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Art & Inspiration Pet peeve time: Leave Sh!t Alone!!

Discussion in 'The Hokey Ass Message Board' started by lostone, Apr 24, 2019.

  1. lostone
    Joined: Oct 13, 2013
    Posts: 2,820

    lostone
    Member
    from kansas

    Ok, yesterday was one of those days, time to say enough.

    In the past couple years it's really gotten worse and it doesn't seem to be getting better and as my dad used to say " if you don't know what the hell your doing find someone to help you who does or take it to a professional! " and some really need to hear those words !

    I see people who posted questions on here that deserve no other answer than "take it to a professional". IF you're working on a auto system (brakes, steering,etc) and it's a safety component and you have no idea how that system works? Leave it alone!!

    We had a truck come in yesterday, new tie rods, both left hand tie rods on one side with one side of the sleeve force onto wrong threads, other side? Well if course that's where they put both right hand rods ! & again one side of sleeve forced on the wrong threads.

    This has become a " happens constantly" scenario, again customer installed parts, ball joints, tie rods, they only tighten the nut up until the cotter key goes in, doesn't matter there is an 1/8" of movement between spindle and ball joints. You ask them why they didn't tighten it and I get the "well then the cotter key is way high" I then asked well wasn't it tight when you took it apart ? Yeah but they didn't figure it mattered.

    2 different friends died from idiots like that and last summer a good friend bought a really nice rod, driving it home at 70 and the right front caliper comes off inside the front wheel because the last owner left the caliper bolts loose, snug down but not tight.

    Again if you don't have basic understanding how a component operates that your working on and it's a safety concerns ? Leave it alone!! I have kids and grandkids on the road every day and I don't need more unsafe vehicles on the road.

    Rant off: ;)
     
  2. greybeard360
    Joined: Feb 28, 2008
    Posts: 2,074

    greybeard360
    Member

    I agree 100% ! Some of the questions I see asked scare me to think these people intend to drive them on public roads when they "fix them up".

    Anyone know how much uranium I would need to build a nucular power plant cause Ima gonna build me wun.

    And patina.... Hate seeing that. From since I was a kid it was always called what it is... RUST!!!!

    Off my soap box now.
     
  3. You Tube videos make everyone an expert.:rolleyes:
     
  4. How are you going to learn the right way to do something if you don't ask? At least the guys on this forum that ask are trying to do it correctly. Now the novice that buys parts at Autozone and installs them without asking anyone about how to do it.....thats" a hole nuther level".
     

  5. The37Kid
    Joined: Apr 30, 2004
    Posts: 30,629

    The37Kid
    Member

    See any welds you care to talk about? Bondo may hide them, but it sure doesn't make them stronger. Bob
     
  6. Mr48chev
    Joined: Dec 28, 2007
    Posts: 33,861

    Mr48chev
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    That isn't a new thing by any stretch.
    When I was 17 I worked in a Honda Bike shop during the summer assembling new bikes and doing oil changes. The gteneral scenario was a kid and his buddy hitting the parts counter on Friday afternoon and buying the pieces to go though the motor on the guy's bike. Usually a dirt bike. On Monday morning about 10 AM a station wagon would back up to the shop door with a torn apart bike in the back and card board boxes or coffee cans full of parts. It was always mom and the little brother and the little brother narked big brother out saying that "they took it apart and couldn't figure out how to put it together. I got the task of washing the parts and laying them out on the bench for the shop owner's son (now the owner) to srreort out and assemble back into a running bike.
    Move ahead about 7 years and I am the front end/Brake mechanic in the Firestone store in the middle of Waco TX. Sure enough on about every other Monday some guy would show up with a car that he and his buddy or someone had tried to replace the brakes on and I ended up having to sort it out.
    Over the years I lost track of how many rigs showed up that someone had replaced front end parts or even the front brakes and didn't put the cotter key in.
    I just want to know how damned strong you have to be to screw a left hand thread tie rod end into right hand threads or the other way around.
     
  7. You gotta walk before you can run.

    Youtube, forums, asking other for advice, reading books ...... generally trying our best to gain knowledge is how we have all arrived at where we are.

    Yes what you are describing is general butchery, and can easily be avoided googling the answer or asking a question .


    Not wanting to learn the right way, or choosing to do it wrong is unacceptable
     
    61Cruiser, 31hotrodguy, WB69 and 4 others like this.
  8. seb fontana
    Joined: Sep 1, 2005
    Posts: 8,444

    seb fontana
    Member
    from ct

     
    chryslerfan55 likes this.
  9. Mike Colemire
    Joined: May 18, 2013
    Posts: 1,428

    Mike Colemire
    Member

    There are two types out there, the one that wants to learn and do it right, the other one is to cheap to pay anybody and scared to death someone will make a dollar off the parts. I worked in a chevy dealership and several years at Ford and I have seen everything. I have a garage at home also, done a lot of diesel work for Ford, 12 years of that, I still get calls asking how to fix crap even had them hold their cell phone up so I can hear what it's doing. One guy called on a 7.3 and named off 20 things that he already put on and it still wasn't fixed. He asked what I thought and I told him to take it to someone that knew what they were doing. He got pissed. You can't fix stupid, there are people at Autozone telling people how to repair stuff that don't know anymore than the guy working on it.
     
