What are te nastiest conditions you've ever wrenched in?

Haha you must be remembering two different flights, the Phillips screw wasnt around until 1935


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Reading through these posts, I have worked in cold, wet, snowy, rainy, hot, dry conditions on various race cars.

One thing for sure, nobody was shooting at me.

Hats off to all of you military guys.

Thank You.

 

Sheeit! I did a whole valve job on Amelia Earhardt's plane in flight over the pacific with a pair of vice grips and a sheet of 400 grit. Almost finished it too!!!

 

The nastiest conditions i ever wrenched under was when i was with a funny car and the car owner also owned a couple stripper clubs, he'd bring a couple gals to the track with him and they'd interfere in the damndest ways!
Man-O-man, them gals was ready!

 

a couple of times stand out, first was when i was hauling Xmas trees down to Boston from Nova Scotia, 30C below and one of my headlights went out, changed the bulb and nothing, bought a test light at a truck stop and no power, worked for hours trying to find the short, i did in the end and kept on trucking, another trucking bad one is in the winter and your trailer is full of ice and you blow an airbag, you pull into the shop and work your butt of before it all starts to melt, you still end up soaked and there is nothing like a big chunk of slush down the back of your neck.

 

Changed water pump at 20 below .

 

North Atlantic. Water was 37 degress, 40 knot winds across the bow and about 60 below. Ice 2 inches think on the radar mast. Seas were about 15-20ft Ship was rolling 12 to 15 degrees. Waves breaking over the bow and the missle launcher of the 453 foot long Frigate.
I had to climb up the SPS-49 radar mast 30 foot above the pilot house to crank the radar out of stablization cutout.
I figured I was good all tied off with my harness. Then a wave slammed into the side of the helo hanger and ripped off a life boat canister.
At that moment ...I thought I was gonna die..

 

The worst? VietNam 1969 ChuLai in the gun room for 132 ASHC.
I've been in Albuquerque pretty much ever since !!

 

I don't know about nastiest conditions but this still kind of a funny story.
I grew up in Fort Lauderdale,FL back in the 50's-80's before getting out. Anyway, when I was a teenager and tearing up clutches,transmissions, and rearends on a weekly basis, I found out junkyards were a close friend. So my buddy Mike tells me he knows of a junkyard that the dealers take their junk cars to and there isn't anyone there hardly. It wasn't open to the public so We could have free rain of the place. Only problem there was a big gate that was supposedly electrified. So at the back of this junkyard was a ravine about 10' across and 6-8 feet deep in the middle, usually there was 3-4 feet of water in most of the time. Well Mike and I found a 15'or16' 2x10 and we would get it across the ravine.. So generally we would take our flashlight, tools , jack and a shovel and away we go in the middle of the night. This was in the 60's so there was always a good selection of 50's ford and chevys out there for the pickin'. I needed a trans and clutch and pressure plate for my 58' ford fairlane and Mike need the same for his Chevy. We would fine our donor car and like moles just dig out a big hole under the engine and trans area and slide under and go to work.usually use a 2x4 to hold up the motor while we pulled trans and clutch parts. This became a weekly thing for us as we were always racing each other or some one else and tearing up parts on a weekly basis. We were out the one night and it starts raining like hell. A real so.fla. monsoon. We were both probably laying in 4-6" of water under our respective parts car. Anyway we came out from "procuring a trans and clutch assy. and total soaked with water and mud. Mike tells me lets get out of this shit and go home. I said ok, I will take the tools, jacks and clutch plates, you take the 2 transmissions. He agreed and off we go across the junkyard to the back where our catwalk across the ravine is. Mike is ahead of me and starts across. As you can probably surmise, with all the rain the 2x10 slid into the ravine as soon as Mike got 2' out on it. He ends up in the ravine in 5' of water and sinking into the mud. Damn fool won't turn loss of the transmissions. I screamed at him to let go of them, we will get them later, damn fool still wouldn't let go. I managed to slide down the bank and get them from him before he drown in mud. Long story short. Finally got back across the ravine, both of us with mud up to our necks. got all the parts, got home. Guess what? Both transmissions were shot. Cluster gears, bearing, everything. That was our last trip to the "honey hole"

 

Eddie I hear ya... Fuel pump on a friends truck at 20-30 below... Wow you think a wrench is cold, try a liquid at those temps.....

