Take some time and let them know....

[Twisted Titan]

There are alot of things I am good at but one I fall waaaaaaay short is with Mechanical stuff. I dont play under the hood or tinker with anything and that is one of the reasons Im happy to pay a good chunk of money for quality built stuff because if you take care of them they tend to last.

Anyways, I have quite a big yard but I dont own a mower because it was easier just to rent them but had a good neighboor that would lend me I would always return the kindness by always doing his when I do mines and he just let me keep it in my garage rather then shuffling it back and forth every 2 weeks .

Definately a very good neighbor.

Well the other day I had another fellow in the come buy and ask if I could borrow it . I dont lend out others people things that are not mines but I will cut your grass myself ( he didnt have a big yard but it was getting pretty overgrown). just give me a few days because the weekend are a no go because I am watching my Wee One.

So early on a monday I go over there to cut his grass . I make sure and check for any debris that might damage the mower. Im going along doing my thing and all of a sudden

DINK!! DINK!! ZZZZZZZZZZZ

You know when you get the bag of worm feelings in your gut?? Yeah ... by a Factor of 10.

I dont know what I hit but sure a sh!t I broke the blade. I was more shocked then pissed. here I was doing a good deed and being responsible about it and I still manage to get snagged.


Well I now have to rectify this . So I call around to few places and the nearest one to me said 50 bucks to evaluate and the work is extra.

Its at this point the wife Jumps on her phone looks a few YT vids are says screw that . Its a simple Job and you could pull it off.

I really didnt feel like I could because stuff like this always ended badly and even more expensive.


Then I got to thinking: What if this was a grid down situation? what were you going to do? Just throw your hands up and quit?

It was in that moment with the wifes encouragment I decided to give it a shot


Well I did some searching and found the part I needed a retaining Bolt for a measly 3.00 dollars .

That was all I needed to get the ball rolling.

I ended up grabbing a Blade, air filter, spark plug, extra bolts all of that delivered cost me less then 40.00.



It came with instructions and with a few tools I was able to get it done in less then 5 mins .

It felt dam Good but what was even better was the look in my wifes eye..... That smile of accomplishment is something that I will always cherish and this is something that I can build on (literally).


The best part is my neighbor was walking when I was testing and when I showed him all the extra stuff . to say he was happy was a understatement but it further solidified that I am responsible with others peoples property.


It was all around good experience .......but I never would have tried it .....if I didnt get that vote of confidence from The Better Half.





Fellas Make sure you take the time to Let your Lady Know you Appreciate it them......... it is waaaay too easy for all the support they give to get lost in the gears of the daily grind.


Take sometime today and let em know.

[Twisted Titan]

If anybody needs it http://www.repairclinic.com/

2 thumbs way up.

[Serpo]

You should come down to NZ and OZ where we do everything ourselves if possible,its in our genes.

[ximmy]

Well the other day I had another fellow in the come buy and ask if I could borrow it . I dont lend out others people things that are not mines but I will cut your grass myself ( he didnt have a big yard but it was getting pretty overgrown). just give me a few days because the weekend are a no go because I am watching my Wee One.

IMO you should not have used your neighbors property to "help-out" another.

and ... no good deed goes unpunished...:p

[gunDriller]

that reminds me ... someone gave me a lawnmower, i have to figure out what it needs to work.

i also have a can of gas ... it fell off of someone's trailer - it has oil in it, lawnmower gas.

so i will fire up my "Roadkill Lawnmower" - when it's cool. too hot right now.

hope it doesn't explode :)

[Serpo]

that reminds me ... someone gave me a lawnmower, i have to figure out what it needs to work.

i also have a can of gas ... it fell off of someone's trailer - it has oil in it, lawnmower gas.

so i will fire up my "Roadkill Lawnmower" - when it's cool. too hot right now.

hope it doesn't explode :)

http://ts4.mm.bing.net/th?id=H.4932186836698863&pid=15.1&H=73&W=160 (http://blog.lib.umn.edu/taubm005/gd1_alexistaubman/scissors_bluebg.jpg)
otherwise...............

