Survival and Emergency Preparedness

I used to be pretty handy around engines and stuff. Worked on my own vehicles (cars, motorcycles etc) but got old and lazy over the years. Heck, I even stopped changing the oil in my cars myself about 10 years ago.

Recently I started putzing around with stuff again.

This past summer someone gave me a 40 year old Craftsman lawn tractor for free. It wasn't running and had two dry rotted flat rear tires, and needed a new battery. They were putting it out on the curb for trash. I bought a battery, it would crank but not fire. I replaced the spark plug and got spark but no ignition. I pulled the carburetor and cleaned it and the fuel line. Got it started and running. I didn't want to buy tires for it if I couldn't get it started. Now that it ran, I bought a couple tires and had them mounted. I changed the oil and sharpened the blade. The steering linkage is pretty loose and it leaks oil but I cut the field behind the house with it all summer.

In November I picked up a 20+ year old Ariens 2 cyl snowblower someone was throwing out because it wouldn't run. It probably had been sitting out in the weather for 10 years. I took it home, cleaned it up, drained the old gas out of it and replaced the spark plug. I cleaned the carb but couldn't get it started, cleaned the jets. It had spark but no fuel. I eventually bought an $18 carb off of Amazon and swapped it. It started on the first pull.

Just last week I bought a 5 year old Toro 2 stage (self propelled) 8hp snow blower
that wasn't running for $100. It just needed the carb cleaned and a new sparkplug to get it running. I also changed the oil. Took it up to the woods house and cleared 15" of heavy crusted snow off the long, long driveway. It took me 3.5 hours. That thing is a beast.

So yeah, I'm feeling pretty proud of myself right now.

Getting ready to start on my Honda CT Trail 90s and a Honda Spree scooter that's been sitting for 10 years. Hope to get them running by spring.

I do the car ( oil, brakes, basic stuff ) and the motorcycle ( cause I don't trust the young kids at $10 hr to do it right ) still.
Easy when you have time being retired.
But older equipment , not so much.
Most older equipment if it has compression is prob due to sitting with bad gas in carbs.

I do find it amazing, my SIL doesn't know how to do brakes on the car or even maintenance ... disc brakes , IMO, are easy.

I took my Polaris ATV into the shop after sitting for 7 years. I got it to start but it wouldn't stay running for more than a minute. Mice had chewed up the wires and it was shorting out somewhere. Wiring harness cost $1100 plus labor to replace. So I had that done. Then it was the computer module had shorted out due to the damaged wiring so I had that done as well. I think I got screwed on the module. It's only a $150 part and is pretty easy to swap out and plug in but that banged me for labor.

The reason it sat for so long is that I punched a hole in the oil pan dragging a deer out of the swamp. The oil drained out and the engine froze up, or so I thought. I replaced the oil pan myself but at the time I didn't have $1K to rebuild the engine and didn't feel confident in doing it myself. When I pulled it out the shed 7 years later I squirted some oil down the spark plug hole and got the cylinder to move and started the engine.

Now the repair shop tells me it needs a new primary clutch and an engine rebuild. Cost about $2K. The clutch had corroded pretty bad from sitting over the years. I can do the clutch myself, it's pretty easy to pull the clutch and replace it. Cost about $200 instead of the $800 they want to do it. Still cost about $1200 for a rebuild. Not something I feel confident in doing myself.

The good thing about youtube is that you can find just about how to do anything on it.

I use to do oil changes, tune ups and such. And I tried to do an oil change on my car several times but I can't get the plug unscrewed. It's like a gorilla put it on and the way it's positioned I have no leverage. So I just take it in. However, the other vehicle is a lot easier. I don't change it now either but after I gave it to my son I showed him and then had him change the oil a few times so he knows how.

I can fix the odd bit of electrical and plumbing and do so around the house. Ceiling fans, light switches, faucets and such.

The invention of YouTube has me fixing all kinds of things: Dwash, Toilets, Microwave, Lights, Washer/Dryer, etc...

Yes... fixed my old washer 3x from utube till I bought a new one.

This thread should probably be in the DIY forum. I didn't realize it until after I put it up. Sorry. Maybe Dave can move it.

And maybe Dave can start a transportation/vehicle i.e. Bug Out Vehicle (BOV) forum so we can post our mobility toys in it.

I'll do that now

cool...thanks

Okay, the 'Transportation' section has been created in the 'Top Gear' area as a sub-forum. I'll move this thread there now.