Part Storage and Orginization ???

[JSM]

I'm so bad when it comes to storing parts. To me it's a lot. I have them everywhere and I know I'll have something but it is buried, miss placed or somewhere I would have never thought of.

 

So how are you guys storing your spare parts?

 

I'm thinking of building some mobile wood shelves as I have plenty of wood. This way I can move the lot of them around to get a things, clean etc.

[nullbound]

I have about 6 freestanding, heavy-duty plastic shelving kits that I store most of the lighter things on, some in boxes labelled with their contents. I also have a large wooden shelf setup that I built for some of the heavier things (differentials, suspension parts, etc). I have most of my engines on engine stands that I can roll around.

 

No matter how much I try to organize, though, there always seems to be something that I waste a few hours trying to find when needed.

 

And my garage is slowly running out of space, so some things are bleeding into a spare bedroom.

[Tony D]

I have 2 40' standard sea containers:

Drop it on the ground, and put a couple of railroad ties underneath it...

Use the F250 to square it so when the SatFoto is taken it doesn't draw attention...

Fill it with stuff...

You know, like engines (this is not an efficient way to store them, make rolling carts!

 

I have one 48' Hi-Cube sea container.

I have two 45' Hi-Cube sea containers.

Jeff P has a 45' Hi-Cube sea container at my place as well with his stuff in it now as well.

 

I would not buy another 40' Standard. 45' Hi-Cube or if you don't have the space see if a 20' Hi-Cube is available.

 

I fantasized about buying 20' containers....but their price is within a couple hundred of a 45' H.C.!

 

I bought the last 45' H.C.'s for less than my first set of 40' standards.

 

You can fit 6 Z's in a 45' H.C. if you hoist them and block properly with 4X6's for long-term storage (waiting for that project to come together....)

 

That 48' thing has enough room for 6 Z's, Countless sets of rims stacked at the front end almost halfway up the wall, and a BBQ Grill at the back end.

 

Spiders, mostly. I put my stuff in containers because I can fumigate them and from that point the spiders don't get to me or my parts.

 

The NSF Stainless Steel rolling racks from Costco make nice parts shelves, and since they're modular, you can make all sorts of configurations with them.

 

Putting 4X4's up to the 7' level about every 2' and then flooring with subflooring gives you an overhead out of site storage area that 2 1/2 feet high, perfect for parts in milk crates, dashboards, body panels, etc...

 

I may hoard more than most. I'm looking to get another two 45' H.C.'s the next time the price dips. Pads are already prepped. Put them 20' apart, and with some 2X12's you can make a nice covered working area pretty darned cheap!

Edited July 25, 2011 by Tony D

[JSM]

You're killing me Tony. I was waiting for you to post. I'm very land challenged at the moment. What do the containers sell for? 20' and 45'?

 

Also, they sell these as kits at Costco? "The NSF Stainless Steel rolling racks from Costco"

Edited July 25, 2011 by JSM

[Darrel]

The large furniture dollies from harbor freight work well for the engine carts, just use some of the scrap 4x6 to block up along the engine pan.

[Tony D]

One of our club members made a NEAT little rolling dolly out of 2X6's, that fit snugly around the pan. You just notched one corner for the oil pump, and then...yes, screwed up into the 2X6's through the aforementioned HF Furniture Dolly.

 

I got the last 2 45' High Cubes for $3400 delivered in early 2009. That was less than I'd paid for the 2 40' units in 2004! Jeff paid close to $2800 for his a couple of months ago. The prices swing quite a bit.

 

The 20' goes for around $1500-1700 each Hell, if I'm going to spend 1700 for a 20 footer, I may as well spend that much for the larger one (usually within $300 each of a 20')

 

The only advantage to 20 footers is you can get TWO delivered for the same price as a larger container and placing them is more versatile.

 

I have not bought the ones with the special lock boxes on them to keep locks from getting cut off, I just let the Rottie roam freely in the evenings. There are some containers out now with REALLY NICE captive locking systems and doors that lock like a safe, with a deadbolt that goes into the top and bottom beam at the door end. Those probably won't show up on the used market for another 5 years of so.

 

And the racking kits are stainless steel like you see in eateries, open wire bails for shelves and little casters at the bottom of posts. The shelves lock in wedge-anchor type holders into grooves on the vertical posts of the apparatus. Not as heavy duty use as Gorilla Racks with pin-locks and 1/2" plywood, but for most of the stuff it works great! Most of the G-Racks I have are underutilized anyway...that's why I bought these for the new containers.

 

One of the containers is leveled from a high point in my yard, so I can back my dually right up and the tailgate matches EXACTLY with the floor of the container. Basically I lay a piece of old 1/4" aluminum diamond plate across the gap and use it like a loading dock. Once it's in that container, getting it around is easy with a pallet jack. Actually I can run the pallet jack into the back of my truck and take stuff off that way. Once I get a 500# jib crane welded to the doorway, I will be made in the shade.

 

Look into Unistrut Trolleys as well---you can weld them to the roof, and easily support 600# from them. I use two of them on a cable with old sections of jobsite Unistrut to move the engines now. Took that idea from the contanerized CNG Compressor Skids made by IMW Compressors up in Canada, they use the Unistrut Trolley system in their containers to allow you to disassemble the heavy parts of the compressor with a come-a-long. Very nice! I even screwed a section into the 4X12 beam spanning my carport and use it similarly for light loads in and out of the truck bed.

 

My house...is...uh... I have my own forklift dude. I think I got hired at one company because of that.