I’ve written about fastener assortments, not having enough screw sizes, and essential homeowner repair parts kits before, and I still believe that one can never have enough replacement fasteners.
I posted about replacement garden hose washers recently. I can’t find the comment, but someone said something about always ensuring they have the replacement parts they need on-hand.
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Well, the rocker panel of my car was hanging low today, partially detached at the rear. The plastic clip, above, has a broken retainer and needs to be replaced.
Spending some time online, I can find similar clips, some with seals, others without. I can’t quite find this exact OEM clip, which will probably end up costing 10X as much from a dealership (which I’m still waiting to hear from). It looks like I’m also missing a couple of other clips, possibly due to having body repair work last summer, so I’ll need a few.
I’m heading out now to pick up a clip or two at the auto supply shop, to make sure the aftermarket clips are decent, after which I’ll likely order a pack of clips from Amazon at much lower pricing.
Things break. Sometimes it happens randomly or without known cause, such as with this side panel retainer clip, and other times it happens by accident, such as when attempting a different repair.
I’ve sheared off the heads of hex fasteners, stripped screws, and misplaced washers, although this doesn’t happen as often these days.
There’s no easy way to always have every part one might need. When prototyping or planning out projects, I tend to over-do it with my parts selection. Will I need 3/8″ length machine screws or 1/2″? What if I use a washer? I’ll buy both sizes, since the cost is usually far less than shipping fees if I make a mistake and need to place a second order.
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What if I need to make a washer or gasket? Then I might order two or more sizes of gasket material, and maybe a second type of rubber.
But when replacement parts are needed, sometimes there’s no way it could have been anticipated. I don’t have side panel retaining clips on-hand because I’ve never needed them before.
While this is all very obvious, I’ve been asked about replacement part assortments before, and it’s always difficult to answer. I was also asked the other day about how to build a comprehensive on-the-road repair tool kit. I haven’t responded yet because I’m not sure how to answer that confidently. Just like there’s no way to stock up on potentially-needed replacement parts, it’s hard to know what tools you might need.
I replaced light bulbs in my first car, and spares came in handy. I replaced a bulb or two in my second car, but keeping spares would have been a waste.
I don’t know where my spare auto fuses are – I haven’t seen them in a few years. But I can tell you where my electrical prototyping fuses and holders are.
I have a tube of food-safe grease, and also some small individual-use tubes of SuperLube. I also have way oil and a couple of other lubricants. But, I’m sure that supply box will continue to grow over the years. If I need anti-seize compound, greases and oils won’t cut it.
Let’s say you have blue (temporary) and red (considered permanent) threadlocker on-hand. But if you come across a metal-plastic connection, you’ll need to use something different.
A quick search of Thingiverse turns up a potential 3D printable rocker molding clip. But I don’t have a 3D printer. Also, is that clip strong enough? Even if I did have a 3D printer, could it print nylon? Trim clips all seem to have 20mm x 12mm top head dimensions and stems for 9mm holes. Even if I had a 3D printer, and it could produce a clip as strong as the broken OEM clip, I need a rubber seal. On my broken clip, it’s integrated. On aftermarket clips, it’s a foam washer slipped over the step.
I don’t foresee a future where any and every replacement fastener I might need will always be at my fingertips.
No matter how well-stocked my spare parts cache, it’ll never be enough. I’m just glad that the auto parts store is only 15 minutes away, the dealership 20 minutes (if needed), and an Amazon order will get here by the weekend if I order tonight.
Jaycob P.
I have an old Kennedy tool cart full of spare fasteners, fuses, o-rings, etc. to the point where I’m going to have to start another.
Blythe
I occasionally do contract industrial installation(pallet racking, safety fencing, etc) and was lucky enough to be there on a day that a factory was switching hardware vendors- Fastenal to MSC. This meant they were getting new hardware drawers and a full supply of parts. The old fastenal cubby bins, that were 3/4 full of parts, were going in the dumpster. A quick chat with the maintenance guy and they went in my truck instead.
I don’t have a clue of what a comprehensive sae/metric bolt bin set costs, but these things have saved my bacon so many times. If I was doing any level of prototyping or fabrication I would at least have a conversation with Fastenal to see if it was feasible
Wayne R.
Wow, right place, right time. I’m envious.
Corey Moore
No kidding, those drawers are literally what keep mines running out here.
Michael Quinlan
We’ll never stop needing replacement fasteners because no matter what type or how many we buy, someone will modify an existing one or invent a new one soon. I imagine this is almost always with the goal of cutting assembly costs, tamperproofing products, or driving the customer back to the manufacturer for repair/service.
