Delray
Well-known member
I was crawling out from under a car and ran the lite end of a cutting torch across the palm of my left hand. And I wasn't wearing gloves. This was about 40 years ago. I did not make that mistake again.
Dumbest thing you've ever done in your garage...
- Thread starter Mr.Nutcase
- Start date
Coach James
Well-known member
Years ago, when I was 10 or 11 maybe, I wanted to see what would happen if I touched the spark plug on a running lawn mower. I found out and never did that again!
!!!!
Coach
!!!!Coach
When I was 16 I was cranking the fuel tank straps off of a jeep (half full of fuel), had one off, second was turning hard. Instead of waiting for my buddy to get the jack underneath I kept turning...broke the strap bolt and lost my front tooth. Have a reminder every day when I brush my teeth.
Packard V8
Well-known member
Re: Dumbest thing you've ever done in your garage...
1. The dumbest would have to be the guys who are found dead with the car on top of them.
2. Dumbest survivor, it would have to be a former friend who after a few beers at a weekend BBQ, snuck off in his garage to screw his neighbor's wife. The neighbor and the guy's own wife came looking, carrying a camera, because they wanted everyone outside to take a group photo. No more wife, no more garage, no more truck, no more tools.
thnx, jack vines
1. The dumbest would have to be the guys who are found dead with the car on top of them.
2. Dumbest survivor, it would have to be a former friend who after a few beers at a weekend BBQ, snuck off in his garage to screw his neighbor's wife. The neighbor and the guy's own wife came looking, carrying a camera, because they wanted everyone outside to take a group photo. No more wife, no more garage, no more truck, no more tools.
thnx, jack vines
Joelfke
Well-known member
Years ago, when I was 10 or 11 maybe, I wanted to see what would happen if I touched the spark plug on a running lawn mower. I found out and never did that again!
Coach
haha thats not as bad as todays DIS sparks (100,000v)
Keep
Well-known member
Forgot to set the parking brake on my truck when changing u-joints. Should have clued in when it was hard to get off the rear end. Needless to say scrambling out from under a rolling 4000lb truck to try and get to the parking brake is a fun experience.
There are other "what the hell was I thinking" moments but I cannot remember them right now.
There are other "what the hell was I thinking" moments but I cannot remember them right now.
1989bimmer325i
Member
- Joined
- Apr 7, 2009
- Messages
- 24
A few weeks ago...I was replacing the factory 6 1/2" speakers in the front doors of my 2000 Silverado. Anybody who has dealt with GM and their wonderful idea of mounting factory speakers in plastic holders and then snapping them in to the doors knows what I'm talking about. Anyway, I had to drill holes for the new Screws that would secure the speakers into the doors. I bought some self-drilling screws and got started. I Hooked up the speaker wires and decided to hold the speaker in place and begin the "self-drilling" part. About 10 or 15 seconds into it and I was almost through the metal completely....BAM!!! The screw got just a little bit off center and began to wobble, sending my drill straight through the cone of my Brand New Infinity speakers. I was so pissed all I could do was stare at the speaker in disgust and ask myself why I'm such an idiot.
ZRX61
Well-known member
ZRX61
Well-known member
When I left school at 16 my first job was as apprentice mech at a local Jaguar dealer. The boss was always using the cars as bait for women at lunch times.
I'm out back one day vacuuming out a BIG Daimler & the boss asks me to syphon some gas out of the car next to the Daimler & put it in one of the Jags out front. So I'm sucking on this damn hose trying to get it to syphon when inspiration strikes....
I fire up the vacuum & hold the hose from that over the end of the fuel hose...
Just as I was beginning to think nothing was happening the gasoline fumes going thru the electric motor on the vacuum reached critcal mass & the vacuum exploded in a fairly spectacular fashion.
I quickly threw the syphon hose over the car & put the gas cap back on. At that moment the boss appeared & asked just WTF happened because he'd been out front & heard the bang & saw parts of the vacuum land on the other side of the street AFTER they had passed over the 2 storey showroom/office.
