Things not to do in your garage

[JBlock]

Ouch that must of hurt, I could easily see that happening more than once in a family.

 

[DValentine]

Well, these stories come at a good time. I have just spent a month rebuilding a 235 chevy six to replace the old 216 in a '46 truck. Got the engine in and running in the garage. Then did some body work. That all finished I pull it out for a road test. The oil pressure gauge had been reading fine in the garage, now on the road it drops to zero and then back up to 30..... back and forth like that. I thought it must be the gauge. So I run about 8 miles. Get back to the garage and pull the pan to see what the hell is going on. I had left a piece of blue rag in the bottom end, and it got sucked into the pump screen. Pulled the mains and rods... . rods are trashed... . crank looks ok. I have been kicking myself for 3 days now.



The clincher is that I wanted to use the truck in my wedding on the sixth of Aug. I don't have time to pull the engine and re do it. So I will try 50 weight oil and new rod bearings... . and try to get it to the wedding.



Thanks for the smiles, while I feel like the big dumb ***.



Dave

 

[340Mark]

Yep I'm guilty of the wayward welding torch also. Welding the frame of a drag car and brushed by the fuel line with the electrode. Just a pin hole really, but it sure dripped alot of fuel before I felt the heat with the helmet down! Good thing they make these cars carry extinguishers.

 

[Ol'TrailDog]

Stupid is as Stupid does, neh?

Well, back in the olden days... I had a Land Rover with a Chevy Iron Duke four banger. One day I decides to rebuild the carb. After cleaning in carb cleaner dip basket, I was going to do a final rinse-brush in gaz'oline. Sos I put a 3lb. coffee can under the electric fuel pump and crank the starter a few times. Go and look... hmmm... just a little more... . crank,crank, PHUMPHFF... . Ground control we have FIRE.



The starter had ignited the gas in the coffee can. My imediate instinct was to, PUFFFFF, blow real hard on the flaming coffee can. DO NOT do this at home, or anywhere else for that matter. The flames spread real nicely to include my eyebrows. (I think that's exactly what I looked like too) :-laf



Immediately I picked up on the fact that not only was blowing on the flaming coffee can a bad idea, but it wasn't going to work either. I sprinted for the travel trailer I parked next to the bunkhouse. The door was locked!!! I sprint back to the Land Rover and grab the keys and sprint back to the TT. Grabbed a fire extinguish and PHFFFFFFFFFFF... . save Land Rover for future repairs.

 

[EMathis]

Oil all over

Dumbest thing I ever did involved the rebuilding of the 302 in my 1969 Mustang. 1st car I ever bought and was tearing it apart in order to rebuild the motor at 206,000 and decided I would start while my dad was at work. Pulled car to front of driveway, drained and pulled the radiator not thinking that it is a automatic. Then started her up, put into gear and pulled out onto the street, went into reverse, backed up and went to drive to pull back into the driveway and she wouldn't move. Realizing then that I blew all 10 or so quarts of type F onto the street from the disconnected transmission lines. :{ Was able to pull into the driveway using low gear but had quite the mess to clean-up afterwards.



The next dumbest thing I ever did was in changing the oil in my dad's 1974 Olds 98 Luxobarge, 455 4 barrel . I didn't match up the new oil filter with the old one and they of course were not quite the same. Started her up and watched for oil pressure which came and went along with all the oil onto the driveway. Another big mess. Needless to say I alway check the filters now. Take care everyone

 

[CRuth]

Well not to mention all the dumb things I've done. But one time I'm on my day off from the CDF, two wheel drive truck, sounds bad, feels bad. I pull over. Hmmm, that felt like a front wheel bearing going. Good diagnosis. I put my hand on to see if its hot. HOT!! I freaking branded myself!! Thank god it was my day off and I had a cooler of beer in the back. Quickly plunge the hand into the ice water, ahhhhh.

 

[TurboTweaker]

and then you pulled out a nice cold beer..... Oo.



as far as dumb goes..... where to start. well lets see here NEVER fill a pumkin with gass and light it... then shoot it with a 12ga. hmmmm didn blow up must need more gas walk over dump some on ... ... cans on fire F*** drop that run away... ..... :--) well what the heck its melting now lets shoot that now BAD IDEA! gas every where but i got the effect i was going, mushroom cloud. the fire extingusher was empty... DAMN! grab bobcat and scoop up snow and burried the whole thing in a snow pile. had a nice reminder in the spring.....



