Ways

[Harold_V]

Mechanics don't exist any more, they have been replaced by part replacement technicians. Very few people have anything fixed anymore it is simply replaced with a model that will last an even shorter length of time, an even smaller number of people know how to troubleshoot and fix things...

Hmmm. Definite signs of the time.
The brake master cylinder in my '94 Dodge Ram 2500 would benefit by a rebuild. Still have brakes, but the pedal will pump up and be fairly firm after, maybe, three hits, but a first application provides a spongy brake. No, there's not air in the lines (they've been bled, a process with which I am intimately familiar), as the pedal slowly moves downward, so it's obvious that the seals are bypassing, albeit not very much. I am also not losing any fluid. Has to be the master cylinder, eh?

Went to a NAPA parts store today, from curiosity, to see if a rebuild kit is available (they used to be commonplace). Yep, there's one in California (I'm in Washington), and it costs almost the same as a new cylinder.

A second inquiry at an O'Reilly's Parts Store revealed they do not offer a rebuild kit.

We live in a throw away society, and it has become the norm for most things to be dealt with accordingly.

Harold

[SteveM]

Mechanics don't exist any more, they have been replaced by part replacement technicians.

One only has to look at the world of consumer electronics to see the worst-case scenario.

Nobody knows how to fix anything, and it's not repairable, even if you did. Nor sure which is the chicken and which is the egg.

Those of you that are old enough will remember the TV with the "works in a drawer", which made it easy for the technician to fix things. No longer.

The first time I remember my dad sending something out to be fixed, I was in high school. The TV had gone bad, and THIS time, he couldn't figure out why. He sent it to this old-school guy that found that a coil had gone bad. Sony was no longer making the part, so he took the core, and re-wound it.

Our transfer station has separate sections for trash, scrap metal, tires, building materials, yard waste and a Goodwill donation station. They added a section just for consumer electronics, as there is just SO much of it.

I enjoy being the guy, like my dad, that people bring things to to be fixed when nobody else can fix it. Society as a whole doesn't appreciate that, but my friends do.

There's an "R" that goes before "reduce, reuse, recycle" and that's "repair".

Steve

[Carm]

"I enjoy being the guy, like my dad, that people bring things to to be fixed when nobody else can fix it. Society as a whole doesn't appreciate that, but my friends do. "

I have a friend like that, fixes almost anything, even sealed things that were never intended for repair. The neighborhood loves him but I feel he is taken advantage of. No one would be willing to pay even minimum wage were he to charge. Yet like most of us, he has bills and likes to eat.

[RSG]

I feel he is taken advantage of. No one would be willing to pay even minimum wage were he to charge.

So true, further to that, I have learned that a guy who makes things like I do with fishing reels or other sports items had more friends than he knew possible. That feeling of being used is just something you have to get used to I guess...

[Mr Ron]

Although we have gone a bit OT, I'd like to present a little of my background. Born in 1934; I can remember the fleet of navy ships docked in the Hudson river after VJ day. (for those younger, VJ meant victory over Japan). Back then, we took things apart to see how they worked, (sometimes we couldn't get it back together) but we learned from experience. Being handy was not just an asset, but most times a necessity. I read books and magazines like Popular Science, Popular Mechanics, Mechanics Illustrated and a few others. From those, I learned how to build short wave radios, fix a car and build projects of all kinds. Saturdays were spent on Canal Street searching for surplus and tools, Cortland Street for electronic parts or 23rd Street at Winn's for chemicals and lab supplies. One favorite place was Patterson Bros. hardware where every tool imaginable was displayed on open counters. Every Starrett, B&S and Lufkin tool was on display. You didn't need to ask for help; all you had to do was pick up a tool, handle it and if you wanted it, took it to the cashier. They also carried a complete inventory of Delta and Atlas tools. I can remember hauling a Delta bench drill press and motor on the NY subway to my apartment in upper Manhattan. We were not rich, so I made my first bicycle by putting together parts from old discarded bikes. During the time I lived in the apartment, a friend of my Dad offered me a South Bend 16" lathe for free. Naturally, I had to turn down the offer, but it still haunts me today. I had 1 or 2 friends who shared my interests in things mechanical and electrical. My legacy will be; I brought up my son with my values and he is now doing the same with his son. I've slowed down and can't do the same things I could do younger, but at least my son carries on where I left off. My head is full of knowledge which is meaningless to most and surprises many when asked. A friend of mine asked me how much I thought a steel plate weighed and within 30 seconds, was able to tell him exactly how much it weighed without a calculator or pencil and paper. Needless to say, he was astonished. Having worked in the shipbuilding business all my working life, I learned all there was to know about materials, weights, fasteners and everything that makes up a ship. Sorry for the OT trivia, but it may bring back fond memories of a gentler time.

[BadDog]

Good story Mr Ron. I wasn't born quite as early, but started life much the same on a one lane dirt road in rural N AL. Single wide trailer with one window AC unit in the kitchen window at one end. Never occurred to me what most people took for granted even then. But I also made my own bicycles from scrap parts, got lucky with a trial Z50 when I was little, but couldn't find/afford an upgrade when I outgrew it, so I bought a Honda 125 in a pile of boxes at a yard sale for $25 (money I earned, no allowance, what's that?). "Rich kid" (barely middle class, but to me they were rich) took it apart for some unknown reason, couldn't put it back together. Local guy basically ran a side-show motorcycle graveyard not too far away, so I did work for him to pay for parts and his help (and access to his books!) when I couldn't figure it out on my own. Took me nearly a month, but I ran that bike for years. Different times. Not sure better, but different. I'm a long way from that dirt road now (in so many ways).

