That’s what my wife said about me earlier today.
It’s been a busy one at that.
First thing I had to drive over to the Farher In Laws 35 miles away because he had told one of her sisters that it felt like one of the front wheels on his car was “wobbling”.
He isn’t even supposed to be driving for starters.
Then of course the Sister In Law is to scared to try and test drive it around the block so I can either confirm that there is an issue or at least get some kind of idea of what I’m supposed to be looking for.
Did he hit a curb?
Can you grab the wheel and see if it wiggles?
Oh fuck no.
So I drive all the way over there, take a look, take it and him out and thrash on it out on the highway because he never gets over 25 miles an hour or more than a mile and a half away from the house.
Not a damn thing wrong with it as far as I can tell.
Tell him such and to quit worrying about it.
Jumped the Sister In Law’s ass for being so lazy and came home.
Then I started in on the wheel bearings on that little trailer.
Jumpin’ Jehosephat it was way worse than I thought.
Real bad.
As bad as it was, it could have actually been worse!
At least the inner bearing race wasn’t heat welded onto the spindle.
Not that it came off easy mind you.
But I did get it off finally.
Then over an hour up at the parts store .
No numbers left on anything except one bearing race and a freakin’ Newbie behind the counter.
A more experience guy that I usually deal with finally had mercy on us and found sets of bearings and races instead of trying to find them individually.
Of course the spindle was messed up and I had to clean that up before I could put it back together.
I got almost all of that really bad side back together and discovered that the grease cap on the end didn’t fit this side anymore.
Apparently dragging the thing God only knows how many miles without an inner bearing had caused the hub to tilt on the spindle and had basically turned the inside of the hub like a lathe against the nut and opened the hole up.
I was screwing around with that when The Wifely Unit came out to see what was going on.
I stopped and explained what I was trying to do when the thought occurred to me that there just aren’t that many people around anymore who have my particular skills.
You know how you are doing something that you have done so many times before that you don’t even really think about how you are actually doing it?
Like that.
If you really stop and think about it, there aren’t that many of us left and it’s getting fewer and fewer by the day it seems.
She must have picked up on what I was thinking because she looked at me and told me that I was part of a dying breed.
She went on to say that she was really glad that she was married to a guy who could do things.
Fix broken stuff, make things work that nobody else she knows would have the slightest idea of where to even start.
I told her it felt good to be appreciated once in a while but that what she said was true.
Just to drive the point home I guess, The Universe yanked my chain a half hour later.
Just for fun.
My Brother called me and said his daughter, my Niece, was stranded at the local Sonic Burger joint with the new to her 2018 Subaru Something Or Other that wouldn’t start.
Even better, HER daughter was with her.
Unfortunately My Wifely Unit had run to the store so I called the Niece and told her I would get there as soon as she came home.
My Brother is a Finish Carpenter, with a life long history of not knowing shit about cars.
So he called me, of course.
I snagged up some tools and shit and ran up there.
Turn the key, clicky clicky.
Dead Battry.
Got some stuff out, checked the voltage, 11.8 volts. No Bueno.Hoked up the cables and let it sit for a while and yakked with the Niece.
Finally told her to crank it while I reached in and revved the old Small Block.
Vroom.
Unhooked the cables, checked the voltage again, 14.3.
You needs a new Battry dear.
Told her to expect to pay at least $150, asked if she could afford that and was told yes.
OK then.
Said hello to the Grand Niece who had her face buried in a phone the whole time and sent them on their way.
She stopped at an Auto Zone on the way home and they swapped it out for her.
Come to find out, her Fiance had been sitting at home on his ass this whole time, ten minutes closer to her than I was.
Because he don’t know shit about cars either.
There is absolutely no need for me to tell anyone that this country is fucked, just on the premise that nobody knows how to do Jack Shit anymore.
Oh sure, there will always be someone in the comments who will tell us that they have Kick Ass kids who know all kinds of stuff and how to take care of them.
What’s that, One, Two, Three maybe?
Out of HOW MANY?