The Fat Kid

Andy

 

[Diesel Gunner]

Well, unfortunately I can't say that I was just a youngster when I pulled this stunt.



I had the old Ford PU in the garage and was going to install the CB. Naturally I wanted to wire it to a switched circuit and do a nice clean install. So the hood is up, both doors are open, and the dash cowl is off.



Back in those days I was not one to use the E brake and the wheel chocks were doing just fine over there on the floor. My wife never fails to ask me if the wheels are chocked when I am in the garage nowadays, even if I am just waxing the car. Anyway, I reach over and pull the truck out of gear and switch the ignition to the on position. I am looking for a hot wire under the cowl and don't notice that we are now rolling. When I look up I see my tool box getting smaller I realize whats happening. I bail from the passenger side, slam the door shut (saved that one), run to the front of the truck and slam the hood down and head for the drivers side door. When I arrived there I gave the door a good shove only to have it shove back as it catches on the garage door frame and begins to fold back.



OK, so now my door is going to need about $800 to make it feel better. But, as the truck exits the garage, I can clearly see that it is headed straight for my company van parked on the street. I run around my custom drivers door, manage to get in the truck and just as I hit the brakes I feel the impact. OK, so now the van needs about $1200 to make it feel better.



Well, this weekend kinda sucks. So let's see how many beers I can drink to make me feel better.



Remember, set the E brake, chock the wheels. And, I don't care if you are just going to wax it. If you rub hard enough you might snap the E brake cable and you will be really proud of yourself that you chocked the wheels.

 

[Cummins Pilot]

Last winter I needed to do some work on my snowmachine (snowmobile to you southern fellers). The work to be done required the the track be off the ground so I could drop the track and skid out. I decided I'd slig it from the ceiling and wouldn't you know it the bracket that holds the garage door rail up was bolted to the ceiling very well (or at least I thought). I raised the end of the sled and after about 20 mintues of work the bolts pulled out of the ceiling and everything came crashing down,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,on me. As it turns out the bolts (not even sheet rock screws) were just threaded into the sheet rock alone, no studs were used!!!! After all that the garage door has been thru I'm not surprised it doesn't close very good.

 

[Champane Flight]

Well, well

DG just got me to thinking about a time back when I was driving a tanker.

This has nothing to do with garage behavior, but gets to the close call point nicely.



I was parked across the front of a 7-11 deliverying gasoline. This store was on the side of a hill, in front was a very busy four lane highway hwy 24, Woodland park Colo. Traffic was heavy that day and I was watching my hoses for intruders who tend to want to run over hoses backing up and so on. A guy pulls in front of the store in a new (ford) SUV, and jumps out. I watched him pull in and went back to changing a hose from one compartment to another. I see something moving in the corner of my eye, it was the SUV, rolling backwards, with nobody in it!!! I knew I couldn't get to it in time so I ran to the back of my trailer to watch it cause major carnage on the busy highway! I watched it hit the curb on the edge of the highway, moving pretty good by then, then it started a slow turn. It went all the way across the highway, then back across again! Ending up rolling up in front of my semi, where I jumped in and set the brake! The guy comes out of the store, white as a ghost, thanks me over and over. Explains that his SUV has a recall to get park fixed. I could not believe it, not a scratch, just one car went by during that maneuver!

 

[catoiler]

Very Young and stupid!My friend and I found a 22 short laying in the desert and thought we would see what would happen if we put it in the vise and hit it with a hammer! :--) Man you talk about lucky,the bullet went through the door and most of the case went into the roof!That could have been really bad had the man upstairs not been looking down on us!Glad we out grew that stage in life really quick.

 

[markha1]

Try putting a 22 long in the fuse block to replace a blown 15A fuse..... Did I say Blown fuse. After about 15 mins of driveing BANG !! no lights, half the fuse block is gone

and my shorts will NEVER be the same. Not to mention the stained seat

 

[Scrappy]

we are BRILLIANT aren't we? I guess I need to add a couple.

I used to work at a John Deere dealer as set up and delivery and L&g repair. I was working on a 420 Hydro that had weak hydraulics, I replaced a couple of components and it still wasn't working right. I took the relief valve out of the top of the hydro and for some unknown reason I bumper the starter. well it decided to START sending hydraulic fluid to the 25 ft ceiling of the shop! It was raining hydro in that spot for several days!