But my son is also the guy folks go to to fix things. His mother in law, who comes from money, can't imagine how he does what he does and knows all the things he knows at his age. But when he wanted a bike, even though I could afford one by then, we got a fixer-upper and made it nice. He ran it in BMX. Later on, we built a rock-crawler buggy and ran it all over the SW. When he wanted a motorcycle, he bought a fixer Nighthawk 450, and we took it apart, and put it back together nice. He made a good chunk on it too, which bought him his 750 Magna he still rides. I could go on all day, I'm proud of him...

[SteveM]

Ron - my dad used to take us to canal street. I still have a chess set I made from pieces of lucite I bought there back in around 1970. I don't know if there are any of those places left. MSC started out as a hole in the wall down there somewhere - dad used to go there when it was called Manhattan Supply Corp.

Steve

[Mr Ron]

Ron - my dad used to take us to canal street. I still have a chess set I made from pieces of lucite I bought there back in around 1970. I don't know if there are any of those places left. MSC started out as a hole in the wall down there somewhere - dad used to go there when it was called Manhattan Supply Corp.

Steve

Ah..... such fond memories of New York; a place great to grow up in, but a different place today. My last visit to NY was about 10 years ago and I couldn't wait to leave quickly. Now it's the laid back life of rural Mississippi for me.

Here is a story about my son. When he was 16, he spotted a bicycle sitting outside a house in the trash. He immediately recognized it as an expensive off road bike. He inquired at the house the disposition of the bike and was told "it was broken and he could take it if he wanted it" which is what he did. Found out the only thing wrong with the bike was a flat tire and the chain was off the sprocket. A minimal amount of fixing and the bike was ready for the road. He soon after sold the bike for $400 with zero expense. It just shows that kids today can't fix such a simple thing as a bicycle; things we would routinely tinker with as kids. Although we live in a disposable age, we (my son and I) still fix things instead of trashing them; even things that are considered non-repairable. Not only do I find it a challenge, it saves me money.

[SteveM]

Here is a story about my son. When he was 16, he spotted a bicycle sitting outside a house in the trash. He immediately recognized it as an expensive off road bike. He inquired at the house the disposition of the bike and was told "it was broken and he could take it if he wanted it" which is what he did. Found out the only thing wrong with the bike was a flat tire and the chain was off the sprocket. A minimal amount of fixing and the bike was ready for the road. He soon after sold the bike for $400 with zero expense.

A dad was throwing a bike out at the transfer station, so I asked what was wrong, and it was, you guessed it, a flat tire. The bike was still shiny. Went thru my kids and then got donated to a guy here that gets bikes to poor kids.

Steve

[mikeehlert]

Went to a NAPA parts store today, from curiosity, to see if a rebuild kit is available (they used to be commonplace). Yep, there's one in California (I'm in Washington), and it costs almost the same as a new cylinder.
Harold

As a guy who has rebuilt more than a couple wheel and master cylinders I find this so sad.

The past will never return.

[Harold_V]

Went to a NAPA parts store today, from curiosity, to see if a rebuild kit is available (they used to be commonplace). Yep, there's one in California (I'm in Washington), and it costs almost the same as a new cylinder.
Harold

As a guy who has rebuilt more than a couple wheel and master cylinders I find this so sad.

The past will never return.

Sad, indeed. Like you, I've rebuilt my share of cylinders, both master and wheel, and can't imagine that the process is now not acceptable.

Sadly, people, in part, are responsible, for doing such things has become less than fashionable. Through the lack of interest, to say nothing of the level of ineptness found in people today, those of us who still maintain such skills shouldn't be too surprised. There simply isn't the demand there once was, much to my chagrin.

Harold

[BadDog]

I tend to agree with the general statement, though perhaps not completely in this context.

I have a HS friend who, up until about a decade ago, had a great sideline business rebuilding starter, alternator, and cylinder cores. Having worked with him to catch up on orders a few times, I had a unique vantage as this shift occcured.

He first got hooked into this before the chains mostly wiped out the local parts stores, and before/as the kits were becoming largely unobtainable from the consumer parts stores. Like many such things, then and even now the kits are all still available, just ever less through your local walk-in. So the local stores would often sell "remans" and take a core. The cores went to my friend, who tested/evaluated/rebuilt/scrapped/painted/etc. as needed, reboxed labeled for his clients, and supplied as supply was available. Eventually he was pushed out by big companies with economy of scale that let them produce the remans using tools that (hopefully) do a better job than tools like the old glaze breakers we used to use, and with better test/evaluation and so on. These companies produced the remans at a cost so close to the retail kits that the current situation developed. I don't know about you, but when I can get a dual (or more) piston caliper for $20 with my build-able core, I have no interest in rebuilding even though I have at my disposal a reasonable machine shop, much less the average Joe working on his daily work truck at home with common hand tools.

So while I totally agree with the sad state of general skills in the upcoming generations, when even now disposing of a perfectly good bike in the landfill due to a flat tire is the epitome of foolishness, the topic of automotive cylinder rebuilding (as with starter, alternators, etc) isn't quite on point.