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thatsnowinnebago
thatsnowinnebago HalfDork
2/22/09 7:44 p.m.

Personally, its when my creeper gets stuck on something. I can be having a great time working on my car but that damn creeper always infuriates me. How about you?

Kramer
Kramer Reader
2/22/09 8:00 p.m.

Cheap tools. I used to have a pair of generic channel lock pliers. They would slip whenever I used them. I fought them for a while, then I put them in a vice and smashed them with a sledge.

Per Schroeder
Per Schroeder Technical Editor/Advertising Director
2/22/09 8:04 p.m.

Oooh. I love it when cheap pliers slip and give my palms blood blisters. Makes me all happy inside.

I also love when I know that what I'm doing is stupid and going to turn out badly and I just can't stop myself from doing it.

Apexcarver
Apexcarver SuperDork
2/22/09 8:06 p.m.

sheared bolts, rounded nuts, stuck fasteners....

marcsalleras
marcsalleras None
2/22/09 8:16 p.m.

stripped screws make me xstatic

Per Schroeder
Per Schroeder Technical Editor/Advertising Director
2/22/09 8:18 p.m.

Drilling out a broken bolt, only to break the drill bit in the hole. Only to be surpassed by breaking off an 'EZ Out' inside that same hole. I cried.

JThw8
JThw8 Dork
2/22/09 8:22 p.m.
Per Schroeder wrote: I also love when I know that what I'm doing is stupid and going to turn out badly and I just can't stop myself from doing it.

Ooooh, I was having one of those moments today. Trying to pull a steering wheel. Made a little homemade wheel puller and it started flexing as the stress was applied. I knew I should stop but I kept going, when I heard a loud pop I almost cried but it actually worked and the wheel came free. A lucky moment for a change.

As to the original topic, stripped/rusted bolts without a doubt.

RedS13Coupe
RedS13Coupe New Reader
2/22/09 8:29 p.m.

The guy who stands off to the side and asks you questions while you are struggling with something stubborn.

When you can get a wrench on something but don't have enough room to turn it, or apply enough torque to break it free.

Trans_Maro
Trans_Maro Reader
2/22/09 8:34 p.m.

Generally, anything that causes me to lose chunks of flesh.

JThw8 wrote: Ooooh, I was having one of those moments today. Trying to pull a steering wheel. Made a little homemade wheel puller and it started flexing as the stress was applied. I knew I should stop but I kept going, when I heard a loud pop I almost cried but it actually worked and the wheel came free. A lucky moment for a change. As to the original topic, stripped/rusted bolts without a doubt.

O/T. Pulling a Supra steering wheel in the junkyard once. Removed the nut, no puller at hand so I put two feet on the floorboard, pulled and wiggled.

I came to with the steering wheel in my hand, slumped halfway out of the driver's seat.

Always leave the nut on a few threads kids!

Shawn

EastCoastMojo
EastCoastMojo Dork
2/22/09 8:35 p.m.

When I bonk my head on something hard. OK, something harder than my actual head. Makes my evil come out.

neon4891
neon4891 SuperDork
2/22/09 8:38 p.m.

working on a GM 3100

rebelgtp
rebelgtp HalfDork
2/22/09 8:42 p.m.

Working to resolve a problem only to find its been caused by a previous owners half-assed "fix"

ValuePack
ValuePack HalfDork
2/22/09 8:47 p.m.

Having a very rough day at work not long ago. I spent two hours trying to free a jammed collet(swiss machine shop) when the resident moron wandered up and flapped off at the mouth to no end about how awesome his '69 Firebird is(it's a 350/auto in boxes) and how it's worth $40,000 as/is. He left, and I hurled a 7/8ths 303 bar end across the shop and through the drywall above the office door. It's still inside the wall somewhere.

Years ago, when working at VIP, I had a customer come in with freshly powdercoated gold 16s, wanting some old worn RE92s mounted up for his E30. The guy was a real jagoff and I had only started in the trade a week prior. "Don't scratch 'em, kid! It's your ass!" Sure enough, as soon as tire was applied to wheel, the powdercoat peeled right up like rice paper. We all decided the powdercoat was bad, and my boss took over.

"Hey kid. These are backmount rims." And that was the day I learned about rear mounting. A two foot pry bar held a lengthy arc across the parking lot.

PHeller
PHeller Reader
2/22/09 9:26 p.m.

Haha, rearmounting, never new that. I'll have to do that on my rims from now on...sucks to be all those folks whom I dinged their wheels while I was doing tires...

Oh, and I absolutely can't stand when simple little adjusters don't work right. It's the smallest screws that always piss me off.

I also can't stand when I get my hand stuck in such a way that applying force in any direction makes it cramp up.

slantvaliant
slantvaliant Reader
2/22/09 9:41 p.m.

I'm too cheap to actually throw tools, even in a rage.
Oh, I think about it ... man, do I think about it.

MrJoshua
MrJoshua SuperDork
2/22/09 10:06 p.m.

When I injure myself bad enough that its going to severely complicate getting the challenge car done in time.

sector7
sector7 New Reader
2/22/09 10:41 p.m.

bumping my head.. doesnt matter if its a lil ole love tap or a full smash.... i get a lil wrench rage goin on..

egnorant
egnorant Dork
2/22/09 10:51 p.m.

