I got $75 back for the two impact socket sets I bought two weeks ago that are now on sale. I picked up gloves, wheel chocks, some tie down straps, shop towels, CRC Brake Cleaner, zip ties (not that I needed them, but on sale), and other things.

Stop at the auto parts store to pick up the CV axles. Get home, chock the minivan, jack it up, set the jack stands, pull the front wheels, undo the sway bar end link, pull the strut bolts, and that’s when I realized I did not have a 35mm impact socket for the axle nut.

I WAS JUST AT THE STORE!!! I could have purchased one at either store, but Harbor Freight has a set of them from 29mm to 38mm on sale for $40.

On a side note, Harbor Freight has a Quinn 61 piece impact socket set for $130. Metric and SAE, deep and standard, three extensions, etc. in an OK case.

35mm and 1 3/8" are interchangeable if you have the SAE impact socket.

This is me, just about every time I step into Home Depot.
Almost always takes 2 trips, sometimes 3.

Luckily, it's 2 miles away

Brad's Rule For Plumbing Projects:
All plumbing projects require 3 trips to the hardware store.
Twenty mile round trip to town. Fortunately, they are open 07:00-20:00.

^^^
sigmonkey's rule.

Never touch water on the weekend.

Cus, no matter how prepared you think you are, shit's gonna leak, you won't have what you need to fix what you broke, and you will curse me for not warning you sooner...

(amIright?)


(and a sigmonkey loves commas)

Worse yet if you need something and your only vehicle is apart. I have a little backup now, then the motorcycle.

Holiday weekends are the worst for some projects. But ya, every single time I have to make more than one trip. I thought I had it this time. I even bought a $9.99 on sale set of pry bars which I used even rather than screw up my nice screwdrivers.

We got it done before it rained. We’re doing the passenger’s side today. We’re also putting a new hub on one of the jet ski trailers so my boys are getting a lesson on adjusting wheel bearings and grease types and compatibility.

We’ve replaced the shocks and struts, sway bar end links, rear bump stops, changed the oil, checked the brakes, and the tires are good. I paid the man to do the A/C and timing belt. For tools and supplies, it’s got a torque wrench, air compressor, plug kit, gloves, the proper size socket, breaker bar, small 3/8” ratchet set, 10mm and 12mm combination wrench’s, wiper blades, jug of oil, oil drain pan, two gallons distilled water, and two rolls of shop towels. Plus his camping gear, 100’ of orange paracord, and a knife.

How’s that for commas?

Minivan should be ready for my 19yo son’s summer roadtrip to his 6-week geology field camp in Idaho and back. He went on a one week trip to Death Valley in November for one of his classes and was the only one who knew how to change the tire when their 15 passenger van got a flat. He should be good to go, but he’s going to forget something. It’s genetic.

Seems whatever project you take on will require a minimum of 4 trips to the store.

Trip 1 Thing X isn’t working. I’ll buy a new thing. You go to store.
Trip 2 New thing doesn’t have same fittings that match old thing. You go to store to buy parts to make new part fit existing stuff.
Trip 3 What you bought still doesn’t work so you buy +/- 2” worth of parts to adapt old to new.
Trip 4 You return all the parts you didn’t need.

Also start any project at 0600 on Saturday. Or, as Sig Monkey suggests, take Thursday and Friday off, to start projects.

The DAT observation: No matter how simple the project appears, it will take 5x the time you anticipated it would take.