Comments by "spaceflight101" (@spaceflight1019) on "Rainman Ray's Repairs" channel.

  1. I've been using an ordinary C clamp for decades.
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  2. 30 years ago I was helping build and commission a natural gas pumping station for CNG near Groveport, Ohio. One of the station mechanic's toolboxes had a drawer labeled "West Virginia Socket Set". LMAO when I opened it and found 6,12, and 18 inch Crescent wrenches...
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  3. That would be the second bolt cutter. The acetylene torch is Number One.
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  4. Here's a hint to help you remove a broken stud: invert a can of canned air and spray at the stud. The -40 blast will often shrink the stud just enough to get a little P-oil on it and then it threads right out, often by hand.
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  5. ​ @annaplojharova1400 It only works in reverse, because the mechanism is designed to work as a ratchet.
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  6. It's a good rule of thumb that if there's a place for a Cotter pin then there needs to be a Cotter pin in that place when you do the job. Beats having to explain to the jury why you didn't put one in.
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  7. With a couple of buddies, a few cases of beer, a few pizzas, and rock music on the radio. Great times, good clean fun.
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  8. Sketchy grounds can cause all sorts of really strange problems, in a whole world of things. I have a Realistic TRC-459 that had an intermittent transmission squeal. Tightening the screws that hold the circuit board to the steel chassis fixed the problem.
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  9.  @CMDR_CLASSIFIED  I was going to say that Boilermakers repair things like this all of the time, but you beat me to it.
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  10. When you get old you'll leak fluids too...
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  11.  @Hoaxer51  I saw that when they had to scrub a few weeks ago. I wonder if anyone still working there remembers the "summer of leaks".
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  12.  @bradhaines3142  good information for anyone considering a career in automotive technology.
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  13.  @thatpyrokid  Before the unholy marriage of cars and computers a pro wrench got by with a good set of wrenches and screwdrivers, in general. Then along came metric fasteners. More wrenches. Torx fasteners. More screwdrivers and sometimes socket drivers. Bristol splines. Allen drivers. I've been working on my own cars since 1967 and there are obsolete tools for obsolete cars in my collection. But I needed that tool to do a job.
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  14. Just like when he tinkers with the electric outlets and lights, welding and electrician are skilled trades and those who have invested much of their lives in those trades speak up.
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  15.  @stevewhite3424  you never know. To your point, this truck would have failed Pennsylvania inspection. Since the state made expired inspection a secondary offense and got rid of registration stickers it's now common to see cars with expired stickers on the roads. I think that the truck owner believed that there was a warranty on the brake work.
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  16.  @russell4370  you should research the parts cost. Master cylinder and two new links: less than $100. No idea what tires would cost, but budget $1000 for four. The rear diff cover leakage isn't a safety issue but the axle seal will fail inspection. Budget $500 here. Judging by the front tire wear a wheel alignment is in order. What issues the alignment mechanic may find are a wild card. On a fixed income, I'd replace the tires, links, master cylinder and booster first. Next month, have the front end work done. Month after that, have the leaking rear seals replaced. You have to remove the diff cover to do this job anyway so that issue will then be resolved. Replacing the links is duck soup. So is replacing the master cylinder and booster. It's not that hard to get the axle shafts out of the diff and the local shop will press the bearings for you. You can check for bad suspension components and replace them yourself and the alignment tech will love you. They love shiny new steel.
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  17.  @EmbraceTheSuck  I have a photo of a sign that reads: "Warning! If you don't schedule time for equipment maintenance your equipment will schedule it for you."
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  18.  @aigoru8718  If they have satellite radio, the Yacht Rock channel.
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  19.  @RainmanRaysRepairs  Holes in the water to throw money into?
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  20. On the other hand, my older son paints houses and got tired of making other people rich, so he started his own business. Yes, it's a lot of work, but it's worth the effort.
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  21.  @anthonyware4033  Things we discovered at Cheswick...when you replaced the bulbs in a fixture with a new smart ballast you have to power the fixture down for a minute to reset the ballast.
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  22.  @RainmanRaysRepairs  Growing older but not up, myself.
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  23. "I no fixa you car"!
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  24. Water pump R&R procedures on B/RB Mopar engines: 1: drain radiator. 2: remove radiator shroud and upper hose (optional). 3: remove 4 bolts holding water pump to water pump manifold. 4: remove water pump and fan. 5: remove fan from old water pump and install on new water pump. 6: reverse procedures 1 thru 4. 7: fill with fresh coolant and check for leaks.
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  25.  @philipershler420  It might not be a bad deal if you were looking for a winter beater or a cheap car for your kids, but these shysters will tart them up and want premium prices for junk because of the car shortage.