  10. williebill
    Joined: Mar 1, 2004
    Posts: 3,274

    williebill
    Member

    This thread is probably going away, and will leave no evidence of ever existing, so I'll avoid the high road here.......
    People are stupid.
    I own a bike shop, and deal with youtube morons almost every day.
    I make money on them sometimes, but fear them.
    A female doc in town, notoriously cheap, ruined her entire drivetrain recently. That takes talent. Her reason for forging ahead, without a fucking clue?
    "I put a new toilet in the basement from watching youtube, so I thought I could fix my bike."
    You'll never go wrong remembering how stupid people are.
     
  11. upspirate
    Joined: Apr 15, 2012
    Posts: 2,299

    upspirate
    Member

    you tube.jpg
     
  12. lostone
    Joined: Oct 13, 2013
    Posts: 2,820

    lostone
    Member
    from kansas

    I say some of it comes from inexperience but a lot I see is just plain not wanting to spend money.

    Had one guy that literally beat ball joints into the lower arms on his truck and ended up destroying the arms because he watched a YouTube video where they heated the arms and tapped the ball joints in ( which I've done years ago) but didn't have a torch and used a propane torch which wasn't hot enough, but he figured it would be ok. He said it looked like a piece of cake.

    Another, new king pins, 60`s ford truck, bearings on top axle and NO shims with at least an 1/8" gap. But he thought our estimate to install the king pins was alittle high and his buddy heard it was a easy job.

    Sorry guys I just hate seeing this kind of stuff on the road and with YouTube and some there with no experience posting videos along with cheap parts from rock auto they can install all 4 ball joints for 100 bucks themselves !!
     
    61Cruiser and chryslerfan55 like this.
  13. Atwater Mike
    Joined: May 31, 2002
    Posts: 11,625

    Atwater Mike
    Member

    I studied hard for my BMW Schullung pass...then the BMW agency I was placed at hired some 'local talent'...laughable, if I wasn't so serious about the product.
    When I'd return from school, (BMW had a plant in Culver City, CA then) I was expected to 'pass the tech stuff on', so the whole shop didn't have to go for an expensive week.
    It was like reading Homer to a bunch of illiterates.
    Two long years later, I opened my own shop. (and wanna-be 'mechanics' STILL dropped by with questions that couldn't have just 'evolved'...)
    Seven years later, I was exhausted. But my young girlfriend proposed, and I entered heaven. :p
     
  14. Yup, and they don't even know the names of parts they have to remove..
    " See, ya got to move this thing here and unplug this thing" ...and people actually follow their advice.
    OMG!
     
  15. An acquaintance of mine asked me if I could spend Monday mornings with his 15 yr old son apprenticing and shadowing. I said sure,,,
    Very sharp kid! Knows nothing but so hungry to learn and catches on quick. We had to start at square 1 like kindergarten square 1 relative to shop environment. His goals out of this experience is still dynamic, at first it was to learn very basics terminology and location and visual recognition of parts, then maybe enough to do PM, then maybe fix problems. But once we actually did a mock up a full blooded hot rod things changed.

    The other day I showed him how to make a brake line. I worked, talked, explained every tool, operation and why,,, even showed him what happens when you don’t. He watched and listened. Then I had him do it. Starting with a wire pattern, complete thru to installation. And then bleeding.
    15 yr old kid who’s extent of fabrication was legos aced the process after watching 1 time. He’s gonna be alright,,,,
    Just a few hrs a week and he wants more.

    Last week we went over alignment terminology, front end component identification and functions and how to run a grease gun. Picks it up quick.
    Oh yeah and left hand threads, how to recognize them, how, where and why they work.
     
    mkebaird, jimgoetz, Thor1 and 19 others like this.
  16. If by chance she is a brain surgeon, give yourself a lobotomy. That will show her. ;):)
     
  17. I saw that sh1t on you tube!
    Not kidding, a orbital socket labotomy training video from the 50s. Anyone can do it, simple quick, and effective. You could not do it to yourself
     
  18. lostone
    Joined: Oct 13, 2013
    Posts: 2,820

    lostone
    Member
    from kansas

    31Vicky that's awesome!! And I applaud you for doing this! I have no problem what so ever with what your doing or what the kid is doing. He is doing it perfect! He found someone who knew more than him and asked for guidance.

    I just wish more would do exactly this, even if it's s one time thing like installing brake pads or tie rods, Ask for help.

    I too was young and knew very little. Luckily I had a dad who built cars in his youth and taught me and at 14 I went to work at a body shop for a year then a frame shop and still there. Point is I wanted to know and learn and I went to the right places to learn.

    Again hats off to you 31Vicky.
     
