Woodworking Talk banner

Any of you also grease monkeys?

3K views 30 replies 11 participants last post by  Catpower 
#1 ·
So I get my hands in a lot of different projects. Sometimes I'm breathing sawdust, and sometimes I'm playing in grease or welding, or grinding. Unfortunately I have to do it all in the same area for the time being. Last night, while I was waiting for the glue to dry on a cabinet I'm making, I replaced the clutch on the grandkids dune buggy. I ended up getting my hands covered in oil and grease and subsequently everything else I touched. I really had to make a conscious effort not to touch anything that I would be using to finish the cabinet. Even a separate box of rags is hard to keep straight.

Anyone else have this problem?
 
#2 ·
Right now, my wood/mechanic shop is scattered with car parts. I am trying to get our newly bought 2008 Sentra SE-R Spec V running right. The dealer sold me a car with no catalytic converters and a problem I still haven't solved. The car will bog or loose some power when it get warm.

I replaced our grandsons' engine last year and I also did a ton of work on our Pathfinder. I don't do mechanic work by choice.
 
#3 ·
Over the years I ended up building way too many shops, my first one when we moved here in 1995 was a 30x50x10 that I figured would be plenty big. If got filled up with antique tractors so I added a 30x50 lean to on the back. Then I decided I wanted a dedicated wood shop so I built a 30x50x10 shop, since I was in the HVAC/R bidness I put a 5 ton split system in it, nice and comfy in the hot Texas sun


Then we got a new house finished about a 1/2 mile in the back side of our land, we have 45 acres, so I built a 40x60x12 shop close to the house


Then I started building HVAC/R equipment so I built a 60x120x12 fab shop, all the shops are heated and insulated, the wood shop and the shop by the house are also air conditioned. My wife commandeered the shop close to the house, I still keep my front end loader tractor along with her 4720 JD lawn mower, everybody should have a 66 hp lawnmower LOL Nah she just wanted an air conditioned cab LOL


Now the point of all my rambling, back when things were going good, and money was really rolling in I joined the gun of the month and sometimes week club, I got up to 48 guns and my wife said no more until I get a gun case built. I bought some very highly figured walnut and built a case that would hold 60 long guns and a bunch of pistols. It was ready to finish when my moronic step son pulled his van into the wood shop because it had A/C, took the power steering pump out of his van and laid it on the gun case and spilled fluid all over it. I have never wanted to shoot a person as bad as I did when I saw that, and I spent 2 1/2 years in Nam LOL


But I have acquired about 8 more guns so, I really need to get building, the power steering fluid case is trash no way to get it off the wood, it soaked in deep. Guess I could have used power steering fluid for the finish LOL
 
#4 ·
Used to build motorcycles. Now not to much wrenching now. Rebuilt the lawn tractor engine last year. Couldn’t see tossing a perfectly good riding lawn mower because it started burning oil. About a hundred bucks in parts, an afternoon to tear it down and rebuild the motor I should get quite a few more years out of it. I’ll still change the oil in our vehicles and will do minor repairs but with today’s engines even a tuneup requires a specialized computer and tools. I have a young man that grew up with our kids who has built a respected, successful auto repair business that gets most of our vehicles if it is something beyond my abilities now.
 
#5 ·
A lawn mower engine is pretty basic....

The new engines in trucks and cars are an electronic maze of relays, computerized contollers and circuit boards. My son was a certified heavy mechanic and drivability diagnostician in dealership and a small auto repair shop. He was so good at reading wiring circuit diagrams and fixing the "unfixable", he is now a service tech for dealer mechanics who get stumped and need help.... Dial 1-800-HELPME:sad2:
He comes home with some horror stories about "grease monkeys" who work at the dealers who have no clue what they are doing. The new key fobs are an example of car specific programing where a "new" key fob can't communicate to the original computer that came with the car and no amount of reprograming will fix it. The dealer guys end up ordering new computers and new fobs costing the company thousands of dollars, but they must be programmed at the factory so they will talk to each other.

I have an old 1980 Chevy with a distributor and a Holley carb, which is dirt simple compared to today's fuel injection, start up and shut down at traffic lights, cylinder drop out for fuel economy and so forth... When they break down, WHO will be able to fix them? :surprise2:
 
  • Like
Reactions: Catpower and BigJim
#6 ·
Make lemonade from the lemons ...

