Spare Nuts And Bolts.

Went over to a friends house to help him with his bike. I don't make it a habit of helping people with their bikes because I end up doing most of the work. With my bad back, and arthritis, I hate working on the floor on someone else's bike!!!! What's worse than that is when you need one small bolt, or even a washer. They dig out all these Folgers coffee cans full of dirt and grease covered bolts, of which half have stripped threads, rounded off heads, or just plain bent like a pretzel!!!! Twenty minutes he is still searching for a lousy 6X20mm bolt!!!

What a waste of time. If you own just ONE motorcycle, you will eventually need some spare hardware. Why would anyone with a sound mind keep worthless nuts and bolts. Do you think they are going to rejuvenate themselves inside your Folgers coffee cans!!!! Give me a fuc*ing break!!!!! Instead of sitting in a bar one night and pounding down those six dollar beers, spend that cash on some brand new fasteners, and other common hardware. The dealerships are on drugs for what they charge for any type of fastener. My local dealer wanted 2.87 for a flanged 6mm nut by Suzuki part number. Fastenal stocks metric hardware, and lots of it now. Spend some of that beer money once a week, and you will be amazed on what you can accumulate in a few months.


My collection of small Suzuki parts all in order.


My small Suzuki parts before I organized them.


Top boxes are my KZ1000 spare little parts and O.E.M. fasteners like case bolts. Bottom boxes are all the Suzuki little parts.


This is the way I keep all my common nuts and bolts. No Folgers coffee cans for me!!!!

Fastenal has had everything we've ever needed in metric fasteners. Their website is so huge its sometimes difficult to find what we're looking for, but it's always been there. They even have JIS screws. Ship to store for free and pick up on will-call.


Good Ridin'
slmjim & Z1BEBE

Dr. Gamma wrote: ........ Why would anyone with a sound mind keep worthless nuts and bolts. Do you think they are going to rejuvenate themselves inside your Folgers coffee cans!!!!

:laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: Truer words were never written! Ed

I have an unlimited supply of like new metric hardware when I replace a motor at work
there's all those one time in from the factory 6 to 12 mm nut's, bolt's, flat and lock washer's
of all type's so I strip the hardware off them.

Does Fastenal sell bolts that are the same as stock, having the stock type bolt heads?

The bolts used on KZ's are JIS (Japanese Industrial Standard). The threads on JIS bolts are regular metric threads, but some JIS bolt sizes use different size hex heads than their metric counterpart. FInding exact matches can be challenging. The site below does offer some JIS bolts in diameters where the head size is different than standard metric bolts. Ed

www.boltdepot.com/Metric_JIS_hex_bolts.aspx

Not trying to hijack the thread, but the same applies for tools. A place for everything and everything in its place. I hate stopping by to help a friend, asking for a 10mm socket and like the coffee can, they start digging in a drawer full of sockets. They might produce the right socket by the 5th try. Worse yet is when they find a a 7/16 and say "this should work". AHHHHH!
I was fortunate that a professional M/C mechanic let me hang around his home shop when I was young. As I started to buy my own tools he sat me down and explained how a tool chest should be set up and organized. I've added a lot of tools over the 40 years since. Ask me for 1/4 drive 8mm deep well 6 point socket and I'll have one in your hand on the first try. I also know the second I open a drawer if any tool is missing. I didn't lock my tool chest when my kids were young because I wanted to encourage their mechanical development. They learned pretty quick that Dad would know immediately if they didn't put a tool away and life was going to be unpleasant until order was restored in tool chest world.

MDZ1rider wrote: Not trying to hijack the thread, but the same applies for tools. A place for everything and everything in its place. I hate stopping by to help a friend, asking for a 10mm socket and like the coffee can, they start digging in a drawer full of sockets. They might produce the right socket by the 5th try. Worse yet is when they find a a 7/16 and say "this should work". AHHHHH!
I was fortunate that a professional M/C mechanic let me hang around his home shop when I was young. As I started to buy my own tools he sat me down and explained how a tool chest should be set up and organized. I've added a lot of tools over the 40 years since. Ask me for 1/4 drive 8mm deep well 6 point socket and I'll have one in your hand on the first try. I also know the second I open a drawer if any tool is missing. I didn't lock my tool chest when my kids were young because I wanted to encourage their mechanical development. They learned pretty quick that Dad would know immediately if they didn't put a tool away and life was going to be unpleasant until order was restored in tool chest world.

Worse yet is when a "friend" wants to borrow one of your special factory tools that cost a small fortune, and are No Longer Available!!!

My answer was always, No problem, just let me borrow your wife for a few hours too!!!!! That usually ends that conversation pretty quickly.

The other problem when a few people know you have a bunch of spares at home. Is you WILL at one time or another get a call at 2.00AM asking if you would sell them a small but vital part so they can finish their motor, and can go racing in the morning!!!!

Trust me it has happened to me more than once!!!!

Or "Hey man, let me ride your bike."
NOPE :lol:
Steve

Caswell's Plating Zinc Plating kit. Recycle your old hardware to look like new. Not cheap but worth it.

I tried a DIY plating kit, takes too much time unless you fab up a barrel plater. I just send it out to a plating company, grease, rust and all. I know Lowes carries 10mm head 6mm bolts.

My stash of Z1 and modern MX stuff

MDZ1rider wrote: Not trying to hijack the thread, but the same applies for tools. A place for everything and everything in its place. I hate stopping by to help a friend, asking for a 10mm socket and like the coffee can, they start digging in a drawer full of sockets. They might produce the right socket by the 5th try. Worse yet is when they find a a 7/16 and say "this should work". AHHHHH!
I was fortunate that a professional M/C mechanic let me hang around his home shop when I was young. As I started to buy my own tools he sat me down and explained how a tool chest should be set up and organized. I've added a lot of tools over the 40 years since. Ask me for 1/4 drive 8mm deep well 6 point socket and I'll have one in your hand on the first try. I also know the second I open a drawer if any tool is missing. I didn't lock my tool chest when my kids were young because I wanted to encourage their mechanical development. They learned pretty quick that Dad would know immediately if they didn't put a tool away and life was going to be unpleasant until order was restored in tool chest world.

Would you consider giving all of us a small write-up about the reasoning behind how you organize your tool chest?
Be great for those of us that never had the chance to sit with a good teacher. I came upon a system for myself but still take a few tries to get the one wrench I really want and would love to know more.