Champs
Plastic could work, either printed at home or somewhere nearby. Hopefully the neighborhood hardware store will still be around for trickier stuff.
It seems harder to get good, cost-effective metal and rubber parts. How many times have you bought some oddly specific fastener in bulk, not because you needed them all, but because it was easier and cheaper than counting and buying them individually at Ace? Every grandpa has a coffee can full of nails in the garage, so to speak, and I don’t see that changing.
fred
Stocking your own Appliance/Auto/Bike parts can get tricky – because as Michael Quinlan says – the manufacturers keep changing. With bikes – I sort of became the de facto neighborhood bike mechanic when my kids were growing up. The worst thing was that Shimano, Campagnolo and others all seemed to change sizes of things – and just when I thought I had a pair of every size cone wrench – some new larger.one would be needed. The same seem to happen with BB and Freewheel/Freehub tools.
Jim Felt
Great post.
But honestly any respectable body shop I’ve ever patronized would gladly replace the missing parts that they “forgot” to install. No questions. No charge.
Hopefully you’ve scheduled this return visit.
Stuart
I have to go back to the body shop at some point – they screwed up the paint blending and it’s noticeable.
They lost my respect when 1) they lost my locking lug nut key and had to replace the whole set, and 2) they gave the car back to me with the spare and all the padding and what-not sitting in the truck. They did make right with the lug nut, but it really bugged me. Manager said to get it done at the dealership and they’ll reimburse my receipt. I called back another time to see if they found the lug key and they said come in and they’ll do it. Sure, they did it, and billed my insurance company for it, which rubbed me the wrong way because it was their mistake and they should have eaten the cost. And, 3) they sent me home with misaligned headlights. Factory specs have the headlights way too low, and the dealership adjusted both lights during my first service appointment. Body shop sent me home with one light pointing straight ahead and the other down.
For this, it seems they broke some clips and replaced one and ignored the others. Maybe? There’s at least one aftermarket clip.
But the broken one today was broken due to a bump or something. My kids don’t step on the rocker panel, so maybe road agitation broke the fastener, who knows.
It’s under warranty for a couple thousand more miles, but dealership had a ~2 hour wait even though I went early for my appointment. I had assurances that fixing it myself won’t affect warranty coverage (I was concerned a fluke occurrence that would be covered would somehow be denied due to aftermarket clips) and went the street to a parts shop. $4 plus tax for a 2-pack. I’ll likely buy some spares after this, because sometime in the future my kids probably will step on it and shear one or two clips off. Or, what happened now might happen again.
Evadman
I have a big set of about 90 types of body panel fasteners like the plastic one you have in that picture, but sadly, I don’t have that specific one. If you’re bored, email me the make/model/location of that clip or the part number if you know it and I’ll see what I can turn up.
ToolGuyDan
May I recommend Mary Roach’s book, Packing for Mars? The NASA folks know how to think about spares, the nearest auto parts store being quite a bit further away than fifteen minutes.
Stuart
Will check that out, thank you!
Gordon
I’ve been in the process of a complete nut and bolt rebuild of an 84 Land Rover “Defender.” Single bolts from a LR shop were around $2-5 each. Being metric, I couldn’t rely on my local shops to have exactly what I needed. So I bought a dozen HDX parts organizers and spent a day putting together an order on McMaster. I was lucky enough to pickup and avoid shipping over 200lbs of nuts and bolts. I probably spent close to $800 total, but that was far cheaper than if I had bought exactly what I needed from a local place.
I still find myself ordering special pieces. Often it’s faster to use the part diagram to get an OEM part number, then find someone undercutting the dealership.
fred
At least your Rover is modern metric. I had the pleasure of working on old British motorcycles – with Whitworth standard thread sizes (BSW and BSF). In the days before the Internet – trying for find a 3/8-20 bolt (or die to cut one) here in the US – was a challenge.
Gordon
It’s more “whatever is in the bin”. Some stuff is metric, some imperial. All the brake and clutch stuff was a mashup of random crap so I ripped it all out and standardized it. Unfortunately some stuff just cant be changed. Like the Fuel pump which has 1/2-20 UNF threads despite most of the system being NPT.
Jared
I’m dealing with the exact same issue right now. My Elantra just came off warranty so I did my own oil change on it for the first time. I found that only half of the retainer-clip fasteners were in the splash shield. It was also missing a couple bolts and one of the holes was stripped.
