Pleasant Surprise for a change

Remember I mentioned that my Craftsman microtorque wrench had failed and Sears doesn't extend the "lifetime replacement" warranty to torque wrenches any more? Schooter envisioned me pillaging Sears and knockng over little old ladies...

I did replace it with a K-D which is SUHWEET.

However, not being able to bring myself to simply discard the old wrench, I sent it off to a place called Angle Repair and Calibration Service in Beckley, WV. They were listed in my K-D literature as being a warranty/repair center. They were supposed to call me with an estimate; I figured if I could get it fixed for anything under half the replacement cost it would be worth it.

That was late October; I called them once mid-November and they said "we've got your wrench and it's in the queue." Then the Holidays hit and I pretty much forgot about it.

It showed up yesterday, fixed and calibrated, with a $0.00 invoice.
Description: WARRANTY.

Sombitch. It would have been nice of the Sears geek to tell me I could send it in...

 

That's awesome.

 

Pretty sweet, Fitz. I guess I SHOULD get a Craftsman torque wrench.

 

Well Fitz, you better go apologize to those sweet old ladys about how you knocked them down for nothing...

 

We need more nice stories like that, Fitz, like when that tank sealer co. sent me a new kit for nada.

 

Well, i had a nice surprise today

Our farm gets along with our local NAPA store real well, They all know me, so I came in with my busted up 1156 socket for my blinkers, one of the guys took it in the back to look for a new pig tail. I was looking at tools and cleaners and whatnot, He didnt have the EXACt pig tail (ground wire was soldered to the old one, I thought it was taking awhile to get my stuff, and it did because he 1. cleaned off all the corrosion in the socket, 2. installed the pig tail, 3. soldered a wire to the socket and ran a wire out of the socket... all i had to do was plug and play.

Came out to a Whopping $1.31 for the pig tail, I decided to be generous and buy an exacto knife set on sale...

its the little thingsd in life thatmake your day

 

Local NAPA stores are cool. Ours in Capac still has wood floors, stools to sit at the counter, and the once ubiquitous truck-piston ashtray on the counter. It's like stepping back in time 40 years.

 

Remember when you could ask for a certain size belt or hose and the parts guy went to look for it instead of asking what type ,year and how many cylinders your car has.

 

Ya why do they have to know if it has air conditioning to get a tail light?

 

I went into the local Ford dealership because I lost one of the dashboard trim screws on my Ranger. I took one of the other screws with me figuring the parts guy could look at it and go grab one out of the box of these that they must have in the back. No way. Needed to know where it was from, what vehicle etc. then tells me they don't have any in stock and would have to order it. I never said a word, just turned around and left.

 

They ask you, "With or without air" to be able to satisfy the Information Requirement that lets the software sort through all the possibles and tell the guy where he can find the part.

They got some guys working at Parts Stores that really aren't all that well up-to-date on what's in the box they go get after you tell them what you need.

Which is good enough reason to open the box and L@@K at the Part you just ordered to see that the right Part IS in the box.
Especially on boxes that have Brake Pads or Shoes. Boxes that look like they've been opened.

If what you want is in a Box labeled ABCD1234, and the wrong
Parts got put back in the box after being looked-at by somebody there before you ... as long as you get the right BOX ... the kid has done his job.

 

Good thing; it woulda cost $12. My daughter has ended up with a Ford Escort ZX2 which is WAY over-engineered for an "economy" car. NO aftermarket parts to speak of; so gotta go to the dealer for:

Throttle Cable- $90 yes NINETY dollars for a throttle cable.

Dash knob- only sold in sets, 3 for $23.

Little dumb*ss nylon clip for the door lock rod- $11, they needed to know left or right. I said "left." They said "we're out, only got rights." I said, "let me see a right." They were identical (had the broken one with me.) Still cost eleven bucks though.

Reminded me of going to a Yamaha dealer.

 

Yamaha is'nt much better.
I noticed my primary pos lead off the batt had a tad
more corrosion then just a cleaning could cure.

For a 4-5" piece of wire and a plug they wanted $62.00!
What the f@#$k.

So I check resistance and for voltage drop( all within spec)
and will make my own.

On the plus side a guy fixed our home heating for free when
he learned I'd been laid off. What an awsome dude!!!

 

I almost got hosed by the Dealer when I went looking for Steering Head Ball Bearings.
The Parts Guy went out back and brought-out 38 Plastic Bags containing:
YAMAHA Part Number: 93332-00008-00 BEARING-- $4.89
(Somebody check to see how much they are in 2010)
$4.89 X 38 = $156.48 ... for Ball Bearings in Plastic Bags with Bar Code and the All-Important -- Tuning Forks Logo.

Those steering head ball bearings are the ONE UNIVERSAL COMPONENT that the engineers could not put their own design on.

You'll be very happy to know that those ball bearings are:
1/4 Inch Ball Bearings.
Manufactured in multi-BILLIONS

If you stop-in at a Bearing Supply House and ask the guy for the 38 Ball bearings you'll need for the job ... you just might get a repeat of what happened to me ... the last time I needed some for a job.

"I need some quarter-inch ball bearings, please."
"How many?"
"Thirty-eight."
"Thousand???"
"No. Just 38."

The guy grabbed a small brown bag and reached into a large bin of ball bearings ... grabbed a handful and dropped them in the bag."

"Here you go. There's got to be enough in there. I don't feel like counting!"
"OK ... what do I owe you?"
"Gimme four bucks and we'll call it all-even."

 

Fitz, you scored on the torque wrench calibration. Musta had something to do with the Holidays. The warranty on Craftsman torque wrenches is 90 days. Period! The poor SOB's who work in the tool department take more s*it over this than we can probably imagine. I know it pissed me off big time when my Craftsman wrench literally chucked a nut out the handle end. Took it to Sears, the guy told me it was only warranted for 90 days and quickly ducked behind the counter in case an assault was going to be launched.

So, what to do? Went to Lowe's and bought a Kobalt with a written lifetime guarantee! It's as nice as my Craftsman, got it on sale, and it's blue instead of red. I like blue!

Anybody want the Craftsman with the chucked nut send me a pm and you can have it for cost of postage.

Loren