Stupid is as stupid does..................

So i'm doing my front brakes on Saturday. All is going well. It is, after all, disc brakes. Not like the old days when all four corners were drums. This should be easy, right? Wrong!!

All went well. Or so I thought.

I did the front brakes without a hitch. Ex was off the jack stands and ready for the road test. I decided to clean up before the road test.

While I was cleaning up I found one of the new pads by the driver side wheel. My first thought was that the idiots at the factory put an extra pad in the box, right? There is no way that I reassembled the driver side without installing one of the pads. I mean come on, no way.

Well, I'm an idiot. Not only did I forget to install one of the pads, I didn't tighten the caliper bolts!!

Good thing I decided to clean up before the road test and not after.

I got the "extra" pad installed and all was well!

Just goes to show you that you should always check your work.

Hey, nowhere on my resume does it mention intelligence.

 

[05dakotatrac]

had a 91 mercury sable (yes conehead tan moonroof and all) any who there was a grocery store by my place with a 45* incline that raises a good 5'. needless to say the duke brothers got nothing on me. LOL

 

[bobflood]

It's a beautiful Saturday in August and I am doing maintenance and a tune-up on my Toyota Celica. Hot - so I am in shorts and a tee shirt, bare feet, etc. Jack her up, drain the oil, change all the filters, plugs, wires, etc. Let her down, start to pour in the oil - as the third quart is going in I feel something around my toes. Look down and - sur 'nough - there is all my nice clean fresh oil running out around my feet!! And to add insult to injury, I had no more oil and the wife was gone shopping - so there I sat until she and kids returned and made fun of me.

 

[BigRondo]

Keep 'em coming! I see that I am in some fine company.

 

[safn1949]

Working on a good size farmall tractor helping my buddy pull a wheel,my buddy is kinda careless and didn't block the tires.

She starts to move and we have the half moon blocks that hold the wheel on out so me the dumb butt grabs the axle to stop it from rolling off the bottle jack,I lost about 15% of my ring finger and the nail and pad was peeled off my little finger when it hit the ground.

Could see the bone in my ring finger,13 stitches total and a serious cussing out by the small town family doctor who fixed it for me,to say that stung a little is an understatement.

oooh there is so much more......

 

[FIND]

Ouch, we had a combine go down in a field while pulling the wheel off. Missed my hand by less than an inch and I about soiled my pants. Farmin is dangerous stuff.

 

[George355]

i figured i'd change the oil in my first car, it was a 90 thunderbird. i asked a friend for some help.

drove it up some ramps, i got under it to take the drain plug out, it was so tight i couldnt get it. my friend tried and he couldnt get it, he went to go get a longer ratchet and i figured id keep trying. after a couple minutes i finally got it, slid out from under the car when he came back outside and was so happy that i finally got it, i forgot to slide the drain pan into position, needless to say we tried using papaer towels, towels, and anything else to try and clean it up. until a neighbor came out with some kitty litter.

i still have the pics to keep as a reminder.

 

[jdmeaux]

I had been having transmission shifting issues with an Impala wagon years back, and "planned" to fix it ASAP. Any way, I forgot about the problem. A few months later, I was rotating my tires and couldn't find my jack stands (my brother-in-law "borrowed" them), so I used cinder blocks to support the car. Any way, I jacked up the car and put the blocks under the shock mounts on the rear axle and the A-arms. After doing my rotation thing, I started the car up and put it in reverse. No movement. I put it into drive and anagin, no movement. Crap, the tranny died. I then crawled underneath the car, and began removing the trans. After I got the tranny on the ground (and all this was man handled) did I notice that the cinder blocks held the tires just off the ground so NONE of the tires made contact. AND they were located where I couldn't see them while walking around the car.

Trust me, the transmission got rebuilt then. And my brother-in-law NEVER borrowed another tool from me.

 

[buckwill]

need i say dont use any cinder blocks for any ANY jackstand,, EVER,, i buried one my high school budies,, went back to visit them in tenn after coming home from VN on leave,, had a good day went back next day for lunch with them, kicked his feet stickin out from under 50 ford coupe,, him puttin fresh teansmission in,, went in talked to her , she asked me go get him for lunch before i throw u guys lunch to the dogs, kick his feet again,, didnt move look under there,, cinder blocks under rear axle rubbled,, hes got rear diff in his chest,, was dead when i kicked his feet first time,, dont use cinder blocks for any under car blocking,, use it once youll just keep making excuses to use them for more and more heavier stuff till your blocking your car again an your friends will cfonsole your wife and they will bury you, dont use cinder blocks,, the difference between failing just a little and total failure is zero percent,no significant warning,,, and if you think oh yeah but,, then keep on using cinder blocks anyway,,

 

[JCat]

I was loading the Yamaha Grizzly ATV up the trailer ramp, and I did not realize that the enclosed cargo trailer was not attached to my truck. When I got to the top of the ramp, the trailer pulled an immediate boner and the trailer door header hit my head. It almost knocked me out.
.