Bought a cheap Escort with a badly knocking rod and just happen to have a spare engine. With life and such I had to do the swap over a few days and guess what?

Got a bit mixed up and reinstalled the bad engine.

My brother kept me from throwing stuff, but I did kick a floor jack...didn't help much.

Did a hammer throw with an uncooperative lawn mower in anger once. Got good distance too.

Bruce

DirtyBird222
DirtyBird222 HalfDork
2/22/09 11:07 p.m.

Working on any VW/Audi product is enough to get my blood boiling, when something goes wrong I will start to beat the hell out of tools on a toolbox or whatever is around.

Swapping out the opti-spark on my LT1 also resulted in some cussing and throwing of tools.

I f'ing hate working on cars with some cheap ass gangster mother f'ing rims that are curbed to all hell, then they want a freakin tire rotation or balance with 2/32nds tread left, and four different wheel locks and have the balls to tell me "don't scratch the rims broha." I've straight up told these a-holes "NO" or "Go back to the Jiffy Lube you got your cheap tires and rims at and have them take care of it."

Work related---I've had a plethora of customers that have sat and watched me rotate tires, remove and apply a oil filters, etc. THey will then proceed to tell the service advisor and/or manager that I did not do that so they can get a free oil change or what not. I've thrown tools, cussed out my bosses, etc.

Or the people who watch what you are doing and try to tell you how to do your job. Well if you are so f'ing good at it, or know so much about it, why did you bring it to the dealership to get it worked on? Are you that lazy or do you just wake up in the morning and piss so much excellence that you feel as if everyone should do work for you and listen to your bs?

Osterizer
Osterizer HalfDork
2/22/09 11:43 p.m.
Trans_Maro wrote: Generally, anything that causes me to lose chunks of flesh.
JThw8 wrote: Ooooh, I was having one of those moments today. Trying to pull a steering wheel. Made a little homemade wheel puller and it started flexing as the stress was applied. I knew I should stop but I kept going, when I heard a loud pop I almost cried but it actually worked and the wheel came free. A lucky moment for a change. As to the original topic, stripped/rusted bolts without a doubt.
O/T. Pulling a Supra steering wheel in the junkyard once. Removed the nut, no puller at hand so I put two feet on the floorboard, pulled and wiggled. I came to with the steering wheel in my hand, slumped halfway out of the driver's seat. Always leave the nut on a few threads kids! Shawn

Learning others have done this makes me feel better.

Trans_Maro
Trans_Maro Reader
2/22/09 11:50 p.m.

Face it man, customers are the biggest bunch of jacktards on the planet and we only remember the bad ones.

I hate the shiny happy people who stand at the repair counter and say "did you test it?"

No motherberkeleyer, I just charged you a bunch of cash to give you a broken tool back so you can come and bitch me out for it. Of course it works, now get your dumb ass out of my shop.

Shawn

Appleseed
Appleseed Reader
2/23/09 1:43 a.m.

When I forget to tuck up my hippie hair and roll over it with the creeper wheels. Then I do my best horizontal Joe Cocker impression.

Mental
Mental SuperDork
2/23/09 1:47 a.m.

I used to go off about every little thing that went wrong, before I accepted the fact something always goes wrong.

My wife has finally gotten me to accept when things are broke, or busting open my hand is just a side effect of my hobby. So after years of her proding, I take a deep breath, grab a beer out of the fridge she keeps stocked in the garage and sit down on my Saab loveseat. If I am not calm by the end of the beer, I call it a night.

But, nothing gets me cussing quicker than my own stupidity. To get to the final step and realize I left something out, or failed to tighten something four steps ago and I have to redo do it... oh man...when I was 19 I broke my hand punching a car and had no money for a Dr visit, as a result, it healed funny... so I am beyond that, but I remember my poor 240 had the brunt of my failure on the recieving end of a 2x4 while I foamed at the mouth.

Wowak
Wowak Dork
2/23/09 5:26 a.m.

haven't gone into a tool slinging rage in quite some time, but last week I was just finishing up replacing the water pump on the Miata, and having done everything but put the valve cover back on (the paint was still drying) I decided to fill up the radiator. That's when I heard the sound you never want to hear when pouring any fluid into your car: that same fluid leaking right out onto the floor. I didn't throw anything but for a few minutes I really thought I might throw up. Our tour schedule has precluded me from doing any further work since then, I'm really hoping I just missed a piece of the old gasket in my dimly lit work space (all my work lights are of course in storage in Florida.) I'm picking up another set of new gaskets tomorrow, and hopefully I'll do the wrenching on Tuesday. I haven't actually driven the Miata in about 2 months now.

4cylndrfury
4cylndrfury Reader
2/23/09 6:34 a.m.

finding out I need more parts when half my steering rack is already apart...AWWYABJSKAFGJAKLSDFG

Also, my wife telling me I cant get the new insert aftermarket hop up here because its too expensive after I watched her take OUR combined tax return and buy A). a freakin $400 Dyson vacuum, and B). replace our perfectly running Fridge with a newer model "cuz it looks better"?!?!

AKJHGDKSJGASDFKJDGFJKGDFHJKDGSUGSDAFUG

:AdjustableWrenchBuriedIntoDrywall:

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