It isn’t just “The Kids” either. I couldn’t even begin to count how many full grown adults who don’t know Fuck All about what used to be Basic Knowledge back in the day and that goes for Women and the Art of taking care of shit that women used to do every freaking day.
Baking, sewing, shopping, food preservation, none of it.
Yep ,
The Last of a Dying Breed.
And when our breed has died out ? We’ll laugh at them from the beyond when their tire is flat…
Those are the ones who get me. The strapping young men standing next to their cars on the side of the freeway, spare tire leaning against the fender, as they wait for AAA to CHANGE THE TIRE!!! MY GOD! Where the HELL has the testosterone gone????
Yep. People who won’t tell worthless idiots to fuck off. I’m a mechanic’s son, so I help lots of folks, if they’re worth it. The ones who shouldn’t even be on the road don’t get helped. Just doing my small part. I learned the word ‘no’ a long time ago, and have since added the word ‘fuck’ as a prefix.
I’ve been seeing this same thing for a long time. I’ve tried to pass on knowledge to my kids with varying degrees of success, and I’m now a part-time adjunct instructor at a local community college in the same program that I went thru 35 years ago.
Things are gonna get worse before they get better.
I’m not giving up, but it’s discouraging.
The last of a dying breed – no truer statement can be made.
When the inevitable occurs a LOT of useless people are going to die early and painfully for lack of bothering how to do anything. And that’s ok. Sadly the criminals in power will destroy the few left who CAN function in an effort to keep the useless happy so they can continue to keep them in power.
Same issue with my two youngsters. Don’t know and don’t care to learn. Just plain old DGAS. Frustrating. What Dan said is also very true. A LOT of people will die very quickly once the SHTF.
Well, we will be the LAST to die because we can fend for ourselves.
Just “upgraded” my food storage to the tune of almost $400. You can never have enough in these times, and in the time to come it’ll pay off.
I feel what you’re saying, Phil. With all the modern electronic stuff destined for a landfill after it’s 5 years old, there’s nobody around (well…damn few of us) that can repair the stuff that was built to be repaired. I astounded somebody the other day by saying I fix old vacuum tube equipment. He looked at me like I was some kind of “re-enactor” at the County Fair, and has never had any tube gear. Even his first radios and TV sets were Solid State. And there’s few of us around who can even fix the old Solid-State stuff.
Glad I taught my son basic electrical and mechanical skills. He’s no pro, but can take care of himself.
Hey, that’s how my brother and I learned electronics back in the ’60s – we fully restored a 1955 RCA COLOR TV. It had remote control (used ultrqasound!) and about 2/3rds of the circuits were in sad need of replacement. We cannabalized what we could, bought the rest. Took us a couple of years to get it running, but taught us a LOT about tubes, radio, and color TV signals.
Funny story – I didn’t understand quadrature modulation (used in decoding the “chroma” or color signal imposed on the top of the B&W “luminance” signal) until I was in High School. I was working with the (relatively new) “digital” radio control systems and learned PCM and PWM. The guy in our Explorer post looked at me and said, “You mean, you understand PWM and PCM and *don’t* understand quadrature modulation? I have two words for you: phase shift!” I thought about it for a half a second and then realized what I had been missing. I’m slow, but I get there eventually. Yep. I *can* be taught!
Kids today can’t/won’t tear things apart to see if they can fix them, more’s the pity. A mass of chips isn’t easy to fix unless you either designed it or you have the engineering data on the chip and a good theory of how it’s supposed to work. Audio is easy, radio is harder, then you get into ASICs and DSPs that take signal processing to a whole ‘nother level. If I didn’t have my vacuum tube experience and early transistor radio troubleshooting, I’d be lost too!
Same with mechanics – I tore apart a LOT of small engines and worked my way up to the V8’s. BUT…I still can’t work on an automatic transmission even though I know the theory and hydraulics. Guess I need to tear apart a few of them… too late.
Most young guys out there now couldn’t fix their fly if their dick was caught in it.–ken
It would seem that finding parts that aren’t junk is a crap shoot these days. My truck is a 2001 Silverado that I bought new. 160K miles and still runs great.Two years ago the original rack and pinion died. Had our local shop do the job. Just had them do the same job again. That last rack and pinion lasted two years and 3178 miles. At least the shop backed me up and made the parts house (the Irish chain) eat it.
