Any funny stories on lost tools?

[WhiffySpark]

I managed to loose 2 3" extensions in one day. They seemed to disappear into a black hole under the car.

One was doing spark plugs on a 3v 5.4 f150. The other was changing plug #8 on a 2 valve 5.4

I looked for an hour each and couldn't find them

 

[Ponchoguy]

I went to the junkyard to pull out a LR glass for my grandfather's '79 Caprice because someone broke it. I told my neighbor whose shop I worked at I was going to borrow some tools and go get it. So, I put the tools on the back ledge of the Chevy between the trunk and window.

Drove to the yard, and looked around in the car. Where are the tools? Answer---right on the ledge where I left them. Amazingly, they were all still there....

 

[davethorik]

When I was in college the window regulator in my '89 Olds 88 took a ****, I was beyond broke at the time so I put a pair of vise grips on the window track to hold the glass up and called it good. About 2 months later the car was totaled when I got rearended.

Fast forward 2 years I was at the local junkyard and there was my Olds! Some of the glass was busted out but the interior was intact. A light bulb came on in my head, tore the door apart and there were my missing vise grips. DeWitt made, nonetheless.

 

[hautpot]

Found a tool (my employers designed) in a CNC that has been obsolete since 1999.

 

[jimbbski]

I was working on a car that I had recently purchased. The engine compartment was very "full" looking, if you know what I mean. Well I dropped a wrench and it didn't hit the floor. I spent the next hour "looking" for it but never found it and ended up just buying a replacement.

 

[HeelSpur]

Worked for a guy once that had a small crew of 5 and he couldn't find his tri-square and he commenced to ream everyone out in front of the homeowner. He was calling us useless and worthless SOB's and lots of other pleasant words.
The damn square was in his hand.
He was pretty embarrassed and was damn lucky no one left.

 

[Brownsfan]

I dropped a 7mm socket down a heat vent twice on 2 different vehicles but the same model of car. One I was able to get my flexible magnet down far enough to get, the other is still in there. They were both mid 90s Buick Lesabres.

 

[Mastermind]

My cart rolled on the flatbed today, lid came open, tools all over the bed. Threw it back in said I'll figure out what's missing at the shop and come back to look later. My 18 19 21 and 22 deep impact 3/8 snappy sockets were missing. Spent an hr walking the road side before dark. Halfway home remembered the friends tire I changed Friday night and my cordless impact and those four sockets I grabbed where in the bag behind my seat .

 

[rockinacummins]

Did injectors and clutch at the same time on an 05 cummins for a trailer manufacturer on their haul truck. Used their shop and their tools. Couldn't find the 10mm deep socket or the modified 7/8 wrench for the connector tubes when I was done. We had test driven the truck before we cleaned the shop and the socket was wedged in the battery box and the wrench was laying at the base of the windshield wiper on the cowl.

 

[FOCUS.FREAK]

Today I couldn't find my 1/2 impact gun. I leave it in the top drawer of my toolbox. I kept telling myself well looks like someone stole my impact. I completely forgot that i loaned it to a buddy i work with. I felt like an *** walking around the shop asking "Have you seen my impact"

 

[WhiskeyRanger]

I'm on a crane maintenance crew working on the 100 ton bridge cranes in a factory. One of the jobs is to check the collectors that slide along the feed rails. One of our guys was down on the little platform used for inspecting them and found one of the DeWalt 12V lithium LED work lights up there. It turns out one of the other guys left it up there when changing out the collectors about 2 years ago. It was still holding a strong charge and was ready to go.

 

[MinnesotaHack]

In the late 80s and early 90s I started losing thing. I didn't used to lose *any* object. Then I turned 30. Lost several Craftsman pocket screwdrives and plug gapping gauges. Lost a set of keys to my sister's house while she was on vacation and I was taking care of her cats. They didn't get fed for three days. Paid to have her locks rekeyed. Lost a set of keys to my shed. Replaced the lock. Lost a favorite pocket knife.

I started to wonder if I was having a 40s moment a decade too soon.

