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Message started by Pine on 01/13/14 at 14:10:51

Title: Grumpy old men
Post by Pine on 01/13/14 at 14:10:51

Thats me....

The Vstar I bought is 2 missing chrome or polished SS phillips screws holding the stock windshield to the mounts. I pulled one out and went to the local ACE hardware store where I normally go and buy such parts. They have a very large selection! Before there was this old man that would assist me.. or he would just make himself available while I puttered about trying to come up with what I wanted. In this way I replaced the two screws on the break fluid, new screws for the rear of the seat, long screws and rubber stoppers for the front of the set... on and on( all on the savage)... I knew what I doing.

So this young blond long haired teen boy... asks what I need and I say I need a screw just like this one. He goes over to the zinc plated standard bolts and hands me one ( 1/4 ").. Mine is metric, and phillips head, and chrome. He digs through the SS .. still in standard and pulls out a phillips but it has high hard shoulders.. not "flat" like the dressy bolt I have.
Kid "Chrome is $4 each, you don't want that"
he unlocks the chrome and digs out one but it has shoulders too. Tosses it back in, never letting me look, and locks everything back up.

Me: "yall got anything else?"

Kid: "I showed you all we got" and with that he leaves .. never to return and with me just standing there.

I dig around but not in the chrome as they are now locked away. I find some metric polished stainless but they are hex head. I find a nice SS 1/4 with slightly softer sides and find a good open acorn nut. The nut is $2.46, and the bolt is $.43 .... I buy the pair.. which still leaves me one short but I wanted to see if it was "good enough".
You can tell they dont match, I could replace all 8 bolts, except they dont have 8 of them. Plus thats nearly $24. ( though I could probably not use the expensive acorn nuts on the lower 4).

Anyway... it really made me grumpy the rest of the day.

PS: oh yeah I rode the vstar around town abit... less than 50 miles, but hey its 2 wheeeling...

Title: Re: Grumpy old men
Post by Dave on 01/13/14 at 14:18:39

I have this local ACE hardware store that is incredible. They cater to the commercial trade more than most ACE stores, and they have a far better selection than most. Their nut and bolt aisle is probably 40 feet long and has drawers that are about 6 feet tall. I spend most of my time in the stainless metric section - especially the pan head with the allen drive and I have used them for mounting almost everythng on my Cafe' conversion. - they really polish up nicely!

I went over there a few weeks ago and went back to my favorite spot as I needed some to complete my new front fender installation. I was absolutely horrifed to see.....the new shipment of my favorite screws has letters stamped in the top! Ugly, nasty, foul looking letters in what used to be a clean shiny screw head! Luckily I was able to get enough of the old style in the size and length I needed.

Change is not good for us older guys.

Title: Re: Grumpy old men
Post by justin_o_guy2 on 01/13/14 at 14:45:11

I go to a dedicated Nut & Bolt store on the "Industrial side" of town. If they dont have what I want, they order it in. I got a 3 foot, 3/8ths piece of SS allthread for under $5.00.. I cant tell ya the $$ & hassle Ive saved by buying from people who deal in the product I need. That translates to other things, too. Like lighting. Electrical stuff, plumbing, etc. Yea, you CAN get what ya need from a hardware store, but, youll pay more.
For exaMPLE, I need grease, I go to a place that sells bushings & bearings or to a place that services & sells heavy equipment.

Title: Re: Grumpy old men
Post by verslagen1 on 01/13/14 at 14:47:33

"what days you off... shaggy?"

"I'll be back"

Title: Re: Grumpy old men
Post by arteacher on 01/13/14 at 16:17:33

It has always been a policy of mine to complain to management if I have not been treated well, and also to complement staff to management if staff have gone the "extra mile" for me.

Title: Re: Grumpy old men
Post by Serowbot on 01/13/14 at 16:51:50

"...and pull yer' dang pants up!"... ;D ;D ;D...

Title: Re: Grumpy old men
Post by ZAR on 01/13/14 at 17:04:04

303B3B323E31302A2B5F0 wrote:

It has always been a policy of mine to complain to management if I have not been treated well, and also to complement staff to management if staff have gone the "extra mile" for me.

Which rarely works around here due to the fact the "management team" are all pimple-faced kids barely out of puberty! Their answer is "So! That's what we got!".

Title: Re: Grumpy old men
Post by justin_o_guy2 on 01/13/14 at 20:08:53

4C47474E424D4C5657230 wrote:

It has always been a policy of mine to complain to management if I have not been treated well, and also to complement staff to management if staff have gone the "extra mile" for me.

Thats the way I do bidniss! Ive talked to supervisors to let them know that If I was running a business & needed someone really good, Id be tryin to steal "That Person" out from under them,, OR,, send them for training, depending on services rendered,
Im sure you meant compliment,,

Title: Re: Grumpy old men
Post by old_rider on 01/14/14 at 00:17:12

4F5447150 wrote:

[quote author=303B3B323E31302A2B5F0 link=1389651051/0#4 date=1389658653]It has always been a policy of mine to complain to management if I have not been treated well, and also to complement staff to management if staff have gone the "extra mile" for me.

