change of pace...

mr fix it has been repairing primarily power equipment for the last 25 years, but he has always had a love affair with the automobile...more precisely old MOPARS......60's muscle dodge and plymouths...so beginning in the spring he began weeding out power equipment and working on old mopars....i am going to chronicle our day to day victories and failures.....

mopar garage is here....

chryslers at carlisle pa. 2011

a visit to the machine shop.....



 today was a field trip for me.....i was sent to the machine shop on my own with precise instructions to gather information and drop off some valves to be modified....we have some heads at this shop that we found through word of mouth....we have visited with Larry twice ( he is the owner of this shop since 1968.....and in this same location since 1972....he must be doing something right.....) after talking to him for a short while i realize that first, he is a nice guy and second he has alot of good information to pass along..... 



MADE IN U.S.A. Bridgeport Ct.  



.....his shop has all machines that are more than 30 years old...all made in the U.S.A.      Bridgeports aplenty.....none of this new CNC stuff that cant get out of its own way.... ridiculous $200,000.00 dollar machines that ruin perfectly good heads and blocks, because the blockheads running them think they are infallible........people thing that new and more expensive is better.........please...once you realize that slow and simple wins the race you will come out way ahead of the game.....dont be fooled by new, shiny stuff....it will suck you in with promises of better, faster, bigger...ect.....stick with the old stand- by that has been working for a long time...the grass isnt always greener on the other side......

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larrys automotive head area



summer off...slipping and sliding....

tal & kat next to the fix-it shop

i took the summer off unplanned, i had a class that started, june 27 thru sept 2..it is over so i am back blogging....

watch for new and unedited stories in the informal adventures of ronnie the repair guy...aka mr. fix-it....

he spent the summer on the slip n' slide with the kids!!!!

honda walk behind with bbc bearing...

One of our customers recently brought down a 1986 honda walk behind....this thing looks bullet-proof...but apparently it isn't stump-proof...his wife hit a stump with it ...bending the bearing, blade and all attached paraphinelia underneath...yet it still runs!!!!! Conundrum...blow it up for fun or give it to the metal guy down thw street to cut his 1/4 mile driveway going into his salvage yard...he wont care if the cut is a littlle crooked.... Mr. Fix-it with his crazy eyed intent to blow this baby up!!!!!I am trying to convince him to fix it.......... You see he always fixes things, he never gets to break things......stay tuned, I will let you know what happens!

possible sheared timing key

Mr. Fix-it's cousin brings a walk behind mower in every year for service..he requests the $50.00 SPECIAL.
I advised him we don't have a $50.00 SPECIAL and never did....he said " then how about the family discount?"... I advised him we learned along time ago not to give family any discount, as a matter of fact, we try to avoid doing any work for family unless it is absolutely necessary...several years ago it seemed we were working on family stuff at least 50% of our time. Its one thing to discount labor...but most friends and family can't even come up with the parts money.....

On to the fix of the day......

Cousin Joe is complaining the machine won't run, if you look at the picture , you probably realize that this is a "throw-away" lawnmower. But, with the "family discount" it is worth it for Cousin Joe to fix it.....He says he has already changed the oil and replaced the blade....when you see a new blade...what do you look for?     A SHEARED TIMING KEY! He probably hit something...root, stone, toy hidden in the tall grass.....Mr. Fix-it takes off the flywheel to investigate.....what does he find? A sheared timing key. 

He asked his cousin if he hit something with the machine....What do you think he said? Nnnnnoooooo, not me...... A customer will never admit to wrongdoing. 

Remember: The customer is always right! 

70's toro roto-tiller

in the shop right now we have a 1970's classic toro garden roto-thistiller. The tiller needs belts,2 idler pullies and a carburetor rebuild....the parts are NLA  ( no longer available). This customer really wants it fixed, it was passed to him from his father. I say its not worth it....but Mr. Fix-it being the nice guy that he is tells the customer he will see what he can do.

Mr. Fix-it crosses over an idler from Ariens that is identical another idler is made for a MTD,  they are virtually identical!
He also had th replace the diaphram in the carburetor...

This is definitely not going to be cost-efffective to fix, again, this proably should be a throw away....
I believe sentimental value will outweigh monetary value.

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Craftsman pressure washer

The repair today was once again fuel-related....are you all getting sick and tired of hearing that? Well, I have to tell you that is 90% of our business!..If customers started draining their fuel when the equipment wasn't going to be in use fot more than several weeks our business may be veeerrrrrryyyyyyy slow.

This is really a throw away pressure washer, and by that I mean this....If you have to pick it up, change carburetor and oil and air filter, you are pretty much exceeding the cost of replacing it.

