I'm Really as Stupid as I thought (Belt Tensioner Part II)

[bflood]

Originally posted by dpuckett

bflood- if you make a list of all the repentant sinners here, and refuse to heed their advice on given topics, there wouldnt be anyone left for you to listen to. And besides, some of these guys' mess ups were 30 or 40 years ago.



-DP

I really know what you mean, I even having trouble listening to myself. Of course I was kidding about the list and all. I've made my share of goofs I'm just having trouble confessing.

 

[BushWakr - RIP]

:-laf :-laf... . you guys are killin me here..... :-laf... .



I know there are more out there... . it's just hard to 'fess up to 'em.....



If you've never made a mistake, you've never taken a chance... . or somthin like that.....



Pastor Bob... .

 

[lil red cummins]

its obvious we need to create a self-help group, kinda like AA for alcoholics, so here is my idea.



MADD (yeah, i know its been done)



Mechanics

Against

Diesel

Destruction



first meeting:



HI !, my name is Jim. I have been screwup free for 48 hours... ...

 

[jmeehan]

Here's a couple from my ford mechanic days...



There was the time I misread the work order on an Aerostar. I didn't realize it said replace the rear main seal, until after I had replaced the rear pinion seal. It was the first job of the day, and my mind wasn't on my work.



Then there was the rear differential I was filling. The fill spout from the bucket pump wouldn't fit in the fill hole, so I just held it against the fill hole tight and pumped away. Well I overfilled the diff and pressurized it. When I pulled the spout away to check the level my face and hair became coated in gear oil as the diff de-pressurized and corrected its level. That stuff stings the eyes a bit.



Some advice for Carolina Cummins. I used to be bad about breaking and stripping bolts too. Once I spent several hundred dollars on tap and die sets, bolt extracters and left hand drill bits my problem seemed to go away. I probably just learned not to be so heavy handed, but the timing was interesting. Better to have the tools and not need them then to need them and not have them.

 

[DISPATCH]

well the most recent are using a solid color hose for a syphen and lets just say gas dosent taste so good ( burping gas for the next few hours) and using a wrench on the boat battery to loosen the wing nuts and slipped when the nut broke loose. when it arced it melted the threaded post so i rigged it up so it would still work

 

[JLEONARD]

using a wrench on the boat battery to loosen

Now, don't get me started on boat related F ups... .

Started when I bought one!

Jay

 

[bflood]

Okay, here goes:



Once upon a time . . . . . like many years ago, while running a screening plant at a gravel pit (that used to be the Dover Dragstrip in Dover NY) . . . . . . I periodically had to move the screening rig to clean under the hopper. I screwed up the hookup to the payloader with the chain on one side being shorter than the other. I just lifted the screener about a foot and it started to tip. This thing was top heavy, with a 4cyl powerplant at the very top. about 25 ft above ground. I dropped the loader bucket but it was too late and I watched the plant go over, like it was being played in slow motion and I was helpless to stop it. CRASH!!! :{ :{



There, I did it. I confessed. Moral of the story? Ya gotta pay attention and THINK!!!



Bruce

 

[1stgen4evr]

I watched the plant go over, like it

Well dang, there goes my chances at second place for most expensive screw up.



James

 

[JLEONARD]

Bruce,

I have no idea what this screening rig looks like, but I get a nice visual on what happened!

Welcome to MADD

 

[Case500D]

My senior year of high school I had a real learning experience. I found out that morphine for 4 days straight has the same effect on your digestive tract as 15 lbs of cheese. I was getting the morphine because of a mechanical screwup. On Labor Day of 1996, I was working on a Ford utility tractor. Had just finished rebuilding the updraft carb. Was putting it on and the fuel shutoff didn't work, so there was a fair amount of gas around. I forgot to put a gasket between the sediment bulb and the carb. That is when my wrench hit the hot post on the hillbilly rigged alternator (not my doing). I learned that you can jump the front wheel and loader of a tractor when your hands and right arm is one fire. I landed ona concete pad doing the stop, drop and roll thing. It does work The fire was hot enough to burn the valve cover gasket out from under the valve cover. Dad and I got the fire out, eventually and then took off to the hospital in my truck. The truck of the time was a 1983 GMC 1/2 ton with a 250 six in it. Wide open was 73 mph and it was spark knocking like crazy. The best part was the dog was still in the back of the truck He had a wild ride. Anyway, got to go to the burn unit and have lots of interesting medication. No permanent damage except the hair no longer grows on the back of my hands. Moral of this story is, even if you think the battery is dead, unhook it anyway.



Jeremy

 

[Ol'TrailDog]

#ad




Whoa! Looks like I'm not the only one to receive the baptism by fire routine



Glad everything turned out okay.

 

[REakin]

Baptisim by fire?

I had one of those.



Mine came about while I was working on my toyota. Was putting a dana 44 front axle in place of the independant front suspension. Playing with the cutting torch having a great time chopping up a perfectly good truck..... well, I can't stand wearing gloves for any length of time.....



Have you ever been squating down working on something and started to fall backwards? You know that goofy thing you do with your arms to try and catch your ballance? like your in a pool trying to swim forward..... hehe... .



I'll just say I was squatting down, with the torch, and fell on my butt. I did the little swim thing on the way down. When I got up I shut off the gas (I had snuffed the flame on my hand) and looked down at the pice of bacon hanging off the back of my right hand. It kinda hurted.

 

[Detroitiron]

You guys are honest... funny... and more experienced than any of us ever wanted to be in this topic. A couple of the posts had me thinking, "That happened to me, but I never told anybody!"

