I Love My Neighbors

[Not Born Yesterday]

I live in a neighborhood where it seems that no one has the ability to fix anything. I look forward to the monthly big junk pick-up day where I've saved several items from the landfill. Just this week I retrieved a small Craftsman air compressor that looked brand new. I took it home and plugged it in to discover that it only aired up to 20 lbs pressure and kept running. After a little research on the internet, I felt that I should check the compressor head gasket and sure enough, it was blown between the inlet side of the head and the outlet side. I invested a few dollars in some gasket material, cutting my own head gasket, shellacked it in place, torqued the head back on and Wallah! It works and looks like new. I haven't decided yet to keep the little ****** or give it back to the neighbor as a present. I know this particular compressor can be bought on sale for around $100 so I don't feel bad keeping it and besides my wife needs a small portable compressor to use with a air stapler occasionally.

 

[Not Born Yesterday]

I know you will ask to see a picture of this compressor so here it is.

 

[fivespdcat]

Keep it, and stay quiet or else your neighbors will start calling you to fix everything instead of throwing it out!

 

[Tarheelgarage]

You are now the neighborhood handyman.

Abandon all hope for ever having another free weekend to yourself....

Now, if you have a nice looking, single lady neighbor that needs some help, maybe you can workout a nice trade of sorts....

 

[Kev442]

These days, even if you told your neighbor exactly what to do, they would have still tossed it. It's yours free and clear.
I gave the neighbor $5 for a mower "that just quit running". Took the carb off and poked the little hole in Tecumseh carb clean and fired it up.
Used it for 4 years till the handle broke for the third time.

 

[TheCarbideRat]

saving money for someone else = that money coming out of your pocket

 

[KPSquared]

I love doing my neighbors a solid by helping them out. I've learned a valuable lesson in life. . .never give if your are expecting something in return. If you can't do that, don't bother with your supposed "charity". Most things born of selfish ambition will bite you in the ***. If you can't just give it back to the neighbor without worrying about how it will affect you, just keep it and enjoy it! No harm, no foul. Nice score.

 

[Not Born Yesterday]

OMG, I thought that my lovely wife would appreciate getting this compressor as her "Mothers Day" gift and now I'm hoping to find a comfortable couch by the curb as well. I don't love my neighbors as much as I thought I did. I'm seriously thinking about giving this thing back anonymously to my neighbor. BTW, my wife is smokin hot in more ways than one.

 

[Tarheelgarage]

OMG, I thought that my lovely wife would appreciate getting this compressor as her "Mothers Day" gift and now I'm hoping to find a comfortable couch by the curb as well. I don't love my neighbors as much as I thought I did. I'm seriously thinking about giving this thing back anonymously to my neighbor. BTW, my wife is smokin hot in more ways than one.

in order to confirm this statement

 

[tkonetzke]

Yeah what he said, prove it!

 

[relic7680]

The amount of items getting thrown away that could have been fixed easily is staggering. Getting this stuff for free and then bringing it back to 100% is satisfying.

 

[Givl Reggin]

saving money for someone else = that money coming out of your pocket

= Being a good neighbor.

having good friends and neighbors is more important than money.

 

[stricht8]

I have that same POS compressor. It does as yours did- won't exceed 20-30 psi!! Can you tell me in more detail how you fixed it?

 

[TheCarbideRat]

= Being a good neighbor.

having good friends and neighbors is more important than money.

did i say i wouldn't give??

 

[Not Born Yesterday]

stricht8, I first took the plastic cover off then I took the top off of the compressor head, held on by four allen head bolts. Additionally, you have to take the copper tube (pressure line) loose from the head. The very top gasket is the head gasket which was blown between the two sides of the head. Mine was a blue rubberized gasket and I purchased some gasket material from Autozone which seemed to be identical to it. I cut out my own gasket but you can order a gasket kit from Sears. It comes with all the gaskets and costs somewhere around $15. I did use some black shellac gasket glue to make sure I had a solid contact between the head and the gasket. Be careful to get all of the plates plus the reed valves back where they belong or you will be wasting your time. Good luck!

 

[jim2664258]

did i say i wouldn't give??

How else are we to interpret "saving money for someone else = that money coming out of your pocket" ?

 

[Not Born Yesterday]

For you perverts wanting me to post pictures of my "Smokin Hot" wife...you are going to have to use your imagination because I'm not in a sharing mood. I gotta go now because I'm in the middle of overhauling an old 1.5 ton Walker floor jack. I'm going to give it to her in addition to the compressor for "Mothers Day" in hopes that it makes her happy and I can quit looking for that couch by the curb.

