Back in 2018 at a salvage yard in Nebraska, saw a guy swap a transmission in under 2 hours with just a floor jack and some chain.

That moment made me question all my fancy tools and lifts, now I keep it simpler and get done faster. Has anyone else had a random encounter that totally changed their approach to wrenching?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_alex1d ago

lol i feel this in my soul. i spent like a whole weekend installing coilovers on my civic with a floor jack and two jackstands, and some dude at the track watched me and goes "you know you can just do it on the ground with the stock scissor jack if you're careful." i was so mad he was right. now i only break out the big tools if i absolutely have to, otherwise it's just me, a ratchet, and some wd40 pretending i'm a youtube mechanic.

quinn1611d ago

That's the thing about car work, half of it is just learning what shortcuts actually work and which ones get you stuck under the car for three hours. People make it sound like you need a whole shop setup to do anything, but most of us are just making do with what we've got in the garage. Still though, I'm not sure I'd trust a scissor jack on coilovers unless I had a real strong backup plan.

wood.uma1d ago

wait wait, a scissor jack for coilovers?? that's insane, i'd be terrified of that thing folding like a lawn chair with me under there