 

[jdmeaux]

My step-son did one early this morning. He works late shift and its not unusual for him to come home at 5Am tired as all get out. He stopped at a convenience store to get a bite to eat and put gas in his truck. He went inside and bought his snacks, and then went out to fuel his white Dakota. He swiped his card and began fueling figuring he needed about $40 of gas. At $43, the truck was full and he got his receipt from the machine. He goes to open the door and it was locked. His key wouldn't unlock the door.

Then this "big" guy comes out of the store and asks him what he was doing to HIS truck. It seems the boy filled up the wrong truck. The boy had parked behind the truck he filled up and simply went to the wrong truck. The guy did pay him for the gas. And then he had to go inside and pay for the gas to fill his own truck. And to make matters worst, he had left his snacks in the back of the wrong truck. SO he had to go back inside to buy his snacks AGAIN.

 

[palallin]

My ex-Father-In-Law did a backyard-rebuild of a Chevy 283 many years ago; didn't even remove the motor. (I won't speculate on the precision of the work, but it WAS a small-black Chevy and therefore nearly immune to abuse ) After he was finished, he tried to start it. No dice. Made every adjustment known to man in timing, carburation, etc. Checked fuel flow, checked spark plugs, checked coil/points/capacitor. Nada. Zilch. His father was laughing at him.

Then his wife walked over with a sandwich in one hand and a pair of lifters in the other and said, "Here's your supper, Honey. What are these things? There's a whole bunch of them lying on the chair over there" (pointing to 14 more on the seat of a chair next to the driveway).

 

[anyexcuse]

Hope a motorcycle story will be OK. Years ago I cleaned the air filter and did a couple other things on my almost new IT 175 Yamaha, and when I was done it ran really poorly. Being young and stupid, I immediately brought it to the local Yamaha shop to find the problem, as I thought I had already taken care of the normal maintenence things. The next day the dealer informed me the cone shaped air cleaner was installed backwards, and charged me almost a hundred 1979 dollars for a carb cleaning. That was the last time I worked on anything after smoking the wacky tobacky! Boy did I feel stupid.

 

[jdmeaux]

Hope a motorcycle story will be OK. Years ago I cleaned the air filter and did a couple other things on my almost new IT 175 Yamaha, and when I was done it ran really poorly. Being young and stupid, I immediately brought it to the local Yamaha shop to find the problem, as I thought I had already taken care of the normal maintenence things. The next day the dealer informed me the cone shaped air cleaner was installed backwards, and charged me almost a hundred 1979 dollars for a carb cleaning. That was the last time I worked on anything after smoking the wacky tobacky! Boy did I feel stupid.

Now that's funny.

 

[anyexcuse]

Now that's funny.

There aren't too many people I know personally who I have told the story to.

 

[BigRondo]

I have struck again!!

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=365875

 

[theluke19]

I have struck again!!

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=365875

after all that, it was just battery corrosion?! It'll getcha!!

 

[BigRondo]

Stupid is as stupid does. :

 

[koda2000]

Okay, spent days putting a new timing belt, water pump, pulleys, motor mounts, spark plugs, plug wires, crank seal and belts in my daughter's PT Snoozer. You just about have to pull the engine out to do this job. Got it all back together, but it wouldn't start. Thought about it for a day or two, figured I'd done something wrong timing the cams. Tore it all apart again and checked. Everything looked okay. Put it back together again, but still nothing... Then checked the gas gauge. It was below "E" (why to kids never put gas in their cars?). Having the front wheels off the ground while working on the car was just enough to not allow the fuel pump to pick up any fuel. Threw in 2 gals gas and away she went. Spend a week working on this car and then her knuckle-head boyfriend totaled it.... arrrrggg!

 

[KPT]

I just had a moment fitting for this thread. My job recently transferred me. I had to get my F250 and my Corolla back to NC. I haven't bought a car hauler yet so I rented a tow dolly since it doesn't really matter vs a trailer on a FWD car. I get to my destination at midnight and say screw it I'll leave the car on the dolly until tomorrow. Well I got bored and decided to take the car off. Unhooked the straps, put the ramps down. Corolla won't back off the dolly. I'm backing it off slightly uphill, tires started to spin, I figured traction control was cutting power so I turned it off. Still wouldn't get off the dolly. At this point I'm thinking I could get the explorer and pull it off but there is no good tow point. Maybe I'll chock the back wheels and pull the F250 forward. About this time I remember the safety chains I had wrapped around the lower A arms on the Corolla.

 

[BigRondo]

Stupitidy is a beautiful thing. :

This thread is living proof. :biggthump