Things not to do in your garage

[Cummins Pilot]

Ok guys, this thread is for you to list off things that maybe you shouldn't have done/tried while working in your garage.



One time when I was a lot dumber I installed an auto start (one of those 50 buck cheapo units) on my F-150 that is a stick shift. I was amazed when it started one time and I had left it in 1st. Now this didn't happen in my garage, but moments later the truck went thru the garage door and ended up being parked inside my garage.



Another time I was removing the rear driveline on my F-150 and had my head near the pumpkin removing the bolts to the pinion. I figured I'd slide the drive shaft out of the T-case and catch the slip yoke end with my knees and hold the pinion end with my hands. Well as the shaft came out it slipped right thru my knees and landed on my nuts. From the pain it caused I leaned up real fast only to hammer my head into the bottom of my truck. This was not a good day. :-laf

 

[fkovalski]

When I was living back in NJ, my Dad had built a 6 foot deep pit in the garage floor for servicing vhicles. This was great for changing oil, dropping driveshafts, exhaust repair etc... There were many a time when I would get in the hole and roll the vehicle over me to access farther down the car's chassis. I never thought of any potential consequenses... You folks back in NJ may remember when Pine Belt Chevrolet went up in flames about 25 years ago... and how it started!



Ever since I heard that leaking gasoline dripped onto a trouble lamp bursting the bulb and catching fire and burning the dealership down makes me think back to the times when I would be working under a car- doing fuel line repair, with a lamp AND the car rolled over me! Thank the Lord that a catastrophy never happened!

 

[Hummin Cummins]

Tyler,

If that would have happened to me in my "younger" days, someone would have found the driveshaft in the next county after I threw it. I've mellowed out a bit but I know exactly what you're talking about. LOL



Chris

 

[Will24]

It's a VERY VERY bad idea to soak a shock bolt in every penetrating lube you have in your garage, then try to torch it off...





LOL

That's all I have to say

 

[DOUGMartin]

If it makes you feel any better. I was changing a serpentine belt and forgot about the port in the pully to get slack so for about 2 or 3 hours I tried to do it by hand. Got so exhausted I could do no more the wife drove the truck to a shop run by a freind he had it on in 2 min. and I cryed. I told the mech. about my ordeal and the fact that I had the belt with in a quarter of a inch of going on and he was amazed. I will never forget about the port on the pully agen.

 

[Amish Elegance]

I was just about to weld something (memory little fuzzy, you'll see why) on the welding bench in my garage. I vaguely remember it being a fairly meaty part as I had the amps up to about 130 ish. Just get everything set, filler rod, part positioned, torch hovering over the seam. Flip my head down to lower the helmet (before we got the auto darkening lenz ) Down goes my foot on the peddle. (tig) No arc. Push harder. All of a sudden my forearm feels as if it is literally on FIRE. I couldn't get my foot off fast... enough. Back I go taking the top of the chair with me while the back legs stood firmly in place.



Next thing I know the ceiling is slowly..... coming... . into ... . focus. As I gathered my senses and began to collect myself I found the ground clamp hanging off my contorted leg. If only SNELL rated welding helmets. After rubbing the goose egg on my melon, I made a mental note to always check the ground. :-laf

 

[Jeff H]

Oil tastes great! Although I didn't do this in the garage wich I should have. I changed oil on my sister's truck outside on a windy day. Pulled the plug and the oil poured into the pan. The a swift gust of wind blew through and blew the oil into my face.

 

[TRAMPLINEMAN]

When you're underage and find your dads bottle of Everclear(190 proof), it's NEVER a good idea to see who can blow the biggest flame toward the garage door.

 

[GFritsch]

Doh

Changing the oil in my firebird high school car in dads garage turned into many many hours of clean up. Remember to make sure factory didn't forget to install a gasket on the new oil filter you are installing :--)

Amazing how fast the oil pump emptied the crankcase onto the floor of my dads carpeted garage. :{

 

[NIsaacs]

This is going to make me out a major "Dumb Bell", but if the shoe fits... .....



Back in the late 60's I was working for a local rancher. We were working on a gear box, on a New Holland hay baler. We were washing the parts in gas as we prepared to rebuild it. Well in the middle of washing the parts, I stood up and lost my genuine wind proof Zippo lighter out of my shirt pocket, in the gas pan. Sooo I said, as I picked it up out of the gas, "I'll bet this sucker will work now" (they were notorious for not working). Yup, dropped it back in the gas, set my hands on fire, yanked my straw hat off, rolled my hands in it, rolled around on the shop floor until all the fire was out, on me!! The only good thing was it was a metal pan (not plastic) and we were able to use a long handled shovel and pull it out side.