Which rarely works around here due to the fact the "management team" are all pimple-faced kids barely out of puberty! Their answer is "So! That's what we got!".
[/quote]

My answer to that one is a question... "whats your store number?" ", and "who is your regional manager, what is his number?". Works like a charm, and if it doesn't, I immediately call the number they give me to see if someone in the building answers it, if it rings within hearing distance, I start asking names, if that doesn't work, I go home and hit the internet to see what I can stir up. Usually I have my kindle with me and if there is a wireless within range I can come up with a number to call to complain. I dislike being treated like a chump......

Title: Re: Grumpy old men
Post by Pine on 01/14/14 at 08:30:39

5C4345425F5869596951434F04360 wrote:

I actually have done this... but its strickly 8-5 monday through Friday... and about 30 miles round trip.
I forget the grade now.. maybe grade 8 ... anyway I needed some really tough threaded rod for removing a stuck pistol barrel. This aint no "zinc plated" Home Depot stuff.. I tried and it just twisted and snapped with very little torque applied. I now have my own set of 2.5", 4", 6" and 8" .. "stuck barrel" removal tools. I was able to buy a pawn shop pistol replace the barrel.. and flip it for a profit. And I dont even work on guns!!!

THIS is MISSISSIPPI... I told my sunday school class... that poor boy will out of a job and not even know who to blame. Kinda sad really. :'(

Title: Re: Grumpy old men
Post by runwyrlph aka limpaway on 01/21/14 at 17:53:09

reminds me of my last trip to Trader Horn (our local small chain hardware store):

I was looking for brushes for an old drill my grandpa gave to my son. I asked the kid, "do you have carbon brushes for motors?" (show him the old one in a ziploc baggie). He says, "What's it for?" I said, "a drill motor".

He leads me to the aisle with wire brushes, welding hammers, etc: "Hmm, I don't think we have that kind of brush"

ME: "no, it's just CALLED a 'brush', it's really an electrical component" (show him the baggie with the worn out brush again)

(He leads me to the aisle with light switches, bulbs, outlets): "hmm, no, I don't think we have those"

me: "ok, thanks anyway" ( rummaged around the store 'till i finally found the brushes in a drawer)

Actually I guess I should be happy he tried to help!

Title: Re: Grumpy old men
Post by Steve H on 01/21/14 at 18:50:28

Yeah...most of them would have just looked at it and not recognizing it, would have said something like 'we ain't got nuttin like that' and walked off if they were not trying to hide from you as you came in.

Title: Re: Grumpy old men
Post by Pine on 01/22/14 at 07:38:31

Well, since the tread got necro'd...

I went to Home Depot and bought 4 socket ( hex) pan head cap screw. This looks like a phillips with a nice round face and no shoulders. Instead of a phillips it is hex socket. These are all 1/4 stainless. I bought all the 1" they had ( 4) and 4 more at 1.5 inches. ( total eight).
A box of SS 1/4 lock washers.
8 1/4 SS flat washers
4 1/4 SS acorn nuts
4 1/4 SS nuts
1 tube blue lock stuff ( I forget the name by permatex)

It took a bit of work but now all the 6mm chrome phillips and their chrome acorn nuts are replaced with the SAE above. Total cost about $22. Equivilanet to the price of three chrome bolt/acorn pairs.

Does it look .. JUST AS NICE... not really. The SS have a more yellow tint, and it shows against the chrome boss. Also they are a tad smaller. However, much of the bike has hex socket screws everywhere.. and most are in contrast to the surface they are set against (for instance the chrome "valve covers" have black hex cap). So, unless someone just KNEW that the bike did not come this way, there really isn't anything standing out that makes it "off" .. instead it looks MORE stock as now all the hex screws match.

Title: Re: Grumpy old men
Post by justin_o_guy2 on 01/23/14 at 05:57:45

Grade 8's have high tensile strength, but will shear off more easily than a 5. When I changed the frames on a coupla F150s I used 8s.Hit them w/ the impact every day, one blows up, slap another in & tag it,,Neither one ever came back w/ a rattle.
You know thos black impact sockets? Theyre softer than the chrome ones,,

Title: Re: Grumpy old men
Post by Serowbot on 01/23/14 at 08:31:38

544B4D4A5750615161594B470C3E0 wrote:

You know thos black impact sockets? Theyre softer than the chrome ones,,

Dang,.. I didn't know that...

...and my front pulley socket is chrome... :-?...
..(I kinda' wish I still didn't know that)... :-/...

Title: Re: Grumpy old men
Post by justin_o_guy2 on 01/23/14 at 22:06:37

Its okay,, if youre poundin it with an impact,, its just gonna mangle the drive, mite crack the socket,,thats really rare. If its a Craftsman socket & it does crack, if you get a savvy clerk they wont warranty it.,They can tell its been on an impact & chrome sockets arent sposed to be used on an impact.,,