Sold my '85 car to a work buddy in '96 when I bought a new car. A few days later he hands me a paper bag and says look inside. Inside was *all* the things I had lost along with some dollar bills. He heard a rattling in the console and decided to investiage. He tore it apart and found rattling coins along with all the things I had lost.

The console had an ash try with flip up lid. That is where I used to put pocket change / bills and things "temporarily". There was a gap in the stamped steel construction that would be exposed when the lid was opened...learned that opening the lid would sometimes eject things thru that hole dropping out of sight. Decelerating hard enough would also do the same thing.

Since then, I have turned 50 and now find myself in the kitchen wondering why I walked in the kitchen. Haven't found an excuse for this yet.

 

[Chris_]

Since then, I have turned 50 and now find myself in the kitchen wondering why I walked in the kitchen. Haven't found an excuse for this yet.

That's easy! You're looking for a cold beer.

 

[Bobioz1]

Tech at our other shop left a snap on solus on top of the car and went for a test drive. After remembering what he did, he went looking for it and couldn't find it. A few hours later some crack head showed up asking if anybody wanted to buy a scanner. I think they gave him $10 and threatened to call the cops. Lucky tech.

 

[PartsGuy27]

A few weeks ago I replaced the rear shocks on my 1995 Mazda B2300.

That was on a Saturday.

Tuesday morning I get to work and my buddy hands me one of those magnetic slider lights. I asked him what that was all about, tells me he saw it standing vertical on my leaf spring, had been there since Saturday! Still works 100%! Good thing it didn't rain!

 

[Bessy]

Found a nice little folding BUCK special edition out front of my old rental place back about two years ago when I rented there. Used it to cut some tape seals on a box at Princess Auto this summer. got in the truck and couldn't find my knife. figured I left it in the store and that it was a loss, but hey, it was a free knife I found on the sidewalk, a nice one but free none-the-less. I found it a month later in the side pocket of the drivers side rear door in my dad's f150. To this day I still can't figure out how it got there.

 

[1950mercury]

Working on a outboard motor in the lake. I lost a 1/4" drive 5/16 shallow socket and a small needle nose plyer.

My best find was I had to work on my gf car(rattle under the dash). After about 10 min I find a set of snap on 1/4" drive semi deep on the rail missing 1 socket.

 

[Farmall 1066]

Went out on a service call to fix air ride seat on a tractor. Working halfway up the steps, laying in through the cab door for about an hour. Got packed up to go, and realize my Snap-On HL138CP pliers are missing. Looked all over hell and finally gave up.
Fast forward about 5-6 years. Farmer had passed away, and I was at his farm sale. There were my beloved, and long since replaced pliers, with distinctive melt mark from being dropped on a battery.
Ended up buying them again, but for just $5 the second time!

 

[fourjeepin]

Lost tools are NOT funny!!!





Now if you are the finder of said lost tools

 

[FordTruckWench]

A friend bought a "rebuilt" Chevy 350 via "that guy's list." After several weeks, the friend decided that something about the engine/rebuild looked suspicious - and started taking the engine apart a bit. In the valley, under the intake manifold, were some Vice Grips! Lets just say that the "rebuild" turned out to be just a cleaning, a paint job, and some fresh gaskets.

Several years ago I couldn't find the hand vacuum pump I use to vacuum bleed brakes. I looked everywhere. Then one day I opened my 1/2 drive tool box - and there was the pump. I had put it in there after using my tools at someone else's house.

 

[shoggoth80]

Had a Caravan eat my EZ Red light. Little magnetic pocket light. I was doing a t-stat. I had it stuck to the side of the fender near the battery so I had light to work with (roadcall at night, overheating). This was like my second or third light. Well, no surprise, as I am packing it all back up (prior to verifying repair), I knock the light loose from where it was. Damned thing ended up on the veeeery bottom of the firewall, shining on the axle. I could not reach it. The van got to keep that one. I had to get back to the shop before shift change.

 

[DWise]

I found my Craftsman claw hammer after two years, laying on top of a suspended ceiling tile in my basement.

