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The Dumbest Story You Have...

JeepHammer

Solar Wizard
Joined
Nov 15, 2019
Messages
1,149
Mine would be starting the homestead,
Other than hand tools, a 1973 Jeep CJ was pretty much what I owned.
So I started building...

I found out that battery powered tools from 25 years ago had Ni-Cad batteries, so we all know how that went.
Batteries being more expensive than the took kit when you bought it, and *IF* you remembered to charge them, they were dead in 10 minutes of serious work...

SO...
Being the 'Smart' one, and believing all sales propaganda, I got a coupon for 15% off a 'Horror Fright' generator and scratched up the money,
Jumped in a '73 CJ5 Jeep the state highway department wore out 24 years earlier, and headed 60 on open highway for the nearest Horror Freight with my 'Coupon'.

Keep in mind this Jeep hit tire grooves in the highway and made involuntary lane changes at 45 MPH,
I hit the highway at 60 MPH and learned the true meaning of seeing my life flash before my eyes!
More than once I had to look around for the high pitched scream of a little girl before realizing it was coming from ME!

Geared for off road, the engine was screaming, knocking, the undefined of something burning, tire balance vibration made focusing your eyes VERY difficult,
And everytime I met a car the Jeep wanted to dive for oncoming traffic or the ditch!

At one point, I hit a pothole and couldn't slow down, a mud dobber nest had fell off the firewall under the dash and wedged behind the throttle linkage holding the throttle pedal down!

No top, couldn't hear yourself think.
It was cold, so I turned on the heater...
No heat, but the blower motor made a high pitched scream that was so ANNOYING it took your mind off being cold...

I get to Horror Freight and they have exactly ONE generator (while supplies last!) And I had to argue with another customer to get the generator...
I RACED the old guy on a cane to the register to be the first to slap money on the counter,
I'm the proud owner of a 'Horror Fright' generator that's "Compare To Honda" quality!
(I'll bet the guys at Honda falls out of their chairs laughing every time they see that!)

Then I see how big it is in the box, look at the bed of a '73 Jeep, look at the box again...
Well, I really don't need the box, so wedge my new treasure in the back and light out for home, with a generator banging me in the shoulder with every bottle cap size bump in the road, 70 miles of terror on the way home, and it's getting dark... And colder...

I stopped and bought a 'Go Colts' scarf with loose change, and pointed the Jeep generally north, mashed the throttle,
Hi Ho & a puff of blue smoke! I was off!
This is where you find out the difference in '73 headlights and 90s headlights...
You know where the road is, but you don't see anything IN the road, the man eating potholes are a complete surprise!
At least it keeps you awake...

After being turned almost completely backwards in the highway by the draft from a semi, I actually survived the trip...
The next morning I oiled up, gassed up, and broke out the instructions for the generator.
Even the pictures were in Chinese...

Taking my best guesses, and after pulling my guts out on the starter cable, I found the bad oil sensor switch terminal (crimped onto the INSULATION) and got it fired up.
There is something to "Compare To Honda"! Never started/tested at the factory...

About 2 hours of run time the generator frame took to shocking you...
About 3 hours of run time, the unique smell of burning insulation then a crunching sound, the engine locked up.
The crank would slightly move, but the generator was locked solid...
Again, something to "Compare To Honda".

Grabbed the receipt, threw the generator in the back of the Jeep, and pointed it south.
Common sense kicked in, and I waited until morning to go so it wasn't the 'Stevie Wonder' driving experience again,
I do learn something once in a while...

After a particularly cold and terrifying 70 mile trip, I find out it was a close out, can't even order a replacement...
And they want to give me store credit rather than refund.
I need the refund to BUY LUNCH!
They gave me crap because I didn't have the box, so I went and pulled it out of their dumpster and dragged it into the building.
After about an hour of yanking on the pull cord, poking at it with a screwdriver, they finally gave me money back.

I went and bought lunch, then after two trips to the 'City', I went and bought ball joints, tie rod ends, bushings, etc,
FOR THE JEEP!
TWO terrifying trips (not being smart enough to slow down) was enough, time to get out the hammer collection and broken 1/2" drive socket and fix the Jeep!
My laundry got easier after that, no scrubbing stains out of my shorts...

While I *Could* gut the 'Cordless' battery and add a cord, use the Jeep battery to power the 'Cordless' tools,
The experience of being LAUNCHED into ditches & oncoming traffic seemed like the more serious issue,
It was either that or take along changes of UNDERWEAR! ;)

There is no moral in this story, it ends with the Jeep getting some much needed maintenance work, me still not having a generator, having to do laundry sooner since I went through underwear faster, and I still leap before I look...
I just thought it was 'Humorous' in the stupid sense of the meaning.
Sometimes you just have to learn the hard way...
 
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I couldnt help noticing the part where you talk about old nicad tech. Which was quite a bit better than alkaline which are better than lead. Yet you lambasted lifepo4 as "fanboy enthusiasm" in another thread.

Compare your Nicad to your modern lithium drill.
 
Not the dumbest story but I have had an experience never to forget driving. I borrowed a mates 4WD. Merrily cruising along the highway when suddenly the car became almost uncontrollable, it was everywhere at once. Fortunately H1 in regional QLD is the sort of road where you can drive 20 mins and not see another vehicle so I was able to wander all over the road while getting the speed down and stop on the side. It turns out mate had broken a bolt in the suspension and used a ratchet strap to hold everything together. It wore through and well you can imagine from there.
 
