Gratification via wrenching
 

So I picked up a crappy old F250 a few weeks ago. It needed lots of little things. It also needed some attention on the front suspension. I put in driver side ball joints just now. Wow. There is a nice payoff when things work. I feel like a bit of a genius. Didn't rip open my skin. Didn't drop a truck on my foot. A win. It has been a long while since I did some good wrenching. It was fun.

When I had my F350, I didn't opt for doing ball joints my self. I watched while they did it at the shop & was glad I took it there. I'm shooting for doing less of that kind of thing now days. It is always a feeling of accomplishment when you do something like that yourself.

Today I replaced a defective Duramax turbo waste gate valve . The work was not enjoyable . I had to camp out on the engine to reach the valve . Very uncomfortable . But after cleaning up and taking for a drive was bliss . So the end result was gratifying . The journey not so much .

Do it while you can, guys... Life gets frustrating when you tell yourself you can, then the body lets you know you can't.

Good on ya, for that ball joint change...

After driving my F150 up on ramps, I got underneath it and replaced the oil pressure sending unit last weekend It was a piece of cake. The temps were in the low 80s and I had a fan blowing. It was actually enjoyable, compared to replacing the front spindles, wheel hubs, etc. when the temperatures were in the mid 90s and high humidity.

That got me looking at the oil leak at the back of the oil pan. While laying under the truck, I watched a few videos on replacing the oil pan. Looked easy to do, so I ordered a new gasket.

We’ll see how it goes this weekend…

It is still gratifying when I complete a repair,
It has gotten less rewarding over the years, as the novelty wore off.
I used to get a rush, now it is more neutral and matter of fact
But, It has also gotten more stressful, as I am doing fewer repairs the last few years.
Out of practice. I bite off smaller bites now, as a result.

I still enjoy wrenching.

My favorite is fixing things that other people find unfixable...

As a geezer, I have set my garage up to be more comfortable to work in.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1695300985.JPG

Heated or air conditioned, and the door on the left of the photo is my bathroom. I tend to put the car up in the air to do simple tasks. This week I will do aa transmission oil change, and through inspection before a track day at Ozarks Raceway.

https://events.pca-warbonnet.org/events/fall-fun-run-2023

Oh it's so satisfying to repair something, even if it's minor. Bigger stuff getting a refresh, now there's some real pride. Last year I blasted and resprayed the rear reflector on my '82 to like new appearance and I felt twelve feet tall.

I'm doing a bit of maintenance this week. Had to replace a rear wheel bearing on my 2010 Jetta Tdi wagon yesterday, not too bad of a job other than needing to buy some new sockets for the huge *triple square* bolts they use to hold on the bearing and the brake caliper bracket. Only Porsche/Audi/VW use these and I think that it's to minimize DIY repairs...to support the dealer service centers.

I'm also tackling the driveshaft on my old 1984 Mercedes-Benz w123, it has a center carrier with a bearing that goes bad and leads to vibration when it flops around. I decided to also replace the u-joint but discovered that it's not the usual set-up with circlips(?) holding the old one in...need to bring it to a shop and figure it out. :)

Meant to include a couple of photos:

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You can actually see in the last photo above how the u-joint is "spalled" into the joint. I can get the old one out by drilling it and destroying it but have no idea how to install new one and keep it in?

The carrier bearing is a common repair that is simple if you know what you're doing but there are some pitfalls for the uninitiated. Like a lot of MB repairs, (or any other make), it's not complicated but there is opportunity to really **** it up if you are flying blind. MB balances their drive shafts, (so does everyone else), but it's a 2-piece assembly and it needs to be marked before disassembly and put together the same way or you have just introduced an imbalance with no way to fix it, if you don't know how it's supposed to be put together.

You just hope that the last guy to do it wasn't some untrained monkey who changed the orientation. The factory doesn't put alignment marks on them, for some reason. They put a bunch of other paint marks that denote the model it's going in, (I think). What you want to see is previous alignment marks from another mechanic if it's been apart before or hope that it's never been apart. It's a splined fitting with a lot of potential matings:
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As I get older, I hire more and more stuff out to other shops.


that said, I still wrench and find pleasure in it for the sake of self-satisfiction knowing it's done right.


:eek:


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I'm always dinking around with something. I'm addicted, I guess because it is so satisfying.

Earlier this summer I sandblasted and painted an old Dodge flathead manifold and carburetor for no good reason. I mounted on my shop wall. Now I have a Powerwall. :D

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Currently I'm cleaning up and painting this old wooden car wheel. I don't know why, other than I want to.



Yeah, that too. I just finished re-doing my '65 VW. The story is in this thread:

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/off-topic-discussions/1128271-up-fixing-65-vw-thread.html

I'm about to start a refresh of my Speedster, pending progress on my back pain issue.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1695313989.jpg

Finishing something, a project, break/fix activity, refresh, whether on a car, appliance, house, etc... all good feelings of accomplishment. Sometimes it's almost euphoric, sometimes barely noticable. Hell, it's been so long since I did much on a car that I'm feeling pretty good to just change the oil and filters.

Man that is a sweet set up!!! [emoji106][emoji106][emoji106]

Sent from my SM-S916U using Tapatalk

I find maintaining or doing upgrades is fun.

What I find a chore is doing repairs. They often take longer and can be frustrating. Especially if there is a time constraint.

I do enjoy tinkering on motorcycles. It used to be cars up to about seven or eight years ago when it just got to be more work than fun. So far working on motorcycles is still fun. As I have more than one motorcycle, there’s no pressure to get the one I’m working on done.

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One of my favorite things to do is fix other people's poor quality repairs. Ducati headlight wiring before and after using an H4 9003 rated ceramic socket.

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Doing it right always feels good.

Replacing a check strap on my S420.

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That's a big part of it this sort of thing.

If it's an unexpected repair that's outside of some of the easy tasks where you've got to tackle a big and/or unfamiliar job at an unexpected time and that job has a deadline because it's on your only/main driver, that's less fun than something that you were able to plan ahead to do when it's convenient for you.

Ideally, you've got an extra car that can assume driver duties if a problem pops up so you aren't stuck having to do something unexpectedly.

Having to get home from work Tue night and repair something before that vehicle can be driven to work Wed morning or something like that, is the worst.

I remember the missus being on the side of the road in her miata and me getting an alternator and driving 30 miles to replace the alternator on the side of the road. That sort of thing sucks too.