AW JEEZ, I had the tank lifted up to clean my k&n filter, and to put a new rubber grommet into the side to hold the side plastics in, the old one popped out last summer and I got a new one over the winter and want to have the bike ready to go for TMAC.
I go to screw the bolt in and dropped it into the engine bay! It falls banging around like it fell down a well or something like that scene from the Lord Of The Rings. I was expecting orks to show up and start taking the bike apart soon after I could almost hear drums pounding!
So I look into my stash of goodies and find two new nice shiny 8mm bolts all chrome and nice. I go to put the new one in and I DROPPED IT TOO! JEEZ what an idiot! So I have one of the oem 5mm bolt that uses a hex key and one 8mm chrome bolts and they mismatch! WTF! I have no idea where they fell into my guess down into the V area of the engine under the throttle body? I tried to stick a magnet pick up tool down there to see if I could fish them out but I got nothin! I think I might be able to pull the side plastic off and then try to put the magnet catcher in from the hole in the frame? Maybe I will get them out, it sounded like they fell at least a foot or so, the last one sounded like it hit the floor but I couldnt find it? Man this pisses me off!
That SUCKS!!!! I hate dropping bolts!
Speaking of dropping things... I once dropped a string of 3 12" socket extensions on a buddy's face while he was under the car. Worse yet, it happened twice! For some reason he still speaks to me... but hasn't helped me with a car since!
That moment when the bolt/nut drops and starts bouncing downwards like some crazy Pachinko machine is a baaad feeling.
BTDT got the t shirt.
You have two choices: 1. Turn the bike upside down and shake it real good. 2. Go riding in Australia. :goofy:
Lay the motorcycle on it's side on a goat path in Kansas and they will come out. I'll help you out with that in a week and a half.
[image: View Post]Lee 2002, on 01 May 2012 - 03:42 PM, said:
Lay the motorcycle on it's side on a goat path in Kansas and they will come out. I'll help you out with that in a week and a half.
As my lady friend at work says "hardy har har"!
I was thinking a back flip would do the trick. A quick call to Travis Pastrada, oh wait he's giving up dirt bikes for NASCAR.
You're pretty much hosed...
[image: View Post]Lee 2002, on 01 May 2012 - 03:42 PM, said:
Lay the motorcycle on it's side on a goat path in Kansas and they will come out. I'll help you out with that in a week and a half.
Awww rats! I was gonna say that! :laugh:
I 'love' that feeling when you're thinking to yourself, "don't drop it, okay just don't drop it…." Then, of course, you drop it. And it only ever lands in the most impossible and unreachable spot. :laugh:
We can start a club for everyone that's done this.
Count me in.
The chrome one ended up on top of the stator cover I was able to get to it. Shes all buttoned up again.
That's good news. When I put my Heli-bars on, I dropped one of the Allen bolts that goes to the blinker switch and it disappeared into oblivion....well after about and hour of looking I finally found it stuck in between the radiator and fan!
The first time I pulled my tank to install my K&N, I dropped one of the rubber "bumpers" that fit onto the front of the tank mounts. Abracadabra - GONE! ....forever. Never did find it. Mother Honda wanted some ridiculous price for a piece of rubber so I used my Xacto and a rubber cork from the hardware store to fashion a duplicate of the one I still had for about 50¢. I suppose carving a new bolt out of a chunk of rubber wouldn't have worked so well.
Let me say that I was filling up with gas in a really dicey part of east Saint Louis after riding to the Cahoskey(sic) native American mounds and dropped my key into the innards of the vfr . It took me 40 minutes laying on a really gross oil laden
driveway before I could even spot the sucker. It took me another ten minutes to fish it out from the top of the oil cooler. Why does something like that happen when I left the spare key back in Saint Louis- 20 minutes away which I normally take with me. I do not like Murphey.
I,like many others, think Murphy was an optimist! Glad you found the one Slammer. So, is the other one still down there so it can rattle around and keep you from nodding off when you cross the Kansas Mountains?
Thank god you're not a surgeon.
Did you find the second bolt? I wouldn't move a thing in that garage until I found it. If you clean up and/or ride the bike, the bolt could get lost and you'd never know what happened to it. That would drive me insane.
Looking at it another way, there is nothing better than finding stuff you thought you lost under the car seats, sofa cushions, and work benches.
next time you drop something .. and you cant see it or get it with a magnet... use compressed air and blow around.. those of you who can hear.. MAY hear it.. other wise keep looking at the floor :tongue:
[image: View Post]RED RUNNER, on 01 May 2012 - 11:05 PM, said:
Thank god you're not a surgeon.
An A&P (airplane mechanic) would also have to account for those bolts before he could legally return an aircraft to service.
Next week, oil change, new fork oil, and new tires for TMAC.
This thread makes me happy and makes me feel less alone in life.
Just sayin. :rolleyes:
I've lost things in the V just to find them YEARS later. Yes, I typed YEARS.
My little CL350 engine had an extra cam chain roller keeper in the crank case when I opened it up for rebuild, it probably came from the factory that way since those keepers are so easy to drop into the crank case to begin with.
My meathook hands have dropped more parts/tools into the netherworld than I care to think about.
As Neil Young says there is a mound of guitar picks and roach clips floating around in the universe,somewhere. :offtopic:
Yeah what Lee 2002 said. 22 yrs in naval aviation and when a tool or part wasn't accounted for all flt ops are suppose to stop. I can remember looking on the top of a H-46 helo for a screwdriver at 0400 in total darkness.. Really bad thing is when we would get a plane back from depot work. We'd do a complete inspection and find all kinds of tools and extra parts all over our helos.
[image: View Post]Lee 2002, on 02 May 2012 - 01:24 AM, said:
[image: View Post]RED RUNNER, on 01 May 2012 - 11:05 PM, said:
Thank god you're not a surgeon.
An A&P (airplane mechanic) would also have to account for those bolts before he could legally return an aircraft to service.
Bolts in airplanes? Pfffft. It's all ball bearings these days! Now go prepare that fetzer valve with some 3-in-1 oil and gauze pads! Oh, and that bike will need about 10 quarts of anti-freeze, preferably Prestone. No, make that Quaker State. :goofy:
I think small cracks and inaccessible places have a strong attraction for small parts and things.
Especially when those parts are important and hard to replace. :ohmy:
Also a member of the magic disappearing bolt club. My VFR hasn't eaten any yet, but my SV has been eating them for years!
End of thread · 27 posts recovered Wayback Machine snapshot 24 May 2012