Absolutely!
Absolutely!
Wow, thanks for the kind words, but I wouldn't go that far. I do like working on cars though, as a hobby. I gave it up as a profession a year out of high school when I made the decision to go to college and study finance. But I learned a lot during the couple of years working for a friend who owned a shop.
My daughter drove a BMW Z3 through high school. If I can get that car on the lift, I suspect the 370Z might fit.
How are the rock sliders holding up?
My daughter drove a BMW Z3 through high school. If I can get that car on the lift, I suspect the 370Z might fit.
How are the rock sliders holding up?
I worked in a gas station in high school years ago. We did a lot of tires back then.
Ha! Well, since they don't go offroad, they're great! I LOVE them! The coating is solid on them now, too, thanks to you... that jackalope here in town did such a crappy job, but the respray looks as good as the day it came home!
My car education began around ten or so. Mothers boyfriend worked on cars a lot so I was always doing something when he needed help. His low back was fused so bending for him was not very easy so I often ended up under the car bolting the transmission and motor mounts and everything else. Eventually it was see this part, you know where the tools are go change it. That was in the mid to early 90's so no youtube to look it up on and see what I needed to try and do. About the only thing I didn't do at some point was rebuild an engine or transmission or rear end as far as mechanical work. But I know most of what I need to know about turning a wrench and when I started working for a construction company out of high school I was always called in to the shop to help work on machinery as they knew I had the background.
Helped change the paver width multiple times, add or remove the curb slipform, as well as setting the concrete vibrators in the right place or adjusting the placement of the steel inserters. Hooking everything up and running the hydraulic lines and making sure they would not bind was a pain. The worst was breaking out the squeeze by where the pan met the sides. Worked on the grade trimmer at one point as well, ended up having to replace a bunch of the teeth and some bearings or at the very least grease zerks on the pillow blocks for the outfeed belt as the crew never seemed to remember to grease them.
For those interested the paver was similar to this one:
And the trimmer is similar to this:
The steel inserters were custom made by one of the company mechanics so they were a one off deal but basically dropped a bar in the chute and flipped a microswitch that would activate the ram and drive it into the concrete a couple inches into the slab. I still am very thankful to the guy who was operating the machine one day. The bars we were using were slightly larger than normal so you had to give them a kick to get them to drop into the slot where the ram would pick it up. The microswitch was getting touchy and I kicked the bar and it activated. I hollered and he shut the machine off. My right foot was in the concrete and another couple inches and it would have been torn off.
Helped change the paver width multiple times, add or remove the curb slipform, as well as setting the concrete vibrators in the right place or adjusting the placement of the steel inserters. Hooking everything up and running the hydraulic lines and making sure they would not bind was a pain. The worst was breaking out the squeeze by where the pan met the sides. Worked on the grade trimmer at one point as well, ended up having to replace a bunch of the teeth and some bearings or at the very least grease zerks on the pillow blocks for the outfeed belt as the crew never seemed to remember to grease them.
For those interested the paver was similar to this one:
There is some memories I don't actually miss. My two years at the gas station while in high school. The station I worked at was the only one in town that fixed split-rim, semi tires, and tractor tires as long as they didn't have fluid in them. I remember using the breaker bar to break down the semi tires, a weighted solid steel bar inside a pipe with a bead breaker on the end. We had to do it all manually on the big tires. We used the lift as a "cage" device while the tire was aired up. Never had one blow apart, but always made me nervous.
One time the boss told me to go take the wheel and tire off of a semi tractor trailer that had cows in it to fix the flat. One of my friends was at the station and offered to give me a hand. He was helping hold the big ole lug wrench on while I was on the cheater bar when one of the cows let loose with a stream of piss that landed square on my friends head, then splashed all over me. We finished the job then went to our local swimming hole (farm pond) and jumped in clothes and all. Nope don't miss that work at all.
Bet that pissed you off.
Two machines I wish I had, I could do my own tire changing fixing flats, and sure as hell wish I had a two post lift, more so when I comes time to replace the cat on my car that I think is bad giving a check engine light. My truck is easy to get under, but still having a lift makes it alot easier and not having to crawl around in the dirt or on rocks, plus not fight stickers in the yard on top of it.
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