I am turning into a car mechanic

[Henning]

Air impacts can be set for a torque limit value and there are torque limiting extensions for the purpose. First off, most people have no need for either because it's quite easy to use the rotational method of torque which is preferred and much more accurate than a torque wrench especially on wheel lugs with oft contaminated and damaged threads. You just watch the rotation from the seat to where it starts 'rattle gunning'(in Aus that's the official name for an impact gun, a 'rattle gun'). Tapers it's gonna a be about a 1/16 -1/8th of a turn, flat seats 1/8 to a 1/4 turn, simple.

I've assembled engines with an air impact that way, most every fastener has a rotational value defined as well as torque. I can assemble and run a Small Bloc Chevy in under an hour that way.

 

[fgcason]

You just watch the rotation from the seat to where it starts 'rattle gunning'

And the shops here rattle guns all the lugnuts on, then goes around again on all the nuts. Then comes back 5-10 minutes later with a click torque wrench and yanks twice on all the nuts again. SNAP! SNAP! SNAP! (You had damaged lug bolts and they broke so that'll be $40 a pop times six broken ones plus all new lug nuts for $80 and $400 for labor, it'll be ready tomorrow afternoon) Just saying based on watching a shop do exactly that to some poor guy a couple years ago while I had my tires there off the vehicle for good reason.

 

[Henning]

And the shops here rattle guns all the lugnuts on, then goes around again on all the nuts. Then comes back 5-10 minutes later with a click torque wrench and yanks twice on all the nuts again. SNAP! SNAP! SNAP! (You had damaged lug bolts and they broke so that'll be $40 a pop times six broken ones plus all new lug nuts for $80 and $400 for labor, it'll be ready tomorrow afternoon) Just saying based on watching a shop do exactly that to some poor guy a couple years ago while I had my tires there off the vehicle for good reason.

Why do you use a shop that either cheats or is incompetent?

 

[fgcason]

Why do you use a shop that either cheats or is incompetent?

For one thing, incompetence is the industry standard.

It was the only shop in town in the middle of frigging nowhere and I was dealing with a blowout at the time. I wasn't going to drive 150 miles in the desert on the old spare tire though I seriously thought about it while watching them boogaloo that guy. I stood over them like a starving vulture watching a dying mouse while they put the new tire on the wheel. They were not allowed near my vehicle in the parking lot under pain of certain death. Personally I don't stay in the same town long enough to hunt through hundreds of unknown shops and go through thousands of dollars that I have a far better use for to find someone who can do something I can do in an hour for free on my own.

 

[Henning]

For one thing, incompetence is the industry standard.

While dishonesty may be the industry standard, incompetence is not. There is no competence involved in the tire changing business. True incompetence at it is hard to find.

 

[comanchepilot]

My first car was a Fiat . . . I learned to be a mechanic from that car. . . the problem is that I speak Italian when I work, limiting my potential vehicles.

I dunno how the Italians make anything work - the car had a carb - needed a rebuild - bought a rebuild kit. Opened it up - took it apart - put it back together again and there was an aluminum rod about 2" long and 3/8th wide left over. I looked at the exploded diagram - and there was NO PART like that in the diagram and no part like it in the rebuild kit nor in the instructions [which were in Italian, some form of English, an equally poor form of Spanish and presume incomprehensible German - they were also in Russian - since I'm assuming the Zhuguli is the same car] -\\

So - I put the carb back on, torqued it down, reassembled the hoses, tossed some starting fluid in it - and it ran fine for the year until I sold it - never found out what the part was for.

 

[comanchepilot]

Probably. I would never be allowed entry. My clothes would be in the closet in the spare bedroom.

Actually true in our house- the prior owners turned a bedroom into a closet - all my stuff - suits and all - hangs in the [small] closet in the bedroom and the queen has the closet 'room!'

 

[AggieMike88]

Joe.... Thank goodness you're a lawyer and not a surgeon....

 

[denverpilot]

Fiat. Ahh. Yeah. Family had one. Spyder. Pain in the azzzzz... If it wasn't the carb, it was the electrics.

 

[MAKG1]

While dishonesty may be the industry standard, incompetence is not. There is no competence involved in the tire changing business. True incompetence at it is hard to find.

Maybe not incompetence, but being in far too much of a hurry is a standard. You get paid more when you do that, as you still charge customers "book" rates even though it took less time (IMO, that's dishonest because an hourly rate is quoted to the customer, but there is no question it's the industry standard). As pilots, we all know what happens when one hurries a procedure excessively.

 

[denverpilot]

Actually true in our house- the prior owners turned a bedroom into a closet - all my stuff - suits and all - hangs in the [small] closet in the bedroom and the queen has the closet 'room!'

I missed your comment.

We already have that. I have the tiny 1968 sized closet and she's got the bedroom, and it's closet.

My socks live in a drawer in my nightstand. Seriously. Haha.

But... I have the garage. So I think I got the better deal.