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  26. Gasohol buys a lot of votes in the states that produce corn. Iowa has their primary before everyone else, so money talks, and you-know-what walks.
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  27. This is Florida. Removing the doors will invite all manner of critters to move in. Sharing the ride with an alligator isn't like Ricky Bobby riding with a cougar!
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  28. How many hours, and how long was it in the garage?
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  29.  @waynej747  it never ceases to amaze me how many models use the same parts.
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  30. Speaking from the industrial perspective, solenoids and relays will either do what they're told to do or they won't. Simple, eh? Not so fast! Contacts can weld together. This is dangerous because whatever the relay powers won't shut off. Contacts can burn out. Coils can burn out or short out. Your nose comes into play here. But it's important to know the sequence of events. Is that relay/solenoid being told what to do when it's supposed to do it? It's my guess that the ignition key solenoid is not powered up when the engine is off and the transmission is in park. It will kill the battery if it is. If the computer thinks that the car is in gear with the engine off it won't let you remove the key until it sees a valid "park" gear selector input and will kill the battery by keeping the solenoid energized. Since the key sequence is off-accessory-run-start if the key doesn't go back to off it remains in the accessory position and kills the battery.
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  31. If you built car or airplane models when you were a kid you'd understand the concept of patience.
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  32. Just remember that everything you dislodged with this goes into the cylinders and gets stuck between the compression ring and the top of the piston.
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  33. Sign I saw on a pro mechanic's toolbox: "I make my living with these tools. Please don't ask to borrow them."
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  34.  @timhurst1813  , there were plenty of times that I let my fellow techs borrow tools, especially during plant outages, because I was the "old guy" with experience they didn't have. They always returned them...except for a gas turbine power plant build in South Carolina, where my large Craftsman adjustable vanished but was replaced by two no-name wrenches.
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  35. I would have checked the fluids and tire pressures before driving it since it sat for a long time. If I don't drive my Patriot for a month the tire pressure monitor alarms for a few minutes before it updates.
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  36. Weatherstrip adhesive is for holding trim pieces in place, not around oils. Permatex Hi-Tack is the ticket for holding gaskets and such.
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  37. The AGM (Advance Glass Mat) batteries in my Sportster have always given me a warning before slipping me the needle. The bike just clicks the first time I thumb the starter but will start on the second try.
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  38. If the fixture has a smart ballast you have to power it down after replacing the bulb.
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  39. What you describe has been standard practice for over 50 years.
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  40.  @MitchGaar  The "cheap aftermarket junk" rotors I put on my two Patriots have outlasted the OEM factory ones. They rusted to unsafe conditions...they were shedding rust on the garage floor!
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  41.  @ShiftingSkys  It's a time and money thing. When the parts truck comes to the shop it can either leave new rotors, in which case the job is done before lunch, or it can take the old ones to the machine shop, in which case the lift is tied up until the parts return later in the day, or even the next day.
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  42. To quote a famous engineer: "The more they overthink the plumbing, the easier it is to stop up the drain."
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  43. Good advice. With the advent of autumn in the northern hemisphere many drivers are started by the low tire warning lights coming on that first 40 degree morning.
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  44. Trip and fall hazards.
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  45. Title washing...
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  46. NASA has a pretty good Quality Control program, but it's just as human as the rest of us. They'll drain the tanks and replace the propellants with inert gases, then test the work area. Once that's done, they'll verify that the valve's control signal is actually being sent to the valve. If that's good then they'll replace the valve and test it again. For safety reasons, they can't test with liquid hydrogen (-423 F) but can test with liquid nitrogen (-300 F). Problem is that things shrink that much more in LH2 and that has caused grief many times.
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  47.  @JBreeze4598  Astronauts are operators. They never actually work on or repair their spacecraft, unless they absolutely have to. Think of it this way...astronauts must be taught what ironworkers know.
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  48.  @jbussey5301  You're right. The first time through the procedures didn't exist, but they had procedure writers shadow the techs and engineers to document what they did. By the time of Apollo 17 they were building Saturns like they were B-17s.
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  49. Back to being human...in late 2010 they were preparing to launch STS-133. During a tanking test they noticed that the orange insulation covering the section between the two tanks was cracked. When they removed the insulation they discovered that the stringers that hold the two tanks together were cracked. 94 out of 108 stringers were cracked. This would have been a disaster. The root cause was improperly heat treatment of the stringers. Somehow it slipped past QC. Stringers from the same group were used to build the tank intended for STS-135. Bad stuff happens.
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  50. Turbo failure due to oil coking of the bearings was quite common in the 1980s and 1990s. Automakers recommended a few minutes worth of cooldown time before shutting the engine off.
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