Yup. And then you can't find the tool you're looking for, or the tool itself is broken and you have to fix THAT! Reminds me of the following passage from Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance:
“Normally screws are so cheap and small and simple you think of them as unimportant. But now, as your Quality awareness becomes stronger, you realize that this one, individual, particular screw is neither cheap nor small nor unimportant.
“Right now this screw is worth exactly the selling price of the whole motorcycle, because the motorcycle is actually valueless until you get the screw out.
“With this reevaluation of the screw comes a willingness to expand your knowledge of it.”
After half a century of fixing broken machinery, I can't tell you how many jobs I thought would take four hours that were accomplished in twenty minutes and how many jobs I thought would take twenty minutes were four hours or more.
Factory cross threaded Head bolt on a new Honda CB450T Twin overhead cam engine that sheared off in an aluminum case. Broke the drill bit, got that out then broke the Easy Out off in it.
Machine shop wouldn't touch it unless case split and transmission torn down completely. Wound up blasting it out with a cutting torch, very carefully. The hole was so chewed up that the Helicoil wouldn't tighten up good so I had to retighten that one head bolt every few weeks. I worked on that bolt for a week.
Was replacing the head on a Datsun B210 I bought cheap 20 years ago and I asked my mechanic brother how much to tighten a particular bolt as he was using the torque wrench for another task. Until it goes "ping he replied. "Then back off a quarter turn." A-hole...
I estimate remodeling of residential homes. Not always a bolt but I definitely get the metaphor. If it is a stripped nut you can not beat those Irwen sockets for stripped nuts. They have saved me countless times. I've got both sets.
Even though I started with a six point socket, the lower passenger side, forward bolt on the Forester valve cover rounded off and turned a finicky gasket change into an ordeal.
Oh, Dude....... I can't even begin to tell you how many times that has happened. Had a grinder that went from a four day job to three weeks. And that was just recently.
I did a rear brake job on a Chevy Chevette. I broke the pin on the brake adjuster. Which could not be repaired w/o replacing the backing plate. Which meant pulling the axle. Which involved disassembling the differential.
Don't even get me started on the Honda Civic that required a specific wrench to remove the last bolt on a cracked exhaust manifold. Which could only be special ordered from Honda. In Japan. On back order...
Hopefully it't only 3 days and just one bolt...
ReplyDeleteHey Irish;
ReplyDeleteI am an airplane mechanic and I have been burned enough by those "quick Jobs" that can go like a chinese fire drill in a new york minute.
amen brother!
ReplyDeleteGuy must've had a Shovelhead at one time or another.
ReplyDeleteYup. And then you can't find the tool you're looking for, or the tool itself is broken and you have to fix THAT! Reminds me of the following passage from Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance:
ReplyDelete“Normally screws are so cheap and small and simple you think of them as unimportant. But now, as your Quality awareness becomes stronger, you realize that this one, individual, particular screw is neither cheap nor small nor unimportant.
“Right now this screw is worth exactly the selling price of the whole motorcycle, because the motorcycle is actually valueless until you get the screw out.
“With this reevaluation of the screw comes a willingness to expand your knowledge of it.”
Story of my life.
ReplyDeleteAnd I've had LOTS of "Broken Bolts" along the way.....
After half a century of fixing broken machinery, I can't tell you how many jobs I thought would take four hours that were accomplished in twenty minutes and how many jobs I thought would take twenty minutes were four hours or more.
ReplyDeletePreach it, my brother.
ReplyDeleteThat moment when your chainsaw starter rope breaks and disappears inside the take up spool....
ReplyDeleteCracked a secondary cast shaft housing, caused by a broken bolt in the top drive gear, Loom #3, was told not to harm the warp. Good times.
ReplyDeletecast iron
Delete....ditto James
ReplyDeleteFactory cross threaded Head bolt on a new Honda CB450T Twin overhead cam engine that sheared off in an aluminum case.
ReplyDeleteBroke the drill bit, got that out then broke the Easy Out off in it.
Machine shop wouldn't touch it unless case split and transmission torn down completely.
Wound up blasting it out with a cutting torch, very carefully.
The hole was so chewed up that the Helicoil wouldn't tighten up good so I had to retighten that one head bolt every few weeks.
I worked on that bolt for a week.
Zoon.
ReplyDeletehttps://mcthag.blogspot.com/2016/09/always-something.html
As "Mike aka Proof" said, I've 20 minute jobs that took four hours and four hour jobs that took 20 minutes.
ReplyDeleteOnly I think the ratio is about 20:1 in favor of short jobs taking hours or days.
Why is it every time we pull a PSV off a boiler for the annual testing it turns out parts are back ordered for 16 weeks.
ReplyDeleteExile1981
Especially If You Work On Submarines!!! One broken screw in the wrong component can and does end up being a 3 week job.
ReplyDeleteWith a shit-ton of paperwork
HUSH! Paperwork is two four letter words strung together with an extra letter just to piss ya off.
Delete120 miles away and ended up using a bfh to get the carriage back on the tire machine that they did bad things to.
ReplyDeleteWas replacing the head on a Datsun B210 I bought cheap 20 years ago and I asked my mechanic brother how much to tighten a particular bolt as he was using the torque wrench for another task. Until it goes "ping he replied. "Then back off a quarter turn." A-hole...
ReplyDeleteThe last time that happened, I invented a new phrase of cursing. I wish I could remember it for the next time such things happen.
ReplyDeleteI estimate remodeling of residential homes. Not always a bolt but I definitely get the metaphor. If it is a stripped nut you can not beat those Irwen sockets for stripped nuts. They have saved me countless times. I've got both sets.
ReplyDeleteUsually starts as a frozen bolt. Then it breaks.
ReplyDelete--generic
I usually blame engineers for piss poor designs when it happens
ReplyDeleteEven though I started with a six point socket, the lower passenger side, forward bolt on the Forester valve cover rounded off and turned a finicky gasket change into an ordeal.
ReplyDelete3 out of 4 stainless bolts in hanging aluminum mounts under the dive platform on a salt water boat.
ReplyDeleteOh, Dude.......
ReplyDeleteI can't even begin to tell you how many times that has happened. Had a grinder that went from a four day job to three weeks. And that was just recently.
Leigh
Whitehall,NY
I did a rear brake job on a Chevy Chevette. I broke the pin on the brake adjuster. Which could not be repaired w/o replacing the backing plate. Which meant pulling the axle. Which involved disassembling the differential.
ReplyDeleteDon't even get me started on the Honda Civic that required a specific wrench to remove the last bolt on a cracked exhaust manifold. Which could only be special ordered from Honda. In Japan. On back order...