I would have done exactly this:
But I have acquired about 8 more guns so, I really need to get building, the power steering fluid case is trash no way to get it off the wood, it soaked in deep. Guess I could have used power steering fluid for the finish LOL


Sort of a red oil stain. It wouldn't smell that good, but it might look OK? Fathers seem to never stop covering for the mistakes of their children. Common sense is not an inherited trait apparently. My son did as well as I could have expected, but we don't see eye to eye on some things that aren't too important in the "big picture of Life". I've "disowned" him a few times, but only in my mind. :wink:
 
  • Like
Reactions: BigJim
#9 ·
I would have done exactly this:
But I have acquired about 8 more guns so, I really need to get building, the power steering fluid case is trash no way to get it off the wood, it soaked in deep. Guess I could have used power steering fluid for the finish LOL


Sort of a red oil stain. It wouldn't smell that good, but it might look OK? Fathers seem to never stop covering for the mistakes of their children. Common sense is not an inherited trait apparently. My son did as well as I could have expected, but we don't see eye to eye on some things that aren't too important in the "big picture of Life". I've "disowned" him a few times, but only in my mind. :wink:

He is my step son. I raised him since he was 7, he is 40 now, he even wanted to change his last name to mine when he was younger so we went through that process, sounds easy but it was rather high priced. I always refereed to him as my son, but he has gotten so stupid lately I let everyone know he is a step son LOL


A example, he got disability from the Army for PTSD so the Army couldn't fulfill his contract, so they gave him a choice, either take $1000 monthly and get re-evaluated every year or take $100,000 severance pay. I told him he might want to take the severance pay because they might say he is cured in a year or two, so he did.


When he got the money it was discussing to watch two people just blow $100,000


Then he got SSDI, he had to take them to court to get it, but he did, the back pay he got from his original filing date amounted to about $50,000. WE had hoped he had learned from his first check not to blow this one but he did.


They went through $150,000 and have absolutely nothing to show for it. Some of the things they bought had value to them but they sold them dirt cheap. When he had the $100,000 he wanted to buy a tractor from me, it was worth about $15,000 but I sold it for $10,000, just to be nice. He traded that tractor straight up for a 1993 Ford conversion van


Things like this are why he is a step son LOL
 
#10 ·
My shop is divide into three areas. 1/4 woodworking shop, 1/4 motorcycle shop, 1/2 automotive shop. Total shop is a little over 2600 sq. Ft. My son is an auto mechanic and does some side work here. Also builds high performance Subarus. Always something going on in here. I do my own maintence on my vehicles. Actually makes it fun. Surround sound stereo and separate furnaces in two of the three shop areas.
Mike Hawkins
 

Attachments

#11 ·
We were all scratching our heads, trying to figure out how to get a heavy, 400 pound SawStop PCS175 cabinet table saw home from the Rockler store. The Rockler store had a manual fork lift that could load the large box containing the saw into the back of my small SUV. It was a tight fit. There were a few 1/16ths to spare on the top and sides, but it was definitely going to fit.

Nobody at the store could think of a way to get it unloaded from the back of the SUV to the ground once I got it home. I brought home the accessories (fence, rails, blade guard, outfeed table, etc.) in a separate trip, so we had a few days to think about it. Ideas ping-ponged around, like: build a ramp, enlist strong neighbors, rent a flat U-Haul trailer, assemble it in the store and roll it 10 miles home on its mobile base, deliver it by drone, beam-me-up-Star-Trek, eeek!!! ... At that point, exasperated, I asked my spouse for suggestions. (Yeah, why didn't I ask sooner? Some guys never learn, I guess.)

Spouse is a genius, pure and simple. She heard the problem and instantly recommended our motorcycle lift, which has a large, flat, steel bed. When you attach it to an air compressor, the motorcycle lift can raise a 1000 pound motorcycle to waist height with ease.

Thanks to Spouse's brilliant idea, I was able to unload and assemble an entire SawStop cabinet table saw without assistance. I backed the SUV near the garage and matched the height of the motorcycle lift to the tailgate of the SUV. It took a few tugs to slide the saw onto the motorcycle lift. I left the saw on the lift and unboxed it partly there, taking out as many parts as I could, such as the heavy cast iron wings. I used the lift to lower the 400 pound table saw. I used foam from the packaging to protect the saw as I rolled it onto a carpet dolly, and from there, down the motorcycle lift ramp to the garage floor to continue the assembly process.

I don't see a "wood" shop and a "mechanic" shop. I see a garage with tools to be used for fixing or making things. ... and a beautiful, wonderful spouse. :)
 
#12 · (Edited)
That reminds me of the time ....

