"RotaryLover" (rotarylover)
12/02/2013 at 00:41 • Filed to: Mechanic life
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"RotaryLover" (rotarylover)
12/02/2013 at 00:41 • Filed to: Mechanic life | 0
| 18 |
Some broker asked me in private if I could remove a starter on his Freightliner Century 2007 with a MBE4000 engine (POS) today, wait that the starter get's rebuild tomorrow and re-install it at the end of my shift. I'm like...I don't know man...I got things to do (Burnout in memory of Paul Walker). He then said "I give you 150$!". I couldn't refuse. Not that my current salary is bad..but I might as well pay my debt faster.
I finish work and go see the truck. The issue is, I can't bring the truck to the garage since it would be stalled for 1-2 days, and complainers will have erections. So I work outside in the cold at night while it snows and try to remove the damn thing removing all the wires on the negative terminals at the batteries. The wires on the starter are quite easy to identify where they go, so I was pleased. But then...I had 3 nuts holding the starter and they were naturally jammed. Usually I take my air gun and it's would be over, but I'm outside far from the garage, I got no compressed air. I had to heat them with a propane torch and it took me a good while since it's cold outside.
The first two bolt went great with my Snap-On electric impact gun and a couple of extensions. But the last one....oh the last one. I had to remove the Air box which was a PITA because all the bolts were rusted and I could not heat them because of the damn plastic Air box. One bolt broke and I hope the driver never notices...Removing all the rubbery tubes from the air box to the turbo was a small PITA in the cold weather too, it was almost glued there. And there it was, the final bolt but with a twist. I had no appropriate extensions for it, my gun could not fit, and I could not use my big strength bar (don't know if it's really called this way). I tried my normal ratchet and it would not move, my small strength bar, same result. I was pissed and I wanted to rage quit. But then, I saw a longggg 3/4 wrench that I brought from my toolbox just in case. I tried it and bingo it worked! It took me 2-3 hours to remove a damn starter.
I was pissed then but now I'm happy, I learned something more and it was challenging. Now tomorrow I have to install the rebuild one, it's gonna be much MUCH easier and faster now.
Squid
> RotaryLover
12/02/2013 at 00:57 |
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Cheater bar, but you folks up north in our hat have weird sayings anyways. . .
Hooray for sidejobs! I got a few of those handed to me from the service manager of the dealership I worked in. . . She was doing a solid for one of the vendors at the time, I got paid $150 for doing a brake job on an F-150, I was only going to charge him $100 as that was what the flat rate tech would have gotten paid before taxes for the job. The dude ended up giving me more because he was stoked that the dealer hooked him up and saved him a shit ton of money on getting his brakes done correctly.
It sounds like you are having to work a little harder for yours but it will be worth it in the end it sounds, just don't get in trouble by not having a ticket written up on the truck. . . That happened to me. . .
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RotaryLover
> Squid
12/02/2013 at 01:01 |
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No worries, the truck is in a parking area reserved to brokers by the company I work for. It's just a pain for the tools and the fact that I have to use my own clothes...Maybe i'll sneak out a jump suit.
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Squid
> RotaryLover
12/02/2013 at 01:03 |
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Yep, it is worth it to try and find some old work shirts at a thrift store for shit like this. I ended up keeping a bunch of my old work shirts when the dealer went under and from when they switched the uniforms out to different ones. Can't have enough work shirts that you don't give a shit about.
Zipppy, Mazdurp builder, Probeski owner and former ricerboy
> RotaryLover
12/02/2013 at 01:04 |
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big strength bar (don't know if it's really called this way)
Breaker bar?...Cheater bar?
I'm seriously considering being a mechanic/technician in the automotive field, I guess putting up with these issues would be customary, a classmate had to crack an airbox from a Neon at school, because the screw couldn't get out.
offroadkarter
> Squid
12/02/2013 at 01:05 |
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I'm from the north and I call it a breaker bar, if I use a pipe over a ratchet I call that a cheater pipe.
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Squid
> offroadkarter
12/02/2013 at 01:10 |
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That's a cheater pipe . . .
I actually call them breaker bars, but "big strength bar" made me think of a cheater pipe so I mixed the two. . . Must be that silly sunshine in California that is frying my brain. . .
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RotaryLover
> Zipppy, Mazdurp builder, Probeski owner and former ricerboy
12/02/2013 at 01:10 |
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That's it! But Squid was first ha! Yup rusted bolts are the worst, I've broken several ones but I manage to cover it up, fix it or actually prevent it to break by going another route if I can.
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RotaryLover
> Squid
12/02/2013 at 01:12 |
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I should check theses stores...I'm getting less and less clothes to wear on my days off.
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offroadkarter
> Squid
12/02/2013 at 01:13 |
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In california, wouldn't it be called a "hella cheater pipe" ?
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Squid
> RotaryLover
12/02/2013 at 01:14 |
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yeah man can't be $1.00 for a work shirt from an old service station attendant or something. Even trying to find dickies shirts online for cheap would be better than fucking your non work clothes up.
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Squid
> offroadkarter
12/02/2013 at 01:16 |
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Oh fuck you are right, well at least for NorCal (which I just moved up to from SoCal) And I can't abide by the word "hella" being used for anything but a reference to the company that makes lights. . .
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RotaryLover
> Squid
12/02/2013 at 01:20 |
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Dickies, my god the prices has risen up quite a bit, at least where I live. I remember when I was a teen that I could get a set of pants and shirts for 10-15$ max. Now it's the double and almost the triple, at least where I live.
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Squid
> RotaryLover
12/02/2013 at 01:25 |
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Its the same with Chuck Taylors man. It is upsetting that the cheap clothes are now more expensive and made even shittier. I dunno man maybe you can just buy a bunch of crappy longsleeve shirts at a bargain store. I have a set of t-shirts for car work. . . I guess now that I think about it I have a bunch of shirts to get dirty, and they are all shirts I wouldn't wear out to go get a beer in.
M54B30
> RotaryLover
12/02/2013 at 02:14 |
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Obviously a different engine, but the starter on Jeep's 4.7 V8 is a real bear. There's a bolt up top that will have you cursing and madder than anything - until you realize it's harder to get back in.
liquid_popcorn
> M54B30
12/02/2013 at 09:22 |
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Starter on the 4.0 I6 is the easiest thing ever; three bolts, all easily accessible from below the jeep if you have a lift. Pulled the dead unit and installed a new one in less than a half hour. BAM.
...I pray that the starter in my GTI never dies though.
Bruno Martini
> RotaryLover
12/02/2013 at 11:26 |
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You don't say Mercedes diesel a real pain in the ass to work on? Hmmm. where have I heard that.
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RotaryLover
> M54B30
12/02/2013 at 18:19 |
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Looks like it.
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RotaryLover
> Bruno Martini
12/02/2013 at 18:20 |
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I think every mechanics will say the same hahaha.