What is your mechanical history and aptitude?

[old-cat]

I was definitely not born with a silver spoon in my mouth. If I ever needed something fixed, I had to do it myself or live without. There was no internet crystal ball around, so it was try and fail and learn.

 

[o8f150]

first started turning the wrench when I was 16,, before that I always had my bikes torn apart,,, I was also a wheel vehicle mechanic for the army,, all together I was a mechanic for 27 years,,, retired in 97

 

[anlrolfe]

I was about 5-6yrs old and my Mom came looking for me down the street. She found me in the neighbors garage. She was beside herself apologizing to the fella under his jeep for any trouble I may have caused. He said, "Mrs. Rolfe, he's not bothering me he's been a big help. I haven't hardly had to get out from under here all morning. He's been doing a good job handing me nuts, bolts and wrenches."

Now isn't that the most practical way you can think of to learn your fractions??

 

[Heilman181]

Now isn't that the most practical way you can think of to learn your fractions??

Funny you should mention that!

I can't tell you how many times my dad dumped out a damn 120 piece drill bit set and had me "organize" them, so that I could learn my fractions when I was in elementary school.

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[upstateny]

From a little kid I have been around both my Grandfathers and my dad who are mechanically inclined each in there own areas. One side of the family was farmers/loggers/miners. Dads side were car guys and tractor guys but not quite farmers. Even as a child (4/5) I had an old echo saw that i was allowed to take apart and put back together, I believe they finally scrapped it when I wore the screw holes out! Throughout my childhood years I had dirt bikes and four wheelers both which got tore apart and tinkered with. Dad has always been into doing body work on cars so I've picked that up, along with welding (structural/equipment). My moms dad is an all around handy guy. He is a certified welder, cabinet maker, carpenter, and is my favorite to spend time with in the outdoors. Dad is a certified welder, as well as a career logger.

By the time I was 14, I was commuting to work at a motorcycle shop on my dirt bikes. 16 I was still at the motorcycle shop plus learning to cut wood with dad. At that point I had torn an '85 Toyota pickup to just the cab and engine and designed and built a full round tube frame for it and the link suspension front and rear (picture your typical linked up rockcrawler). By 18 I was going to college for mechanical drafting after graduation I started wrenching on auto's in a local garage. 21 that shop closed and another local heavy equipment shop came to me looking for an entry level auto tech, which I made it through two auto's before the owner found I could weld and had more interest in working on equipment. Now I'm not only working on heavy equipment but running them as well. This winter I've been entrusted with a '73 Timberjack 230D and an old Tree King chain swing log loader on a White Tractor along with 2 guys under my supervision.

Alot going on for someone thats not quite 23. Coming from being a hired hand working on most all aspects of auto repair to being tossed to the wolves in a shop that does everything from auto's to heavy equipment/rock crushing equipment work and repairs.

Currently I have a shop provided service truck full of Snap-On and Craftsman hand tools, and lower quality tools up to 1" drive. Spent many hours on the phone with the boss feeling like a total newb asking questions that I felt I shouldnt have had to ask. Live, LISTEN, and Learn!

 

[Heilman181]

Both of my grandfathers were aircraft mechanics in WWII. One did auto body work then started trucks. The other went to work in the steel mill.

My father grew up through the muscle car era and was always wrenching and modifying his cars. He went to school for diesel mechanics and worked on trucks for a while. Then he went to work in the steel mill (Ohio Valley) and did numerous jobs. He is a certified welder and electrician. He built our house and is amazing at woodworking too.

He has probably forgotten more than I have ever learned.

I grew up watching and helping every chance I had. My dad wanted more for my two brothers and I than he had, so he pushed and encouraged us to get an education and do something. He said that we could always fall back on a trade.

I have been fixing my dirtbikes since I was probably in elementary school. We built a truck and painted it so it was ready when I got my license. I have been working on my own vehicles since then. I have been modifying dirtbikes for 20 years.

Thanks to AS, this has been my first go round with chainsaws and 2-strokes.

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[eiklj]

So many stories like mine. I took everything apart as a kid too. Now I'm a mechanical engineer and make a good living designing stuff. I've never been afraid to take something apart. I save a ton of money fixing things myself.

 

[machinisttx]

I took stuff apart as a kid to figure out how it worked. Lots of it didn't get put back together, some did. One of my grandfathers was a mechanic at all of the local car dealerships at one time or another, some of the local small engine shops, and later on he opened his own shop. My uncle learned from him and I learned from my uncle. My other grandfather was a carpenter after WW2, and that got passed down as well. I'll be honest though, I don't care much for woodworking.

 

[Greg Perryman]

Working around the farm with grandpa and dad is what started it all for myself. I used to play around with bikes, then when I turned 15 dad forced me too help build my first truck a 77 chevy. Something about building your own vehicle makes a person appreciate a lot more and actually take care of it unlike some teenagers today. Reading books about mechanics just isn't for me, Im a hands-on type of person. I can read a book all day and still cant tell ya how something works. And the way it looks both of my sons are heading down the same path.

