tools away and I couldn't find my light. When I remembered I had to go take the door apart to get my light back.

 

[Dennis Leigh Henry]

Adjusted valves on car --- couldn't find my ratchet til I started car and saw it come flying off the crank bolt

Yeah, starting an engine (or machine or ?) helps us all find things fast.. I've only once forgotten a chuck key in a chuck on a lathe.. That is a scary moment..

Also had a damper on a 14 liter engine on a dyno at work that came off in the test cell just as it was transitioning to rated load.. Don't recall the rest of the story (one or two bolts were torqued the others not). Didn't do a tremendous amount of damage and didn't hurt anyone... Lucky....

 

[Dennis Leigh Henry]

I did it at the restaurant on Saturday... Where's my cell phone.... dang, left it in the truck.... walked out the door in shirt sleeve (30ish outside), walked about 10 paces... found it in my back pocket... LOL

 

[Dennis Leigh Henry]

Did this at my father's house yesterday...pencil... pencil...???.... I just had that darned thing.. looked around a few places, went back to the work bench.. and there it was.. Flip....

 

[Maui]

I have one of those huge deck umbrellas where the thing is so big that you have to screw the lower part of the shaft into the upper umbrella section. It takes some sort of weird ACME thread that you can't find anywhere else. When I moved back in 2006 I was able to find the umbrella without any trouble. But somehow the lower part of the shaft didn't get boxed up with it. Not being able to match the thread I couldn't set it up. Five moves and ten years later I'm looking through my garage and find this small package wrapped in heavy duty mover's paper...

Maui

 

[Roberts210]

I lost the cap for the P.S. on my Dodge/Cummins truck. Bought another one. TWO YEARS LATER I found the original cap nestled down beside the trans. Oh well... now I have a spare anyway!

 

[kn51]

Was measuring things before taking the truck to Menards.

Go to Menards. After I park and walk around the truck to go into the store the guy parked next to me getting into his car says "don't forget your tape measure."

How the hell that Stanley rode on the bumper, backing down a driveway/curb and 5 miles of country type roads still boggles my mind.

Meanwhile just the other day dropped a small green colored grounding screw in the garage. Couldn't find the damn thing. Three days later I find it where we place our shoes inside the house. Guess it was stuck in my sole yet survived countless trips to various places before it gave up and let lose where I could easily see it.

 

[xiondavis]

I was changing the front tube on a dirtbike tire inside my cargo trailer. Got the new tube in and seated the bead but when I started on the other tire, one tire iron was missing. You bet - after an hour of looking in every conceivable place I broke the front tire back down and the missing 12" tire iron was INSIDE the tire. Nice.

Now, not 30 minutes before the tire iron fiasco, my wife gave me a new t-shirt for a picture with my brothers. It was a hot day so I took the shirt off to change the tire. Later that afternoon the new shirt was nowhere to be found. No way was I going to look inside that tire again!

 

[Dennis Leigh Henry]

Was measuring things before taking the truck to Menards.

Go to Menards. After I park and walk around the truck to go into the store the guy parked next to me getting into his car says "don't forget your tape measure."

How the hell that Stanley rode on the bumper, backing down a driveway/curb and 5 miles of country type roads still boggles my mind.

Meanwhile just the other day dropped a small green colored grounding screw in the garage. Couldn't find the damn thing. Three days later I find it where we place our shoes inside the house. Guess it was stuck in my sole yet survived countless trips to various places before it gave up and let lose where I could easily see it.

Looks like that Stanley really wanted to stay with you...

 

[Dennis Leigh Henry]

I have one of those huge deck umbrellas where the thing is so big that you have to screw the lower part of the shaft into the upper umbrella section. It takes some sort of weird ACME thread that you can't find anywhere else. When I moved back in 2006 I was able to find the umbrella without any trouble. But somehow the lower part of the shaft didn't get boxed up with it. Not being able to match the thread I couldn't set it up. Five moves and ten years later I'm looking through my garage and find this small package wrapped in heavy duty mover's paper...

Maui

We're going thru my dad's estate, and low and behold, I've had many of those moments... Hey wait, that piece belongs with this or that...or I recognize that one...opps we sold that table, chair, etc etc.. LOL