Add to the mix that frequently you’re paying Delco-Remy prices for Chinesium.
The young guy [at least to me] that rented my home half section to farm broke had his auger that was set up to one of my bins, break. He was half in a panic on how to get it down while full of corn so it could be repaired. I calmed him down and explained how we’d get it done. After the auger flighting was pulled out and the auger was in its rest stop, he turned to me and said “you’re pretty handy to have around”. l told him I learned to fix things by breaking damn near everything I’ve touched since I was old enough to break and figure out how to fix it. At 71 I’m still in demand here at my welding and repair shop here on the farm because there are only two other [though much much bigger] shops within 30 miles when there used to be one in every small town and several in the bigger towns around here.
I have a buddy here who is like you in that way. Has his own race car, a 1970 Barracuda, that he does all the work on, of course. Has a piece of shit van that he has kept running now for over 300,000 miles. Works on all the family cars, of course. Fixes whatever may be wrong with the house, and any other projects he finds time to do. Very mechanical guy. It’s funny to listen to him tell the stories of his different mechanical conquests, as if I would be as interested in it as him. But that sort of thing is his passion and I bless him for it. He helps other folks out, too, when the need arises. I’m sure you and him could have hours of mechanical kinds of conversation. Yeah…. you guys are still out there, making the world a little better place.
Yup. Grew up with a Dad that never ever called a repairman. We did home wiring, appliance repair, car fixing, lawnmower rebuilding, panelling and sheet-rocking, roofing, carpentry and plumbing. Even got some cattle working in there too. I was always right there by his side, helping, from the time I could walk. Raised my kids the same way. Only real difference is that back then, if there was something I didn’t know how to do, I had to just start on it and hope I could figure it out. Now they all hit YouTube and watch a dozen videos first to figure it out, then do the job.
But yes, damn few of us have that mentality or skill. I see it at work all the time. Mechanical engineers who can’t change the oil in their car but have responsibility for million dollar projects. Guys who repeatedly take their boats back to the shop while complaining about money and how it never gets fixed right. Well shit, learn to fix it yourself – but they never seem to think of that. Hell, my wife probably has a better set of tools than many of the men I work with. Simply because I got tired of mine disappearing so I bought her a set. And don’t even fucking think of touching her tools. No sir.
Some of us are still out there, just not very many.
“Just start on it and hope I could figure it out”. I laughed at the Don cause that’s how I learned most of what I did. Broke a few things, sometimes had some extra nuts or screws but most turned out okay. I used to could set points in highschool taught by the gas station mechanic where I worked after school. Could not do that today. Youtube has been helpful in the later years but does not teach completely as my memory has gone to shit in older age.
I’m one of you, though not at your level. I learned from my dad who was an adding machine mechanic by profession (ever looked inside one of those things?) and a general mechanic and carpenter by nature. Uncle Paul, the Ford mechanic saved me many times and my Uncle Chester who wasn’t brand specific but was in the Pacific in The War.
John Derbyshire (I think) said that it will be some world when there is no one left to fix and run these machines that we built. I believe this had something to do with diversity rather than merit, also.
Yeah, well, I got caught myself a while back. Bought a ’85 GMC 3/4-ton on the cheap – very cheap – for dump and ditch runs. The battery looked a little suspect and the owner said he’d never changed it so it was no surprise a month later when I turned the key and the starter no bueno. Bought a new battery and the starter still no bueno. Schidt. Then I remembered a buddy’s 442 wouldn’t start if the tilt steering wheel wasn’t in the right place, pulled the wheel to it’s lowest position and the starter worked as advertised. Well it was probably about due for a battery anyway but schidt, I really should have known better.