  19. The37Kid
    Joined: Apr 30, 2004
    Posts: 30,629

    The37Kid
    Member

    loudbang likes this.
  20. Sky Six
    Joined: Mar 15, 2018
    Posts: 9,480

    Sky Six
    Member
    from Arizona

    I'll rely on a Master Mechanic anytime.
     
    loudbang likes this.
  21. Truck64
    Joined: Oct 18, 2015
    Posts: 5,325

    Truck64
    Member
    from Ioway

    One of the first "WTF!" things I found online when the world wide web went mainstream in the 90s was about a couple of nutbars who wrote a book about their hobby called "Borehole"; they were really into DIY trepanning, they would ingest L.S.D. and the. get to work. They thought it was beneficial and would allow them to reach a higher plane of existence &c. Hm. A few countries put them on the "Stay The Fuck Away" list.


    "After some time there was an ominous sounding schlurp and the sound of bubbling. I drew the trepan out and the gurgling continued. It sounded like air bubbles running under the skull as they were pressed out. I looked at the trepan and there was a bit of bone in it. At last!"
     
    chryslerfan55 and loudbang like this.
  22. Sorry about your friends/aquaintences....... But, and this is just me going into anything new......... New= I would hope I gather some knowledge before learning= underwater basket weaving......
    Used= I'de hope i'de know what I was getting into before I jumped off the deep end without getting my toe's wet first.=cars.......
    Some people say= it looks/quacks/swims like a duck, but- is it? Those people need to study/know what ducks are........
    Yes- we live among them, been that way, will be that way.........
    We cant save everyone, but we can try while we're here..... Frustrating= you betcha!
     
    chryslerfan55 likes this.
  23. I wish my Boss would double our labor rate for the shitheads that try to fix it themselves.


    Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
     
    31hotrodguy and loudbang like this.
  24. tomic
    Joined: Jan 8, 2008
    Posts: 120

    tomic
    Member

    aww come on, y'all seem to have forgotten you were young once. no one does brakes on a car for the first time by being an expert first. you learn as you go. get help etc. and sure, some tiny percentage does harm. that's what redundancy is for (front, rear brakes). (luckily i only remember some of the nonsense i believed when i was 18....)

    i *constantly* do things where i don't know what i'm doing. THATS WHY I'M DOING IT! it's fun to learn. sure, i'm more skilled now, better at spotting failure modes and all that rot, but that just means i try more complex things.

    made my own upper front control arms. made my own rear suspension -- took three tries, the first one was nearly a disaster. current one is great.


    afraid of trying, afraid of making mistakes, is far far worse in my opinion.
     
  25. bschwoeble
    Joined: Oct 20, 2008
    Posts: 1,015

    bschwoeble
    Member

    31Vicky with a hemi
    I have worked in my garage since buying our first house in 1971. I can count on one hand how many young kids have ever come by to see what I was doing. Nice that you are passing on the craft.
     
    Jibs, Hnstray and 31Vicky with a hemi like this.
  26. Where to gather this knowledge?
    Where to know what you’re getting into?
    Where to study ?

    My pre 20’s nephew walked in here thinking he new everything,,,,

    The kid walked in here knowing nothing wanting to learn,,,

    There’s a BIG difference lol
     
  27. 29moonshine
    Joined: Dec 30, 2006
    Posts: 1,341

    29moonshine
    Member

    are you the best the first time or the 20th time as my granddad said you may never be as good as the best but you will be better than others with time
     
    31hotrodguy likes this.
  28. Better than most, not as good as some.
    Humble confidence is what my grandpa used to say.
     
  29. trollst
    Joined: Jan 27, 2012
    Posts: 2,108

    trollst
    Member

    I will say....I read posts on here then say to myself,....ummmmm, but I also agree that if the drive to learn is there, sometimes good things happen. Sometimes not, we see shit that is scary, because whoever did it has no idea which end of the wrench to hold and is never gonna learn. Some people just aren't cut out to use their hands.
     
  30. lumpy 63
    Joined: Aug 2, 2010
    Posts: 2,603

    lumpy 63
    Member

    I always do my best to reach out to youngsters if they want to learn. Over the years there has been two notable young guys who have hung out in my garage. The first one started hanging out at 13 or so and we built him his first car a 64 Skylark with a 350 sbc he drove to HS. His second car we built together was a 72 Vega with a 406 th350 and a Don Hardy 12 bolt, He was actually on "Pinks all out" with that car:D He is now in his early 30s and has a great job in the medical industry doing repair work on autoclaves etc. He makes FAR more money than I do now:cool:The second young man had gotten into some trouble at a young age by hanging out with the wrong crowd and after that nobody wanted to hire him...I got him a job at the Hot Rod shop where I work on the weekends and he excelled . After a couple of years there he was able to land a job in the aerospace industry here in town:D He now makes more money than me.....So if someone WANTS to learn I'm happy to show them . But in the end I agree with the OP there is a lot of hacks out there.
     

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