I couldnt help noticing the part where you talk about old nicad tech. Which was quite a bit better than alkaline which are better than lead. Yet you lambasted lifepo4 as "fanboy enthusiasm" in another thread.

Compare your Nicad to your modern lithium drill.

I didn't 'Lambast' anything, to *ME* they are 'Experimental' since I haven't figured the out completely yet, and I'm still learning...
And they come with their own set of limitations, like temp & charge/discharge rates,
Combined with SHOCKING cost (pun intended ;) ) I'm making the move SLOWLY so I don't kill a crap ton of expensive batteries like I did when I started with lead/acid.

Im also adverse to having my eyebrows burned off yet again, so I'm not jumping in head first this time.

If you felt 'Lambasted', I apologise.
That most certainly wasn't my intention.

-------------

I can't compare Ni-Cad to anything, I haven't even seen a working Ni-Cad in years.
I still pick the tools up used at flea markets, yard sales, etc and convert to cord, they are GREAT for Jeep/trail work, and if you lend them out and they don't come back, you drop them in some bottomless mud pit,
You don't miss the $5 they cost you for very long...
 
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Not the dumbest story but I have had an experience never to forget driving. I borrowed a mates 4WD. Merrily cruising along the highway when suddenly the car became almost uncontrollable, it was everywhere at once. Fortunately H1 in regional QLD is the sort of road where you can drive 20 mins and not see another vehicle so I was able to wander all over the road while getting the speed down and stop on the side. It turns out mate had broken a bolt in the suspension and used a ratchet strap to hold everything together. It wore through and well you can imagine from there.

You squeeze the color die out of the seat with butt cheeks when that happens! :)

MANY years ago, the race car guys I hung around with came out of the driveway, went straight across the road and out through a corn field in a car they were building, just SWAMPED it out there in plow furrows as I was showing up...

SO...
After the heart rates came back down, and the eyes weren't as big as dinner plates, we went to see what happened and pull it out, back to the shop.

Between headers being in the way, messing with the front suspension and having to move the steering column/steering box, they had ZIP TIED the steering box to the frame, and forget to drill holes & bolt it down.
Took it out to do burnouts and test the engine/drive train and couldn't make the turn at the end of the driveway,
Fairly low speed, but quite the ride through the ditch and out through the cornfield!

We use bright colored zip ties now so they don't get overlooked...

I stick 4" wide masking tape and write down what's NOT finished, but my moment was trying to drive a fresh transmission rebuild out of the shop, having not put bolts in the rear yoke fully.
The drive shaft beat the bottom of the car SAVAGELY and ruined the driveshaft, which killed any profit margin I might have made, when the loose bolts broke off about 3 blocks from the shop on a test drive about 45 MPH...
 
I didn't 'Lambast' anything, to *ME* they are 'Experimental' since I haven't figured the out completely yet, and I'm still learning...
And they come with their own set of limitations, like temp & charge/discharge rates,
Combined with SHOCKING cost (pun intended ;) ) I'm making the move SLOWLY so I don't kill a crap ton of expensive batteries like I did when I started with lead/acid.

Im also adverse to having my eyebrows burned off yet again, so I'm not jumping in head first this time.

If you felt 'Lambasted', I apologise.
That most certainly wasn't my intention.

Has nothing to do with me, theyre youre sentiments. I just find it ironic.
 
I can fondly remember as a young mechanic ALONE installing hot water piping to an entire wing of a hotel...
see, dad got the job changing over from 1 electric tank water heater per 4 rooms to a single 75 gallon 500,000btuh water heater on a huge loop... anyway, I was tasked with stringing, sanding, fluxing, and soldering the entire 600’ run of 1.5” copper, tees and joints, and the 1/2” copper return loop all the way back to the tank.
I completed all fittings, fluxed, and soldered from one end to the next, pumped up the 100psi air test, passed the air test, then dumped the air and filled up the lines with water to bleed out the air, prior to a full boiler test. Got all air out of the lines, achieved silent circulator function, and fired up the boiler... it ran about 5 minutes when the pressure dropped to zero, and the tank started taking in a LOUD flow of water... well, since I was the only one on the wing, I knew nobody had opened a faucet, so I quickly shut everything down and started Mt long quest to see what had happened...

about 1/2 way, I found a joint in the 1.5” at a tee apparently had missed getting soldered. The joint was sanded, and fluxed, but no solder... oops.

thinking back on his... itREALLY makes me wonder what my dad was thinking leaving a 17 yearold alone installing and testing such a huge project...

that same hotel had me replacing compressors and rewiring suites and furnaces by myself...

I guess I did a good job alone... or he wanted me out of the way? Who knows...
 
I recently sold an ATV. I had owned it for 3 years. I was showing it to the prospective buyer, and I explained that although it didn't have reverse, it's just a 300, and pretty light, so if you got in a jam you could just lift up the front end and spin it around. He looked at me a little funny, got on the machine, shifted it into reverse, and then drove it up onto his truck. I read owners manuals now.
 
Epic

I worked as a powersports tech and Ive seen my share of that.
 
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