Told him I was vacuuming out the Daimler & the damn thing exploded. He told me to collect as many parts as I could find because it was only 4 or 5 weeks old & still under warranty...
He came back after lunch with a new vacuum..
I'm out back one day vacuuming out a BIG Daimler & the boss asks me to syphon some gas out of the car next to the Daimler & put it in one of the Jags out front. So I'm sucking on this damn hose trying to get it to syphon when inspiration strikes....
I fire up the vacuum & hold the hose from that over the end of the fuel hose...
Just as I was beginning to think nothing was happening the gasoline fumes going thru the electric motor on the vacuum reached critcal mass & the vacuum exploded in a fairly spectacular fashion.
I quickly threw the syphon hose over the car & put the gas cap back on. At that moment the boss appeared & asked just WTF happened because he'd been out front & heard the bang & saw parts of the vacuum land on the other side of the street AFTER they had passed over the 2 storey showroom/office.
Told him I was vacuuming out the Daimler & the damn thing exploded. He told me to collect as many parts as I could find because it was only 4 or 5 weeks old & still under warranty...
He came back after lunch with a new vacuum..
i can relate to that......i keep my temper down nowadays but when i was younger....oh boy
mkdive
Well-known member
that's funny as hell because.....I did the same damn thing when I was about 13 years old. was siphoning some gas out of my dads car for my dirt bike gas can. I was using moms vacuum. It had worked just fine a few times before. I guess this time I hesitated a second too long. Blew the vacuum to pieces also. Looking back over the years...its a wonder I'm still alive.
nissan_crawler
Well-known member
I'm one of those people not affected by electricity much...
So, like a *****, I used to use my hand to check for spark. This worked ok on the old points ignition stuff we had around.
Then, I built the '57, and put MSD ignition on it. It was having problems, so I grabbed onto a plug wire...I sat there twitching like a cat on crank watching a mouse.
THANK GOD dad was around and heard my whimpering (which in all reality, was probably me screaming ****** murder while I pissed my pants), and came over and shut the truck off while shaking his head and snickering at me. I think it took me ten minutes to uncurl my fingers from that infernal plug wire.
Ops check good, sumbitch had spark.
So, like a *****, I used to use my hand to check for spark. This worked ok on the old points ignition stuff we had around.
Then, I built the '57, and put MSD ignition on it. It was having problems, so I grabbed onto a plug wire...I sat there twitching like a cat on crank watching a mouse.
THANK GOD dad was around and heard my whimpering (which in all reality, was probably me screaming ****** murder while I pissed my pants), and came over and shut the truck off while shaking his head and snickering at me. I think it took me ten minutes to uncurl my fingers from that infernal plug wire.
Ops check good, sumbitch had spark.
riskyvt
Well-known member
Hands down dumbest thing I've done was moving my toolbox without locking the drawers! I wanted to re-organize my shop and thought it would be cool to have the rolling chest & top box in a different location. After the new location didn't please me, I started rolling the box back where it was. One drawer started opening, then another, and another....you guessed it: Total implosion of both top and bottom box! There was no way to stop it, just getting out of the way to prevent injury was all I could do.
I was so pi$$ed that I just walked away. A week later I came back to the shop and started the grueling task of removing wrenches, ratchets, prybars, pipe wrenches, you name it, from every little nook & cranny. It took a very long time to pull the tools out just so I could upright the box. Luckily, only one sliding drawer track was bent. I thought for sure there would be more damage to the box....
Moral of the story: Lock your drawers before rolling your toolbox around the floor.
I was so pi$$ed that I just walked away. A week later I came back to the shop and started the grueling task of removing wrenches, ratchets, prybars, pipe wrenches, you name it, from every little nook & cranny. It took a very long time to pull the tools out just so I could upright the box. Luckily, only one sliding drawer track was bent. I thought for sure there would be more damage to the box....
