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Side note: The 'goto' for leaky steering boxes in the Austin-Healey
universe is John Deere 'Cornhead Grease;' available at many places
online (and probably equivalent to spindle grease). A friend sent me
a couple tubes, but I haven't tried it yet; getting it in the box is
the hard part.<br>
<br>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 5/4/2021 6:07 AM, Jim Stone wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite"
cite="mid:F1351CC7-479A-4AFA-98D9-8D96B85BFF37@gmail.com">
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Sadly, my experience has been that big (and too often, not-so-big)
box employees are either inadequately trained or simply lack the
motivation to put any work into looking for something that is not
readily obvious. I went into a Tractor Supply store last week to
buy <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""><font
class="" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" color="#212529">Cotton
Picker Spindle Grease 00, which I am sure is not a frequently
purchased item. (FWIW, I want to see if it is a good
lubricant to use in my Alpine’s steering gear, since
traditional gear oil often leaks out and regular grease is
often too thick.). Their website showed the store carried it,
but the kid who helped me looked through the motor oil section
and said they didn’t have it. I suggested that it might be
somewhere else, but he was adamant that it would be with the
auto oils and additives. I eventually found another employee
willing to look harder and they had about a dozen bottles in a
completely different section just a few rows away. </font></span>
<div class=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"
class=""><font class="" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"
color="#212529"><br class="">
</font></span></div>
<div class=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"
class=""><font class="" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"
color="#212529">This has happened to me more times than I
wish to count, and I now rarely accept the first “we don’t
have it” response and often just find it on my own.</font></span></div>
<div class=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"
class=""><font class="" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"
color="#212529"><br class="">
</font></span></div>
<div class=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"
class=""><font class="" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"
color="#212529">Jim </font></span></div>
<div class=""><font class="" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"
color="#212529"><span style="caret-color: rgb(33, 37, 41);
background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""><br class="">
</span></font></div>
<div class=""><font class="" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"
color="#212529"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255,
255);" class="">p.s. Writing the above reminds me of an
experience more than 30 years ago. We had just moved into a
new home and needed smoke detectors. I did some research on
them and discovered that there were then two types,
photoelectric and ionization. I don’t remember which type I
decided to get, but went to a local big box store (the
national chains hadn’t taken over yet) and was studying
their detector display. A young girl came over and asked if
I needed any help. </span></font></div>
<div class=""><font class="" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"
color="#212529"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255,
255);" class=""><br class="">
</span></font></div>
<blockquote style="margin: 0 0 0 40px; border: none; padding:
0px;" class="">
<div class=""><font class="" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"
color="#212529"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255,
255);" class="">“Yes I do. Can you tell me which ones
are </span></font><span style="background-color: rgb(255,
255, 255);" class=""><font class="" face="Arial, Helvetica,
sans-serif" color="#212529"><span style="caret-color:
rgb(33, 37, 41);" class="">photoelectric and which are
ionization?” </span></font></span></div>
<div class=""><font class="" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"
color="#212529"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255,
255);" class="">“Oh no, sir. They all run on batteries."</span></font></div>
</blockquote>
<div class="">
<div><br class="">
<blockquote type="cite" class="">
<div class="">On May 4, 2021, at 7:54 AM, Pat Horne <<a
href="mailto:patintexas@icloud.com" class=""
moz-do-not-send="true">patintexas@icloud.com</a>>
wrote:</div>
<br class="Apple-interchange-newline">
<div class="">
<meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html;
charset=UTF-8" class="">
<div dir="auto" class="">I’ve gotten to the point where I
call the big box stores & have them actually lay
eyes on what I am looking for if the quantity is shown
to be less than 20. If they confirm that they have it I
then place an on line order & pick it up in a few
hours. It saves a bunch of time.
<div class=""><br class="">
</div>
<div class="">Peace,</div>
<div class="">Pat<br class="">
<br class="">
<div dir="ltr" class="">Pat Horne
<div class="">We support Habitat for Humanity</div>
<div class=""><br class="">
</div>
</div>
<div dir="ltr" class=""><br class="">
On May 4, 2021, at 12:25 AM, Brian Kemp <<a
href="mailto:bk13@earthlink.net" class=""
moz-do-not-send="true">bk13@earthlink.net</a>>
wrote:<br class="">
<br class="">
</div>
<div dir="ltr" class="">
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;
charset=UTF-8" class="">
I agree that it is unbelievable how bad some of the
home centers can be. Needed a vacuum cleaner belt
fast. Not in stock anywhere other than HD per the
websites. The nearest HD said there were five in
stock. Couldn't find any. Next one said there were
three in stock - none there. Drove to a third one
with seven listed in stock and still none
available. The employee at the last location said
they are frequently shoplifted. At each store I
asked for help finding the belt and each employee
said there were none in the store. The sad thing is
that a week later, the websites still had the same
inventory numbers listed. You would think there
would be a process to correct inventory. I'm in the
Los Angeles area and have a number of stores to pick
from and they are managed very differently. I have
not gone to the one nearest to my office in about
five years because it is so poorly managed and the
items like the plumbing and electrical fittings are
all messed up.<br class="">
<br class="">
My last adventure was a replacement battery for my
wife's key locator. Went to Lowes because they had
47 listed on their website. Had an employee help me
and checked all the battery storage areas and we
couldn't find any. A month later, the website still
said 47 and the hook for that size remained empty.<br
class="">
<br class="">
I used to live near a nice True Value hardware
store. Much smaller, but organized better and there
was always an employee willing to help me. The
prices are a little higher, but the convenience and
service are worth it. Sadly the landlord ended
their lease to put in a restaurant that closed a
year later (before the pandemic)<br class="">
<br class="">
Brian<br class="">
<br class="">
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 5/3/2021 9:01 PM,
Bob Spidell wrote:<br class="">
</div>
<blockquote type="cite"
cite="mid:38b2b690-f913-f37f-a5a1-c3d1ad0b994f@comcast.net"
class="">Pardon me, I just gotta vent. Not being
able to find these plumbing pieces at HD and
Lowe's--even though their websites said they had
bunches in stock--and at a plumbing supply, I
finally broke down and ordered from Lowe's
(2"<->2" elbow, external thread to slip
joint, and a 1.5" plug, for a different
application). So, after FedEx apparently lost,
then found, the shipment they showed up today. One
problem: the jackass that packed them jammed the
1.5" plug into the threaded end of the elbow so
hard it may be impossible to remove it without
breaking the elbow. I'll get it in a vice when I
get to my shop tomorrow, but there's no guarantee
of successful extraction. <br class="">
<br class="">
I get it; working the line at a warehouse is a
shit job, but someone went out of their way to do
this. I usually apply Hanlon's Razor--"Don't
attribute to malice that which can be explained by
incompetence"--but the plug is jammed in the elbow
so hard someone really had to work at it. I hope
it felt good. <br class="">
<br class="">
Vent mode off. <br class="">
<br class="">
Bob <br class="">
<br class="">
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