 

[moody]

My family has always been involved with racing and off road toys. The lifestyle was let's break it and make it faster. The hospital bills got expensive and 2 strokes were banned. So atvs and bikes lost their luster. So I spent more time running saws. I wanted to look up reviews on a 357xp and found AS. I ended up with a 346xp and started working on saws to keep busy.

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[1Alpha1]

Rebuilt my 1st chainsaw at the tender age of 10.

I used to drive the guys crazy at the saw shop I used to hang around at. Seems like I always had more questions than I did answers.

 

[Duke Thieroff]

When I was a kid (not too long ago) I used to love all types of home stereo equipment, I liked hooking it up and taking it apart, looking at the guts and everything.

Eventually I had my own vehicle and started getting into fabrication on boxes, fiberglass pods and so forth. I was always good enough at it to understand it and make it work, but never put out the most eye appealing work or anything like that, function over form was the name of the game, after all it was only for me.

I eventually started making my own home stereo speakers, I would purchase drivers and design my own passive crossovers, build and finish the boxes and put them together. Never a fantastic designer, but was getting it done for a hobby.

My uncle is a fantastic mechanic and can pretty much fix , weld, solder, rivet, do anything type of guy and he taught me a lot of the stuff that I can do mechanically.

I built and designed my own log splitter, it's nothing special, but I did it. Would've likely been cheaper to buy a Huskee over at TSC, but I was itching to learn about hydraulics.

Bought a house and plumbed and wired the whole thing to code, never really having done it before. There's 2500 of wire in this dang place. Ran a 70 amp sub panel out to my shop , run all the lights and receptacles.

I wouldn't say I'm good mechanically, or do spectacular work or anything, just willing to do it myself or at least give it a shot.

Life sure is a lot less expensive if you can handle things by yourself, no doubt.

 

[Coldfront]

Well I never was really much at taking stuff apart at a young age, and my dad was not much of a mechanic other than doing routine maintenance. I loved hot rods when I was young and always wanted to build myself a pro stock drag race car, but of course that cost money and never happened. I ended up dropping out of high school at 17 and went to auto mechanic school in 1975 at the age of 18, I was always watching the guys next door at the diesel class work on big engines and wanted to try that, so after auto mechanic school I took the diesel class. I started working for Mack Trucks in Chicago at the age of 19 as an apprentice mechanic and worked myself up to journeyman, we were in the union local 701, now I still am working on big diesel trucks and heavy equipment at the age of 57. In all my years I also worked at a boat marina as a outboard mechanic went to OMC school, and also worked on snowmobiles, at the time, the biggest Polaris snowmobile dealer in WI. for a while. The chainsaw thing is fairly new to me but I like it, and burn wood for 100% heat of my house. I'm getting my first saw ported now a 372XP.

 

[greendohn]

I took small engine repair as a sophomore, 1982, and my junior/senior year I was in vocational auto repair. I hired into a diesel shop as a junior and was mostly a "wheel" mechanic. I was "apprenticing" under an old guy and was pulling sleeves and sech with his supervising re-assembly.
Never had a mom or dad but had worked on local farms and had my 1st car, '67 Galaxy, before I had my license. Knew a couple guys who'd let me hang out in their shops and worked on my own stuff.
My '74 Chevelle, Laguna S-3 was my "1st build" and that factory 454 didn't stay stock. Lost my license rite after high school, hot-rodding, still working in the diesel shop and kept getting caught driving to work w/o a drivers' license.
Joined the Army, did my 3 years and "wrenching" had lost it's magic by the time I got out.
Went to school after the Army and went to work as a "Radiographer",,ie. x-ray technologist, not a "technician"!!
Still work on my own junk and will fettle with my brothers/nephews auto's too. Just to beat the mechanics' shops.
I've always kept new/newer chainsaws and mowers and sech so I don't get to work on 'em much.
I've reached the point in life where I'd hire any serious engine repair on my autos if they needed it. Still do water pumps, wheel hubs, brakes, transfer gearcase swaps,and the like,when I need to.
I've built a couple old Shovelhead engines and been thru a couple "evo" engines back when I was riding 'cycles. Never split the gearcase on any of 'em.

 

[heyduke]

My Dad has a genius level mechanical aptitude. I grew up with my Dad capable of fixing anything. It's natural to me to just tear into anything that needs fixing. It doesn't really matter if it's something you've done before. You just study up, and go do it. Dad also instilled in me to do it right, or don't do it at all.

if you can fix a bicycle and a sewing machine, you can fix anything.