I have no idea which shop was responsible for that. I’ve never looked at it before and it’s at about 140,000 kms now. I was annoyed.
I have what I consider to be a very comprehensive fastener collection. I live on a farm and have been racing bikes for years so I had no trouble scrounging up some new replacement flange bolts and fixing the stripped hole.
I was initially quite confident I would have the pins too – I had at least a half-dozen on hand. I tried the ones that I thought would fit, but none of them were quite right. So no, I don’t think I’ll ever stop buying fasteners either.
I found some multi-hundred-piece assorted sets of these retainer clips on Amazon for $20-30 but I haven’t got around to ordering them yet. I’m worried I might order the set and still find it doesn’t contain what I need. Plus it might make more sense to just buy eight at the dealer for some totally unreasonable individual price if that still works out to less than the 400 piece set – 392 of which I may never use.
aerodawg
I have a whole wall in the shop dedicated to louvered panel with hanging bins, full of organized loose and in box fasteners and no matter what I NEVER seem to have to the one stinking bolt or screw that I need.
RKA
That’s pretty much how it goes. Or you know you have it, but can’t find it.
Keeping an inventory of everything so you never have to run out looking for a part is usually unrealistic. Then you have to make or buy a storage solution. Then you have to periodically update your organization as new stuff goes into or out of “inventory”. If you can’t find what you need, it’s all for naught.
I don’t want to get into the business of storing “everything”. It will cost too much in time and money and I’ll always find myself needing the one thing I don’t have. I’ll accept that I may have to pay a huge mark up at a dealer for an odd part, but I’ll get it relatively quick and won’t have 99 more that I have to organize so I can find them in 5 years when I need another. But I will and do have half a dozen sortimo boxes, Plano boxes and some Akro mills bins with items I use or need more than once a year or leftover hardware when I bought a bag or box of stuff. And I have 2 coffee bins with misc hardware I have NO desire to sort, categorize or move into the parts bins. All this is a reminder not to acquire more, let the store and McMaster inventory what I need! Now I just need to find a hoarder to offload some of this stuff because I can’t bring myself to throw stuff out (doesn’t that make me the hoarder)?
James
If you wipe the lens of your phone with a tshirt or napkin right before you take a picture, the photo won’t be so fuzzy next time.
Stuart
That’s half grease of some kind, half really bad lighting, and half being so close that focusing was misbehaving.
Peter Fox
I can appreciate the topic of not having the exact hardware you need even though you have a huge inventory of hardware that’s close but not quite. I have bove 200 Plano 3700 series cases full of parts and still find my assortment lacking at times.
I have been quite happy with boltdepot.com for small quantities of small hardware. I set up several kits of SAE and metric socket head cap screws and similar fastener buying just the qty I wanted.
TonyT
Plano 3700’s are great – I have about a dozen that I use for organizing my items such as Molex crimp connectors
BTW, many electronic items are pretty much internet-only. For example, in connectors, Fry’s and (especially) Excess Solutions have some of the more common and older connectors, but if I want, say, a Molex Mini-Fit jr 2-row 10 pin connector, I’m going to have to order it from Mouser, Digikey, Newark, or RS.
Yadda
For those that fix and don’t replace, the search for replacement parts is a part of life. I’m currently pricing replacement batteries for several Cyberpower battery backup devices. In most cases I can purchase and replace the battery much cheaper than buying a new one.
Frank D
I have my own variation on Adam Savage’s small parts rack (and another rack with various size bins for stuff that doesn’t fit in those sorting organizers, some bulk boxes ) somewhat to the displeasure of my wife.
There’s just no way to have it all and keep it in stock. I could easily spend $1000 in additional SAE & Metric fasteners of various kinds and related install accessories (anchors, plates, brackets, … ) … just in case. Only to have to store and organize it all, requiring me to make another 12 shelf rack with another 24 organizers … easily another $500.
And then still I would not have everything covered, because then there’s an outdoor equipment thing, a car thing, an electronic thing, … that will not match what you have, there’s no way to easily adapt, yada yada.
So, maybe once a month on average, I go to our local small mom & pop chain 5 minutes away to get something extra in a small quantity; because I don’t have x, y or z. No biggie.
Corey Moore
I’ve got at least 2-3 Tek screws holding bumper trims and the like on all personal vehicles and a couple work ones lol run em in light and snug, then jack up the threads on the back side. I’ve had one rust out and need replacing, but it held for a good 7 years and I forgot I had even originally done it until I got back under to put the new one in. I use #8x½” Tek screws like WD40 and duct tape for tacing crap back together.