Moral of the story: Lock your drawers before rolling your toolbox around the floor.
malibu101
Well-known member
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Quote:
Originally Posted by malibu101
One day while a can of cleaner was sitting on the bench I happened to read the warnings on the back (I'm sorry I admitted that). It said that when the vapors are exposed to fire or any source of high heat that they decompose into phosgene gas.
Interesting..
Sorry to go off thread topic, but for a safety message, I've since found out that Freon too decomposes into a form of nerve gas when exposed to a flame or high heat source in the atmosphere.
Quote:
Originally Posted by malibu101
One day while a can of cleaner was sitting on the bench I happened to read the warnings on the back (I'm sorry I admitted that). It said that when the vapors are exposed to fire or any source of high heat that they decompose into phosgene gas.
Interesting..
Sorry to go off thread topic, but for a safety message, I've since found out that Freon too decomposes into a form of nerve gas when exposed to a flame or high heat source in the atmosphere.
porschedude996TT
Well-known member
I was helping a friend with his engine on an engine test stand. We were going to break in the camshaft. For those that don’t know about breaking in a camshaft, everything needs to be right because you want to get to temperature and run it within a specific range of RPM for 20 minutes. If you don’t break in the cam it may and probably will lead to a flat cam lobe or two. We were about to fire it up, I wanted to check the fan belt one more time, I grabbed the fan belt to check to see that it was tight and he cranked the engine over. My hand went around the alternator pulley and came out the other side. I still can't believe that I was not injured.
porschedude996TT
Well-known member
Not fun at all...
I had a guy blow over my toolbox with an aircraft on the Flight Line once. There was hardware and tools everywere, so they said. I was up flight testing at the time and the whole Flight Line Crew cleaned up the carnage.
KCarGuy
Well-known member
The Dumbest (yet Lucky) thing that I have ever done in my Garage happened years ago when I was younger, I was stripping the front suspension off of my Camaro, to rebuild it. I did not have a Spring Compressor at the time...but knew how dangerous a "loaded" spring could be...So I unbolted the lower control arm with a floor jack under it. The Car was on Jack Stands, Slowly lowered the floor jack, but still was unable to remove the spring out of its pocket. So I figured that if I removed the floorjack that I would have enough room to get the spring out (because the lower control arm would drop farther. I took a prybar, pulled the arm up, slid the jack out and lost my grip..the control arm pinned my foot to the ground.
Luckily The work boots that I was wearing were larger than I needed and my toes were clear...I couldn't reach the floorjack, I couldn't get any help, and I couldnt get a good angle on the control arm to pry up again. So I had to work the spring out the side somehow...I laugh today, but...it was pretty stupid on my part.
Bought a Spring compressor the next day!
Luckily The work boots that I was wearing were larger than I needed and my toes were clear...I couldn't reach the floorjack, I couldn't get any help, and I couldnt get a good angle on the control arm to pry up again. So I had to work the spring out the side somehow...I laugh today, but...it was pretty stupid on my part.
Bought a Spring compressor the next day!
JakeD
Well-known member
HAHAHA!! I almost did that when I was moving my toolbox out to epoxy the floor in my garage. It got a little pitched and then the drawers started sliding out...
But the worst part was if it fell it would have hit my wife's Infiniti, which was only about a year old, so I was determined to keep it from falling. There I was using every body part I have to try to keep each drawer in. Hand on this one, wrist on that one, **** cheek, calf muscle, chin, pecker... everything I had. Screaming for help hahahaha.
I was there for what seemed like quite a while, and no one came to rescue me. I eventually managed to get enough drawers back in to get it stable. I probably don't have as many tools as you so, I guess that's one time when having less tools was good.
mooman
Well-known member
when i was about 10, took a 5lbs. sledge and hammered away at a .22 cal load of my father's.
Never did that again......
Never did that again......
skeletonizer
Well-known member
Not sure if it was the dumbest but the most recent was when the wire cup brush in the bit of my 18v drill grabbed the front of my shirt at top speed and pulled all but on button off.
bgott
Well-known member
I used to load and unload my toolboxes using one arm of a twin post lift. It worked pretty well, until the last time. It is a total b!tch to work your tools around inside a box that has been dumped so you can get the drawers to open, especially when you are trying to do it in a shop full of people laughing at you. Now I pay a rollback to haul them.