Have you ever hit yourself right between the eyes with your own half inch drive ratchet? OUCH! Harder than anybody else ever hit me. I was finishing up a brake job on the front of an old Dodge van, didn't have an air drive ratchet yet, and WHAM! the socket slipped off the bolt head... After the blood stopped, I got in the van with 5 buddies, and we went for a week of deer hunting in the Blue Ridge mountains. If doing something stupid was illegal, we'd ALL be arrested sometime or other.

 

[hammersley]

OK - I have this great professional Honda Lawnmower - BUT tell you what the bag assembly sucks!!! It won't even allow you to run over it with a CTD - while's it drying..... what kind of junk are these made of anyway??????

 

[John - K5AWO]

Back in '72, I needed to cut a square hole in the middle of a sheet of plywood. Saw my skill saw, grabbed it up. Pulled the blade guard up and commented to my father-in-law, "ya know, a feller could get hurt this way".



pulled the trigger and blood everywhere. Lost 1/2 of the finger nail as I pulled that finger out of the guard before the blade stopped spinning.



my son inherited that saw. says he keeps it because all the dried blood reminds him of what not to do... ... ... .....



confession over... ...

 

["Mad Max"]

busted knuckle garage...

I think the worst one for me was when I was moving my 440, on the stand, to the other side of the garage. No big deal, just grab the front pump and push/pull in the right direction to move the (3-legged) stand around... little this way, little that wa- After the front wheel hit the crack in the garage floor all 650 lbs of big block Mopar starting losing the battle with gravity, soooo, being my first engine I was sentimental about the thing - I can stop it... . (whoo, this thing is heavy. . ) (urf. . reall... heav- oh this is bad... -). After it nearly pinned my knee against the concrete and landed with a defening 'CRUNCH' on the floor I realized that the front of my body kinda was hurting - after having a look I realized that the water pump nose had tried to stop itself by using the area between my right chest and left knee as an anchor. The guys at work just let me sit at the terminal and process stuff - yeah... I use 4-legged stands now, and smooth concrete.



The other was when trying to release the bleered screw on the left rear wheel cylinder of my 69 Charger. Of course it's just a little screw... should... . come..... right... loose... . (well darn, this thing is in there pretty good..... ) probably pretty rusty... a little more torque on the ole wrist-o-meter, a little mor- WHACK!! Okay, you know all the undercoating on those older cars... kinda sharp and rough, then add a little rust and lots of road dirt... you know the kind, right? Well, each and every one of the major knuckles on my right hand were shreded and all of that dirt, rust, and undercoating was making for a nice sensation..... the screw came loose tho...



I have too many 'stupid moments' to share, but the list is long and distinguished... .

- Gonzo

 

[TMWeber]

Well, this is not as. . uh, painfull. . as some but it just happened. I thought I would celebrate a slight pause in the rain by running out and changing the transfer case oil that I had wanted to do for a while now.

Tools, drain pan, funnel, under I go. Piece of cake, done in 5 minutes just like the rice! The ole 93 has a skid plate under the t-case but there is a cut out at the back just right for the funnel to stick through, draining all that fluid neatly into the well placed drain pan below! So I'm holding the funnel with one hand and unscrewing the drain plug with the other when PLOP! the plug drops into the funnel very effecivly sealing it shut! The fluid runs out pouring all over the WIDE skid plate (well, wider than the pan that is not placed under it anyway), and of course down my arm as I desperatly try to pull the plug out. Finally I dump the funnel upside down to remove the plug and redundantly put it back under the now empty t-case! All the while my 3 year old daughter is shouting out that there is stuff running all over the driveway! (no $#!t Sherlok!) But I did remember to fill the t-case up AFTER putting the plugs back.

 

[Jdonoghue]

I was working on an old Honda Civic, had the top off of the carburetor, looking down into it, "I wonder where the accellerator pump sprays out?" Last thing I saw was the stream of gas coming out of the hole I was looking at. Gas in the eyes stings really bad.

 

[CGauthier]

Originally posted by 1stgen4evr

Does that sound all to familiar?



Tugboat, you can be first but there may be a sub-catagory prize that goes to the most expensive screwup.



On that finger in the hole deal. I saw a guy line up a trailer hitch pin with his finger. The tractor driver let the clutch out and the guy lost a finger. Be careful what you put your finger in. You may be looking at the result the rest of your life.







For those of you who never did anything wrong, you must be paying someone to do your work. Cause I guarantee that if you work, you will somewhere, sometime, do something like my fellow screwup TDR friends. There may be just as much 'Lesson' in these threads as the ones about specific problems. In fact, I think this might be good in the FAQ section.



James

BINGO



I would say my mistake has been the most expensive, I haven't been doing my own work. I lost my flavor for working on vehicles for a little while till i got this '93 Sweetheart. Now I swear I'll do all(well, most; whatever i figgure i can handle) my own work--it's cheaper, AND more importantly you know what's happening... when i very first got my Ram it needed rear axles seals, so i said change the diff oils and trans and t-case... they said all the oils were good except they changed the oil in the t-case. Well, 2 months later I say to myself, self, I dont care what they say I'm changing the oils. Well, surprise surprise, the oil in the front diff is a light brown in color (water obviously) and the rear diff not as bad but pretty black. I guess they were either too busy or too lazy to do it, but i would have expected it to be the other way around-try to do more than you ask them to do.



Finger & trailer hitch--OUCH, dam i feel for that guy; I can almost visualize it happening and what's goin through this poor guys head at the moment... Yikes



Correct me if I'm wrong, but I dont see a post from bgilbert in this thread... lol WE'RE WAITING

 

[TMWeber]

C'mon Bill... 'fess up.