Shade tree mechanics

[Griff]

That is clearly traceable to top management.

[xoxoxoBruce]

You mean it's Tink's fault?

[TheMercenary]

Tink is a real beauty. Oh, and good job on the beast of a carbon donator.

[Griff]

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

You mean it's Tink's fault?

Don't put words in my mouth brother.

[monster]

good job, V

[Tink]

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

You mean it's Tink's fault?

It is cuz I drive the good car.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Originally Posted by Griff

That is clearly traceable to top management.

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

You mean it's Tink's fault?

Originally Posted by Tink

It is cuz I drive the good car.

No. it's because you are "top management", ie Da Boss.

[Tink]

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

No. it's because you are "top management", ie Da Boss.

Well that goes without saying! Women reign supreme.

[BigV]

I love this thread.

This past week's double feature was a new muffler for BelovedDaughter's Golf (soon to be sold) and front brakes on the Disco. All went well, but I did have to retighten the lug nuts on the Disco on the way to work this morning. Those f*ckers are huge.

[BigV]

What this is.

Wow, time flies! The post just above this one indicates that the Golf belonging to the BD was to be sold. We got that car for her in high school. We bought it from one of her schoolmates, interestingly, her current roommate. Anyhow, the clutch was not wrecked, but mortally wounded when we got it. This meant that BD got to learn how to drive a car with a manual transmission in the easiest possible circumstances. You could rev the motor and just dump the clutch and the car would moan and lean forward, smooth as butter. I eventually replaced the clutch (sorry no pictures, but it wasn't that hard). She loved that car for a few years and eventually wanted to trade up.

She had her eye on a small SUV, an Isuzu Axiom. Catchy, no? Right. So, she got approved for the car loan but needed to sell the Golf. At the time, I needed a car, so I bought it from her. I gave her a fair price, and she let me pay over time. I gave her interest on her money, and I loved the whole "teachable moment" aspect. This little car is the only one I loved so much I bought it twice. As you can see (or will soon see), I drive it to this day.

The carabiner? Oh, yeah.

Well, as you can see from the first shot here, the hatch and the bumper and the rear body panels are deformed from being rear ended. Fucker. Not the car, the cell phone talking ass headed dumbfuck that drove into me. It seriously messed up the hatch. And the doors on the right hand side. And my taillight, etc, etc. For a while I was really country holding the hatch shut with ratcheting straps. I got tired of not being able to get into the hatch easily and this week undertook to reform the mechanism here so it would shut. There was considerable hammering and pounding. I used a 2x4 across the hatch opening and closed the hatch against it. The let me bend it quite close to the shape of the opening.

Pic 1

Battered (not battened) hatch.

Pic 2

The hatch opening and a bit of auto-detrius.

[BigV]

This was very successful, but not completely successful. I got the hatch to the point where (I believe) it contacted seal all the way around but I could not get the latch to grab the pin. This meant that I don't want to change the shape of the hatch any more, I just need it to click. I needed to change the pin now, not the hatch. It appeared to be centered, and angled correctly, but it was too low. In my enthusiasm, I'd pounded the pin down too far. As you can see in the first picture, the latch hits the pin, which is shaped like a giant nail. The head of the nail is supposed to slide across the top of the latch. But not in this picture. The head of the pin needed to be raised up less than half an inch. This proved to be hard to figure out.

I thought about getting a jack and pulling up on the pin. Sure, but how to **grab** the pin? By the head of course. I tried chains. I tried a wonder bar (really, a fucking metal bar called a wonder bar. Look it up.) I tried a claw hammer. I thought about backing it up close to a big tree and attaching a comealong and hoisting up the back of the car by this hatch pin. I secured a comealong, but I had no way to hold onto that pin.

Enter the stainless steel carabiner.

Pic 1

This first picture is taken from inside the car with the hatch shut but not latched. As you can see I'm really, really close! I just need to raise this pin a liiiiiittttttlle tiny bit more to let the latch slip under the head of the pin.

Pic 2

You can see in this shot how I've managed to catch hold of the top of the hatch pin. I ran a couple of links of steel chain through the fat part of the 'biner making a bight. Through the bight, I put the blade end of my new tool, a Collins Axe. Because I don't have another long, strong lever to lift the car with. I braced it on the inside with a large block for the fulcrum. You can also see the wrist loop of the dog leash I used to pull the hatch down from inside as I kept adjusting and checking.

[BigV]

Pic 1

If you look carefully in this picture taken near the end of the process, you can make out the destroyed carabiner. This arrangement worked just like I had hoped, I got to raise the pin enough to let it fit in the latch properly.

Pic 2

The second picture is a wide shot of me lifting the car. Well, I'm taking a breather between lifts. And the car did raise up, but the wheels stayed in contact with the ground at all times. But I did stress my new tool, not to mention ruin the 'biner. But now it shuts (with a firm hand) and latches and opens with the key. I'm stoked!!

[glatt]

Brute force applied with brains. Well done!

[BigV]

Thank you sir!

[ZenGum]

The only way that could have been better is if duct tape were involved somehow. Or zip ties.