Shiftless
Well-known member
Of course we are!...this is Garage Journal...
but you gotta admit...40 replies about the best way to hang a tennis ball from the ceiling is pretty impressive, one way or another.
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old tennis ball on a string trick
- Thread starter pablo94sc
- Start date
Of course we are!...this is Garage Journal...
but you gotta admit...40 replies about the best way to hang a tennis ball from the ceiling is pretty impressive, one way or another.
PugetDude
ALLIANCE MEMBER
Of course we are!...this is Garage Journal...
but you gotta admit...40 replies about the best way to hang a tennis ball from the ceiling is pretty impressive, one way or another.
Is the vise in your avatar bolted to a hollow-core door?
Shiftless
Well-known member
I guess it does kinda look like that...I never thought of it that way...also looks like corrugated cardboard!
Somewhere is a workbench made of a hollow core mahogany veneer door bearing 8 coats of varnish with a perfectly detailed vise fastened to a corner with stainless steel bolts.
NOT AT MY HOUSE!
I just found the image on line way back when and liked it so I grabbed it
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ZRX61
Well-known member
An acquaintances wife still managed to hit the concrete filled 3in round steel pillars in front of the water heater FOUR times in spite of there being a tennis ball on a string hanging far enough back to allow a 2ft gap between the pillars & the front bumper....
ambenz
Well-known member
Pretty much what I did before and took it down when I put up the metal ceiling. The wife could never just stop when she pulled up to the ball, like a typical woman, she just had to pull up farther.
Imagine my surprise when she asked me to put it back up once I had the new ceiling installed.
YukonXL04
Well-known member
This is what I did for my wife. And by having 3 eyelets, you can pull the ball up to the ceiling and tie it off on the bottom eyelet when your working in the garage, pull it loose when your done and the ball goes back to where you originally had it.
On my side I just line my mirror up with a spot on the wall. Within a inch everytime.
mrodgers
Well-known member
I can understand for the wives, but you guys are, well, guys. Do you not know where the front bumper of your vehicle is? I can't see the front bumper of my car, but I can pull it up to about a quarter inch away from anything I want to pull up to without a fancy tennis ball hanging from the ceiling.
I'm a guy and prefer to have some confirmation that my car is exactly where I want it to be in the garage. My spacial awareness may not be up to par, so I could use all the help I can get.
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LifeLongWNYer
Well-known member
Hey, AmBenz, those "cartoons" were a real flashback for me. Thanks for sending them.
Years ago, my Dad worked for the local electrical utility, doing instrumentation and control maintenance. Every year Honeywell used to send him a calendar with a different cartoon for each month. They were larger than the ones you posted and very complicated, but I'm sure were done by the same artist.
I always looked forward to him bringing the calendar home. Thanks!!
JBP
.
Years ago, my Dad worked for the local electrical utility, doing instrumentation and control maintenance. Every year Honeywell used to send him a calendar with a different cartoon for each month. They were larger than the ones you posted and very complicated, but I'm sure were done by the same artist.
I always looked forward to him bringing the calendar home. Thanks!!
JBP
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jrj3rd
Well-known member
solved the problem at my house by installing a Milton Bell in the garage. Put the tube so it dings when she is in the right spot. Low tech and fits the garage theme. Even better is she didn't think I wa strying to tell her how to park. Just bought the bell and installed it and told her it let me know when she was home so I could come out and help her whith whatever she bought. Parking was just a bonus 
Get a Laser!
If your garage door opener has two light bulbs (like mine) you can get one of those screw in adapters and then plug the transformer into it. That way the laser only comes on when the garage door light comes on
Set the laser to shine down on a spot on your dash, or the steering wheel, etc
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0008D6NK0/?tag=atomicindus08-20
If your garage door opener has two light bulbs (like mine) you can get one of those screw in adapters and then plug the transformer into it. That way the laser only comes on when the garage door light comes on
Set the laser to shine down on a spot on your dash, or the steering wheel, etc
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0008D6NK0/?tag=atomicindus08-20
Attachments
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38Chevy454
Well-known member
For my wife I combined these two ideas and did the same basic design as the rubber one, but with a piece of plywood and 2x4 attached. Not permanently attached to the floor, I just made a sharpie mark in case it gets moved to place back in the same spot.
I use this to keep my wife from pulling in too far and hitting my tools.
It conveniently retracts so there's no tripping hazard when I'm working out there.
It only took one time for her to learn not to pull up too far...
It conveniently retracts so there's no tripping hazard when I'm working out there.
It only took one time for her to learn not to pull up too far...
Capegls
Well-known member
I did this for my wife and she loves having the ball drop down when she's entering and while the door is open the ball is out of the way. Here is how to accomplish this.