 

[bcaarms]

Disassembled a perfectly good lawnmower when I was 10. It was boring. Put it back together with a few parts left over. Never ran again. Wasn't allowed to have a BB gun. Wasn't allowed to play with firecrackers. So when I grew up I went into SF and learned to shoot a variety of weapons and how to blow things up. Even though I was a commo man on team, we had challenges putting together weapons after all the pieces from several different weapons were mixed up in a big box. pretty much a 3-d jigsaw puzzle. Later I went to flight school and learned to fly. Always felt it was more fun breaking aircraft for the maintenance guys to fix. I'm glad there are compitent folks out here to send saws to that will back up their work. I dont mind doing operator maintenance on saws, but leave the inside work to people that have the experience. And as my team sergeant would say, "experience is directly related to equipment destroyed".

 

[Coldfront]

When I went to auto mechanic school cars still had points and condenser, and we used a Sun oscilloscope was the high tech of the day. Needless to say I don't work on cars much these days, nor do I have a desire to..

 

[Oliver1655]

My father was "Jack of All". Learned a lot from him. Spent my summer starting at 11 years old on my sister/BIL's farm they were 8/10 years older than me. When we were not in the field we were always building/repairing/helping others. Had a lot of discussions on ways to do things then critiquing afterwards. Learned a lot. To this day I still love problem solving, designing & building.

I learned fraction, decimals, & metric system from being around tools and playing cribbage built math skills before ever starting school. Man was I bored at school!

I started our daughter & son out at 4- 5 years old working with tools. Got a pair of old school desks they helped turn into their own work benches. Zip tied peg board to the left side & mounted a simple drill press vise on the front right corner of the top. They started with hacksaws, 7 oz claw hammers, basic wrenches, pliers, block sander, speed square, & ruler. Daughter painted her's pink & our son painted his blue.

Thereafter, part of their Christmas gifts includes tools. Both my father & I had cantilever tool boxes so they each inherited one. They have since over flowed the tool boxes.

They have both grown to be young adults with a can do attitude. I told my wife when I started the tool giving tradition with our kid, nieces, & nephews, tools are a gift which can last a life time. Even if they do not wish to use them themselves, by learning how to, it will help them to be better informed when contracting work out & potentially help them from being ripped off. "That's not how my dad did it."

 

[Guido Salvage]

I don't think my father did anything more than change a spark plug on an engine. He once attempted a repair on a mower carb and had to take it to the shop for repair, he had put a screw in a passage and blamed me for it when he picked it up. Both my brother and I owned saws before he did.

Bought my first truck at 15 and started working on it, a lot of trial and error. Quickly realized I needed more than his set of open end wrenches if I was going to be effective. Pulled his '55 Chevy truck in the garage at 16 and along with my brother we rebuilt the engine. The one mistake we made was not boring the cylinders after we busted the pistons out of it. Went on to rebuild a number of engines, trucks, tractors, etc.

While my dad was not mechanically inclined he was good with wood and electrical items. He designed and built a number of homes and was always dreaming and sketching things out. He died when I was 24 so never really got to work on much of my stuff with him.

 

[shootingarts]

Born on a forty acre farm. Keeping up with my mom's family we had a tin TV full of tubes that never worked longer than a few days. I don't remember a radio, might not have been a station. Was out the door before daylight every morning as soon as I could reach the knob. Came in when I was hungry or thirsty. You just naturally find things to get into, good and bad!

Moved to the "city" when our farm house burned but didn't get any richer. My brothers were both into motorcycles, worked on them a bit and everything around. Started working for Mobil Oil at twelve, bought my first car at fifteen. Drove it twenty miles to the service station my dad was dealer of and rebuilt the engine with a few extras. Dad suspected what I did when I fired the 289 and the station shook so bad that the fluorescent lights were flashing and all threatening to fall! That thing would carry the front wheels for a hundred yards or so in first and didn't have a top end, 125plus in third gear of a wide ratio four speed. It pegged the speedometer before shifting into fourth. Everything I owned was hell on tires but I was a Goodyear dealer all through my teens. Even my mom's car had fiberglass wide ovals on it!

Fortunately a large oak tree limb fell on the mustang so I'm around today. Never got beat on the street in 1970 and that's saying something! Might have been a few cars in Baton Rouge faster but I never bumped into them. Knew at least one was, an early sixties Ford with a NASCAR 427 cammer under the hood, 735HP factory. My '65 2+2 mustang was a lot lighter especially since it was gutted but at best I wasn't pushing much over half the horsepower.

Built, wrenched on, and drove stock cars, built and tuned rifles and pistols that won matches and set records, do any maintenance on anything I take a notion, weld up what needs welding. Have built shops from scratch, wood frame and steel, through the plumbing, electrical, HVAC, and paint. Like the cowboy said, I can ride it, rope it, roll it, or throw it, and I'm a pretty good windmill man! Leastways I was, mostly tired and retired now, playing with the saws a little and turning on a wood lathe, self taught which is a bit more involved and dangerous than it sounds. The wood lathe may rival a chainsaw in danger used wrong. They kill people every year too. Of course I do the maintenance and repairs on my lathe.

Just starting to learn two cycle, never liked the contrary bassets! They don't like me either. My 150 OMC was cruising up the intercoastal canal throttled back ten percent when it split and spread a crank bearing race, instant scrap powerhead!

Hu