Bruce
I run a maintainence deptartment for a multi building business. Before that I drove a service truck for 10 years working on industrial controls. This is my base level fastner pack for every work rig and shop:
1. SAE bolt assortment in plastic box, course thread 1/4-20 to 3/8-16, nuts and washers
2. Machine screw assortment in plastic box #6 to 1/4 with nuts and washers
3. Hateful Metric bolt assortment M4 to M10 with nuts and washers
4. Hateful Metric machine screw assortment, nuts and washers usually purchased separately because hateful metric system packs don’t come with nuts and washers.
5. Plastic anchor kit, usually #10 but sometimes #8 with 1/4inch masonry bit.
6. Zip ties, quality, black and white, 10″ with the smallest head that is reasonable
7. Macon Bit Tip, 1/4″ hex head in 1/2 and 1″ lengths.
This is usually enough to keep the techs out of the parts house until after the job is complete and they are restocking the truck. Some of the guys do more work in dead tree material and carry some Torx head cabinet screws with appropriate bits. I have no idea why anybody would willing work with dead wood on purpose but it seems to be a more common deviant behavior.
Mac
I cleaned out a Home Base store when they went out of business around 20 years ago. Screws, nuts, bolts. Took 20 years and I am finally running out of 1 5/8″ drywall screws.
I’m a packrack…I have a tall shelf of yellow bins…hundreds of gray harbor freight bins and a half dozen part organizers and bolt bins. Never know when I might need something.
Demo jobs also are a great source of parts.
And my father in law brought me a five gallon bucket full of stainless fasteners left over from opening packing crates for a steel fab job.
Michael Veach
When I die, the grandkids will wonder why I had all that stuff.
John
Yes, you can print nylon with a 3d printer, provided you have the right extruder installed.
Parts printed with a 3d printer can be quite strong, provided the printer has been properly calibrated and is using the proper infill settings – Note that I said proper infill, contrary to popular belief, 100% infill does not always make your part stronger, and the shape or pattern of the infill does matter. Extra shells can be added to make your part even stronger.
The main downside to owning a 3d printer is the time it takes to actually print something. It is by no means fast, with even small parts taking upwards of 30 minutes to print.
The What?
You should have demanded that they use the metal clips and not the plastic ones. And I assure you that road agitation didn’t cause the clips to break. The material is what caused it to fail. Had they been metal clips, even if there were some missing, the rocker wouldn’t have failed to stay in place. Plus it’s preposterous that the engineers who designed the vehicle decided that plastic clips should be used to hold the rockers to frame knowing its the first thing that people step on when they get in and out of their vehicles. That wasn’t thought out very well. Plastics have done some amazing things for automobiles in terms of safety and efficiency, although reliability is questionable, but simple parts like rocker panel clips shouldn’t be made from plastic at any juncture. That’s a bummer that the body shop, which I assume was your insurance company’s recommendation, screwed up your ride and didn’t accept the responsibility of losing your stuff. Just a word of advice, if you park your car outside and the longer a vehicle sits outside and is exposed to uv rays, the harder it is to get the paint to blend if a few body panels require new paint in the event of an accident. I’ve painted a few cars. It’s not as easy as people like to think it is.
BuildingMech
I needed two different small plastic clips to repair a broken tailgate mechanism on my mid 90s truck. One clip was available at the local auto parts store as part of a larger package of generic clips that I didn’t need. The other clip was available as a dealer OEM part that had to be ordered from Detroit. That part was the last one they had and was supposedly on its way to the west coast. It never got here. So I searched truck enthusiasts forums on the Internet and discovered an excellent parts source in Kansas — LMCTruck. They had both clips. The tailgate is now functioning.
The What?
I take it that many of you haven’t heard of a salvage yard or junkyard. You would be amazed at what you find when go to one when looking for oem replacement parts for a vehicle. I’d rather get an oem part from the junkyard (if it’s no longer covered by the factory warranty or auto parts franchises don’t have a warranty on the parts) than opt for a 3d printed part any day of the week. Of course you have to have some automotive experience to procure the parts you need. Very affordable as well. They’re everywhere down here in Georgia.