Run a string from a mounting point on the top of the door through a grommet in the ceiling. (Make sure the door is open)
Mount the ball to the other end of the string you just ran through the grommet.
Pull the car into the garage and adjust the ball height accordingly.
Put a knot or some form of a stop at the grommet to stop the ball from dropping any lower.
You will have to make sure the length of rope allows the ball to retract into the ceiling, so adjustments will need to be made to the length of the top from the knot to the door.
WanderingSol07
Well-known member
I back in, so my tennis ball hangs so it just taps the top of my left side mirror.
I also fasten the ball to the string with slit in the ball and a knot in the string, I want it so the ball will pull free if something catches it or the string.
I also fasten the ball to the string with slit in the ball and a knot in the string, I want it so the ball will pull free if something catches it or the string.
aka Larry
Well-known member
The above is almost exactly what I did. The wife seems to like it and hasn't hit anything since I installed it.
upndown
Well-known member
They used to sell those as a kit, Ace maybe. Before HD.
Had an older gal once in a retirement community, they had deeper garages than usual so they could park and plug in their golf carts in front. She was in a big *** hurry and never opened the garage door. Bam she hit that, panicked and must have dropped into drive with her foot still on the gas. Right through the front garage wall. Fucked up her kitchen, the car , the garage and garage door. The only thing not damaged was that little tennis ball!
Lucky her husband was out golfing.
Steevo
Well-known member
When I had a tennis ball for the wife to stop at (which she never did until she pushed the ball forward a ways), I set it up like this:
I put two large screw hooks into the ceiling joists, about two feet apart, in line with the direction of travel when parking, and above the drivers side of the car.
I slid a 4' stick of 1"x1" wood (garden stake?) through the two hooks.
I hung the tennis ball from the stick so that the ball would be at eye level when seated in the car.
Pulled the car in and maneuvered it until it was at the perfect location.
Slide the stick forward/back in the two hooks until the ball just touched the windshield.
The advantage was this:
When the wife parks, and insists on pushing the ball forward before stopping, I just slid the stick back a little each day, until her stopping point ended up where I originally wanted it to be. And when we changed cars, I just slid the stick forward/back to adjust for different windshield location.
I am considering the door-attached, raising/lowering ball setup for this house, but haven't gotten around to it, since the garage depth is so much longer than the car that she can park anywhere without restricting access to anything.
I put two large screw hooks into the ceiling joists, about two feet apart, in line with the direction of travel when parking, and above the drivers side of the car.
I slid a 4' stick of 1"x1" wood (garden stake?) through the two hooks.
I hung the tennis ball from the stick so that the ball would be at eye level when seated in the car.
Pulled the car in and maneuvered it until it was at the perfect location.
Slide the stick forward/back in the two hooks until the ball just touched the windshield.
The advantage was this:
When the wife parks, and insists on pushing the ball forward before stopping, I just slid the stick back a little each day, until her stopping point ended up where I originally wanted it to be. And when we changed cars, I just slid the stick forward/back to adjust for different windshield location.
I am considering the door-attached, raising/lowering ball setup for this house, but haven't gotten around to it, since the garage depth is so much longer than the car that she can park anywhere without restricting access to anything.
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OK, someone has to be the contrarian------why not just learn where the front of your car is?? This will prove useful in MANY situations where a tennis ball is not handily hanging to bump into------in traffic at a stop light for instance! :S Learning to stop without running into something, whether tennis ball or rear of another vehicle, is pretty much mandatory if you drive.
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I really like the sliding stick idea! Adjusting it for the woman would be cake that way.
You didn't see the pics where I literally have about an inch or two max fore and aft of the truck to park it in a place I can fully open the man door and still close the garage door, did you? I can learn the truck well enough for most things, but considering I drive it maybe three times a month I'll never be that accurate with it. My tbird, on the other hand, I could almost parallel park in that tight of space without touching anything in the process. Might need to do a burnout and have a partner push her in, but still no trading paint. Lol
You didn't see the pics where I literally have about an inch or two max fore and aft of the truck to park it in a place I can fully open the man door and still close the garage door, did you? I can learn the truck well enough for most things, but considering I drive it maybe three times a month I'll never be that accurate with it. My tbird, on the other hand, I could almost parallel park in that tight of space without touching anything in the process. Might need to do a burnout and have a partner push her in, but still no trading paint. Lol
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MushCreek
Well-known member
What I need is a way to help my wife guide the car straight in backing up. She misses by almost two feet side to side sometimes. She backs in, because if she backs out, she runs over everything in the yard. I tried alignment marks on the back wall, but she starts out so far off center, she winds up parking on a huge angle. I guess after a life time of backing up trucks using the mirrors, it's second nature to me.
