Stupidest Repairs Ever Witnessed!!!!
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slipknot
Addicted to ArboristSite
I think this is a much needed thread....I like it. Dont have anything to share but I'm finding humor in what im reading..thanks fellas.
Eccentric
Mister Wizard
I've blocked out much of the stupidest "repairs" that I saw back in the day............but there is one "modification" that I won't forget.
A fellow brought in a high-wheel push mower because it "wouldn't start". He'd badly bent the crank (and blade), broke the blade adapter, and sheared the flywheel key when he hit a burried pipe in the yard. Argued with me about how "cheap" these mowers are, since "they get broken so easily". Mind you, that was a scenario that played out many times at the shop......and wasn't what made his mower memorable.
What has kept it fresh in my mind over the last 17 years or so since I saw this dim-wit is his "modifications" to the mower deck. He'd completely cut away the front and rear vertical sections of the deck between the wheel brackets. he'd even cut back int the top section of the deck a bit, to where you could look down and see the blade. Crude hack job with sharp edges. He'd also removed the discharge chute.
All this was "to get over high weeds and blow 'em out dammit", according to him. He insisted that he'd done nothing unsafe, and that the mower was "not worth a damn" before he cut the offending sections out. I suggested that a bush-hog might just be better for the cutting he was doing. For some reason he didn't like my input...
The mower was completely unsafe, and the deck had no structural integrity. You could collapse it by putting a 6-pack on top of the engine. Real flexi-flyer. We REFUSED to work on the thing unless we replaced the deck at the same time. Guy TORE out of the parking lot he was so mad. Amazing....
When I worked for Sears Service many years ago (when they actually had real mower/saw shops), a fellow did the same thing. The bearings survived, as I believe he 'only' towed it a mile or two at about 25mph or less...
Looks like somebody went to a lot of work to save a few bucks on a muffler. Probably weighs about as much as the rest of the saw.
:jester:
A fellow brought in a high-wheel push mower because it "wouldn't start". He'd badly bent the crank (and blade), broke the blade adapter, and sheared the flywheel key when he hit a burried pipe in the yard. Argued with me about how "cheap" these mowers are, since "they get broken so easily". Mind you, that was a scenario that played out many times at the shop......and wasn't what made his mower memorable.
What has kept it fresh in my mind over the last 17 years or so since I saw this dim-wit is his "modifications" to the mower deck. He'd completely cut away the front and rear vertical sections of the deck between the wheel brackets. he'd even cut back int the top section of the deck a bit, to where you could look down and see the blade. Crude hack job with sharp edges. He'd also removed the discharge chute.
All this was "to get over high weeds and blow 'em out dammit", according to him. He insisted that he'd done nothing unsafe, and that the mower was "not worth a damn" before he cut the offending sections out. I suggested that a bush-hog might just be better for the cutting he was doing. For some reason he didn't like my input...
The mower was completely unsafe, and the deck had no structural integrity. You could collapse it by putting a 6-pack on top of the engine. Real flexi-flyer. We REFUSED to work on the thing unless we replaced the deck at the same time. Guy TORE out of the parking lot he was so mad. Amazing....
When I worked for Sears Service many years ago (when they actually had real mower/saw shops), a fellow did the same thing. The bearings survived, as I believe he 'only' towed it a mile or two at about 25mph or less...
Looks like somebody went to a lot of work to save a few bucks on a muffler. Probably weighs about as much as the rest of the saw.
:jester:
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I was looking for the pict of the broke in two crank from an 044 that a fellow broke while trying to remove the flywheel. Hit the end of the crank enough times with a ball pein hammer that the crank broke at the big end pin journal, posted the pict before but can`t find it now.
Your not mad that I took it off that Craftsman 25 that I sent to you are you? :hmm3grin2orange:
Take note of the sparkplug wire;
Is that my saw?????:hmm3grin2orange::hmm3grin2orange::hmm3grin2orange:
Terry Syd
Addicted to ArboristSite
I always hate the SAE bolts in the metric threads.
I once watched a fool who couldn't thread the nut on the end of his crankshaft take a hammer and try to drive it on. It was a Harley Davidson motorcycle.
A close second to that hack job are the jackasses that drive the cranks out of cases by hammering on the threaded end of the crank.
I tried to tell a mate that was replacing a bearing to freeze the bearing and heat the swingarm in order to get the bearing in - he decided that was too hard and simply ground the hole bigger. You can guess the result.
The list is endless....
I once watched a fool who couldn't thread the nut on the end of his crankshaft take a hammer and try to drive it on. It was a Harley Davidson motorcycle.
A close second to that hack job are the jackasses that drive the cranks out of cases by hammering on the threaded end of the crank.
I tried to tell a mate that was replacing a bearing to freeze the bearing and heat the swingarm in order to get the bearing in - he decided that was too hard and simply ground the hole bigger. You can guess the result.
The list is endless....