The shop had a washrack in it that had been run over one too many times and the expanded metal was broken loose from the frame. I pulled it out and was torching the expanded metal loose so I could straighten it. I had the torch going and had it mostly cut it free and there was one spot that was hanging up. I set the torch down on my leg to beat it free with the hammer, I hit it once and the torch rolled so it was pointing @ my knee! I threw it off, the hammer down and put my knee/jeans out with my hand. I ended up with at least 3rd degree burns where it landed!(imagine that)

 

[JStieger]

Don't zip-tie performance box control cables to your steering column and then wonder out loud to your friends that you think the steering box is going out due to stiffness/ lack of return to center a week later.



BTW Edge turned over my Attitude monitor in 1. 5 days with a new control cable!

 

[Stranger]

Here we go.



I'll be 49 next Tuesday. (If I make it). A week ago today, I was playing hookey from work as we are getting ready to move to Indiana. I was modifying some hardwood floor planks, bamboo, actually, for base boards and toekicks. I looked through the shop for about an hour trying to find the arbor for my finishing blade for the table saw.



Not being able to find it I decided to use one of the routers. 1/2 hp router with a 1/2" straight bit. Spins pretty danged fast. Stuck my hand in it. Didn't slow it one bit. Nicked the left index finger extensor tendon. 8 hours later I was in the OR for emergency tendon repair.



5 weeks from now I might be able bend it. First time I've ever been hurt by a power tool.

 

[HOBrian]

Very Young and stupid!My friend and I found a 22 short laying in the desert and thought we would see what would happen if we put it in the vise and hit it with a hammer! :--) Man you talk about lucky,the bullet went through the door and most of the case went into the roof!That could have been really bad had the man upstairs not been looking down on us!Glad we out grew that stage in life really quick.

My brother did the same thing, he now has a couple of pieces of the shell in his left hand. They got the big piece out of his shoulder.

 

[radar doctor]

lots of good info here

thanks FOR the laughs

 

[Rocketdoc]

My shining moment (literally) was putting in heavy transmission fluid one cold winter night in an unheated garage. It wouldn't pour well, so to speed things up, I put it in a milk jug and heated it in the kitchen sink. I then drilled two holes in the milk lid -- one for a tygon tube to dispense the lube, and the other a short tube to fit over (what else?) my blow-gun nozzle. Everything worked great for a while, but then the oil started to thicken again. Noooo problem, I'll just crank up the regulator a bit... that'll fix it. Well, I had just resumed filling when KABLOOM!!!!! 90W140 gear lube on my head, all under the truck, all over the engine, under the hood, on the wall, on the cat, everywhere. I smelled like gear lube for a week. Milk jugs just aren't what they used to be.....

 

[Nightram]

My cousin was about 16, and his friend had a Saab 9000 turbo. It had an oil leak, so they figured they would find it and fix. They never worked on cars before, so they pulled the car over to my cousins house, and they stuck a garden hose in the valve cover and filled it with water. Needless to say, they never found the leak, the car never ran again, and after my cousin's friend got home, his parents FORBID HIM to ever go over to his house again! Oops!!!

 

[JL penner]

I drove an '84 chevy diesel (6. 2L) in highschool. The word "abused" does not come close to describing the way that truck was treated. I beat the living snot out of it, and every morning, it still fired right up. Well after one of our usual "off road" sessionsk, I heard an awful squealing noise coming from under the truck. After further investigation I found the weld on two of the mounts where the flywheel attaches to the torque converter had broken. "No problem," I said to myself, "I can weld that back together!"



The cement floor of the shop was kinda dirty so I got the bright idea of laying down a blue tarp to keep from getting my clothes oily. This is where problems began. There was a big fuel leak that dripped pretty darn close to where I was welding. I fixed that by wrapping the fuel line up with an oil rag (wait... . it gets better). The rag stopped the leak long enough for me to not notice it drip when I started welding.



The smartest thing I did (I think) was have my buddy standing by with a fire extinguisher.



As I was welding hot pieces of metal would hit the now forming puddles of fuel and flare up (remember the blue tarp?). The whole time, my buddy stood by and watched each time one of these "flare ups" would occur, never stopping me. Finally I notice an extremely large flame next to me just out the corner of my eye. He stepped in to put the fire out, but it died out before he needed to. I was just about to comment on the flame when he reached to pick up the extiguisher. With my mouth open about to say something, I recieved a heavy dose of yellow extiguisher powder to the face, including plenty in my mouth. He couldn't stop laughing, and I couldn't stop cussing. To this day ( happened 10 years ago) I don't let him anywhere near me with a fire extiguisher!



JL