Rants, raves, funny stories . . .
Posted: Wed Sep 01, 2010 5:17 pm
A little background first . . .
I'm 52 and have always been a "tractor-ass". Love to take things apart and see what makes them work. Always had more time than I did money so we've always tried to repair things instead of replacing them. I remember rebuilding wheel cylinders on cars when I was old enough to buy a car. Been in the automotive business since I graduated high school, (no . . . I don't wrench for a living). So I'm quite familiar with the "fix it correctly" and also "pretend someone is going to critique/look-over your work the day after you did it.
So anyway . . . I get my Loboy that I've always wanted, (of course much worse shape but it was all I could afford). I get it home and start looking it over and find out that everything pretty much "functions" as it should. Correctly . . . ? Not everything, but I'm happy with the purchase. I get looking closer and almost every rollpin is replaced with either lock-wire or nails. All the return/helper springs are missing, wrong bolt/nuts are everywhere. Also a few wood screws for good measure. The PO had put a "newer" battery in and it was too long and the little lips/fingers kept it wedged at an angle in the battery opening. Had to use a big screwdriver to wedge it up and out after I had the rear sheet metal removed. A different starter/generator was installed that didn't have provisions for the voltage regulator to be mounted to it. A NAPA VR was mounted on the frame rail with "extension" wires running to it, (they were just 12/2 house wire). The PO did have the old S/G which he gave me. I got thinking that this thing has had the complete charging/starting system replaced. The odds of all of it going bad at the same time are slim to none. So I took the S/G up and had it tested, works like a champ. Ordered the correct VR and got the correct size battery to fit in the box. Oh . . . and the battery cable ends were cut and stripped and the bare wires were nutted to some sort of adapter terminal. So this weekend I'll swap out the S/G to the original and get the correct VR put back where it should go.
I guess I just needed to rant/rave about the extra work people do when it would've taken less time and money if they had just repaired/tested things like they should've.
Feel free to add your own horror stories . . .
I'm 52 and have always been a "tractor-ass". Love to take things apart and see what makes them work. Always had more time than I did money so we've always tried to repair things instead of replacing them. I remember rebuilding wheel cylinders on cars when I was old enough to buy a car. Been in the automotive business since I graduated high school, (no . . . I don't wrench for a living). So I'm quite familiar with the "fix it correctly" and also "pretend someone is going to critique/look-over your work the day after you did it.
So anyway . . . I get my Loboy that I've always wanted, (of course much worse shape but it was all I could afford). I get it home and start looking it over and find out that everything pretty much "functions" as it should. Correctly . . . ? Not everything, but I'm happy with the purchase. I get looking closer and almost every rollpin is replaced with either lock-wire or nails. All the return/helper springs are missing, wrong bolt/nuts are everywhere. Also a few wood screws for good measure. The PO had put a "newer" battery in and it was too long and the little lips/fingers kept it wedged at an angle in the battery opening. Had to use a big screwdriver to wedge it up and out after I had the rear sheet metal removed. A different starter/generator was installed that didn't have provisions for the voltage regulator to be mounted to it. A NAPA VR was mounted on the frame rail with "extension" wires running to it, (they were just 12/2 house wire). The PO did have the old S/G which he gave me. I got thinking that this thing has had the complete charging/starting system replaced. The odds of all of it going bad at the same time are slim to none. So I took the S/G up and had it tested, works like a champ. Ordered the correct VR and got the correct size battery to fit in the box. Oh . . . and the battery cable ends were cut and stripped and the bare wires were nutted to some sort of adapter terminal. So this weekend I'll swap out the S/G to the original and get the correct VR put back where it should go.
I guess I just needed to rant/rave about the extra work people do when it would've taken less time and money if they had just repaired/tested things like they should've.
Feel free to add your own horror stories . . .