CJ7VFR
Well-known member
Nothing in this world will ever help a wife park straight, or in the same place every time. It just will never happen. Most woman (not all) just don't care about the same things men do.
When they want to get out of the car, they just want to park it and get out. As long as they are in the general area, in their minds, they are good. Just look at any store parking lot.
It's the same thing with storing **** in closets. Even though there is so much **** in the closet that the door will BARELY close, to them it means there is enough room, so it's good.
Then when we go to get something out of the closet, the **** comes tumbling out and they get mad at us because we made a mess.
Same with parking the car. As long as it looks like it fits, it's good.
My wife parks her SUV outside in the driveway on the side of our garage. Behind the spot where she parks is a split rail fence to our back yard.
Even though her SUV has a backup camera, she CONSTANTLY hits the fence!!!! She will watch the backup monitor, and she can hear the little warning chime going off, but nope, she hits the fence.
I tell her over and over again that if she does not want to believe the view in the monitor, that she should line the front of her SUV up with the corner of the garage, and that will leave her plenty of room behind her car so that she won't hit the fence.
That lasts for about two days, and then she comes in the house and says "Honey, I hit the stupid fence and knocked one of the rails out. Can you go and fix it?"
Sure, right after I finish my beer sweetie..............
Jim
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Hate to tell you Jim, but she's probably hitting it on purpose because she doesn't like it and wants you to take it down. Remember, a lot of women tend to expect us to read their minds which is really just another way of saying they are being passive-aggressive. That said, I suggest hanging a tennis ball from a pole that overhangs the center of the driveway and telling her to aim for it.
James E
Well-known member
As a former Boy Scout, I just tied the tennis ball to the hook in the ceiling with a slip knot. Before I tied it, I dropped a piece of heat shrink tubing over the line. When I pulled my wife's car in, I adjusted the height of the tennis ball. When I got it where I wanted it, I slid the heat shrink tubing up and over the knot, hit it with a lighter and locked the knot into the correct position.
Capt Chrysler
Well-known member
WOW, 69 posts on a tennis ball and x feet of string?
Capt. Chrysler
Capt. Chrysler
NewShockerGuy
Well-known member
So from your pictures and the dimension of the garage what else do you have in in it that leaves you what appears to be mere inches of space front and back?!?!
Unless the vehicle is 28' long why not move some stuff around to give you more room? Do you use your garage or is it filled with stuff and junk?
Post interior pictures of the garage, it might be as simple as shifting stuff to one side or moving stuff... That is way to close to cut it when you have the garage door down and the outside door open...
-Nigel
evilcheese
Active member
- Joined
- Sep 12, 2010
- Messages
- 31
My solution was to draw tiny dots with a pencil on the wall next to the side view mirror. I use three dots in a horizontal line about 1/2 inch apart. As I drive in, I look at the side view mirror and the dots pass by it. When I see the first one, I know I'm close. Just as the third one passes, stop. Works for me and no more balls to the face. 
CJ7VFR
Well-known member
I suggest hanging a tennis ball from a pole that overhangs the center of the driveway and telling her to aim for it.
Even if the pole was off to the side of the driveway, in the grass, she would still hit it...
The other thing I find amusing about her parking skills is that even though we have lived in this house for over 5 years now, and she has parked her SUV in the same area of the driveway next to the garage all this time, she still parks so close to the outside garage wall that she can't open up the door of the car to get out!!!!!!!!!
The scenario goes like this. She parks to close to the wall so she can't get out. So she ******* that the WALL is to close to her car!
Then she pulls the car back and forth a bunch of times to get enough clearance from that "stupid wall" to get out. This is when she usually hits the split rail fence.
I ask her, honey, why don't you just park farther away from the wall the first time, so you can get out, instead of going thru all of that back and forth, and then hitting the fence?
She blames the garage wall, the fence, and sometimes me for "distracting" her, and it's not her fault.
Ok. Do what you want, and I will just fix the fence again....
Jim
It's roughly 21'D x 28'W; I had the dimensions reversed apparently. Now you should be able to see the dilemma. The man door is ~36" and needs to be able to open fully, and the truck is ~18' long, so hence the reason needing a parking aid for when I park the truck in the garage. It fits but it's snug.
Cato
Well-known member
I looked at those some years ago and I found that you can't get too close - the closest to the wall was 8 inches.
With a ball you can get right up to the wall of your garage when you are parking. In my garage and the size of my vehicle I need every inch. My bumper is about four inches from the wall.
My solution was to draw tiny dots with a pencil on the wall next to the side view mirror. I use three dots in a horizontal line about 1/2 inch apart. As I drive in, I look at the side view mirror and the dots pass by it. When I see the first one, I know I'm close. Just as the third one passes, stop. Works for me and no more balls to the face.
Thankfully I've never had balls in my face.