[iOWNme]

Good for you TT.

There arent too many things as valuable as a man that can work with his hands. I commend you for taking the first step.

I learned to work on cars and everything else by necessity. I came from nothing and had to earn everything i had. When my first car's transmission took a shit, i didnt have 2 pennies to my name. But i did have some basic tools. I bought the transmission rebuild manual for $10. I took it all apart, found some worn parts and replaced them. I put it back together and put the tranny back in my car and fired it up. I out it in gear and the car went nowhere! LOL So i pulled it back out, and did it again. It took me 4 times or so but i finally got it.

I have now been working on cars for almost 20 years, and have made a lot of money doing so. I have built so many transmissions and made a good amount of money over the years now, all because i didnt have a choice really....... :)

[aeondaze]

Or...

5067

[zap]

Nice TT, Yay for you !!!!!!!

I never thought I was mechanically inclined, I worked in a dental office, then I came down here at 18 with my sis and her husband to cut hay, the first night baling hay, I was in the field and I accidentally broke the key off in the switch of the tractor and my sisters' FIL gave me a new switch and said put that in, LOL I had no idea what to do but I unscrewed it, looked at it and tried to put all the wires back the way they were on the new one, well after what seemed to be hours it worked! woo hoo...... been fixing stuff ever since and if I can't fix it so what I will try and then I will call somebody in if need be. :)

[Jewboo]

I ended up grabbing a Blade, air filter, spark plug, extra bolts all of that delivered cost me less then 40.00.



Just part of maintaining the lawn mower that you borrowed from one neighbor to use mowing another neighbor's lawn.

:)

[Jewboo]

IMO you should not have used your neighbors property to "help-out" another.



http://blog.loukavar.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/happy-lawnmower-e1317424695483.jpg

I'll bet that jerk Book guy is thinking the exact same thing.

:)

[Ponce]

You never know what you can or can not do till you try......

V

[Twisted Titan]

IMO you should not have used your neighbors property to "help-out" another.

and ... no good deed goes unpunished...:p


Normally i would not have.

But when Sandy hit. ....this guy did me a favor by getting some jerry cans filled for me cause i didnt want to.walk over thrre with my baby.


He did me a solid.

I try and payback when i can.

At the end of the day something that looked like a disater ended up working out for everybody.

[osoab]

I'm surprised you didn't bend the shaft or the spindle when you broke the blade.

It would take a large object to break a blade.

Go on craigslist and find a used one. Then give your neighbors back if it is in good working condition. Let him pay you to mow his.

[mick silver]

You should come down to NZ and OZ where we do everything ourselves if possible,its in our genes.
same here . i never pay someone to do stuff that i can

[Hitch]

I'll bet that jerk Book guy is thinking the exact same thing.

:)

If there's a way to insult a man, you'll do it. You've surpassed jerk and entered the 'should get your assed kicked' area. You should learn from TT, learn integrity.

TT, you are a man of integrity and honor, you did a good thing and being mechanically inclined helps, but it's all a learning curve. The more skills you acquire in this area will help you greatly in the future, we know how that's going to be....

Thanks for sharing this, uplifting thread.

[agnut]

Twisted Titan, thanks so much for your posting. As a career auto mechanic I self learned from the ground up. My father wanted me to be a “college man”, never having had the opportunity himself. I did go to college for 4 years but dropped out in the middle of the 4th year due to lack of interest; it was just not my cup of tea. However, while in college at Penn State I developed a love for cars, my first one being a 1956 Austin Healy 100-4. It had a 4 speed transmission with overdrive and a 2660 cc engine that could be driven far beyond what good sense would dictate.