Yep. All my personal vehicles are late 60’s early 70’s. My work van is a 2012. I don’t know JACK about these computerized vehicles. Was drivin home the other day and it started missing and was not accelerating right. I had just bought it 2 weeks before. I got a very good deal on it. Friend of mine hooked me up with a buddy of his. He told me it sat a couple years, not drivin much. So when problem occurred, I figured varnish or clogged jet. Well another good guy I know is a mechanic, he came right out and put the computer on it. He said it is 5th cylinder plug. Well turned out the plug coil was shot. He went and got one from his shop , while we were screwin around he had air cleaner off. As we cranked I could smell major varnish. He ran out got a new plug and 2 things of fuel cleaner. AND 2 six packs of beer. Had it runnin in 5 minutes. I asked what I owed him? He said NO CHARGE. So we went up to my barn drank beers and bullshitted for awhile. There are still alot of good people out there. Like folks on here.
Those of us who know “How Things Work” – and not from reading a book but BY DOING IT – is a shrinking portion of the populace.
I suspect we’ve already reached critical mass on it; many of us are in our 60s, 70s and 80s and nearly everyone younger than us can barely feed and dress themselves without assistance.
We’re headed for a societal collapse and even if we get only halfway there enough stuff will stop working that Those Who Do Not Know will be in deep, deep yogurt. Especially because those of us who survive won’t be eager to share what we’ve accumulated, be it food, skills, tools or knowledge.
Not to worry Albert, it’s just the fourth turning. Hard times create strong men who create good times. It’s about a 100 year cycle.
And to all this that it ain’t easy finding a contractor that knows what they’re doing either. new counter, new exterior door, new HVAC, you name it is hit and miss if the people know what they’re doing. Guess I’ll just be doing stuff myself. It it’s heavy, I’ll hire some kid to help get it into place.
Hell, i think we were 6, Dad taught us the ins and outs of the fuse box in the basement, had us rebuilding our schwinns including rear brake hub at 7/8 yrs old. Now there’s some valuable parenting. Hell, how many parents even know how to do shit.
One thing though is I won’t change a flat on the freeway. The morons on the road these days are too dysfunctional and distracted.
The upcoming social collapse is going to level the playing field. When fiatbux show their true value the MBA movers n shakers are gonna be screwed. All their fancy toys and trophy wives are gonna be nothing but barter fodder.
And the arm candy women are gonna be literally screwed. The kind of plain looking woman that can run a house and help with a farm are going to dramatically increase in desirability.
And the criminal element and parasite class will reap the just consequences for their decisions.
It will be hard Fred but it will definitely thin the herd so that my children and grandchildren who survive won’t have to deal with the bullshit we have all dealt with. There’s a reason I like dog’s better than people except those who come here.
Indeed they shall.
Vermillion
Yup to all. Lotsa like minded folks here in this thread, but yes, we are spread pretty thin in the general population. Just yesterday rescued a SIL (BIL is out of town) who’d stopped her riding mower out in the field and it wouldn’t start again. Checked the battery, 12.9 volts. Good there, but the pos cable had a ratty piece of 16g wire spliced to the ring terminal on the battery. Pulled on the wire nut connecting it to the main cable and it nearly fell off with a cloud of grey dust. Fortunately, the main cable had enough slack that I was able to clip it back (not as far as I wanted to, but enough) and put a new ring terminal on it–so glad I got that crimper some years ago.
I can’t tell you though, how many things I’ve “fixed” by opening them up, can’t spot anything burned or disconnected, so I put them back together again and they work now. I didn’t DO a damn thing, and have no clue why, but it works.
Like so many in this thread, I learned troubleshooting by trying to noodle things out on my own because we didn’t have yootoob back then. Just turning 69 trips around the sun this month. I’m convinced that the most important element of troubleshooting is attitude. The idea that “I can figure this out if I can just spot what isn’t right.”
I told my SIL that it was a privilege to be able to help her. As for the terminally clueless all around us, I have considerably less sympathy. I’ll be happy to help those who need help and are willing to learn, but for those who just want me to do it and make the problem go away, uh-uh.
I’ve been an arborist in the tree business for over 30 years now 22 with my own and you need to be a mechanic,small engine expert, welder( learned that skill in the USN) on top of certifications and education in said field. If you relied on someone to fix all your stuff all the time it really beats on your profit margin. It does get tougher the older you get and nobody wants to learn anything anymore. Sad state we are in for sure.