 

12 years a firefighter mechanic,3 years EMS mechanic ,combat firefighter , for a total of 27 years, I had a lot of them, but one stands out atm, I got called to a fire in progress scene ,the ladder on the 100 foot ladder truck was extended into the clouds, I approached the operator ,he said,'' Up there on the second fly there is a cable off a pulley, the locks are on.'' My mind started racing, figuring just how this thing works. I said, ''OK ,I'll go up and check it.'' I clime up the ladder place the cable over the pulley. Task completed. Told the operator , bring it to shop when your clear here, for adjustment, I cable is what pulls or follows the ladder flys down,so when the ladder fly locks are applied via a remote cable operated lever, the ladder has to be retracted to the last rung. The cable need a minor adjustment, similar to a parking brake cable. This stands out because it was my first ever on the scene service call. July 1971.
Did you not wake up this morning thinking this was another opportunity to mess up some bad guy's day? I did. eputy United States Marshal Raylan Givens

 

Murphy Dome Alaska 65, a minus 65 below week and the water line to the site froze, had to evacuate all personell but us in engineering spent 55 hrs trying to unthaw the line and two guys got frostbit toes and I got frost bit ears working on a HD16 cat, too damn cold for this calif. guy, I left and never went back to cold places again!!! The ears still bother me to this day in cold weather.......

 

Changed a S-10 clutch while it was sleeting and snowing, temp -10, not sure what the windchill was. That day sucked to say the least. After Chemo, not even sure I would try it now. Hands are numb at +25 any more and severe pain at +10. Rod

 

Boy, you were lucky you had such a nice day in the U.P. to work on your car, sometimes the weather can be rather harsh up there.

 

In my driveway at the end of December changing c4 tranny oil and filter. The wind was blowing hard I can believe I didn't get any grit in the tanny I know I got plenty in my teeth and my fingers were never so cold. Oh just to save a buck and keep my family safe. Oh well I think of those days here in sunny Florida and it all becomes a distant memory.

 

Cool.....glad yer still here after that. But where the hell did you find enough good ground to use it?

My story ain't that bad, but I did manage to change a Huey tail boom at Camp Evans that spring. Aside from the heat, them rockets were a bitch. AND fix lots of bullet holes.

 

I remember one day it was 85F, a calm clear day, the birds were chirping in the trees, I had just found a $100 note on the sidewalk, and I was working in a garage (the type you see on TV with the painted floor, well organised and comprehensive tool kit) . My wife bought me in an ice-cold beer when---
(this is the nasty bit)---- she tells me "there's only LIGHT beer left......"

 

Two come to mind. Replacing a water pump on a '48 Chevy in freezing weather and the wrench slipped and my knuckles ran down the radiator like a cheese grater. I slowly watched as the small drops of blood oozing out of the knuckles mixed with the grease and froze.

Laying in a snow bank replacing the kingpin bushings in a '40 Ford, snowplow came along and buried us both. I hate cold weather.

 

The worst? I did a road service call in 90 below zero windchill with blowing snow. I spent about 4 hours trying to get the guy going before giving up and calling a wrecker. I don't miss those days at all...

 

Upper and lower ball joints in a Chief Auto parts parking lot in Riverside Ca. in August.
The loose shock tower nuts were what was making the clunking noise.
Diving with 5 feet of visibility to a stern plate that fell off an LST in Korea in January in a snow storm to attach a cable comes to mind.
Passing out from heat while working on an A/C on an apartment roof in Tucson and coming too 2 hours later wasnt fun.
But NOTHING comes clost to only having Light Beer left. WE NEED A MANAGER HERE!!

