BangShift Question Of The Day: What Are The Roughest Conditions You Have Ever Wrenche

[admin]

This one should be interesting! This question came to my mind as I stood outside yesterday in single digit weather to start doing the EFI swap on Project Buford T Justice. I lasted about a half hour before I decided to cancel that program and wait until it warmed up a little. I just about [...]

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[21stud]

In 1974 I started a truck leasing company with a whooping 4 trucks leased. Maintenance was my responsibility. Two years into it and business was good but I was broke from putting the money back in the business to make it grow. One of my F350, dually, refrigerated box trucks had four new tires put on the back and the route driver drove it about 100 miles before all the studs sheared off the right rear tires. The shop couldn’t/wouldn’t get to it until the next day and it was 4 degrees with a high wind sleet storm on top of 3 inches of packed snow.

The driver left the truck along the side the road where it stopped. Both sides of the road were plowed under corn fields in central Illinois. I couldn’t afford a 100 mile tow bill so I loaded my floor jack and hand tools in the back of my old station wagon to go fix it. I stopped by the dealership to buy studs and lug nuts on the way.

The truck was loaded with food supplies that were to be cold but not frozen and the truck was about out of gas. When I got there it was getting dark and I only had a cheap flashlight so I knew I had to work fast of the food would be ruined. It was too cold not to work fast anyway. I jacked the truck up and pulled the axle and since I didn’t have that big socket, I used an hammer and chisel to loosen the retaining nuts on the bearings so I could pull the brake drum. Every time I put a tool down it froze to the ground so I had to keep one tool in my hand or pants pocket so I could smack the tools and parts frozen to the ground when I needed them. The wind was whipping under the truck with nothing to block it and I only had on my old Army jacket over shirt and sweatshirt.

I finished the job; threw the tools in the back of the truck and locked up the old wagon and left it there. I worked very fast for a whole bunch of reasons. I didn’t want my customer to lose his load of food; I couldn’t afford to pay for a tow bill and I was freezing my butt off. Really! Ah… I now live in Florida where it’s in the mid 70’s today.

[ColinV]

Changing a fuel filtre and priming a lousy stinking CAT motor after the diesel gelled in the filtre over night. About a half hour outside Dawson City, YT Canada on a late January night in 2010. It was -37 C (-34 F), but hey at least it was not windy and it was a really dry cold so it wasn't to bad.

[Casper]

Let's just say I've caught my garage on fire more than once.... Hope that helps Brian.