There's a reason I'm not a mechanic.

[Hal Copple]

a life spent re-doing car things ins not wasted. The experience is valuable, and worth passing down to one's offspring, like a mentor teaches the next generation. If i weren't tinkering with my car, i would probably be napping on the sofa, so being upright in a garage, properly greasy, is a far better way to spend one's life.

My most frustrating thing years ago, was when i pulled the rear axles out of my AWD Mitsu Turbo Eclipse, said axles having two sets of spines, and found i could not for the life of me get the axle back into to seat in the second set of spines.

Several days, many hours, no go. Finally, filed a "V" on the end set of spines, and voila, it would snap right in. From then on, i could pull and replace my rear axles in about a half a can of beer's time.

What separates the pros from the amateurs is that the latter have done it once before.

As we say in Medicine, "see one, do one, teach one."