Dads just "know", don't they?

Just like Dad always said: More than one way to skin a cat. Glad it worked out well this time.

Great story, if I only could remember half the stuff my dad knew and tried to teach me. I would have quite so many sore fingers. Make a person smile just to think about those times. Merry Christmas to all.

Yep! Holding the trouble lite is an art.Takes some learning.Gotta hold it so THEY can see,not you.

Tim, Dads of that era must be all alike. I could repeat everything you wrote except my Dad passed of congestive heart failure July 9,2009. Charlie 

Interesting.   People often talk about how much more we know today, how much more technology and information is available...... HOWEVER..... every one of us on here that no longer has their Dad with them says the same thing.  My Dad was so smart and knowledable, I wish he was still here to share more with me, I wish I knew half as much as he.   My Daughter speaks of her Grandpa by saying 'There was a lot of Wisdom in That Old Man'  She was right.  I miss my Dad so much.  I wish he was still here this Christmas.

Don,

the most important thing. Did you tell your Dad Thank you for helping you? Cherish the moments you have together.

You guys are lucky you got the time to spend with Dad.

Edited by Coke-in-MN - 23 Dec 2010 at 11:21pm

We used to say there are three ways to do anything: The right way, the wrong way and Dads way. Dads way always seemed to work best. LOL

I got to play the smarter dad today with my son.  He wanted to change the rear brakes of his car and him and his buddy couldn't figure out why they couldn't get the rear brake calipers loose.  So he finally break down and ask me, I come over and watch them for a minute and say let me give it a shot.  Give the bolt one hit with the socket wrench and ask my son to get me a 17mm wrench.  He gets it and next thing he knows I have the caliper and old brake pads off.  Both him and his friend were dumbfounded that me an old man could figure out how to get these new fangled brakes off was beyond them.  Guess it pays to be old and a dad.

Leonard

BTW my son is a Army trained heavy equipment mechanic and I'm a shade tree farm boy mechanic.  LOL


Edited by Leonard - 24 Dec 2010 at 1:41am

Do you know why Dad's know so much? All of us Dad's have drilled a hole off center, cobbled something else up. My Dad is big on duct and electrical tape. Put enough on to be the size of your head and it will work. But we have learned from all of our mistakes and knowledge can be be passed along so our children can make different mistakes to learn from. As I tell my son-another learning experience son-His reply-Dad I should be the SMARTEST MAN in the world by now. Gotta love Dads. Enjoy them and be patient!!!  Merry Christmas   Mike

Hi All, I couldn't help but have a tear in my eyes when I read a lot of these posts.  I lost my dad back in 1983.  The only thing that he really taught me was " it's broke already, you can't hurt it anymore.  Take it apart and see if you can fix it."  Well, I been doing that ever since.  So now MY son can say how smart I was.  There are days when I wish I could just sit and talk to him and then there are days when I wish he were close by so I could chew him out!! HE took the shortcuts.  HE didn't do it right the first time.  Sometimes I get so mad at him and then I think 'I'm still giving you knowledge by making you do it right.'  CHERISH BOTH your Mother and Father.  The ONLY thing you have is FAMILY.  After that, NOTHING matters.  NEVER miss a chance to say 'I Love You'.  Sorry about my rambling.....
Merry Christmas to ALL....
Ted

I can identify with the bolt removal thing. My Dad was so good at getting the pilot hole drilled dead center. He never had E-Z Outs. He would drill as close to the inside thread as possible; then he had a special little cold chisel that he chipped and twisted the threads out with. He sure had patience. He was also the best "hacksawer" I ever saw.

  My father generally tells me, after one of my less than favorable mechanical moments,

Dad saved me from many such exploits.  I was the one in the family with reputation for being able to break about anything. 
My usual process for broken bolts seldom involves Easy Outs.  My experience is if the threads were tight enough to shear the bolt body the 'easy out ' NEVER works; If it breaks off you have a worse mess.  I prefer to drill a hole until it just touches the threads.  Usually it will not be perfectly centered so it hits first  at one side as you describe.  If you are lucky the remainder is loose at that point and you can just knock it out. 

Hardened bolts are a challenge to drill.

I have heard that left hand bits work great but I don't have any.  I am lucky to have sharp RH bits.

If the pieces don't come out easy I have been able to pick out the rest by cutting the remained up with a hacksaw blade if the bolt or plug is large enough.  For smaller stuff I have a collection of small triangular files that work too.  Just stick the file in the hole an keep at it  until you file a notch down to the threads at the side opposite the place where the drilled hole touched threads.
I have had to do this on many many tight oil plugs.  But also have done as small as 8mm exhaust manifold bolts in VW heads. 


Edited by Rick of HopeIN - 24 Dec 2010 at 12:50pm

The beauty of left handed drill bits is that when they grab when breaking through they sometimes spin the remains of the bolt out. They don't wedge the stub tighter like a tapered EZ-out. I've acquired a few left handed 135 degree split point bits, so I don't have to work up in size, but they don't grab so much when they break through.

Gerald J.