OK, so we've all dropped tools and parts into places that are difficult to retrieve. And when we're working under the truck, something is always out of reach. But what's the worst you've had???


A while back, I was connecting the kickdown lever to the carb, and the e-clip sprung off the mount, and into the carburetor. Of course it dropped down a venturi. Fortunately the throttle plates were closed, and I was able to retrieve it without pulling the carb.


Yesterday was the best! While putting a fuel filter on the front of the truck, I dropped a 1/4" wrench into the motor mount tower. It slipped down inside, and wedged in the gap at the bottom. I tried for about 10 minutes, but I just couldn't bend my arm in such a way to get it back out. Next time I get under there, I'll try the flexible pick-up too, but I think that wrench is another offering to the Ford truck gods.


So where has your stuff disappeared to?

 

The worst so far:

1) Through the dizzy hole and into the oil pan.

1a) My mind

2) The highway while moving

3) The heater intake area (in the cab)

 

1. 70 F100.. a washer down the back side of the engine and on top of the transmission. Blindly retrieved with a bendable magnetic tool.

2. 65 Mustang.... A radio shaft nut down the defrost vent... went down into the heater plenum like a pachinko ball. Removed it about 15 years later.

3. 01 Ferrari 360.. (last night!!!) .. an aluminum button head machine screw down by the left header.. it ended up on the plastic undertray. I could see it but could not retrieve it because magnets don't work on non-ferrous metals. Got it with a wad of masking tape on the end of a broomstick. 'Musta looked real stupid with that one!!!

 

While attempting to hook up the throttle rod clip, I dropped the clip into the same location. Once I found that AutoZone sold a package of clips for a couple of bucks, I quit looking!

 

Defrost Vent

Unk Bob

 

Reminds me of a story my buddy told me many years ago. He was baby sitting his then 4 year old daughter, and trying to get his truck running at the same time. While he was under the front of the truck working on it, he kept hearing this metallic clanking noise from the rear. After about 6 or 7 clanks, he crawls out from under the truck and looks to the rear of it to find his daughter rolling his sockets down the fuel tank filler neck!

 

And that one in turn reminded me of another board, someone had a flat tire in the mountains and while changing it out he discovered his young son throwing the lugnuts off a cliff. Doh!!

 

That would be hard to handle...

 

I dropped a vacuum plug into the intake

The motor still runs so I assume it burnt up

I dropped a spring into the intake I rolled down a ways but I got it out

 

Bout a week ago I thought it would be a good idea to blow out my edelbrock with the top off. Right in the center toward the front, with air gun I saw something fly up and go down the carb. Look at exploded view and see there is/ was a weight and check ball in there.

Remove carb and there is the weight lying in the manifold opening. Now where did the ball go?

I got out my trusty flex magnet and start sticking it down each port but can't retrieve it. I get a ball out of an old carb kit to be sure it is in fact magnetic. I then try for about an hour to find that ball....even went up in the barn to look at a set of heads to figure out the path to valves. Turns out the path is downward but goes up at the manifold/head junction and then down again into valves. It should be there...right?

I finally go to inspect the opening in the top part of the carb and that dog gone ball had never let the hole. I stuck a pick in the hole and out it came.

It had just enough fuel on top to give the appearance of being full of fuel.

 

Glad you found it before you pulled the intake!

 

I was popping picture frame nails below flush into Sheetrock with a brand new 1/4" punch. Doing this so I could fill the holes before moving out of a rental. Got all the wife's nail holes done but one above the fire place. One tap of the hammer, the punch and the nail go through the wall clanging on top of the metal fireplace 6-8 feet below inside the wall never to be seen again.

 

I dropped the nuts, washers, spacers the whole bag for a 93 mustang caster camber kit that bolts to top part of the strut down inside the passenger side of my 93 convertible. Its down inside where the top mechanism is. I have the interior out and the back seats. Can't get to it even with the magnets. Gave up and bought new hardware. At least it is the passenger side which needs more weight for traction

 

I was working on a distributor off a 351M. There is a tiny spring recessed in the middle of the dizzy shaft. It has to be squeezed and extracted or inserted. as I was trying to reinsert the spring it popped loose from the jaws of my needle nose pliers and vanished. I spent about an hour crawling around the nasty, dirty, filthy, greasy shop floor looking for that tiny little spring in low light conditions. As I reached for my flashlight, I felt something prickle my hand; it was the spring stuck to the magnet base of my flashlight that I was holding while working on the distributor.

 

Not only did you lose a tool, but you had a big hole to fix