Can you top this screw up???

[pfrederi 17,693]

Last month I posted about whether I should patina a replacement hood for the C-160 I was working on or repaint it (the one on it had been hacked to clear the muffler as some PO was too cheap to by a pipe elbow). I had repainted all the rest of the tractor.  You guys shamed me into repainting.  Even bought the harbor Freight Surface conditioning tool.  (Worked great on the top and sides not so good on the grill)...

 

So today went to put the pretty repainted hood on the C-160.... Anybody have a line on a hood stretcher???

 

So what was your biggest screw up???

 

I am going to have a beer now....

 

 

Edited November 3 by pfrederi

[RJ Hamner 1,007]

I hate it when that happens

[stevasaurus 22,713]

I have to share this.  I think you know what it takes to change out a transmission, especially a 3 speed.  Well, I was replacing my #5053 trans with another one, the old one needed seals and a new 3rd gear.  So, I have my wife working the hoist while I try to line up the eye bolts to mount the transmission.  We got it done and she went inside.  Something was not right...I had a gap down the top of the trans.  It did not take long to realize that I had left the 2 top bolts in the trans.

   I had to drop the trans again, take out those bolts and then re-mount the trans.  It was like putting up garage doors, the first one takes an 3 hours, the 2nd one takes minutes.  And then I had to tell the wife, I could do that without her.  I deserved her wrath. 

[SylvanLakeWH 25,521]

1 hour ago, pfrederi said:

 

 

Red Green would fix that right up...

 

 

[adsm08 2,043]

Oh boy have I done and seen some doozies in my day.

 

I removed an engine from a vehicle to service a head, against shop manual instructions. Had to explain why it took 10 hours longer than it should have, and how I broke the oil pan. I just wanted the extra room to work.

 

I put an engine in a heavy truck and forgot to swap the flex plate spacer, ran fine but made a nasty noise when I was done.

 

This was not purely my screw up, but I was involved. New guy was put next to me so I could supervise him during his eval period. He puts an engine in a truck. I helped him line it up and mate it to the trans, it went right in smooth as butter, we bolted the trans down, never questioned it (he claimed he was really good at lining up engines and trannies) and went to lunch. Came back an hour later and find the flex plate still on his tool cart. Took us an hour to get them aligned the second time.

Edited November 3 by adsm08

[squonk 41,048]

Been there with hoods, flex plates, and oil gallery plugs.

[953 nut 55,153]

While I was in high school a friend wanted to swap out the oil burner six cylinder in his Ford Falcon with a good engine his uncle had gotten for him. It was summer so we couldn't use the school auto shop to do the work so we had to improvise in his father's home garage. We didn't have an engine hoist or anything close to one. We did have a couple of 4 X 4s and some pieces of chain. Grill and radiator were removed to reduce the height we needed to lift and we managed to get the engine out and safely on the floor. Swapped the flex plate, motor mounts and other parts to ready the replacement engine. Next we lifted the replacement into place, started the transmission bolts and bolted down the motor mounts. As the torque converter bolts were being tightened it became obvious that something wasn't right. After considerable conversation and a call to the uncle who gave him the engine we determined that the replacement engine had come from a stick shift and we were putting it in an automatic.  The pilot bearing was in the end of the  crank shaft and the torque converter centering device needed to occupy that space. By now we were quite proficient at pulling the engine, barrowed a blind bearing puller and the second installation went much better.

[WH654 23]

I had to replace the front steering pivot on my 702. So, I take the drift pin out of the pivot arm and the drift pin out of the steering sector. Spent about 15 minutes hammering the shaft out so that I could remove the steering pivot.

 

So I get her all back together, and I go to steer it and the steering barely moves at all, something is hitting something. 

 

I put the pivot arm on backwards.

 

It sure was a lot easier, taking it back apart the second time to turn it around though.

[WH654 23]

 Oops, it’s a 752 as it has electric start.

[kpinnc 11,962]

8 hours ago, pfrederi said:

So what was your biggest screw up???

Oh I’ve clearly made mistakes worse than that… 

 

You could always fab up new hinges to set the hood back.

[Handy Don 12,200]

21 hours ago, pfrederi said:

Anybody have a line on a hood stretcher???

Had exactly the same issue. Bought an 854 that came with the hood detached. Hood was sound, so I tapped out a few dings and straightened the grill bars, and painted it.

Turns out it was not the one-off, unique 854 hood.

Being a newb, I didn’t know to check at the time of the purchase. Fortunately, at the Big Show I was able to sell the short hood (now in excellent condition!) and buy the right one with a do-over on the tweaking and painting, of course. 

I’m convinced the original seller knew what he’d done.

[Mickwhitt 4,604]

Measure twice, paint once lol...

[rjg854 11,356]

caulk and paint

make what a

carpenter ain't