Whats your worst wrenching mistake?

[Jimmy N.]

Now do we want to begin telling motorcycle stories??

If you insist.

I had replaced a small bolt that held the front brake to the fork, because the old one "didn't look good".
The following day I took a friend down a dirt road I knew very well, and which had a wooden bridge at the end of a long straightaway.

I'd learned to utilize the first "ramp" of that bridge to carry the front wheel across the level part, then have both wheels on the "down ramp" before reaching the dirt again, and the immediate sharp 90-degree turn.

Well, with my friend trying to keep up, I overdid it and had to start leaning the bike over before the front wheel had even come down. When it did, it locked.
Yep, that new bolt may have looked better, but it had fallen out.

Picked gravel and dirt out of my hands for years after that one. But compared to what could've happened when I fell asleep on that same bike, on a twisty road, it was okay.

 

[Jungle Cat]

Here is another good one. Taking a turbo 400 trans out of a Buick GS stage 1. Bolt ear on bell housing got stuck on header flange. I had trans balance on floor jack with a piece of plywood on the fluid pan. I know dumb. I managed to knock it loose and gravity took over. Somehow I got my face out of the way the the trans landed on my forearm. The transmission flipped forward and the torque converter fell off and I took a bath in red trans fluid. The wife came running out because she heard the thud. She saw the fluid and you know what she assumed! I had to tell her I was ok. I escaped with a bruised arm and a holy crap was I lucky. Don’t be like me. Use a trans jack!

 

[DGatzby]

If you insist.

I had replaced a small bolt that held the front brake to the fork, because the old one "didn't look good".
The following day I took a friend down a dirt road I knew very well, and which had a wooden bridge at the end of a long straightaway.

I'd learned to utilize the first "ramp" of that bridge to carry the front wheel across the level part, then have both wheels on the "down ramp" before reaching the dirt again, and the immediate sharp 90-degree turn.

Well, with my friend trying to keep up, I overdid it and had to start leaning the bike over before the front wheel had even come down. When it did, it locked.
Yep, that new bolt may have looked better, but it had fallen out.

Picked gravel and dirt out of my hands for years after that one. But compared to what could've happened when I fell asleep on that same bike, on a twisty road, it was okay.

Oh, God, a MC nut and bolt story. Buddy of mine was better at losing bolts. We had to scat back from Wyoming to S. Dakota to outrun an afternoon storm, during one of the rally's. I was behind him and a couple of others at over triple digits, dodged the first piece of steel that flew over my head, don't know if it was the nut or bolt. Just got my head back up and could not dodge the second piece. Middle of the top of my head. Damn. Well, after I was amazed I was still with it, checked my head. The instant bump on the head was a small golf ball, hand was plenty full of blood. Things we did while younger! How nice it feels in the Hellcat now, huh?

If we had all the crap me and others have dropped on the side of the road?

 

[Jimmy N.]

If we had all the crap me and others have dropped on the side of the road?

I have some of it, pulled out of tires.

 

[GdBye]

So my mistake was agreeing to drive my cousins 63 Valiant without noticing that the hood was secured with a coat hanger. We were both Teens with no money and little common sense. The fact that he paid $50 for the car should have been my first tip that it wasn't safe to drive. Driving 80 MPH in a 35 MPH zone and crossing a bridge and the hood flies up and busts the windshield out. The only smart thing I did at that point was to open the drivers door and look down at the center stripe while laying on the brakes. Someone was watching out for us that day.

 

[YMMV]

Back in 1997 I was an apprentice while in highschool and asked another mech for a big breaker bar to break something "loose". I should have known better at the time bit it was a POS cavalier that had over 120k miles and never had plugs done. Snapped the damn plug in half and had to pull the head. The girl was mad but I fixed it. Even took her out for dinner and got nookie lol.

 

[tncharger]

Back in 1972 I Installed a Holley 4bbl on my 1972 Ford Gran Torino 351 CJ... Ran great until it cooled off...then started idling at 1600rpm and missing under load...that was when I learned the proper way to tightening down a base plate on a carburetor...

 

[Hickster]

I do???

 

[Decay]

3.0 liter Toyota
Tore it down to replace head gaskets and didn't replace all cooling system components.
Started it up and the water pump was leaking and tore the whole front end off again.

 

[HemiPacer]

So many stupid moves as a young apprentice.
I broke down one day and mate came to give me a tow , we had no rope so I used a hailed ( a steel wire for pulling a sail up the mast of a boat ) . He pulls out of this road just down from a semi blind corner and a car comes hooting down the hill , I’m sitting in the tow car just starting to move and thinking well this is it I’m F—-d . This car never saw the tow line and went straight threw the middle over the wire that was very low as I was in a mini .

 

[HemiPacer]

I worked at a Jag dealer as an apprentice where I was doing a recall on some front spring tower bolts . I’d compressed the Springs with the factory tool ( both sides ) and replaced the bolts then I got pulled away for my most important job every day , smoko ( lunch ) for the boys . I get back to the job about lunchtime and finish up and the client takes the car ( V12 XJS ) . In the afternoon I get called into the service manager’s office and told one of the spring compressors that I’d left in let go on the motorway doing 100kph and I’m lucky the clients not dead . The good old days ( written warning ) .