Last week, someone was stopped aside the freeway with emergency flashers. The last thing I wanted to do was to get to work, so I stopped to help. I quickly found out that the individual could not get their jack underneath the car (hint: don't lower your cars, folks). I finagled the jack underneath, and lifted the car.
Then we found out they didn't have a lug wrench.
So I headed back to my new-to-me truck to see if I could find mine. I'd only had the truck for a half month, so this was something I needed to learn. And that's when the new realization hit me ....
I didn't have a lug wrench or a jack for the truck!
I didn't even have the bracket that holds the jack and wrench down. It typically sits underneath the front passengers' seat, but where it was was a threaded hole that would allow water to permeate the interior. Not good.
So, a quick call to a dealership, and they can't even find a part number to order. A check to eBay, and someone out there is charging $120 for the assembly. I fired off an offer that was rejected. Rather than face up to a low-ball and buy it, I grabbed parts from Home Depot, picked up my spare Kydex sheets, and bought a bottle jack from Harbor Freight. Then it was a matter of assembling a frame. I heated the Kydex and formed it around the jack (I didn't want a potential hydraulic fluid leak), and then riveted the thing together. I know it's ugly (I didn't want to unbury the welder, nor did I have the right size of rivets, but those can always be replaced later).
I did have to trim a panel to get it to fit, but unless you know what you are looking for, you'll never see it.
The other thing was that I didn't have a 6mmx1.0 hold-down bolt, so I turned some 1/4" threaded rod to the outside diameter and used a metric die to cut it, coated it with Loctite, and created my own hold down bolt.
Now I feel more comfortable having the tools in place..