Way down on spare parts. Used all my plugs, points, condensers--but did save the old ones. Do have a couple coils. Have plenty of heavy parts--trannys/rears/and even a couple motors that are decent. Have lots of things that can be used in a pinch--moma calls it junk.
This is such a vague question not sure how do answer, most of us keep spare parts for the items that need to be replaced more often, such as mower blades, oil, filters, belts and hoses. To invest a lot of money in a bunch of spare parts in my opinion is not a good idea. The items you will keep, ask any logistics person, you will not use 1/3 of the items if you are keeping parts for multiple vehicles and equipment. Now what you can do is buy yourself and older jeep, suv or truck maybe no later than 1979, because after 1979 alot of efi and computer controlled vehicles came out. some came out before but you should be able to find something without a computer system. Once you find a vehicle, order the parts you will need to convert to a points distributor, spare regulator for the alternator, some wire, crimpers and electrical tape at the least. Now you can drive it on occasion or make it your daily driver to increase durability and familiarity with the vehicle and learn how to work on it yourself. But to get back to you question, keep parts for what, home, cars, equipment or what?
I have too many to list, current project, future projects, old unfinished projects, projects I am thinking about, projects I thought about, my garage looks like an old parts store with an unorganized clerk
Anything I might list would be the obvious (as in what's needed for day to day ops) I'm not being glib when I say "duct tape and bailing wire". Also, never underestimate the value of a wire hanger.
You buy something with moving parts you immediately look for spares .... start a tool box to hold the spares, instruction manual, repair info, parts info, special tools ect ect ....
The SEAL Adage, "Three is Two, Two is One, and One is NONE.... goes Triple, for anyone, who is a Prep'er..... I work on the Principal that I have TWO Identical, Major Items, that I use every Day... Two Gensets, that are Identical. Two Vehicles, that I wish were Identical, Multiple Weapons that are of a common Caliber. If I can't have Identical, then I go with THREE, that serve the same function. If one Breaks I have time, to locate a Replacement, or ship in the Repair Parts, and NOT be in any kind of Bind. When you live out where I do, you MUST plan for any ONE Daily Use Item, going down, for Repair, and that can NOT cause you any Grief, Period. If it does, then that is something you need to rectify, ASAP...... .....
I have a home shop well equipped in part so I can repair or fabricate many things. TIG, MIG, plasma, gas, micro gas torch, large mill, small mill, couple drill presses, hydraulic press, 13x40 metal lathe, spray welding to rebuild worn shaft, grinders of several sorts, blasting, compressors, woodworking stuff (table saw, jointer, plainer, etc.) and electronics tools (oscilloscope, signal generator, power supplies, solder work station, antenna analyzer, etc.) And yes I have generators to power it all. I can get by often without spare parts if I can fix it. I do try to stock some of the following: Bearings and seals for some equipment (tractor, gennie, etc.). Variety of V-belts and sheaves. Lots of nuts and bolts in grade 5 from 1/4" to 5/8" diameter and lengths to 4 and some cases 6 inches and a bunch in metric as well. Lots of machine screws from #6 thru #10 in various lengths. All thread rod. Ground and cold rolled rod in various sizes. PVC sheets 1x2 feet in 3/16, 1/4 and 3/8. PVC rod in 1/2" to 1" diameters and 6 feet long (gray sheet and rod PCV is super handy, often better than wood for small stuff and super easy to work with) Several 4x8 and 4x10 sheets of plate steel 1/8, 3/16, 1/4 thick 4x8 sheet of aluminum in 3/16 and 1/4 thicknesses Various dimensions of steel bar stock Spare shingles 4x8 sheets of 3/4" high performance no-sand subflooring (the stuff is very weather resistance) Various stick lumber (2x4, 2x6, etc.) Some composite lumber Wire of various sorts Connectors (weatherpak, powerpole, crimp, misc. electronic ones) Coax cables, romex cable, Assortment of resistors and caps in all common sizes, assortment of common diodes and a few transistors (all wire lead, don't have much in SMT as yet.) Zip ties and heat shrink tubing in bunch of sizes Solder and flux in couple sizes and types Screws and nails of various sizes and healthy quantity (always buy the bigger box as it may only be twice the price of a smaller one yet have 5-10 times the quantity and this is how you know it's a size you could use) Welding supplies (rods, brazing rod, fluxes, tips, several tolls of MIG wire) Sand Oils, lubes, paints, etc. Bunches of those small parts assortment boxes: Cotter pins, o-rings, E-clips, retainer rings, roll pins, more o-rings, o-ring stock with the cutting block and glue to make long custom rings (like might be on front engine gear train cover) hitch pins, hair pin clips, grease fittings, copper washers, hose clamps, larger hose clamps, more that I'm forgetting. Several assortment boxes of fuses - automotive, micro-auto, straight glass, etc. Several bins full of various sizes of PVC pipe fittings Small box of various types of PEX fittings in 1/2 and 3/4 Various tubings: copper 1/4 and 3/8, nylon and vinyl in couple sizes Various other fittings compression and threaded Several 10 foot lengths of PVC pipe in various sizes (PVC is cheap, has lots of uses and can be stored in your crawl space like forever) Like with the nails and screws, buy an extra sheet or two of plywood, or sticks of lumber on each trip. Eventually you'll have a nice reserve. Will I ever use all this? Heavens no, but I do use it enough week to week that just saving one trip to town pays for a sheet of plywood or a parts assortment box. I've easily paid for all the smaller parts and bolts probably twice over in time savings and travel costs over the years. AT I also hang on to semi worn parts that are still functional and could be reused in a pinch.
None really. I have concentrated else where. Yes we have some fuel, oil and basic shed stuff but no real spare parts.
Old vehicles were mentioned. The Jeep Commando is a '69 and there is a parts Jeep sitting nearby it. Like BT, I like similar vehicles so parts can be scavenged in a pinch. Have two complete 350s w/ trannys sitting and a couple inline sixes also. Hopefully parts can be fabled if necessary. When the Ford strike happened about 35 yrs ago I had two differentials go out with in a week. Had enough used parts to put them going again. One lasted about a year and the other 8-10 yrs. My wife gripes about stuff scattered about but it is all usable and for different purposes. Some actually is junk but it is long junk and can easily be used to channel or even block if needed.
I recently revamped my storage area and added a lot of additional shelving. As well as reorganizing how things are stored together in various containers and so on. I went to Costco and picked up a bunch of the heavy duty storage containers with lids. This allowed me to standardize the size of all boxes for ease of stacking, instead of the various odd sizes of containers that just chew up space with gaps. It really helps as well with load-out on a vehicle bug-out, to have like sized boxes makes it just a stack and go. This also gave me a great chance to rotate food, create new box inventory list.... and shuffle out stuff that does not work as planned. Everything was also tested for serviceability, scotch guard applied to jackets and such as needed.... and so on. It was interesting to find things I had forgot I put away as spare parts. It also was a great opportunity to reassess shortfall's and create new list of spare parts & things to procure. One of my winter projects is now complete (storage fix). And now I have a new list to tackle for the New Year
