Last night was a good example of why I am glad I was raised to not be scared to investigate things and take things apart to see what's wrong, etc.  Of course at this age (41) I have learned a lot, but it all adds up.

Being a proud American and an auxiliary member of a Veterans Motorcycle Group, I felt compelled to light up my front fence (house is way back in the woods) last night for Veteran's Day with the ceremonial green light.

Since I am off in the woods and don't have an electrical line dropped at the road, I have to use a small HF 2 cycle generator to power up Christmas lights, etc. at the road. I pulled my generator out of storage (properly drained and stored) and when I went to turn on the fuel and start it fuel started pouring out everywhere. At first I thought broken fuel line, but it's a year old and that couldn't be the cause so my next diagnosis was stuck float. So, in my dress clothes in the dark with a headlamp, I used the spare tool set in my truck to take the bowl off and break the float loose and air out the carb all while getting fuel all over me. Put it back together and success. Started right up and no more fuel spillage.

So in summary, it was very important to me to show my respect to our Veterans in what may seem to be a small way, but in the moment of crisis I didn't just say "awww heck it's broke" rather I focused on the situation and tinkered until it was resolved.

So, no matter how big or small the project or crisis may be, a little patience and determination goes a long way.

I've got one of those little gens too.  For that one day a year when our power goes out for more than a couple of hours.  I can run the fridge and the freezer so stuff doesn't go bad.

It runs quite well.  I had that the carb isn't adjustable.  It runs very lean.  I have to let mine almost completely warm up before backing off the choke much.  Once warm, it just purrs.

I have to agree my dad use to take us to our Great Uncles. We would come home with a couple of old Single throat carbs to tinker with. That tinkering has come in handy over the years.

My dad didn't WANT to teach me mechanical stuff
He was a jet engine mechanic for Uncle Sam (USAF) and wanted me to wind up in a nice boring office job instead
But, he was a DIYer and a bit of an old school hot rodder, and I was definitely Daddy's Boy, so he couldn't slide under the car that I wasn't there with him
After a while he figured he might as well teach me so I could help instead of just being underfoot

Serowbot wrote on 11/12/15 at 13:30:12:


Back when I was just out of high school, I had a 70 Dodge Dart Swinger.

One day the starter quite working....and seeing as I only made about $2.25 an hour, I did my best to repair it rather than replace it.  I took the starter off, and it was all greasy.  We had a gravel drive on the farm, and I just took some gasoline and a brush and scrubbed the starter off in the gravel.  Then I took it inside the garage and took it apart, and I found a burned wire on a field coil.  I was able to clean up the ends of the wire and solder a new piece in, and I put the starter back together.  I figured it made sense to try the starter out and see if it worked before I put it back in the car....so I carried the starter outside and set it down in the driveway, got my jumper cables, and hooked them up to the starter.

There was a spark when I connected the battery cable to the starter......and I suddenly was reminded that about an hour earlier I was washing the starter with gasoline in the same identical part of the driveway!  It wasn't an intense fire - but me and the starter needed to move away in a hurry!  (And I still had my eyebrows).

Gus wrote on 11/16/15 at 13:06:20:



Gus, I think I'm in love  

DesertRat wrote on 11/17/15 at 16:26:54:



She is an oddball for sure; but I actually have two daughters like that. The other one is married now and has 4 boys. She built her own chicken coop a couple years ago. She made money in college fixing other students rigs in the parking lot of the dorms.

This one, tho, is unattached but not readily available; so she says. She's gonna be a good catch for some young whippersnapper. She's good lookin, smart, a hard worker and tight with the purse strings. Sh's got 3 years of college left.

2 more reasons i am glad i was taught to tinker:

1) cutting firewood this weekend one of my chainsaws, an old poulan woodshark started making a metal clanking sound. i thought, great, i burned it up. just to see if i could salvage parts. well, i opened it up and i found the magneto with one screw completely out and the other half way out...which explains the progressively worse running. i adjusted and buttoned up the magneto and darn if it doesnt run like new.

2) i dropped my 13 year old weedeater and broke the throttle trigger. i had an old one for parts that i finally threw out. well, i was digging in my box of bits and crap if i didnt find an old ryobi trigger i kept for whatever reason. took the craftsman apart and was able to make it work. adjusted the carb needles with the special carb adjusting screwdrivers that are hard to buy (i found them on amazon) and it runs like new.

two potential things that could have gone to the scrap heap were saved.