What do we fix in a disposable society?

Every time I try to fix something, I break it worse.

 

I, too, contend with this handicap.

 

I love fixing stuff. - even moreso if I didn't see it put together correctly before attempting to fix it.

I'm mechanically inclined - but I don't screw up everything.

 

After watching YouTube for a while last night I've decided that changing the brakes should be easy enough for me too do.

Now for those with brake experience.....

Can one change the front (or rear) first and then later the rear (or front) or should front and rear be changed at the same time?

 

Disc brakes - easy.

Drum brakes - horrific abomination before god.

 

Get used to it. The cost of electronics is falling so fast (the ones used in cellphones a decade ago are now so cheap that they're essentially free) and the requirements for things like energy efficiency are such that they're going to be stuffing them into everything in the coming decades. What's going to be really "fun" is when they use the chips to track your garbage and fine you when you fail to recycle something.

 

UA is right - disk brakes are cheap + easy to replace. I just did my Neon's and had zero problems (and I suck at mechanical things).

But the rear drum brakes? Last time I did those (on a different Neon) I had my buddies help me and it was still pretty rough.

 

Even with disk breaks, you need a special tool - to hook a spring somewhere I think. I think that's what the special too is for. You can do it with out the tool, but it's a bitch.

 

It depends upon how they're made and if they're front or rear discs. I just fixed my front brakes and, surprisingly since its a Ford product, I didn't need any special tools at all, nor was it a particularly difficult repair.

 

The parts warehouse must've been close, because my blender drive showed up less than 24 hours later. Ground down an old open end wrench to get ahold of the shaft, and voila, new blender.

 

I have and do change my own brakes. But, I'm a firm believer in turning rotors and drums. I always take those down to my uncle's shop. If they need to be turned and you don't, your brand new pads/shoes will wear unevenly and their service life will be drastically reduced.

But, even more importantly, remember what brakes actually do. They slow you down by converting momentum to heat. Each time you press your brakes a tiny amount of friction material AND rotor/drum are worn off. Over time, your rotors/drums will get out of true (fixed by turning on a lathe) and eventually they'll get dangerously thin (out of spec) and you risk having them crack and fail, often catastrophically.

Some vehicles are better than others. Considering my driving and maintenance habits, I could probably get away with turning my rotors every other time on my truck. But, my mom's '06 Honda Accord has gone through the factory and two more sets of front rotors since they bought it new.

 

I'm not turning them.

I'm pretty sure the car has never had it's brakes changed. I know it hasn't since I bought it in 08 (it's a 06).

I'm going to put on new rotors and brake pads.

 

Is there no half decent Scout Troop in your area?

 

Let me guess... Frontline is a Scoutmaster or something?



















Even if so, question still stands....

 

So last week the 220 volt lines going underground to the A/C compressor failed, so I jury rigged new lines out to keep the unit cooling since the average temp this summer has been about 105. I decided to spend my day digging up the old conduit to get everything back up to code.

Note, always establish exactly where the freon lines are before digging.

 

At the risk of hijacking the thread, as a renter, I'd never thought about it, but houses are basically living machines. They are a group of systems to provide shelter, storage, preserve our food, supply water and remove waste. And they develop personalities over time--moreso when their owner is a self-taught handyman.

This phenomenon happens with boats and motorcycles as well. Cars to some degree.

 

Cars to a huge degree. Woe to the poor fool who tries to operate my vehicle without me around to instruct them.

 

I say "to a degree" because modern cars are complex enough that most people don't work on them at all. My trusty old Horizon was not only so simple that I could work on it, it was so simple that I didn't wind up needing to jerry rig anything. The most characteristic thing it had was that it didn't have holes for a front license plate, so the plate was held on by a clothes hanger, threaded through the holes and around the bumper.

But I guess when I think about it, even the Mustang is unique, because I did some relatively minor cosmetic work to it. And there have been a few quirks to it since it was rear-ended a few Christmases back (most notably that the exhaust really screams when it does acceleration for a hill or such driving).