GDA
Well-known member
Mine was really stupid. I was tackling a complete upper and lower front end ball joint replacement on the knuckles of my LR Discovery II and in the process I went ahead and refreshed some items like axle shaft oil seals.
I installed the passenger side one backwards and upon the test drive around the block was alerted to the grinding noise of the retainer spring rubbing up against the CV/axle flange. I spent the next hour pulling the brake, hub and axle to try to identify what was rubbing and then it dawned on me to look at the seal. It was facing the wrong way versus my teardown pictures. So off to the dealer to grab a new one and then finally installed a new one facing the proper direction.
I installed the passenger side one backwards and upon the test drive around the block was alerted to the grinding noise of the retainer spring rubbing up against the CV/axle flange. I spent the next hour pulling the brake, hub and axle to try to identify what was rubbing and then it dawned on me to look at the seal. It was facing the wrong way versus my teardown pictures. So off to the dealer to grab a new one and then finally installed a new one facing the proper direction.
OP
Mr.Nutcase
Well-known member
Art From De Leon
Well-known member
I had some tools get corroded and rusty from carrying them in the trunk along with a dead 12V battery.
I was working in our Industrial Cleaning Division at the time, and decided that I would use the same process as used in cleaning and passivating the piping in refineries, powerplants, and such. I derusted the tools using some hydrochloric acid, rinsed them in the sink, and used Chlorox to passivate them. All of a sudden, I couldn't breathe, and almost didn't make it to the door to get out of the apartment. Later, it dawned on me that I had probably made a pretty good concentration of Chlorine gas.
I was working in our Industrial Cleaning Division at the time, and decided that I would use the same process as used in cleaning and passivating the piping in refineries, powerplants, and such. I derusted the tools using some hydrochloric acid, rinsed them in the sink, and used Chlorox to passivate them. All of a sudden, I couldn't breathe, and almost didn't make it to the door to get out of the apartment. Later, it dawned on me that I had probably made a pretty good concentration of Chlorine gas.
Garage_Mahal
Well-known member
- Joined
- May 31, 2008
- Messages
- 551
Done that one too!Not sure if it was the dumbest but the most recent was when the wire cup brush in the bit of my 18v drill grabbed the front of my shirt at top speed and pulled all but on button off.
Lost some skin on my chest in the bargain.I remembered another one. I let a cloth fender cover too close to the fan when I was starting an engine. Sucked the cover through the fan and and under the fan belts and rolled them off. Boss was really pissed about that one because it was his cover and the fan belts stretched enough that they had to be replaced.
(BTW, all of my dumb stunts in this thread were when I was a teenager. Young and dumb. Amazing we all survived.)
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norry
Well-known member
Personal "best": when I was about 17 and working on the '73 FJ40, pulled the gauge cluster to work on wiring the stereo. FJ's have an ammeter and a metal dash, with the leads being protected by little rubber covers... which rot over time.
Suffice it to say that by about the 20th hour of rebuilding the wiring harness (which had melted along the ENTIRE length of the hot wire until part actually melted through the copper and broke the circuit) I was well and truly convinced of the whole "disconnect the positive lead before working on the car" idea...
That was the most dramatic OOPS moment as it looked like the car was catching fire, from all the smoke pouring out. On the other hand, the -dumbest- thing I've done in the garage would have to be attempting to work under a 4000lb Chevy supported by bricks. Later, I picked up a few of them to hold down a tarp and noticed they were cracking and breaking. It's only by God's grace that this didn't happen while I was under said Chevy, whaling away on a wrench to get the engine out... Use jack stands!
BTW to follow up on the phosgene thread, all Freon-like propellants (CFC's, etc) should not be exposed to high heat. This means most modern aerosols!