Now looking back to those 1960s, I realize that my father had taught me absolutely nothing about auto repair or even maintenance. Before he passed on he told me that he did this on purpose in order to see that I was not distracted from his dream for me. But it was not my dream and I eventually followed my own heart. After college I did try my major, business management, but found it to be unsatisfying. Next I worked for a MG Jaguar dealership and soon became chief mechanic. Not a big deal since it was a small dealership. I later moved from Erie Pennsylvania to West Palm Beach Florida where I worked for a great boss who helped me learn much. After that I worked for a Volkswagen dealership with a colorful cast of characters. It was here that I fell in love with the German Volkswagen engineering; it all made sense. And as a primary focus, I have been into Volkswagens ever since.

So you see, I was self taught like so many other American mechanics. I believe that the driving force for us is the love of working with our hands in creating reliability and security for those who need transportation. Blacksmiths for the iron horse, so to speak.

As you have written, it is deeply satisfying to discover that you can fix something that breaks down. It could be a car or even a broken door lock but at the bottom of it, we must have the courage to try because with this trying we learn and are encouraged by our success to try further. An absolute necessity for personal growth.

A month ago we had an invasion of tent caterpillars. There were millions of the little buggers falling from the trees, eating everything in their path. They began to attack our fruit orchard; daily I was pulling up to 40 caterpillars from each tree. And that was daily ! Once I walked down the driveway squashing them as I went while counting. I got over 1,200 that afternoon ! I am telling this not to show my moronic tendencies but to illustrate the intensity of the invasion. I was told that some people were losing their orchards.

Something had to be done and soon. I knew that all of these caterpillars were gaining access to the trees by climbing the trunks, so I bought these 14 inch wide plastic bowls from the local dollar store. I also bought a jar of chest rub with 1% eucalyptus. The bowls were from China and not very flexible. I couldn’t just cut a hole in the center for the tree trunk because the bowls shattered so I found a transmission throwout bearing guide collar and heated it on the kitchen stove. I pressed it into the plastic and made neat holes for the size of the tree trunks. I had to use a die grinder to cut the plastic from the edge to the hole. Now I had the bow finished, what to do with creating more obstacles for the hairy buggers. See, the bowls were flat in the center and then curved toward the rims. These bowls were to be installed upside down and therefore I had to think like a caterpillar. What would make it insurmountable ? Aha ! Grease, my mechanical expertise was beginning to pay off. I smeared grease where the inside of the bowl began to curve. This way, the caterpillar was hanging upside down (aka against gravity) and would have had to pass beyond the grease to the other side in order to continue toward eventually munching up the sweet leaves above. Additionally, I spread the aforementioned eucalyptus chest rub around the rim. Just to make sure.

If caterpillars have anything to say about my eternal damnation, I am doomed !

By the way I had previously read of the US Agriculture Department’s advice on caterpillar infestations and they advised to wrap burlap around the tree trunk. I did this but it didn’t work (so like the government). I have to give them credit however; the tied burlap worked to hold my greasy baskets around the tree trunks. How much credit, you decide.

I also tried an internet advice; orange peel shavings ground up into a juice that I sprayed on the burlap. I think the caterpillars felt that they were on the right track and were making a bead on the trees’ anticipated aromatic leaves above. So that was a failure too.

Now the caterpillars are all over the place wrapped in their white silky cocoons, just waiting to emerge and each one lay from 100 to 350 eggs for the next spring’s assault.

However, I am now confidently ready for them (since they can’t read).

Best wishes,

Agnut

[Libertytree]

that reminds me ... someone gave me a lawnmower, i have to figure out what it needs to work.

i also have a can of gas ... it fell off of someone's trailer - it has oil in it, lawnmower gas.

so i will fire up my "Roadkill Lawnmower" - when it's cool. too hot right now.

hope it doesn't explode :)

Gunny,

You might not want to put that gas with the oil in it in your mower as it might very well be weedeater gas/2cycle oil mixed in. Just use mid grade gas in your mower, don't take a chance of screwing up the free mower and or having it run like shit.

[Santa]

Fellas Make sure you take the time to Let your Lady Know you Appreciate it them......... it is waaaay too easy for all the support they give to get lost in the gears of the daily grind.


Ah yes, standing at the seductive edge of the slippery slope which is commonly referred as being "pussy whipped.".... J/K