I thought I'd put this little story up for you so that no one else has to go through the pain...of course, certain conditions have to be met to achieve this result like inexperience, messy work area and severe lack of sleep.
When taking a power steering pump apart, do not do it with the shaft vertical ( - I just realised how that could be interpreted)
It will result in these little metal thingies falling out, of course I could find all but one!
Can you spot it? If you can, you need your eyes checked because you can't actually see it in this photo