Gratifying Day Today

[Jim Frye]

23 year old Grandson came over to have me show him how to change the oil in his car. His parent's generation doesn't do that. They take their cars to a mechanic. I have ramps and the required tools since I still change the oil in our cars. Nice to spend some time with him since he's leaving soon for basic training in the Air Force and then on to intelligence technical school.

[dbhost]

Enjoy the moments. I know how, I want to, but my back has other ideas far too often...

https://youtu.be/Nz7lURAiGRM?si=14ZoHdfO7h8cSUm_

[leehljp]

I used to change the oil in my car and then decided it was easier to let someone else. After Synthetic oils came on the scene, I started using those consistently. But during Covid, service centers began charging way too much for synthetic oil changes ($80+), I started doing mine (with synthetic) again for slightly less than half the cost (approx. $35).

It sure is great when the younger generation wants to learn from grandpa. I have a couple of grandsons who call on occasion to learn how to do something. One, who lives 2 hours away comes about twice a year and helps with minor repairs on our house! Love it!

[capncarl]

I taught our 2 boys about car maintenance before they got hour of HS. They were not gifted a new car just because they turned 16 like a lot of their friends. Youngest decided he wanted a 4x4 like his classmates had so he found an international Scout parked in someone’s back yard, borrowed my truck and trailer and drug up a real rust bucket. Internationals were really rust magnets. I made sure he was involved in everything done on that vehicle and he got a good dose of scraping rust and washing parts. He still does most of his family auto maint. and house maintenance. The oldes son saved his money and bought a nice Toyota pickup that he would come home from college so I could help him with maintenance. He got sloppy with maintenance and let the overheat and sieze and wound up at an interstate gas station. The tow bill and repair bill exceeded the value of the truck so he gave them the truck. A hard lesson learned.

[Jim Frye]

Ah, proper maintenance! The other day, a neighbor who has an electric riding mower like mine (except a year newer) stopped by to show me the left front wheel which had huge camber to it. Now the mowers don't have any camber normally, so I bent down to look at it. The lower pivot hole in the steering knuckle where the spindle passed through was worn into large oval and was about a 1/16" from exiting the knuckle. I know the owner's manual states the steering spindle and knuckle are to be lubricated with oil every 25 hours. His mower has over 600 hours on it and he had never lubed the steering! A new beam axle cost him $60 and three days of work to R&R the front steering. Two dozen oilings would have taken how long and cost how much?

[leehljp]

My Craftsman LT1000 is 25 years old and it has had a few problems along the way. But an hour or two of maintenance and it is running again. I just purchased two new rear wheel tires and wheels, the first set in 25 years. About 8 years ago, I pulled the tubeless tires off and put tubes in them and it has kept going. Getting THOSE tires off of those rims are not nearly as easy as doing that with normal car tires! I have had the drive belt changed twice. Once 3 years ago and then again in April. The recommended belt was way to loose in my opinion and the shorter drive belt works so much better. I experienced the same thing (recommended belts too long) with my daughter's riding mower's cutting belt.

Good maintenance pays off!

I will note than for 9 years, between 2001 and 2010, Most of the cutting was done by a local and the mower was not used except for a month each year when we were back home from Japan for a vacation, so basically it has been used regularly for about 15 years. But not being used - still requires maintenance.

[pearson]

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