Suffice it to say that by about the 20th hour of rebuilding the wiring harness (which had melted along the ENTIRE length of the hot wire until part actually melted through the copper and broke the circuit) I was well and truly convinced of the whole "disconnect the positive lead before working on the car" idea...
That was the most dramatic OOPS moment as it looked like the car was catching fire, from all the smoke pouring out. On the other hand, the -dumbest- thing I've done in the garage would have to be attempting to work under a 4000lb Chevy supported by bricks. Later, I picked up a few of them to hold down a tarp and noticed they were cracking and breaking. It's only by God's grace that this didn't happen while I was under said Chevy, whaling away on a wrench to get the engine out... Use jack stands!
BTW to follow up on the phosgene thread, all Freon-like propellants (CFC's, etc) should not be exposed to high heat. This means most modern aerosols!
1. When I was 13 or 14 I was helping my boss work an an old Dodge pickup. He had me up in the engine compartment with a 3 liter bottle of gasoline trickling it in the carb. The distributor was 180 degrees out and backfired through the carb. Of course, a kid with a flaming bottle full of gas is going to throw it...
2. Not in the garage, but the funniest thing I have seen that is tool related was a buddy with a giant right angle drill pin his own head up against a floor joist.
3. Hands down, the DUMMEST thing I have done is weld without adequate protection. There is nothing funny about that though...
2. Not in the garage, but the funniest thing I have seen that is tool related was a buddy with a giant right angle drill pin his own head up against a floor joist.
3. Hands down, the DUMMEST thing I have done is weld without adequate protection. There is nothing funny about that though...
rustbucket49
Well-known member
Maybe you shouldn't be allowed to play with tools anymore *quietly replacing your Snap-On with PlaySkool plastic tools*
Can't argue with you on that one !!! I am more careless now......
Some years back I was trying to reinstall a radiator but it was catching on the bottom support. Well, in my infintie wisdom, I stuck my two index fingers in two holes in order to free up the radiator. Of course, the radiator dropped and pinned my fingers in the holes. Luckily, the radiator wasn't heavy enough to cut off my finger tips, but they were definitely stuck!! There was nobody else around so I panicked for a second. When I calmed down I layed on my back and used my feet to free up the radiator enough to get my fingers out.
Tool Pants
Well-known member
Had an electrical extension cord that would not work all the time. So I plugged it into the outlet. On the female end I plugged in one of those test light things with 3 bulbs that tell you if you have wired an outlet correctly. Then I wiggled it and the lights would go on and off, so one of the wires to the female plug had broken.
Cut off the female plug and wire on a new one. Easy.
But I forgot to unplug the extension cord before I cut off the female plug. Made a nice display of sparks. Tripped the circuit breaker. Burned 2 groves in my wire cutters. The cutters did not have plastic handles. Guess I was not grounded so I did not get a shock.
I do not like electricity.
Cut off the female plug and wire on a new one. Easy.
But I forgot to unplug the extension cord before I cut off the female plug. Made a nice display of sparks. Tripped the circuit breaker. Burned 2 groves in my wire cutters. The cutters did not have plastic handles. Guess I was not grounded so I did not get a shock.
I do not like electricity.
mattwgrizwald
Well-known member
I was cleaning up my garage and my three year old son was wandering around the garage with me . I had a round metal oil pan full of a used motor oil, that I moved to go drain in my waste jug. I went around the corner and all of a sudden heared crying DADDD! My son had fell **** first into the oil pan and was drenched . I Immediately wiped him off and rushed him into bath tub and had to give him two baths and clean the tub afterwards Wife was not happy she laughed eventually I guess he's officially a grease monkey now
Dust
Well-known member
I had the pole come out of my floor jack when I had my Cordoba jacked up by the pumpkin. The lever snapped up enough so I couldn't get the pole back in from behind the bumper. Had to get under the car with a 9/16" socket and manually relieve the jack.
Gas tank gave my head a little tap when the car settled and I yelped, but luckily there were no neighbors around to see it.
