man, my neighbors are getting trouble some!
 

they see me tinkering with my cars all the time. i have worked on all the neighbor hood (old)ladies cars. i love them all, and they keep a careful watch over my home. but i have become the neighborhood vehicular handyman. going over now to troubleshoot some mystery noise now...

i guess i'll keep at it...vent over.

Think of it this way: at some point, these little old ladies will die. You're the only one who's shown interest in their cars. You might just wind up in someone's will. (Too bad they're probably all Buicks, though.)

Start charging.

it's a good thing to do for the old folks but the younger ones tell them you'll teach them basic car skills and from there they're on there own.

Eh, you'll have that, I'm in the same boat. Trust me, having someone keep eyes on your house is probably worth it. Plus one neighbor came over the other day with concert tickets he couldn't use for me and the wife. I'm positive their are a lot of bad neighbor stories to tell in the group as well so I can't complain. I feel a little guilty waking them up on a weekend at 5am to head to the track anyway.

Sounds like you have great neighbors.... Mine have had me loading a gun and putting it in the drawer next to my chair on several occasions... My room mate keeps a loaded gun in his nightstand....

Not to thread hijack please elaborate I need to hear this story.......

Hmm.... Well theres the time that little thuggy drug dealer threatend my room mate.... This little thug is maybe 5'8" and not very big... My room mate is about 6'2" and fits the Army look perfectly b/c he is Nat Guard... Umm... There was the night that after seeing some thug run up there and hearing someone mention a gun I heard a huge scuffle. They are in the apartment above me... Lots of late night fights and yelling.... Pretty sure they are dealing drugs too....

went to trouble shoot thumping that got faster with MPH. found nothing but original tires on a 2003 truck. they felt hard to the touch. runs pretty nice! it was a regular, vanilla, 2wd tacoma...

yes, all the ladies drive taurus and buicks..the one lady with good stuff in the barn is the ONLY lady that rarely asks me for help. she has a cub90 trail bike that i want bad!

I had that in my old neighborhood.. Pay if forward,, if you spread enough good karma it will come back to you eventually

Always good to make sure the neighbors are well serviced.

It will come back to you in ways you don't expect. Good on ya. I try and take care of the "hood" as well. Funny how cases of beer, bottles of Crown, and boxes of ammo find their way to my house. Side walks have even been shoveled. (and It's a Looonnnggg sidewalk)

Karl
88 Targa

My elderly neighbor across the street was having a problem with his F150 dieing when he would come to a stop a couple weeks ago, so I took the idle valve off his intake and cleaned it for him.... I also noticed that he had an antifreeze leak on his water pump and made that repair for him ... when I finished he handed me a honk'en 15pd torque wrench as a thank you gift.. I got it home and noticed that the adjustments on this thing start at 700pds and go all the way up to around 1500pds.. I don't know what I can use it on, I guess it is for like working on the space shuttle or something lol....

I wanna see how long the handle is on that beast... I know with a pretty long handle doing 400ft/lbs is pretty tricky....

You'll get more out of it than you put in.

Good on ya.

nice to see people looking out for those around them.

It is not too much longer than a normal torque wrench, it seems quite a bit beefier though.. the only way I think you could get the torque up on the thing would be to slip a long piece of heavy duty pipe over the handle as an extension... I am planning on using it as a breaker bar as it is the perfect size... I will try and post a pic of it tomorrow... I looked comparable wrenches up for caparison and they run in the $250 - $400 price range... not too shabby of a thank you gift for an hours work...

Sounds like I've found a Porsche application for your torque wrench: http://forums.pelicanparts.com/911-930-turbo-super-charging-forum/514182-how-remove-centerlock-omfg.html

Sweet mother of god, what is that like a 2" drive!!!:eek:

Vash, Ive been doing that for years. But I have been rewarded with something better than money, Friendships that will last till I die.:D

I used to have neighbors like that in Central KS. We were probably the youngest people in our neighborhood by 50 years, I think we were a source of amusement. The home cooked food more than made up for any assistance I provided.:) Not only that, but they spent so much time watching us that a security system would have been redundant.

next time wear yer stevo from jack ass thong over to do the fixin'. problem solved.

Yeah, that's not troublesome. That's a great opportunity to do something nice for somebody. Probably get to hear some great stories and make good friends, that's more than enough retribution in my book.

Your lucky, im the neighborhood mechanic, carpenter, financial advisor, swim party host, lawn guy, fill-in dad, "cup of sugar/flour/egg" guy, and compliance police. So you got it lucky if all you have to do is tinker with a few car issues. You can always say you cant figure it out and your done with no hard feelings :D

i do the same. be thankful for the good neighbors, it just takes one bad one to make your life miserable. although it is usually my wife volunteering my services, she just would not volunteer them to our friend that was looking for a booty call, perhaps when we were younger.
i even take care of my neighbors yard a lot of the time. i fixed one neighbors riding mower then cut their grass.

BTW, i would not charge them, but if it is major, i might consider it.

my wife and her mother took care of this old couple that lived across the street from them. they supposedly left some stuff to them when they died. of course, then all the family came out of the woodwork and would not give the stuff to them. they had theis big olsd beautiful grandfather clock that was giving to my wife but she never got it.

Now who's fault is that?
Say no. Problem solved.

Neighbors are a PITA. They only want something that you have.
I am nice and polite to my neighbors and never ask them for anything. I expect them to show me the same courtesy. If they don't, I stop being nice and polite. Reward rudeness with rudeness.

I only really know three of my neighbors. (I live on the and of the block, only one other house borders mine).
All of them at one time or another have asked me to come over and fix something for them.
I say "OK, but just this once. the next time you need to figure it out yourself or call someone (besides me)".
I helped them out but they got the message.

Oh, and they all know I don't loan tools. Ever. Never. To anyone. No matter what.
I used to, but the return rate was below 50%. Even best friends and family have "forgotten" to return tools. I had to hound them and bug them and eventually be downright rude to get my property back.

So now I tell them where they can go buy or rent a tool but they can't use mine.
One time a neighbor have me the BS line that "I'll only need it for 5 minutes, I'll bring it right back, etc."
I told him I'd rent it to him for $20 a day. He wasn't interested, it was only worth $20 ;)

I only break stuff..
thus none ask for 'assistance'..
mine are awesome...
wife ordered a few to many 'yards ' of dirt last yr..
like WTF were you thinking..
I'm thinking this will take weeks to spread..
Sat. neighbor Steve rounds up the able bodied teens & wheelbarrows...
all done in about 4 hours..
& Ms Mary across the street..best alarm in the hood..
we all did Christmas carols in the hood last yr..
about 30 of us..
doing great ..2nd to last house..
we find a REAL choir practicing..DUH..
& my Lab. Sam steals baby Jesus from the manger..

Rika

Vash,

You sound like a good guy and you are doing the right thing. I am the neighborhood handyman or Qand A for their homes. I go out and help them with little stuff 3-4 times a year. I will only help those that are nice to us. We have had a good few BMW driving yuppie young couples that bought in the height of the housing market that think they are "The $hit". I let someone else fuch them. The guy across the street, water leaks through the sills and thieir new wood floor is screwed. I love it.

They will watch over your house when you are gone. That's worth millions.

Jeff