Price of a bolt

[sube]

Changing the spark plugs and timing chains on my 5.4 Ford 1998 van . Found out that someone left a bolt out of the power steering pump any how went to the Ford stealership to pick one up.
After 15 minutes to look it up , I brought a bolt to show him what he was looking for a 3 inch m8 metric bolt he tells me $32.85 for the bolt but had to buy 4 I said I only needed one so he made me a print out for another stealership that I could buy 1 30 miles away .
I said it says $32.85 on here without batting a eye your lucky you don't need all 4 that would be $130 I said f@@k that sh@t so I went to the hardware store and bought one for .37 cents .
Here I have been keeping all the silver coins I find thinking they were valuable and throwing the rusty bolts away that bolt was the same price as a oz of silver . sube

 

[north1]

I feel your pain. With agriculture as my profession and misers (grandfather + father) for mentors I have come to repurpose everything. There are A LOT of fasteners in the equipment I use.

So anything and everything that becomes used up I strip it down when there is downtime. Every nut, bolt, washer or any other type of fastener is then sorted by size/grade and put in storage.

I have found that fasteners made over 20 years ago are much, much better quality. Kind of sad though. A lot of them are head stamped with USA manufacturers. IHC. John Deere. International harvestor controlled the process from mining iron ore, ships to transport it, foundry to smelt/forge and create their own fasteners. Makes me want to cry. Vestiges of a bygone era and once great powerhouse country.

 

[MuddyMo]

It’s always been a smart thing to save useable parts if you have a place to store them but with inflation the past 4-5 years it has become a necessity unless you’re rich or don’t do anything except watch tv. The stated inflation does NOT indicate how much more everything cost compared to pre-bs-pandemic time. Building materials are 5X higher. It’s less expensive to buy an older home than for me to build one even not including my labor. Small things like putting basic electric in a garage went from $3-400 to $2000~. A $5k garage is now $20k. It’s only a matter of time before old home prices go higher to the point no one can afford them or wages will have to double. Either way I can only see the economy having big problems.

 

[north1]

Three bolts. If I remember correctly IH dropped there head stamp and then fasteners were made at West Pullman plant in Chicago. They also manufactured a lot of other things like magnetos, alternators, etc. The other two are John Deere and the older IH stamped bolt. Top quality. Not like the Chinese butter bolts you get now that in my estimation can’t be properly graded as Grade 5, 8, etc.

I do identify with the pain sube pointed out though. My metric bolt inventory is severely lacking. Which is unfortunate because more and more equipment and vehicles are being assembled with them.

 

[MuddyMo]

Not the same but my father was an aircraft mechanic and would occasionally come home with a few bolts or nuts. Most were fine thread and at least grade 8 or more. They had symbols indicating the strength instead of slashes. I asked him once if a bolt was as strong as a grade 8 and he said yes. The quality of them was second to none that I know of. If you want to know more then there’s a Tool for that.

 

[hawgdawg]

About a year and a half ago,, I was having to replace the in tank fuel pump on an F250 diesel truck ,, I figured I'd not take any chances of having to replace it again by buying a cheap one from Auto Zone , or the other cheap auto stores . So I went to a Ford dealer to get the pump ,, the guy at the parts desk looked it up ,, said the pump was a little over 600 bucks . Didn't have one ,, said he could order one and have it in a day or 2.
I said I really couldn't wait on one ,, he said ,, go down the street to O'Reilly's ,,see if they have one ,, then he said ,, that's what we do if we don't have one .
Went to O'Reilly's ,, bought one for half of what Ford dealer was gonna charge me .
I'll bet you ,, if I'd have said order it ,, they would have gone a half mile up the street ,, bought it for 300 bucks ,, and I'd have come in the next day and given them 600+ for it .

 

[MuddyMo]

The cost of the pumps are stupid. Shop online and a $3-400 brick store pump can be found online for $50-75.
Ford owners take note if you think your pump is bad. The emergency fuel cutoff switch goes bad and can be intermittent. It’s a common problem on early 2000 model and cost $20(?). Every ford owner needs to know its location because if your vehicle dies or doesn’t start then it a good chance that’s the problem.