Diamond Dave
Today’s vehicles seem to be held together with plastic body clips. Many times body pieces or covers have to be removed just to replace something simple like a new headlight changeout and the OEM plastic body fasteners are not made to be used more than once. I have a bin with 5-6 different aftermarket body clips or fasteners for both my truck and wife’s car and even though I purchased what I was told were the most common, it seems whenever I need to replace a broken one it’s a “unique” plastic clip. Heck, sometimes even something like a bumper cover may have 2-3 different fasteners holding it onto the car! I can’t imagine what a body shop has to go through obtaining replacement fasteners and I have a feeling many are re-used in hopes they will hold. It amazes me how plastic clips are utilized in many newer cars to hold on body panels or covers!
Diamond Dave
In the flip side, I have 2-3 large compartment organizers for all kinds of bolts, nuts, washers, screws, unique fasteners, etc etc that I have collected for a couple of decades. Indispensable in my opinion! One of my favorite fasteners is my vast assortment of self drilling screws!
Paul
You can never have enough. Take it from a professional service person. I have several fastener bins on the truck which I’ll get to in a minute. I have to restock them pretty regularly. Plus a bunch of parts neatly collected into organizer boxes, and a huge box of scavenged raw materials, plus some specialty repair kits, plus all the tools necessary for all of it plus a few backups for critical things. I work for a motor shop so basically I have to carry everything that an electrician, fabricator, and a mechanic carry, plus a bunch of specialized tools that neither one of them normally have. And it’s never enough. If I get even one more tool or one more part, something has to be eliminated off the truck. It’s a constant struggle to adjust what I keep on the truck.
I can only carry so much stuff on the truck and it’s never enough. Even if I count all the stuff in my garage, and all the stuff in the warehouse and the shop at the office. Plus even the parts distributors are never enough. I carry most of what most of them would stock for my needs already on my truck, so what I need is pretty exclusively and can be pretty elusive. They mostly have it in their big area warehouses but unfortunately I don’t live near one so a lot of stuff is next day.
When it comes to fasteners I mostly rely on 5 sets on the truck that I’ve built up. The first one is a complete set of crimp lugs for electrical cables from #22 up to 500 MCM. I try to keep at least 12 of each size. This isn’t what even most electricians carry on their trucks though. It’s a motor shop thing. I have a few insulated and noninsulated mechanical lugs that are useful for some situations. You need very few because they accept such a huge cable size range. I don’t use them very often. The whole set of both fits in a Toughsystem parts bin box plus another smaller parts bin box that goes into a the big roll around Toughsystem box. I really love how those boxes let me cram a lot of stuff in a small volume while still keeping it all sorted. It’s like having a drawer or tray system but in a mobile environment.
The second is a complete assortment of wire nuts. The whole thing fits into another small parts bin that goes in to the rollaround box going from the little orange ones all the way up to the big ones that accept multiple #10 cables. I don’t use them as much as most electricians though. They don’t look like a very professional job and they fail a lot in high vibration/bad environment areas like heavy industrial plants. I know most of the failures are using the wrong size but still when you open a box would you rather see rows of nicely mounted terminal strips with everything neatly arranged or a rats nest of wire nuts falling off/out and having to dig around in a bunch of maybe live, maybe not, wiring? Yeah, me too. Often I have to straighten a panel back up before I even start working in it and it’s the last thing I do before I close the door.
Moving on, next are self-tapping sheet metal screws. This is all in my “drill box”. Again it’s a Toughsystem box. The center section has the drill and drill index. The bottom bins contain the hole saws, concrete bits and screws, and all the various bits and extensions I use. One of the bins also contains an assortment of what used to be nicely organized wood and metal screws that got spilled and mixed together. The top bins contain a complete assortment of self-tapping screws, which is something I use a lot of for mounting equipment.
I do carry a large assortment of deck screws and drywall screws in my mechanic’s cart at home but not much with me on the road. I realize wood screws hold better and I have a few but just don’t find them as useful as some people claim they are.
Next is the small screw and bolt bin, up to 1/4-20’s. I keep all the machine screws and bolts long. I just take out my crimpers that have the bolt cutter slots and cut them down to the size I need for the job. It’s all in one of those thin semi-clear small parts boxes. It’s fast, easy, and takes up very little space.
Finally is the main bolt bin. I keep 1/4, 3/8, and 1/2 on hand in different sizes with nuts and washers. Again, Toughsystem box. Too big to cut though but I try to keep the sizes to a minimum of 3 bolt sizes per diameter.
I have thought about carrying a wider bolt assortment, or helicoils but I do more the the electrical work and my other crew members do more mechanical so they carry that stuff.
Not a big fan of pop rivets.