To all you mechanics out there...

[RolHammer]

...I tip my hat to you!

Replaced the sway bar links on my '03 Odyssey and holy cow, what a fight. Simple job in principle but the nuts were frozen onto the studs & no application of heat or penetrating lube was able to get them off. You guys/gals who do this every day, under production/time pressures absolutely have my respect.

Simple job in principle, this ended up being a rather challenging task. Thank God for recip saws, angle grinders & BFHs.

[Pixel Shooter]

Typically there is a allen set screw not a s simple as taking nuts off. Been there lol. Most shops just torch them off. Way faster lol.

[RolHammer]

Yup. Problem was, the recess for the allen screw was filled with enough corrosion to prevent the key from setting in far enough to prevent caming out & stripping. Thankfully on the first three, I was able to get the bolt far enough the stud to slip a recip blade behind the flange on the nut.

The fourth stud though, that was a nightmare. Having had a torch or plasma cutter would've been nice.

[Heyupduck]

Originally Posted by RolHammer

...I tip my hat to you!

Replaced the sway bar links on my '03 Odyssey and holy cow, what a fight. Simple job in principle but the nuts were frozen onto the studs & no application of heat or penetrating lube was able to get them off. You guys/gals who do this every day, under production/time pressures absolutely have my respect.

Simple job in principle, this ended up being a rather challenging task. Thank God for recip saws, angle grinders & BFHs.

Good job! I'm not a mechanic, I am a dabbler. There is satisfaction in accomplishing a mechanical job against the odds. Man and his machine. Like riding a horse, or shooting a deer, I think it is a right of passage.
Of course after hitting my thumbnail with a 2lb hammer, I didn't feel the same way, but those feelings pass.


So how did it work out. Is the van less groany and clunky?
Do you feel like a king?

[Grizzly Adams]

Today's vehicles are built to be replaced, not repaired. Once you get past that, everything makes sense.

Grizz

[super7mag]

Originally Posted by Grizzly Adams

Today's vehicles are built to be replaced, not repaired. Once you get past that, everything makes sense.

Grizz

Yep , but to the throw away crowd they are more environmentally friendly.
0 down 0% interest over 84 months for a 12000$ toss away car , makes me laugh everytime.

[RolHammer]

Originally Posted by Heyupduck

Good job! I'm not a mechanic, I am a dabbler. There is satisfaction in accomplishing a mechanical job against the odds. Man and his machine. Like riding a horse, or shooting a deer, I think it is a right of passage.
Of course after hitting my thumbnail with a 2lb hammer, I didn't feel the same way, but those feelings pass.


So how did it work out. Is the van less groany and clunky?
Do you feel like a king?

Dabbler here too. Been tackling more & more of the maintenance & repair of my vehicles since I discovered the shop I was going to was royally unscrupulous. Couldn't be a simpler situation on the surface - pull a couple of nuts & go. No such conventional solution this time though. Wasn't pretty, but a feeling of satisfaction on this one.

There was never any groaning, but is definitely less clunky now. New sway bar links and sway bar bushings have settled all of that out.

[Heyupduck]

I used to have faith in crappy tire in sherwood park (and to be fair this story is about ten years old, so they may have more honest staff now)

Anyway, my brother in law (who was a service manager in Saskatchewan) told me I needed new strut mounts, which at the time were about $60 each.
I went to crappy tire and they told me I needed whole new strut/ spring assemblies - about five times the price.

Since then I do almost everything myself. I curse, I swear, I break parts sometimes along the way, but I save money, I know the job is being done right, and I replace with quality parts.

Most importantly, I know I am not being ripped off. I hate being ripped off, I hate the doubt of not knowing whether I have been ripped off.