 

[hawgdawg]

The cost of the pumps are stupid. Shop online and a $3-400 brick store pump can be found online for $50-75.
Ford owners take note if you think your pump is bad. The emergency fuel cutoff switch goes bad and can be intermittent. It’s a common problem on early 2000 model and cost $20(?). Every ford owner needs to know its location because if your vehicle dies or doesn’t start then it a good chance that’s the problem.

Yes sir ,, I've run into that issue before as well.
Here's an issue I had once ,,, I was driving down the highway,,truck running great ,, had about 3/8ths tank of fuel. 65-70 mph ,, and the truck just dies. I messed with the truck for a week , pump was working,, fuel to the engine ,,, when sitting. Took it to a shop,, left it for a week ,,came back and the guy ha d it running ,, I asked what the problem was ,, he said he put 5gal of fuel in it.
The in tank fuel pump has a plastic bulb with a screen on the bottom of the pick up tube ,,, that plastic bulb disintegrated,, fell apart , and couldn't pick up fuel below just above a quarter tank of fuel.
I know what kind of mileage I get to a tank full of fuel ,, so now days , I reset my trip meter every fill up so I can maybe diagnose a problem if I'm between fill ups .

 

[sube]

The cost of the pumps are stupid. Shop online and a $3-400 brick store pump can be found online for $50-75.
Ford owners take note if you think your pump is bad. The emergency fuel cutoff switch goes bad and can be intermittent. It’s a common problem on early 2000 model and cost $20(?). Every ford owner needs to know its location because if your vehicle dies or doesn’t start then it a good chance that’s the problem.

This has happened to me called a mechanic friend because I was stranded .
He told me to step on the gas pedal 3 times and something else don't remember but it reset it kill switch in van on the right of passengers feet in case of accident it shuts gas of you can reset it to go again .
But this was not the problem fixing it was by stepping on gas pedal 3 times and something else happened 15 years ago bad memory don't know exactly what I did lol . sube

 

[sprchng]

I used to frequently drill a hole in a penny to make washers in a pinch. Zinc washer the size of a penny costs about .04

 

[MuddyMo]

Nickels make the best washers. Strong and don’t rust.

 

[north1]

Yes sir ,, I've run into that issue before as well.
Here's an issue I had once ,,, I was driving down the highway,,truck running great ,, had about 3/8ths tank of fuel. 65-70 mph ,, and the truck just dies. I messed with the truck for a week , pump was working,, fuel to the engine ,,, when sitting. Took it to a shop,, left it for a week ,,came back and the guy ha d it running ,, I asked what the problem was ,, he said he put 5gal of fuel in it.
The in tank fuel pump has a plastic bulb with a screen on the bottom of the pick up tube ,,, that plastic bulb disintegrated,, fell apart , and couldn't pick up fuel below just above a quarter tank of fuel.
I know what kind of mileage I get to a tank full of fuel ,, so now days , I reset my trip meter every fill up so I can maybe diagnose a problem if I'm between fill ups

About a year and a half ago,, I was having to replace the in tank fuel pump on an F250 diesel truck ,, I figured I'd not take any chances of having to replace it again by buying a cheap one from Auto Zone , or the other cheap auto stores . So I went to a Ford dealer to get the pump ,, the guy at the parts desk looked it up ,, said the pump was a little over 600 bucks . Didn't have one ,, said he could order one and have it in a day or 2.
I said I really couldn't wait on one ,, he said ,, go down the street to O'Reilly's ,,see if they have one ,, then he said ,, that's what we do if we don't have one .
Went to O'Reilly's ,, bought one for half of what Ford dealer was gonna charge me .
I'll bet you ,, if I'd have said order it ,, they would have gone a half mile up the street ,, bought it for 300 bucks ,, and I'd have come in the next day and given them 600+ for it .

Similar situation but about 20 years ago.
The adjustment motor for the rotor drive on my 1688 combine died. Went to Case IH dealer and they could order one for $250.00 and would get it next day with expedited shipping.
I knew a tech real well and asked him about it. Real quite like he said “go to NAPA and ask for a GM windshield wiper motor for any Silverado pickup. It is the same thing just ran through a gear reduction to adjust the rotor speed.” Sure enough. When I removed the old one it had GM stamped in it with same part number. Just couldn’t see it until it was removed from the housing. Cost from NAPA…..$49.99. They were probably going to do the same thing. Pick it up that day and resell it for a $200.00 markup.