Crazy old dude in a shed changed my control arms.

[TMG51]

I'd been putting this off too long so I asked a guy at work if he knew any backyard mechanics that wanted to do the job over the weekend. "Yep, I do." He made a phone call and told me where to be Saturday at 7 AM.

When I drove up I thought for sure I'd made a mistake. I saw him at the door and could only imagine him being dottling and frail or end up dead under my van. Nope. He got right to work and knew exactly what he was doing.

Dude is 75, recovered from a brain tumor at 60, was born on that property. There's a small cemetery up the road with his family name dating back to 1845 on the stones. He is very much an old Vermonter and if you've never spoken with an old Vermonter you probably would not be able to decipher his speech.

You can tell he's in it for the long haul because his lawnmower seat is already returning to the earth.

New control arms, both sides upper and lower, with ball joints and grease fittings, new shocks, new brake pads. $200 for labor.

Click for larger pictures.

 

[Putts]

Cool pix. Thanks!


I hope I can be as useful as that guy at his age.

 

[Ballenxj]

SWEET! He probably needed the work too.  Good work ethics don't die, and I wish more people had them.

 

[SoulRaven]

Good pictures, thanks.

 

[Gary68]

$200 is a steal,alignment and new tires and it should drive like new

 

[CautionToTheWind]

I love this! Reminds me of my uncles on the farm. It has to be done! My last uncle is 85, turns the wrench to this day.

 

[Dennis]

Good deal for both of you!

 

[Charlotte's Web]

...You can tell he's in it for the long haul because his lawnmower seat is already returning to the earth.

How delightful & refreshingly surprising:  your marvelously literary voice unearthed from depths of what could so easily have been mundane.   
Bravo!
Charlotte

 

[TMG51]

Glad some enjoyed this story. I'm not sure that guy was desperate for the income though. Throughout the day 4 or 5 other people showed up with projects, as well as the phone ringing.

"This ain't such a bad job," he would say about my control arms. Only once did he seem to get frustrated, when he was removing the nut off the ball joint on one of the lowers, he had heated it up with a torch, put a breaker bar and cheater pipe extension on it, tested it with one hand and declared "sumnuva bitch" when he found it wasn't free.

Inside his garage was an engine on a hoist he said came out of an 84 Chevy.

Mixed in with the pile of scrap outside was a frame from a Subaru he had changed the week before.

Also, about his brain tumor, I didn't hear that from him initially. It was the neighbors coming by talking about it. They said twice they thought it was time to put him in the ground, first the brain tumor 15 years ago, then he had some kind of blood infection just the previous year. "The brain tumor wun't so bad," he said. "That blood infection really took it out of me." His nephew who was there said even at his sickest he'd still come outside and work on a car for ten minutes at a time and rest inside in between.

I think he's more desperate for the work than for the income.

 

[Stretch]

Crazy old Vermonters are my people.   :heart:

 

[Ballenxj]

Glad some enjoyed this story. I'm not sure that guy was desperate for the income though. Throughout the day 4 or 5 other people showed up with projects, as well as the phone ringing.
<-------->
His nephew who was there said even at his sickest he'd still come outside and work on a car for ten minutes at a time and rest inside in between.

I think he's more desperate for the work than for the income.

That's tenacity. Plus from the volume of work you mention, he must be pretty good.

 

[olddude48]

Love it! You got one heck of a bargain! I think staying busy as we get older is more important than making money. Since I retired I've done some projects/jobs where I was making less per hour than a parking meter.

 

[TMG51]

That's tenacity. Plus from the volume of work you mention, he must be pretty good.

He was good. He did the whole job in about six hours. A full shop with a lift and two people working would have done it faster, but I couldn't have done it in six hours by myself.

 

[highdesertranger]

great news. got to love them old guys. highdesertranger

 

[masterplumber]

great news.  got to love them old guys.  highdesertranger

You're just saying that because we're getting close to being "them old guys". ; ) Great story though, I love spending time with the old timers.

 

[Ballenxj]

 I love spending time with the old timers.

I have found through the years that if you're willing to listen, some of those old timers have a lot of good information that they are willing to share.

 

[rvpopeye]

That's how I learned 99% of my vehicle wrenching skills......old school !

 

[SoulRaven]

I have many regrets in life but one of my biggest regrets was not being interested when my Dad was trying to teach me mechanics...

 

[rvpopeye]

Funny , THAT was how I learned !
A friend's dad (was an "old dude" just like the OP) had worked in a bus garage and the Navy Air Sta. in town doing fleet repairs for his whole life and I took my old Sweptline to him for some help.'

He said he had two boys and neither gave a crap's ass about wrenchin' so he taught me !

 

[user 423]

My dad didn't know much about wrenchin' but he loved cars and always had subscriptions to Car and Driver, Motor Trend,Popular Mechanics and such. He drove a '29 Model A from Minneapolis to LA in 1932. Had like 7 flat tires.