I figure most of us folks that stop by Phil’s are of this same breed, in aggregate we can probably fix pretty much anything short of a nuclear reactor and maybe even that too. Keep on wrenching until we can’t lift a 10MM wrench any longer, not to mention the 3/4″ and 1″ socket sets..
my brother was the motor head, whenever i asked him to show me anything he’d say get the —- outta the way & he’d do it, tried to watch & learn but he’d cuss me if i got in his way. so i say that to say this; some of us come up with our dumassery honest. i miss him s.o.b.
I was absolutely blessed to grow up in a time when men hardly ever called a repairman for anything. I had two neighbors, one was a cabinet maker, the other a printer, but used to be a mechanic. He’d grab all kind of things and fix them. Got to where I’d troll the neighborhood for busted lawnmowers and bring them to him.
I think he moved in when I was 8, so I grew up with the dude. A friends dad grew up super poor and fixed everything, threw virtually nothing away. So I learned from the best.
Funny thing I read; Turns out the romans had central heat of sorts, as well as plumbing in the richer people’s houses. They had a dig where they discovered a roman house, with a large hall. There was evidence of campfires on the floor that dated like 3 generations past when the place was built, or so. Think of that. A span of 50-60 years, the forgot how the heat worked.
We have a generation today that is utterly clueless as to how water is treated and ends up in their apartment, and how the waste water is carried away and processed. No clue what it takes to generate electricity to scale and distribute it. Same with natural gas. And it shows, big time, when you hear them talk.
Hopefully it won’t stop working while I’m alive. My kids, that’s another story.
When I was 12 years old – that was in 1966 – I spotted a portable B&W TV set in the neighbors trash. I grabbed it and took it home. I took the back off of it because I was curious to see what the inside looked like and low and behold, there was a tube laying loose on its side in there. And look! Right there’s an empty tube socket! I plugged the tube in, plugged the TV in, turned it on and… IT WORKED!
Let me tell you. That was the shiznit for a 12 year old geek like me. I was instantly hooked. I wanted to know everything there was to know about electronics. I parlayed that into a very lucrative career, first in the USN, followed by over 40 years in the medical electronics business. Along the way, I also learned a lot about plumbing, welding, carpentry, engine repair etc.
I have one child, a daughter. She can do some of that stuff. She knows how to do basic troubleshooting on most household things, but my son-in-law doesn’t even know which end of the screwdriver is the business end. Mechanically, he is completely helpless though he is a wiz at World-of-Warcraft.
However, there is hope. I have a 13 year old neighbor that was working on a science fair project that asked me for help finding the needed parts. That is one sharp kid that will definitely go places. Did I mention that the kid is a girl?
I always find it amusing how a brake job always takes 2 hours to do the first hub and 15-20 minutes on the 2nd one. I frequent a message board for my truck and am amazed at the amount of stupidity on there for people asking for a boobtube video to change out their headlight bulbs or any other VERY SIMPLE R&R project. I would love to see what happens when the internet goes down for a week or more…. I’ve got the popcorn at the ready!
Great bunch of folks here. Like many of them, I had a father who could work on almost anything. I was the kid that grabbed broken stuff and took it apart to se how it worked, then fixed it if I could. I was the neighborhood bicycle mechanic by age 9. Started working at service stations at age 12. My father had run an electronics repair shop back in the late 40s, so he also had a background in electronics and electrical. There was almost nothing he couldn’t fix.
I’ve made a living doing a lot of different things. When I in my late 20s, I started doing contract engineering work in commercial AM & FM broadcast radio. I had to fix everything from burned out bulbs to 35KW FM transmitters. All of the facilities maintenance and supporting electronics, including the office computers. I am so grateful for the knowledge base my father provided for me the expand upon.
Just two weeks ago I had to do plumbing, HVAC repair, home repair, and auto repair all within a week. It about killed my worn out body, but saved me a ton of money. I wish I were able to pass on my knowledge and work ethic, but none of the grand kids or great grand kids are around here anymore. And most really aren’t interested. No curiosity for anything that doesn’t have a screen.