 

[FullRaceMerc]

I could not find my baby vise grips. I finally gave up & bought another set.

Who knows how many miles & years later I went to bleed the brakes again on that old car with the rounded out bleeders & found them still hanging onto that bleeder from the last time.

 

[b-dog]

I used to install car stereos & alarms. I thought it would be a good idea to leave old/broken tools in cute girls cars so that I could call them later, legitimately. (I was young & shy, give me a break).
So, I left a pair of old wire strippers in this girl’s car and called her later that afternoon. She said, “No, sorry, I didn’t find anything”. I couldn’t turn around and tell her that she was lying since I left them there intentionally. And that was the last time that I did that.

 

[RRmech]

We had truck lifts for our rolling stock on the railroad.
Murphy's Law....when you would drop a socket, it would invariably roll over to the truck lift, and drop into the basement.
Our basement was a total mess!
You had a better chance of hitting the Lottery, than finding your socket or wrench.
Years later, when the basement was....finally....cleaned up.

They found enough tools down there, to open a small hardware store.

Steve

 

[CJM8515]

Ive lost a few things over the years. Its part of the reason my road tool box for work doesnt have any expensive tools in there to begin with.

I distinctly remember the following:

-Working on a PT cruiser at the persons house changing a battery. The terminals were a bit corroded and hard to get off so I whacked them with a hammer. A day later Im going crazy looking for my hammer. Nothing special, just a fiberglass 16oz head stanley ball peen. Its then I realize after looking all over for it, that its under hood most likely of the lady who owned the PT cruiser. Wouldnt you know, the car had further issues (all PT cruisers seem to lol) and I get there pop the hood and bingo there is my hammer. Course at that point I had tried to buy a new one off ebay as lowes didnt carry them anymore.

-I was working on changing a battery in a newer tacoma. I leave the job and drive 30 miles to the next one. Its then I realize my 1/4 ratchet with my shallow 10mm is on it. Thank god its cheapo stanley. A trip to home depot and 15 bucks later I had a new ratchet.

-While using the service truck I was tasked to unlock a car for AAA. I do the job and leave. I then get another service call for a lock out. Get there and go to grab my plastic wedges and air bag and cant find them. Its then I realize I left them on the roof of the truck (had put them down there to open the door). They were still there lol.. I did the same thing with a socket, working on a lightbar. Left the socket up there by accident and a week later it was still on the roof.

-Went to my cabin about 10 years ago. Was building tree stands for the upcoming whitetail season. Among other items I brought was this old bow saw that I dearly loved, they surely dont make them like that one anymore. Anyways about 6 months later Im in my yard and need the bow saw to trim a tree branch. Cant find the damn thing anywhere. Did I loan it out? Did someone not return it? I cant remember where it is for the life of me. I figure its gone, oh well. About 2 years later Im back at the cabin repairing the same tree stand. Im looking around the brush in the woods (full of ferns like crazy and tons of brush since we had it logged and they leave the tree tops behind). I notice something orangish that doesnt seem to belong. Its the damn saw. Rusty a bit but still good! Cleaned her up when i got home with some WD40 and steel wool and aint ever losing her again!

 

[kn51]

I managed to loose 2 3" extensions in one day. They seemed to disappear into a black hole under the car.

One was doing spark plugs on a 3v 5.4 f150. The other was changing plug #8 on a 2 valve 5.4

I looked for an hour each and couldn't find them

Hah, lost a 7mm and extension into the intake manifold valley when replacing a COP on a 2 valve 5.4 last weekend. There is also a 10mm or 12mm wrench floating around in there as well.

#8 is bad. Always my condolences for doing #4 for an Expedition with rear air.

 

[egnorant]

I buy a lot of **** cars that are abandoned projects so My tool finds are massive. One that stands out is the disc brake spreading tool that was wedged between the frame and a crossmember of a Maxima.