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mweba
Addicted to ArboristSite
Mower deck porting.....Great now I have to join the lawn equipment site to get the low down. I think they call it M.A.D. over there.
Do you live in Nova Scotia?
maybe he should beat on the starter, that does work when you get one that is on the fritz. I have 1/2" x 8" rod stuffed between the gas tank and seat on my old quad and have been starting it that way for a year...
Eccentric
Mister Wizard
You did??? I'd have never guessed.........since you must've replaced that 'custom' muffler with a stocker, and the rest of the saw wasn't sporting any visible 'redneck engineering'...
Hey Mark, post up those pictures of that Pioneer 750 I brought over--with the JBwelded flywheel!
Chris B.
Chris B.
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gmax
Addicted to ArboristSite
The last owner wasn't planning to change the sprocket in a hurry
brad1000s
ArboristSite Operative
I had a guy bring in his MS180c and was complaining that black smoke would bellow from the bar and chain area when he was cutting. The chain was so dull that it wouldn't even rub it way though a log. It was so dull that I bet it would cut faster if he had put the chain on backwards.
32 years ago when I was 12 years old my engineer dad had a fix for a muffler leak that shot hot exhaust down on your right foot and leg on a case 222 12hp hydrostat tractor mower. Wanting to never spend a dime and the master of coat hangers, tin sheet siding and some foil, he made a deflector that kept the exhaust gas from melting the right foot rest. Was working like a charm for about an hour when suddenly the whole tractor burst into flames as the exhaust had melted a hole in the rubber FUEL line!!!!!
Also with that same tractor we were trying to charge the battery and start it at the same time, somehow some gas was ignited and the whole battery blew up about 3 feet from my face-- ran to pool and rinsed my eyes and head, turned out I was fine but needed some new hulk underwear...
I guess I am so darn smart from learning from mistakes..
That same tractor was also involved in trying to pull a tree the right way to fall, luckily had it protected by going around another tree and was able to jump off before the tractor got slammed into the pivot tree..
by the way dad ain't packin my parachute
Also with that same tractor we were trying to charge the battery and start it at the same time, somehow some gas was ignited and the whole battery blew up about 3 feet from my face-- ran to pool and rinsed my eyes and head, turned out I was fine but needed some new hulk underwear...
I guess I am so darn smart from learning from mistakes..
That same tractor was also involved in trying to pull a tree the right way to fall, luckily had it protected by going around another tree and was able to jump off before the tractor got slammed into the pivot tree..
by the way dad ain't packin my parachute
fatboymoe
ArboristSite Operative
When my brother was racing motorcycles back in the 70's, we did something I wouldn't recommend.
His 250 Bultaco Astro flattracker siezed after his heat race. That piston was like it was welded to the cylinder. He qualified for the expert main, but the P&C were toast and we were loading the bike in the truck when our neighbor in the pits came over and offered to help.
He told us that if we pour battery acid through the sparkplug hole, wait about 15 minutes it would unstick the piston. So, with nothing to lose, we tried it and it worked! We poured a bunch of Blendzall in the cylinder afterwords, tossed in a new sparkplug, and it fired.
The bike was down on power for sure, but as the track dried out it worked to his advantage and he finished the main event in third.
When we tore the bike down the next day, that was the worst looking piston I had ever seen from a seizure. I would guess that it had very little compression, but it ran. We still laugh about it to this day.
His 250 Bultaco Astro flattracker siezed after his heat race. That piston was like it was welded to the cylinder. He qualified for the expert main, but the P&C were toast and we were loading the bike in the truck when our neighbor in the pits came over and offered to help.
He told us that if we pour battery acid through the sparkplug hole, wait about 15 minutes it would unstick the piston. So, with nothing to lose, we tried it and it worked! We poured a bunch of Blendzall in the cylinder afterwords, tossed in a new sparkplug, and it fired.
The bike was down on power for sure, but as the track dried out it worked to his advantage and he finished the main event in third.
When we tore the bike down the next day, that was the worst looking piston I had ever seen from a seizure. I would guess that it had very little compression, but it ran. We still laugh about it to this day.
chrisoppie
ArboristSite Operative
Lawn Mower: Catfood can as an oil cap.
Snow Blower: Furniture Bolts with square nuts as sheer pins
Forever pulling OHV spark plugs out of flat head engines, some in pieces.
Tractors: Fix a flat in the tire OMFG really?
Customer using a bundji cord to hold the choke lever inplace while he statred the engine, old honda rider with a pull start only
I got lots but but these are fresh in my mind
Snow Blower: Furniture Bolts with square nuts as sheer pins
Forever pulling OHV spark plugs out of flat head engines, some in pieces.
Tractors: Fix a flat in the tire OMFG really?
Customer using a bundji cord to hold the choke lever inplace while he statred the engine, old honda rider with a pull start only
I got lots but but these are fresh in my mind
Inflating tires with hairspray or propane and a match.