"NICK"

 

[Rescue Ram]

Several years ago, I was changing the oil on my AMC Eagle. It usually took 5 quarts, but for some reason, it the oil wouldn't register on the stick. I was about half way through the 7th quart, wondering what in the world was going on when I spotted the drain plug sitting on top of the battery. :-laf :-laf :-laf



I was doing some hub work on our International 1900 fire truck several years ago. It was on jack stands with both front wheels off. I mae a quick trip to the store, assuming no one would mess with the truck. I came back just after we got a call to find the truck driven off the jack stands. I guess next time I will make sure to put a "DO NOT MOVE" sign up... after all, wheels are an easy thing to miss. :-laf :-laf :-laf

 

[05mxdiesel]

The worst mistake that I have made in about 5 years of working on vehicles(got my first toyota when I was 18). My dad's excavating business had an 87 Dodge w-350 t-tag with of course the cummins 12-valve. This was my first dose of the cummins. Anyways I stayed at home one day to replace front rotors and calipers since they were shot. Well i forgot to add the copper washer to the brake line on the one side, and when I was pulling back into my driveway after noticing my mistake, I could not stop and then the corner of the garage stopped me. Broke one garage door and tore up the pieces on the side and no damage to the truck whatsoever. Other than the normal other stupid mistakes, welding with no shirt on, welders flash, dropping np-205 tansfer cases on my chest that about it for my mistakes.

 

[Todd G]

First oil change I ever did. Pulled the plug, drained out the funny-looking oil, replaced plug and put 4 quarts in the engine. I started the car and it sounded wierd. It kind of gurgled a bit. Checked the dipstick and it was full-way beyond full. oops. Drained transmission.

 

[Hohn]

Let me just say that the lower volatility of diesel fuel probably saved my life.



I had a Halogen work light under the truck tracking down a fuel leak. The leak found the lamp. I never noticed the smoldering until a neighbor cam over to inqurie what I was doing and pointed out to me that I had diesel fuel dripping onto the hot part, and it was smoldering.



That day I could have easily become "the moron formerly known as Hohn. "

 

[CSnyder]

When I was about 17 I was using dad's farm shop to weld up some custom traction bars for my 74 Camaro on his welding table. I failed to notice the gas can under the table before I started but it didnt take long for my legs to feel VERY warm and not to mention being THE human ground in the puddle of gasoline that was burning. WOW... thank God dad was near and always kept fire extinguishers around. I wasn't hurt physically but I sure felt bad for almost burning the building down but dad made me feel better and by the end of the day it had become a father/son traction bar project.



Another thing to remember is to never use a grinder in an enclosed building where flameables are kept. I started a whole shelf of painting material on fire once by grinding nearly 20 feet away from it.



Chris

 

[bkroupa]

Just a tip about drop lights. I recently bumped my light & of course needed another bulb, out of laziness I grabbed one of the pigtail style flourescent bulbs my wife had left out for something else. It rocks! no problems so far getting dropped or bumped & it stays cool.

 

[msperos]

The first brake job I did was on my 73 240Z when I was 16. I had my Haynes manual followed all the instruction, thought that my little willmar tool kit worked great. I lowered the back dowen to the ground fired that mother up rolled out of the garage and down are very steep driveway . It was about 100 yards long and about an 8% grade. you guessed it... ... ... ... :{ no brakes :{ the damned book did not say to pump the brakes to move the pads back towards the rotor's. The car surrvived but my shorts did not

 

[Ereynolds72]

Here's a boner for ya... A friend and I were replacing the front axle u-joints on my '82 Chevy Blazer. We finished the passenger side then went to the driver side. Got the axle put back together. You know how on these trucks, sometimes you have to push the axle out to get the snap ring on the outer shaft? Well, we used a long "big" screw driver as a lever. They don't have to move much but the lever helped the process. We put the hub assembly back together and jumped in for a test drive. Started rolling out of the shop and all we could here was Clank! Crunch ! Crunch Crunch! We forgot to pull the screwdriver out of the axle and destroyed the new axle joint and even the yolk on the outer shaft. DOH!

 

[JMichel]

I was welding the spider gear of the rear axle of my 76 blazer. I had a pan to catch the residual 90W. I flipped down the helmet and began welding. Moments later my legs felt hot. I flipped up the hood to find the plastic pan on fire between my legs. I slid it out and luckily had a fire extinguisher in the truck. It was burning the carb cleaner, 90W, and pan. I have never seen so much smoke from a such a little pan.

 

[gonzo2]

I had a seal go on the water impeller shaft (injector oil on one side, coolant on the other) on my Ski-doo and decided to do it myself.

I hung the rear from the garage rafter using a tie-down strap. I then drained everything into an oil pan underneath the front. I did the job over a couple of evenings waited for the weekend to fill up the fluids and fire her up.

I was so impressed when she went on the second pull, unfortunately the oil pan was still underneath and the mix of oil, coolant and plastic bits got sprayed all over my garage and tool boxes by my "Big Horn" deep track.