I bought a 10" Craftsman Hybrid that was on clearance, a floor model that was fully assembled. It had a Biesemeyer fence and rails. It was quite heavy, around 300 lbs or so. The Sears employees managed to get it on a pallet mover and out to the pickup area. There were 5 of us standing there trying to figure out how to get it into the back of my Sierra short box pick up, when I took charge and suggested we tip it on its side and lean it against the tail gate. Some cardboard in the bed made it easy to slide up and into the truck with the table facing down. This was a safer carrying position than having the heavy mass of the tables upright causing it to be tippy. It didn't even need any tie down straps as it was a close fit between the wheel wells. To get it out we just reversed the process and slid it down to the ground on a cardboard for protection. We tipped it onto a dolly and away we went.
:vs_cool:
 
#13 ·
I did a similar deal when I purchased my Rigid 4512 on sale at the local home depot. A couple guys at the store helped me load it. At home I was on my own. I back my truck up to the garage door and dropped my tailgate down all the way. I then slid the box to the back of the truck and standing outside the bed slid the box down the tailgate until on the floor of the shop. Figured out which side was the top of the saw and rolled the box until the top was on the floor. Cut away the sides and bottom of the box exposing the saw. Proceeded to assemble and attach the rolling base then hook the saw up to a come along that was attached to a 4x4 spanning a couple trusses. I used some rope to attach to the saw from two points to the come along and slowly raised and rolled the saw to an upright position where I finished the assembly.
 
#16 ·
My dad was the consummate DIY guy, including when it came to cars. My experience as a grease monkey is mostly of me holding a flashlight for waaay to long while my dad skinned his knuckles trying to figure out what he's doing.

So no---I've always been willing to pay someone to do the grease monkeying. (except for oil changes, which I do myself unless I mangle the filter to the point that it requires a tow truck and a professional mechanic to remove it).
 
#22 · (Edited)
Next time ......





The cannister filters I've seen have a 12 sided "nut" that you are Supposed to be able to get an "oil filter" wrench on, BUT sometimes they are on so tight, that the can begins to twist OR the wrench slips on the nut. Then, you have to resort to the strap wrench, BUT there's no room to get it on, and then no room to turn it once it's on.
https://www.harborfreight.com/End-Cap-Oil-Filter-Wrench-Set-4-Piece-63707.html

That's when a remote filter would have some serious appeal, like race cars. The grease monkeys at the oil change places have no understanding of "tight enough is good enough" so the job falls on the next guy to deal with their mistake.

I don't know what the inside of a cannister filter looks like, but that threaded stud has to have some sort of an end you can get a wrench or socket on, you would think.... :surprise2:
 
  • Like
Reactions: BigJim
#24 ·
was asked to help my wife's uncle get an oil filter off his Cadillac. of coarse by now he had it pretty mangled (screwdriver trick and all). i put the wrench on it and it came right off - he was turning the wrong direction...

this is the same uncle who put the lawnmower blades on backward and was complaining the mower wasn't cutting well... poor guy.
 
#25 · (Edited)
That's not that difficult to do ....

My son was mower the yard with the Steiner 60" wide deck when he he a large rock and the blades made that unmistakeable "dull for ever" sound. I cringed and tols him to take the deck off and tip it up as we would be changing out the blades with a new set. So, off came the dull blades ..... but wait! they weren't dull at all..... :surprise2:

I had apparently put them on upside down, so no damage to the cutting edges. However, it still cut pretty darn well in spite of that, go figure.


I suggest you give the uncle a box of Phillips screws and a screw driver with the instructions to drive them into some soft Pine scraps until you've got the drive rotation in the correct direction or "righty tighty and lefty loosey" thing figured out. Then tell him that this "rule" applies to all standard screws and nuts and bolts and light bulbs and other objects that are screw in devices ... except for those which are the opposite direction...... :vs_OMG: also known as left hand threads, possibly like your table saw arbor?
 
  • Like
Reactions: Tool Agnostic
#27 ·
Your shop and your truck is really nice.

I am still fighting with our 2008 Sentra SE-R Spec V, when the engine is cool it runs great, but when it get to operating temps it will bog down going up a hill or when accelerating. I have put new catalytic converters, a new MAF sensor, two 02 sensors, new plugs and a new gas cap. It isn't kicking out any codes right now and none pending.

The catalytic converters were cut off and gutted when we bought the car from a dealer so I am just wondering if the muffler is stopped up causing it to bog down like that.
 
#28 ·
I originally built a 16'x48'x10' lean to, with the intention of "adding on" the main 40'x48'x14' building. My other business tanked in 09' and the main building never happened. When I added on a couple years ago, it was another lean to and I had to keep what is now the center wall for load bearing support.


One side of the shop is mechanics, the other side is woodworking.
 

Attachments

This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top