Am I nuts? Help me please...

Sal Paradise

Sal Paradise

Hooligan
I just spent 14 hours and a few hundred dollars rebuilding an old washing machine. Not long ago I took my mom's ( God rest her) old sedan and fixed it and got it running and back on the road. No one wants to drive it, because its a 1989 Volvo and it sucks, but it now works. Actually it sits in my driveway. I have fixed up old Japanese motorcycles back into the 1970's . They are obsolete. The tires cost more than they are worth. Everytime too much money and time and no guarantee of anything working out, and yet I do it. I fix boilers and lawnmowers instead of buying new. I rebuild old bicycles. I just ordered a part online for an old Peugot bicycle!!! Why? Anyone else suffer from this affliction? I don't even really enjoy doing it, unless it works out, then its :cheers:

Shouldn't we just throw things away and buy new? Why spend many hours and hundred of dollars on an old machine?

Tell me I am not crazy. Or recommend a self help book or something. Its getting worse. I need professional help.
 
Last edited:
koifarm

koifarm

Hooligan
My guess would be that when you were a little kid you were one of those kids who took everything apart to see if it worked and then attempted to put it back together.
Lucky enough that trait stuck with you into adulthood so you can relax and enjoy the impulses to fix old stuff instead of throwing it away.
One word of warning....you CANNOT fix women.....don't even try.....their stuff is okay but in no way should you attempt to fix a female, no matter how willing they are....
So, you're not crazy and you don't need fixing, just embrace the impulses to fix stuff and continue as long as you wish happily repairing all the miscellaneous stuff you come across that needs repair.
 
W

whyme

TT Racer
Makes good sense...I fix everything too. Even my kids friends say "give it to your Dad he can fix it." Almost all of my lawn care equipment was free and I fixed it..people just toss things out in my area. Usually they just need something easy like an air filter...Or how about a like new rolling leaf blower...had a flat...that was it.
lots of stupid people out there.
 
Sal Paradise

Sal Paradise

Hooligan
Thanks guys. The true give away is when the parts guy asks you what it is for and you won't tell him. If you have ever done that, you know what I mean. I just had an online parts guy ask me what motorcycle I was putting a part on and I told him " home made". I was just hacking something together. And don't get me started on boats, I have fixed and rebuilt outdrives and controls,trailers, marine engines and manifolds, everything. I was always really attached to my boats( like motorcycles) and wouldn't let anyone else touch them. The internet is where I get most of the info, parts numbers, shop manuals, advice. Appliances, low voltage control systems, vacuum cleaners, HVAC - anything. I can't always fix everything either, I would say my batting average is like 85%. But thats with no limit or price on my labor. I put 15 hours into the rebuilding of the washing machine. My hourly rate is actually pretty high at work. I think it would have to be minimum wage as a home mechanic.

Maybe I secretly want to be a mechanic instead of an architect. In 10 years I can retire and maybe I will open a shop. I don't know. But I do know that once I start taking something apart, I cannot stop until it is either back together working perfectly, or its a pile of broken parts. One or the other.

Koi I did , big time as a kid. I would never try and fix a woman. Besides it always seems that as soon as you try and replace them, they fix themselves.
 
Last edited:
tooblekain

tooblekain

750cc
It actually makes good financial sense. On a lot of How-to books when it comes to penny pinching one of the biggest advices is to actually fix instead of replacing appliances and electronics.

Plus, there is a certain satisfaction that no dollar amount can cover knowing that you alone brought something back to life that was once dead.

The only time it may be worth replacing is if the costs of fixing exceed the costs of replacing...however that's rarely the case unless a particular part is very rare and expensive.
 
E

Eggman66

Scooter
An 85% success rate is quite good. Consider if 85% of the usable "JUNK" people throw away were repaired, re-used or re-purposed instead of being tossed on a pile to rot.
My mother drives a 94 Caddy. I spend what would amount to 1 car payment on repairs in a year. So she is 11 payments ahead.
So let's see... 11 Cadillac payments?... How many Triumphs can I get for that?... I'm going to ask my wife. I bet she will know.
I've had my share of thrown out lawn mowers, snow blowers, etc., that I have invested up to $7.98 into to get running again.
Found another one?, pass this one to someone that needs one. Next thing you know a case of acceptional beer shows up on your doorstep. When is the last time you got a 24 pack for 8 bucks and saved a friend a couple of hundred at the same time?

Think of a factory repair manual as a self help book.

NUTS?... Nope, you're not nuts.
 
AceT100

AceT100

Rocker
My car is 60 years old...I have 2 1952 GE Fridges....a 1957 Sunbeam Electric Mixer....

Need I go on?
 
Sal Paradise

Sal Paradise

Hooligan
no, no ... I am a stupid person who fucks around with shit. I hate mechanical work. I should just buy new stuff and shut the fuck up. I'll shut up now.
 
S

strokerlmt

Moderator
Plus 1 on sweatmachine .......new shit is shit.
My mother had a Canadian made fridge from somewhere near Toronto and the SOB was 37 years old and still plodded along with cold and freezing temps. When we moved her a few years ago I wanted the fridge.
LMT
 
slowgator

slowgator

750cc
They just don't build things like they used to. I still use the mower and tiller I bought when I moved into this house in 1980! :)
 
Sal Paradise

Sal Paradise

Hooligan
well, I''ll say this.. my Maytag was made here in America and goddam it the parts I just put in were made in America as well. I'd rather that than China.
 
D9

D9

Vendor
Sal... quit being critical of your fixit endeavors and keep on keepin' on with it... the skills to do the kinds of things you're doing are disappearing, thanks to the pervasive throw-away mentality that permeates modern existence... you're a writer, why not start a blog or add to an existing one, post some pics therein with interesting fixit stories and let folks enjoy it?
 
C

clydeturbeaux

Scooter
Kudos to you Sal

I'm a kindred spirit (although with an admittedly lower batting average) and operate under the assumption "Well, it doesn't work anyway, maybe I can take it apart and see what went wrong". It's usually just a broken wire, a set of dirty or burnt contacts on a switch or a broken drive belt. I used an old rubber band as a drive belt for years on various tape decks. DVD players, etc.
There's a particular sense of self-reliance and satisfaction in being able to "do it yourself".
My current pride and joy is a 1962 B&S 2 1/2 hp lawnmower (inherited from a neighbor) with a manual choke which starts on no more than two pulls. I have put one set of points in it in over 5 years of ownership and it's still more reliable than the new machines I see going to the shop in the beds of my neighbor's pick-up trucks with all of their safety and emission controls.
I agree you should write a book to encourage others to learn home repair skills.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top