Just the other day I was replacing a battery on a Jeep Liberty and was using my air ratchet and long extension to tighten the terminal bolts. Suddenly there was a spray of orange sparks and my extension begins to stick to the ground terminal. Pulled it off and looked, and there was an arc weld scar three quarters of the way around the extension. At least I didn't blow the diode trio.
Gas tank gave my head a little tap when the car settled and I yelped, but luckily there were no neighbors around to see it.
Just the other day I was replacing a battery on a Jeep Liberty and was using my air ratchet and long extension to tighten the terminal bolts. Suddenly there was a spray of orange sparks and my extension begins to stick to the ground terminal. Pulled it off and looked, and there was an arc weld scar three quarters of the way around the extension. At least I didn't blow the diode trio.
OP
Mr.Nutcase
Well-known member
I was intalling a power steering pump on car, well I forgot to put a pan under, well
there was huge mess. I almost slipped... lot of oildry...
there was huge mess. I almost slipped... lot of oildry...
Changing oil on my truck, lost my balance, and my next, balance saving step was on my creeper which shot out from under me like a bullet. I went down HARD on my elbow and then my rib cage.
I was extremely lucky. My head missed the front bumper of my truck by inches. Luckily it only bounced off the concrete floor......
I saw stars. It's a miracle it didn't knock me out.
It would have been a perfect America's Funniest Home Videos catch, though.
I was extremely lucky. My head missed the front bumper of my truck by inches. Luckily it only bounced off the concrete floor......
I saw stars. It's a miracle it didn't knock me out.
It would have been a perfect America's Funniest Home Videos catch, though.
speed bump
Well-known member
Changed the oil in the car one day and forgot to check and see if I had removed the old gasket from the old filter off the boss. Yep, thankfully I made it home okay on about a quart of oil.
goodfellow
Well-known member
Sounds familiar!! When I started as an apprentice mechanic (in the dark ages
) I was hooking up a remote starter switch when a colleague asked to borrow a file from my box. As I reached over to get it, my thigh hit the remote starter and the car proceeded to head straight for the wall in first gear. It crashed through the wall, which unfortunately was also the men's restroom wall, where another employee was sitting on the John as the car started to crash into his stall.
In the blink of an eye, he managed to get out of the stall with his pants still around his ankles. I've never seen anyone move that fast (with or without their pants around their ankles).
Lesson learned!!!! -- car in neutral and ignition off when doing a compression test
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rocketman
Well-known member
When I was 16 working at a Gulf station in Houston... (no self serve in 74) had a car on the lift changing the oil. The bell rung... I got up to run out to check out the car that pulled in. I'm 6'4", the lift arms were at about 6'. Full steam run right into the lift arms. Feet kept going, head stopped of course. Had a lump the size of an egg. Two bells got rung that afternoon!!
myslow2002gt
Well-known member
J.A.F.E.
Well-known member
If I need to remove a wheel and don't have an airgun and already have the car off the ground I use a method with a breaker bar to break the lug loose by turning the wheel in one direction and then sharply jerking it back. I had a Porsche with mags and put my left hand on the end of the BB and then yank/jerk. But my fingers on my left hand wrapped over the end of the BB and got caught between the caliper and mag spoke. Not only did I see stars it literally took the breath right out of me. I had black fingernails on three fingers and two of the nails fell off.
rockwithjason
Well-known member
i work in construction so i have too many of these stories to list.
we were working on an addition to a commercial building. a worker was coming down a ladder on the exterior of the building and he jumped down instead of climbing the last few steps. as luck would have it, he jumped right onto a steel form stake that was driven in the ground. it went where the sun don't shine. we had to lift him off of it and then prep him for the emt's to take him.
we were working on an addition to a commercial building. a worker was coming down a ladder on the exterior of the building and he jumped down instead of climbing the last few steps. as luck would have it, he jumped right onto a steel form stake that was driven in the ground. it went where the sun don't shine. we had to lift him off of it and then prep him for the emt's to take him.