 

[chrisexv6]

I live in a neighborhood where it seems that no one has the ability to fix anything. I look forward to the monthly big junk pick-up day where I've saved several items from the landfill. Just this week I retrieved a small Craftsman air compressor that looked brand new. I took it home and plugged it in to discover that it only aired up to 20 lbs pressure and kept running. After a little research on the internet, I felt that I should check the compressor head gasket and sure enough, it was blown between the inlet side of the head and the outlet side. I invested a few dollars in some gasket material, cutting my own head gasket, shellacked it in place, torqued the head back on and Wallah! It works and looks like new. I haven't decided yet to keep the little ****** or give it back to the neighbor as a present. I know this particular compressor can be bought on sale for around $100 so I don't feel bad keeping it and besides my wife needs a small portable compressor to use with a air stapler occasionally.

Dont forget to paint it a different color so they dont recognize it

 

[lwlobo]

A bit of unsolicited advice (one of my specialties): Maybe you should make sure your wife wants garage gifts for Mother's Day. Even the gals that like tools and such (a bit rare, but granted) might be concerned about whether you're really doing it for them, or for yourself.

Hate to see you stuck on the couch, good luck.

 

[TheCarbideRat]

How else are we to interpret "saving money for someone else = that money coming out of your pocket" ?

why limit an understanding of an idea to it's face value?

You earthlings really are something else!

 

[TheCarbideRat]

More clearly though, it seems auto repair gets given away all too much...it used to be worse with diagnostic time but got better with the rising cost of staying diagnostically current. I'm tired of making out at rates comparable to minimum wage or barely above it. I could take all the time and effort i put into training and equipping myself into many other avenues and be better off. I can equal my pay working in sanitation or something and not have to buy any tools. Sour grapes? yup.

 

[smothers33]

Don't feel bad keeping it for yourself but depending on your neighbor(if he is cool or a *****) I'm sure he'd be really happy to get it back. But I would only do that if you think he's the type of guy thatd do that for you.

 

[KPSquared]

You tried to give your wife a used compressor for Mothers Day? Geez man, I don't care how cool she is. I've only been married 5 years and I know better than that. . .

 

[Not Born Yesterday]

My "smokin hot" wife seems to have warmed up to the used compressor as her Mother's day gift since I also gave her that rebuilt Walker floor jack (model 93632). She has even offered to help me with replacing the drive shaft u-joints on my low rider. She will be manning (or should I say womanning?) her rebuilt floor jack while I'm underneath the car doing the repair. See fellas, I knew my wife would like shop equipment for Mother's day. BTW, I still haven't decided whether or not to give that compressor back to my neighbor. I love my wife as well as my neighbors. We've had 39 years of happy marriage...38 for her and one for me.

 

[KPSquared]

May sound like a redundant question, but you use jack stands when you're under that car, right? You just made it sound like it's just you, the wife, and a jack. . . Just checking. Hope I'm wrong. If not there's a good chance your wife will be inheriting all your tools while the doctors try to figure out how to re-inflate your recently crushed skull. . .

 

[78Bird]

She's (wo)manning the jack while you're under a low rider after giving her a compressor and said jack for mothers day, and no mention of jack stands.

nice knowing ya, where do you live so I can come buy your stuff cheap at the after funeral yard sale?

 

[eljefino]

^ I think you guys are missing the irony/ humor/ setup/ punchline.

 

[Not Born Yesterday]

Okay, I offered that compressor back to my neighbor this morning but he was happy that someone picked it up that could fix it. He said that it was beyond his capability to fix so he'd already bought a bigger, better compressor. He insisted that I keep his old one, especially since I had already given it to my wife for Mother's day. My wife says that we have an appointment with a lawyer this afternoon and I'm almost certain she is getting paperwork done to officially share the large family inheritance that just came her way. It was sad that her mother passed away a couple of months ago before she got to enjoy Mother's day as well. Everything seems to be turning up roses...my "smokin hot" wife is happy with me and I'm going to be in the money this afternoon. Gotta go, the lawyer is waiting.

 

[mmack66]

^ I think you guys are missing the irony/ humor/ setup/ punchline.

I know I am.

 

[Not Born Yesterday]

All is well that ends well. My wife is happy and therefore I'm happy. She loves her tools that I gave her for Mother's day and I can't wait to see what my neighbors leave by the curb next month.