A B757-200 AFTER LNDG WAS UNABLE TO RETRACT THE TRAILING EDGE FLAPS DUE TO RAGS FOUND IN #1 AND #7 JACK SCREW ACTUATORS LEFT AFTER MAINT.

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ON DEC/XA/00; I PERFORMED A TRAILING EDGE LUBE ON ACFT XYZ AS PART OF A MAINT CHK. IT INCLUDED LUBING JACK SCREWS; BALL NUTS; AND TORQUE LIMITERS AND CHANGING XMISSION FLUIDS. WE ACCOMPLISHED THESE 'B' CHKS ON THE RAMP IN THE WX WITH INADEQUATE FACILITIES AND LIGHTING. ACFT XYZ FLEW FROM ZZZ TO XXX. AFTER LNDG; THE PLTS COULD NOT RETRACT FLAPS FROM 1 DEG TO ZERO. UPON INSPECTION THEY FOUND RAGS ON THE BALL NUTS ON THE #1 AND #7 JACK SCREWS. 2 FLTS WERE CANCELED AS A RESULT TO REMOVE AND REPLACE THE JACK SCREWS. IT WAS ASSUMED THAT BECAUSE IT WAS THE LAST MAINT ACTION PERFORMED THE RAGS WERE LEFT BY MYSELF OR MY HELPER. AS A PRACTICE; I ALWAYS CHK MY WORK AREA OVER AND OVER. I HAD A RATCHET AND SOCKET AND A FLASHLIGHT THAT WERE REMOVED AND I ALSO REMOVED RAGS. THE ACFT WAS LEFT WITH FLAPS DOWN FOR A CONSIDERABLE AMOUNT OF TIME BEFORE FLAPS WERE RETRACTED. THERE WAS NO OTHER MAINT DONE IN THAT AREA TO MY KNOWLEDGE; AND I AM POSITIVE I REMOVED ALL TOOLS AND RAGS. I WAS ISSUED A STEP #1 WRITTEN LETTER IN MY COMPANY FILE FOR 1 YR. NOTHING HAS BEEN DONE TO PROVIDE MECHS WITH AN ADEQUATE WORKING FACILITY FOR THESE CHKS.