This pressure washer is probably in the $200-$300.00 range. The cost of the complete carburetor is $50.00 ( there is no rebuild kit available, you cant even take it apart to rebuild it). the air cleaner , fuel shut-off and spark plug and oil rounds out the parts at about  $80-$90.....add in a few hours labor , depending on whose shop you bring it to...could be $40 - $80 per hour.......you have exceeded the cost of a new one.....

we are living in a throw-away society......remember drain your fuel...it will save you alot of aggravation and even more moola!

God Bless the USA

Please take a moment today to think of the men and women  who are currently serving in the military.Those who everyday put their lives on the line so that we may enjoy our freedom in the United States of America.  And please say a prayer for those soldiers who have died so that we may live securely and safely.
Thank you very much.

Memorial Day Weekend has come and we are still very busy....

Usually by this time in the season we are pretty much caught up in the shop on power equipment. I think due to this economy that people are finally digging out the lawnmowers and pressure washers and trying to start them that they are finding they wont start or run well.
Customers are trying not to spend any money so they are trying to fix stuff themselves...but find they cant....therefore, shop is still full of work.
This year we will be doing a staycation on the weekend.....

POWER EQUIPMENT SEASON....

in the midst of spring power equipment season...sorry to have missed several weeks.....unbelievably busy...i hope to remember some of what happened in the last few weeks and pass it along.....

spring is here!

emissions funny!

spring season...

the fix-it shop is loaded right now...we are up to 40 pieces of power equipment, i will post a pic tomorrow....

mill pond west tisbury mass. easter sunday

splitting wood on Easter Sunday in West Tisbury on Marthas Vineyard Island...

(john, ms. Fix-it and Eddie)

after pulling the wood-splitter from down the street with the incorrect size ball, Mr. Fix-it cleaned out the carburetor bowl we enjoyed splitting!!! There was a little good -natured arguing going on, but that was part of the fun..... 

fallout from picky thickets.....

Remember we were on Marthas Vineyard over Easter weekend...we were helping a friend cut some wood in the thicket, i came home with a special suprise! POISON IVY on my face, and Mr. Fix-it has it all over his forearms. Talk about adding insult to injury......

14 HP KICK BACK!!!!!

Check out this 48" encore. I was testing it out last night after Mr. Fix-it sharpened the blades and got it ready for the season. I bought it at the end of last season to try to cut down on cutting time this year... it has pistol grip controls...well, I stalled it. Mr. Fix-it asked me to start it. I usually pull the engine over t get it to the top of the compression stroke, It has a normal pull start, not a miten-grip...before I knew it the engine kicked back!!!!! OH MY GOD.....I was crying, I was yelling, I was rolling on the ground, I made up new swear words...I did not want to look at my hand, I was sure a bone was sticking out somewhere...I could not breathe, it felt like someone had kicked me in the chest....I am still reeling from this incident because although my bone was not sticking through my skin...I damaged something, tore a muscle or something. I can't make a fist or put any pressure on it....I am sure it will get better. Mr. Fix-it has ordered a mitten grip and is considering getting me an electric start....what a girl!!!

log splitter repair on martha's vineyard...

We just returned from Marthas Vineyard Island, Mr. Fix-it and I went over to cut up a large limb for a friend of ours that had fallen on the state road.. When we arrived we found he had paid someone to drag it to his house and cut it into manageable pieces.  So our friend took advantage of our good nature and chainsaws and asked us to cut some stuff in his yard. Before we knew it we were in the picky thicket more than ten feet tall on someone else's property!.... then trying to get us to completely cut down a 50+ foot oak that had passed many years ago...we got alot of it down, but that large of a job we weren't prepared for.....finally a break for an ice-cold beverage.
We sit down to enjoy an Easter lunch to the omment of " i wish i knew you had a tow ball on your truck, i have been trying to get the guy down the street to delivet a log splitter for several months..."... in we are sucked.....
we go down the road a mile or two , find that the log splitter is 1 7/8" ball, we only have a 2" ball....hmmmmm, no tools ....what should we do? Of course who ends up sitting on the log splitter to hold it onto too big of a ball? yes, ms.fix-it.... we are making our final descent into the driveway with alot of looks from patrons from the local mercantile, Alleys General Store, and sitting in the Grange Hall is the local police...I tucked my head down and we kept going....no blue lights.....
We pull in and when we picked it up, Alan Whiting, yes the local famous painter, said it would only run on the pencil mark on the choke lever....of course, Mr. Fix-it immediately drops the bowl to a jellied- moldy mass of gasoline. He cleans out the bowl jet with a paper clip and the bowl, returns it to place with bowl gasket, all the while I am trying to hold fuel line from pouring gas with a pair of pliers made of mostly rust.....
it starts on the first pull, before we know it our friend had plopped the first piece of wood on the splitter and asks how do you use this thing?
well, 3 plus hours later and no four wheeling on chappaquiddick and no ice cold beverages we had a nice pile of split wood for our friend to keep his house warm next winter.....

What are friends for anyway? My stepdad Ed is on the left and our friend John is on the right. I will post more on this weekends exploits tomorrow.