The Hardware Buying Dilemma

I was fine buying hardware as-needed from LMC Truck and the hardware store for my restoration, but now that I've got the engine bay and engine completely apart I need several pounds of nuts, bolts, and the like. It takes a lot of time to pick out the hardware I need, but also the bulk sets don't have a good variety. They come with a million 1/4" bolts and maybe twenty 1/2" bolts, and none of them are very long. How do you guys do it?

My stash is from years of saving every decent fastener from anything I take apart, then sorting, cleaning and putting them in containers with labels. the bulk of my smaller ones are in salsa jars. Many are sorted by size (5/16-18 or maybe M8X1.5 and then length in inches or mm as appropriate.

I'm with Bill.  Mine is from saving everything for probably almost 60 years.  And I made a decision early on to get at least twice what I needed when buying.  For instance, yesterday when I needed one 1/2-13 x 3" G8 bolt I bought 5.

Here's my stash.  At the top you can see the 3 x 6 drawer "cabinet" I started with, and under it the green 5 x 3 one I added.  Under those is one of the two multi-drawer cabinets I moved to, which were big enough to get some of the larger fasteners in, but they turned out to be too small for anything larger than 5/16.  And that led to the red racks with the slide-out plastic containers, which I think are the way to go.  I can pull one out and take it with me to wherever I'm working, even if it is at my son's house in Florida, which is about 1500 miles away.

Same as the others only I have far less (less than 10 years). Also, if JY'ing something I always take the hardware for it if it's good.

Also I was in effect "given" (sold for peanuts) two big pretzel jars of assorted fasteners and whatnot at an estate sale of a former mechanic and HVAC tech... most of them are MOPAR and GM fasteners, but they do work (not to mention there were a really nice sockets and crowsfeet hidden inside!).

For the body and smaller stuff (m6, m8, m10) check out Disco. They have some really nice kits. Plus O'Reillys can get most of them special order for a good price.
For the bigger bolts or odd lengths I just reused what came off so not sure the best option price-wise there.

Are you talking about engine internals? I can't think of needing many 1/4 or 1/2.

kramttocs wrote

For the body and smaller stuff (m6, m8, m10) check out Disco.

Cool. I have never heard of this place. Thanks for posting.

I also been saving nuts,bolts & washers for as long as I can remember and if I dont have what I need I but more than needed and put the left overs into "stock".

Years ago Home Depot had on sale plastic bins with a metal rack that sits on the bench top and picked up 2, so have maybe 20 or so bins .... nope not enough!
I have also come across larger plastic bins and they are stacked. The above can also be stacked if not in the rack.

The bigger bins I have sorted to bolts / washers / nuts / screws - machine / wood
I have started to break the bolts down by thread size into the smaller bins.
I can tell you all that and any nails, deck screws (of different sizes) and other type clamps are all in 1 place in on the bench in the corner.

One day when my son gets his stuff out of my garage I will buy one of the floor mounted metal racks that holds like 50 bins the HF sells to really sort my collection.
Wonder how tall it is if it will fit on the bench?

Has any one looked into McMaster Carr for hard ware.
I bought my flare side hard ware from them as I needed a lot.

We also have a store called Tractor Supply and they sell hardware by the pound.
Size dose not matter so you could get a little of 1/4-20 bolts of different sizes and 3/8-18 nuts in the same bag and they put in on the scale for the weight.

They do have prices posted and a scale there so you know before you get to pay for it.
So if you were to "stock" your bins you could get a little scoop of each size and when you get back to the bins sort out what you get.

Thing is TS is a little farther than the hardware store and I always need it now!
Dave ----

We have a Tractor Supply and that is my go-to place for nuts and bolts. And as said, when I buy I buy several times more than what I need. Been doing that for decades and it is paying off.

Plus I’ve parted out several of these trucks and have kept all of the nuts, bolts, screws, etc. I run them through the parts washer before filing them away.

Last night I just ended up buying about $250 worth of grade 8 yellow zinc hardware on Ebay... 1100 piece hex bolt and nut set, 510 piece flange bolt and nut, some extra 1/2-13 bolts. I hate not having this stuff on hand.

kramttocs wrote

Are you talking about engine internals? I can't think of needing many 1/4 or 1/2.

Mostly body and frame.

If I had seen this a couple of years ago, I would have thought you were crazy for dropping $250 on a set of random bolts and nuts that you "might" need.

Not anymore. I have dropped way more than that and countless hours at the hardware store on grade 8 bolts. Every time I walk out of Ace Hardware with that 2lb little brown envelope that I just paid at least $30 for I feel like I'm grabbing my socks and every Ace shareholder is taking their turn.

I bought a small box assortment of grade  3/8, 5/16 and 1/4 in various lengths and I am constantly pulling what I need out of there. If I could just go back in time I would have spent the $250 like you.