Oddest tool I lost then found was in 1976! I was working on my 67 Mustang and using a truck tailgate as a workbench. Put my Craftsman 1/2" combo wrench on the tailgate and did some small thing to the Mustang. Well, I needed the 1/2" again and reached for it...GONE! 2 feet from the front of the Mustang to the back of the truck and I had not moved anywhere. searched the entire truck bed, removed the tailgate and searched the bumper, ground, front of the Mustang, pockets, full hour of searching with no results.

Fast forward to 2005 while cleaning out the shop I open an old adding machine case that was way up high and zipped shut and inside I find the wrench and a dead bat.

My Dad really gave me a hard time for losing his wrench and I had to go buy a new one.

Bruce

 

[jeffmoss26]

Lost a Klein #2 phillips screwdriver, bought a new one, then a year later found it at a customer's building!

 

[Bronson]

Has anyone seen My metric Gearwrench set? I didn't even get to use them!!

 

[ttpete]

Years ago, I had an '82 Continental up on the hoist looking for a bolt I'd dropped. I was feeling around on top of a frame area, and found a wristwatch lying there. It was engraved on the back as a gift to Skip, and I thought for a minute and remembered that there was a Skip in the diagnostic group in the next building, so I went over and asked him if he ever lost a watch. He said, yeah, about a year ago, and said it was engraved to him. So I gave it to him. It had been riding there for all that time. He was tickled to get it back.

 

[Heavy Metal Doctor]

Every air tool I owned at the time, and a hand full sockets / wrenches all went for a ride across into the next state, had to be $1500 worth of stuff.
I had finished a repair up inside the chassis of a truck, working on the machine that was mounted to it, with the driver waiting to take it home. The spot I was working as wedged up in the frame so far that I passed the tools out onto the supporting framework and then climbed out, intending to reach in from the outside to retrieve everything. The driver was so anxious to leave that he started the truck and drove outta the shop as soon as I was out and clear - never had a chance to even reach for my tools. This was back before everyone carried cell phones, so no contacting the driver. I did get his boss and let him know what happened. I though for sure I'd be lucky to get 1/2 my stuff back, seeing as how it was laying on the machine frame. Miraculously, I get every item back, waiting for me in a box at the shop door the next morning -- the boss had made the driver bring it all back as soon as reached their facility an hour away.

 

[seagravedriver]

I have a 69 Mustang, and they were notorious for the door windows coming unglued and falling out of the mechanism. In the late 80s, I had a local shop fix it, they did a fair job, but it did not fit great and it had a rattle. Last summer, it comes un-glued again. Pulled the door panel and tackled myself. Solved the rattle by taking out the Snap-On scraper out of the door. Not a spot of rust on it after well over 20 years!

 

[66354dream]

I thought I had lost a 1/2 drive Snap on ratchet and some other misc tools at the junkyard, I remembered I had done an oil change on my wife's SUV at the shop I used to work in with those tools so I text my old boss asking him if he has seen em then he tells me one of the techs there found them and sold them to the Snap On dealer!!! I called the SO dealer and he said he hadn't gotten any tools from the techs at that shop. I started getting worried/ pissed off at that moment so as soon as my lunch time came I hauled *** to the shop to speak with the tech, turns out he was just messing around and had them put away. We both had a good laugh ( mine was more of relief )and drove away feeling complete again

 

[MacMcMacmac]

I once found a nice QuickPic screwdriver lying on top of a disconnect box where I had laid it down a year before while I was doing routine maintenance on a customer's machine. I looked for that screwdriver for a solid week when I lost it.

Best find was when I dug up a ring my friend had lost 12 years earlier in her garden. It was a specially made item and she thought her useless ex had pawned it. I told her to close her eyes and open her hand. She nearly cried with excitement.

 

[Wanna Ride]

Buddy of mine used my garage about 18 years ago to install a lift kit on his truck. I noticed I was missing an 11/16 wrench after he left. He replaced it, and could never figure out what happened to that wrench. Figured he must have laid it on the bumper and it fell off somewhere after he left.

Fast forward to about a year ago, and my cousin calls me up and says he has a truck he's looking at buying, and wants me to check it out for him. "Sure, bring it over", I tell him. He pulls up and low and behold it's my buddy's old truck from nearly 20 years ago.

