Well, I've had my own moments. Namely, on a Chevy Spectrum. Attempting to reinstall the trans after changing the clutch. The throwout bearing on that trans (FWD) was held on by some wierd wire clip thingy. Anyhoo, I pick the trans up, try to slide it on, change my grip to a handy arm thing - and the clip/throwout bearing assy goes flying. Repeat 4-5 times (hey, it was a hot day! I wasn't tracking so well,)
I look at the trans, and notice that that handy arm thing is actually the actuator for the throwout bearing...and since it wasn't slid into the pressure plate assy, it popped the clip off and sent the whole damned thing flying.
Never did get the $%$@ing thing back together right.
No big loss, tho.