Porter Cable Air Nailer Urethane Retainer

[Big Bill]

I was using my Porter Cable angled finishing nailer on a job a while back when the trigger suddenly seemed "wonky".  On closer inspection I found the pin holding the trigger assembly in had come loose and it nearly dropped out!  Further investigation revealed that I'd lost the retainer clip holding the pin in place.  OK, I'll pick one up someplace & be up and running again in no time...  Famous Last Words.
  It turns out many manufacturers didn't use steel retaining clips, they used a tiny rubber donut that snapped over the end of the pin to hold it in place, and that these were known to degrade with time & fall off.  Shouldn't be too hard to find? Ya, right!
   Turning to the internet, I found an OEM part cheap enough, at $2.99- but nearly $13 shipping! Amazon had "Free" shipping but wanted between $10-$17!  Right... After I regained my wits, I decided to see if any local tool repair places might have one, reasoning that I can't be the only person with this problem, especially if it's designed to fail... 
  Most places I called said they could get the part (ordered on Amazon) for retail price + S&H, in about 6 wks or so, but didn't stock that item.  Then Lady Luck smiled- one place had one in inventory, but at an out of state branch- but they could have it sent up and I'd have it in a few weeks... for $2.99+ tax! Ordered & done!  It finally came in and I picked it up a few days ago. How so small a thing (see pic) can be such a PITA is beyond me!  But apparently, they're used by several manufacturers including: Metabo, DeWalt, Senco, Grip-Rite, Bostitch, & Freeman.  For reference (if you need one), the one I got was:  Porter Cable Urethane Retainer, Part Number 890725. 

[Bob10]

[barryvabeach]

I had a Bostitch 18 gauge nailer with the same o-ring.  At first I was trying to figure out how the pin was held in place, then turned it over.   Sorry I didn't see your post last week, I through out my nailer because the trigger assembly was leaking air, and is listed as obsolete every place I checked ( and the nailer had some other issues as well ).

[JDuke]

I was using my Porter Cable angled finishing nailer on a job a while back when the trigger suddenly seemed "wonky".  On closer inspection I found the pin holding the trigger assembly in had come loose and it nearly dropped out!  Further investigation revealed that I'd lost the retainer clip holding the pin in place.  OK, I'll pick one up someplace & be up and running again in no time...  Famous Last Words.
  It turns out many manufacturers didn't use steel retaining clips, they used a tiny rubber donut that snapped over the end of the pin to hold it in place, and that these were known to degrade with time & fall off.  Shouldn't be too hard to find? Ya, right!
   Turning to the internet, I found an OEM part cheap enough, at $2.99- but nearly $13 shipping! Amazon had "Free" shipping but wanted between $10-$17!  Right... After I regained my wits, I decided to see if any local tool repair places might have one, reasoning that I can't be the only person with this problem, especially if it's designed to fail... 
  Most places I called said they could get the part (ordered on Amazon) for retail price + S&H, in about 6 wks or so, but didn't stock that item.  Then Lady Luck smiled- one place had one in inventory, but at an out of state branch- but they could have it sent up and I'd have it in a few weeks... for $2.99+ tax! Ordered & done!  It finally came in and I picked it up a few days ago. How so small a thing (see pic) can be such a PITA is beyond me!  But apparently, they're used by several manufacturers including: Metabo, DeWalt, Senco, Grip-Rite, Bostitch, & Freeman.  For reference (if you need one), the one I got was:  Porter Cable Urethane Retainer, Part Number 890725. 

[quote pid="8048321" dateline="1641793920"]
seems that the majority of consumers think in terms of disposable everything.
if it breaks, they don’t even bother looking to see if it can be fixed, they just toss it and get a new one, that’s built to fail and get tossed as well. 

I must admit, I have been quite frustrated when searching for repair parts to find what you did, a part that is cheap, but 5-7x the cost for shipping.  
or the utter lack of availability of parts at all.
I have also found frequently that a replacement part when shipping is factored in, costs more than 1/2 the price of replacing the tool, or device, in these cases, I usually will just replace the entire tool/device rather than throw money and time at something that will probably fail in another way eventually.

Duke 

[/quote]