So I slide under it and start checking everything out. What do you suppose I find laying in the lower part of the rear bumper when I'm checking out the hitch wiring? Yep... a rusty old Craftsman 11/16 wrench.

That truck has had no less than about four owners and 150,000 miles since that wrench was "lost".

 

[latest project]

When I was 16 started working at a friends dads shop, he provided a tool cart and pretty substantial set of tools to use while I worked there with the rule that on Friday before I got paid he had to inspect it and make sure everything was there and cleaned up, if it wasn't I was replacing it. It was a great way to teach organization and respect for tools, I only lost one socket, well it wasn't lost, it was just not retrievable from inside the frame of my uncle of all peoples 4runner, I tried for what must have been 2 hours to get it out. A year or so later there it is laying on his garage floor while I was over there helping him move.
Fast forward a decade or so and I had my best find, I was reopening a closed shop and decided to wrestle all the oil tanks out to clean them and behind them, I think the tally was 6 wrenches, a ratchet, 7-8 sockets and 3 3/8 impact swivels every bit of it Snap-on.

 

[Mugen112]

My favorite flash light was lost and finally found over 2 years later. I was performing an inspection on a Ford Focus when I came across a flash light that was sitting in the rear spring. My jaw almost hit the floor. It was my old flashlight that I had lost over 2 years ago. Had my engravings and everything.

I looked up the vehicles history and I had done a brake flush when we had it in over 2 years ago. I must have put the flashlight in the spring pointing toward the rear wheel cylinder so I could see. I must have forgotten about it and when the car was lowered the spring compressed and kept the flash light from falling. I wonder how many times the car had been raised and lowered since then! I wanted to see if the flash light still worked but all the internals were corroded out. Ill never throw it out tho!

 

[joseph.a.owens.9]

I buy a lot of **** cars that are abandoned projects so My tool finds are massive. One that stands out is the disc brake spreading tool that was wedged between the frame and a crossmember of a Maxima.

Oddest tool I lost then found was in 1976! I was working on my 67 Mustang and using a truck tailgate as a workbench. Put my Craftsman 1/2" combo wrench on the tailgate and did some small thing to the Mustang. Well, I needed the 1/2" again and reached for it...GONE! 2 feet from the front of the Mustang to the back of the truck and I had not moved anywhere. searched the entire truck bed, removed the tailgate and searched the bumper, ground, front of the Mustang, pockets, full hour of searching with no results.

Fast forward to 2005 while cleaning out the shop I open an old adding machine case that was way up high and zipped shut and inside I find the wrench and a dead bat.

My Dad really gave me a hard time for losing his wrench and I had to go buy a new one.

Bruce

I know a guy who had lost 4 wrenches while working on a lawn mower about three weeks later he is destroying a pack rat nest and finds them.

 

[Lassen Forge]

I wasn't the one who lost them, but...

Last house we bought (in the bay area), we were looking it over with our RE agent, hadn't made a bid on it, walked in the back uard, looked down in the dirt - and there's a pretty rare Ford Script adjustable wrench from the "T" era (ford script plus manufacturers info on it, not a code like normal). Bought the house, derusted the wrench, and it hung above mybench until we moved. Still hands on the wall in the new shop...

Time passes. Bought the new place a few years ago, realize a few months back I need to regrease the front hubs on the '15 T. Go to look for my Hubcap/wheel bearing wrench (pretty specialized item, damned hard to get the hubcaps off without one and not fubar them up), have NO idea where the hell mine went... anyway, stopped looking a couple days later when the well driller wanted me to mark where we wanted the new hole punched, walked over to the site, scraped back some pine needles and bent over to piant a big "X" on the ground... and saw some rusty metal in a strangely familiar shape. It was a little bent but straightenable, the hubcap side was in surprisingly good shape... in fact, once it was cleaned up and painted, it looked almost new.

3 weeks later, I'm looking thru a box I hadn't unpacked... there's my hubcap wrench.

I figure that's how the really good places we've bought are picked - they're all resting places for antique car tools that were lost some time in the far past...