 

haaaa! You win!!

 

1977, N. Tonawanda, NY, broke the clutch cross shaft on my o/t BB Chevelle driver,
I lived in an apartment with no garage. I grabbed my shovel and built a snowbank around the car to keep the wind and snow out. About 25 degrees with 8 inches of snow already on the ground (the parking lot was clear). I jacked it up and stuck a jackstand under the frame and crawled under. I pushed snow to fill the opening and went to work......

 

1967-8, my 56 Chevrolet 210 2 dr sedan had broken leafs in both rear springs. My older sister had just totaled a 57 Chevrolet 210 4 dr station wagon, and I needed to swap rear springs before the hulk hauler came to get the wagon. Had to do it in my parents 40 degree incline driveway, in a snowstorm. It WAS NOT fun!!! That reminds me of an old X-Ray joke we used to say when things were too quiet; there's a school bus load full of blind, mentally retarded, hemophiliactics coming in that has collided with a nuclear waste truck. Busy enough now? Same sort of deal, changing out leaf springs, on a slope, in the snow. Butch/56sedandelivery.

 

changing manifold gaskets on abuddys car on 118 degree summer day no shade .who needs a weight loss program when ya gotta do that shit.even the tools were almost too hot to touch

 

One time I was driving home in my 78 bronco. I had just built the 460 in it. A used motor, had the heads redone and new water pump, fuel pump and oil pump - but transplanted my old distributor with 300k miles on it. The water pump must not have been greased when they built it because it was squealing. I sprayed grease in it the best I could through the drain hole. That quieted it down. On the way home it started raining HARD. I felt it taking more and more throttle to keep going. The water pump started squealing again. I thought it was seizing. I pulled over and in the pouring rain I took all the belts off, water pump was turning ok. I figured I'll just try to limp home. Got on the freeway and it got worse and worse till eventually the engine died. I had no choice but to coast into a truck scale. I was blocking the scale so a bunch of cops came out and helped me push the truck off the road, still in the pouring rain. The truck would not start anymore and I finally declared defeat. I had only built the engine a month or two before, maybe it had some other problem. I have AAA 100 mile towing so I called a tow truck. He figured out the shortest route to my place taking some crazy backroads, it takes much longer in time but I checked the map it is indeed shorter in distance. We finally got there at 3am ..at... 99 miles!! No charge.
The next day I went out, turned the key, it started right up...?? It sounded like an old john deere tractor, I was like hmm ignition timing? I grabbed my timing light and yessir it was like 5 after tdc. I opened up the distributor and the c clip from the vacuum advance was missing, so the arm had come off!! I'm guessing the c clip had always been missing but when I moved the distributor to the other engine I had it laying on its side and the arm came off then.
So it was a 30 second fix with no tools required, just the panic of the dark dark night in pouring rain and 3 cops standing around (they were as polite as they could possibly be) I didn't have any good ideas at the time...
Motto: no matter what happens, stay cool!

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When I was 16 in the middle of winter, I replaced a tork tube Transmission in a 53 chevy outside in the driveway while it was snowing. This was also at night

 

In rusty Wisconsin, 5 degrees and snowing changing out an alternator and rusted brackets and belt on a 63 f250 that has my donor y block in it.... I'm glad I keep a sheet of cardboard and old coffee bean bags behind the seat.

 

Changed a half axle on a OT Firebird laying on a snowy driveway in January in Wisconsin. Gear lube would hardly come out..blup, blup. Another reason I moved to California soon after.

 

back about 15 years or so ago i was in a junkyard in kentucky in a thunderstorm on the side of a hill under a 65 coronet that was supported on 2 stacks of 4 tires pulling a v8 k member and it was dark before i got it out no work light

 

Changing out a starter in my mom's old Pinto wagon.... Wind was blowing in -8 degree weather...
That freakin' sucked!...