Warning- Rant Alert!!!

[Nodroz]

Unfortunately, the USA has become a "throw away" society so, that mentality is becoming inbred into the younger generation &, therefore, the ability to fix something is gone.

Not only in the USA, sadly, but it's spreading around the world. You don't want to be here, in Europe. I think we throw away even more than the people in the USA.

Great example is that kart I've found in the scrapyard. Cleaned the carb and the engine started. Replaced tire and we were off to go!
Found a small pocketbike aswell. The starter was gone, I took my drill and started cranking the engine. After a caburetor check and some fine-tuning, the engine started and I could drive it!

If something isn't working, how small the repair is, most people will just throw away and get a new one.

To be fair on this one, My dad bought an '08 charger and the oil and transmission system is sealed, he has no way of changing or checking the oil or the tranny fluid and has to have it taken in to get done, When He had his old truck (my new truck) he changed the oil himself. however if he did that with this car it would void his drivetrain warrantee.

That is just sad. Really sad. The big manufactures not allowing people do to this. Pfft.

 

[Doc Sprocket]

The first two I'll go along with, they're safety features.

Sure. ABS is a safety feature, and in most cases, it helps (although I have run across a scenario where pulling the bloody fuse actually increased my survival odds), but my point was not so much the cost to repair an ABS system gone awry. I was referring to the inherent danger in the ABS failing entirely, and drivers having absolutely no clue how to most safely stop that sucka without skidding into oblivion...

 

[fowler]

however if he did that with this car it would void his drivetrain warrantee.

Ha this is 1/2 the reason I'm doing my apprentaship and as many certificates as possible
So when they say it must be done by a qualified person I can say
Ar ha I am

It's a disgrace what some will throw away
Some people make good money picking up lawn mowers off the side of the road, fixing them up and flogging them off
There is still people who fix their stuff
Paticularly middle to Lower class fix everything and throw nothing away

I've furnished most of my house with stuff friends and family have consided out dated or just old

 

[matman55]

To be fair on this one, My dad bought an '08 charger and the oil and transmission system is sealed, he has no way of changing or checking the oil or the tranny fluid and has to have it taken in to get done, When He had his old truck (my new truck) he changed the oil himself. however if he did that with this car it would void his drivetrain warrantee.

just another way to cash in off stupid people. They take us all for fools!


I don't have a "good" camera!

 

[matman55]

Sad to say i used to be part of the throw away people. Inhad a 03 kubota 18hp ride on mower with a shot trranaxel. So many part i could have salvaged! And the motor ran! They gave me 30$ based on weight. Stpid me!


I don't have a "good" camera!

 

[B.M.800]

^^ You bum!
I suppose we will let you live though...


My dad has a nasty habit of bringing home junk to scrap. Nothing wrong with scrapping it, but it sits around. Starting to get it cleaned up though... Biggest load was over $1000... we got I think .08 extra because we had so much aluminum.

Cant wait till it all gone and we got some nice grass in its place. Our property could look real nice without all the junk laying around. If it was confined it wouldnt be so bad.

 

[jamyers]

...
That said-
It makes me absolutely mental when I keep seeing stuff like this: Engine not working right? Throw it out and buy a new one! ....

I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that this was a contributing factor to your rant-mode switching [ON]?

the fact that tecumseh has an aluminum sleeve and steel rings while the predator and any other well designed engine uses a steel sleeve. the fact that tecumseh's are known to be bad engines and they're out of business.

It sure got a rise out of me...

 

[Doc Sprocket]

Ummm.... I plead the 5th...

It wasn't just that post- I've seen a few of them lately. But if you want to know the God's honest truth, then yes- that thread tipped it.

Clever quoting, but the way!

 

[OzFab]

Trust me, guys make a living off of loading big stakebeds full of stuff they find people throwing out.

When I go digging through trash cans for recycling and people ask me what I'm looking for, I say money. I have a little spasm every time someone throws away an aluminum can or the sort.

Oh, we have them here too. I recently contacted one to get rid of some scrap; he'd give me 8 cents per kilo. I loaded up the trailer, drove about a mile & got 20cpk from the scrap yard on 200kgs

To be fair on this one, My dad bought an '08 charger and the oil and transmission system is sealed, he has no way of changing or checking the oil or the tranny fluid and has to have it taken in to get done, When He had his old truck (my new truck) he changed the oil himself. however if he did that with this car it would void his drivetrain warrantee.

I despise manufacturers doing this. It's their way of forcing you to get them to perform routine maintenance & charge you a small fortune...

I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that this was a contributing factor to your rant-mode switching [ON]?



It sure got a rise out of me...

ME TOO! (in case you didn't notice). That kind of one eyed mentality is what I was referring to earlier. I'm a Holden man but, I've owned as many Fords (technically they were rebadged Mazdas) as I have Holdens & I currently drive a Toyota.

To say one brand is better than another is mostly personal choice but to rag on a particular brand just because you don't like it is just plain old ignorance

 

[Doc Sprocket]

Long ago, I came to the realization that EVERY manufacturer has their shining points, AND their total failures.

 

[souperman000]

Ummm.... I plead the 5th...

Wait, you're Canadian!

 

[Doc Sprocket]

Wait, you're Canadian!

The 5th Amendment reference was for the benefit of the Americans amongst us. While we (obviously) don't call it "The 5th", we do have an equivalent.

 

[OzFab]

The 5th Amendment reference was for the benefit of the Americans amongst us. While we (obviously) don't call it "The 5th", we do have an equivalent.

Something along the lines of "I refuse to answer on the grounds that I may incinerate myself"?

 

[carter]

Something along the lines of "I refuse to answer on the grounds that I may incinerate myself"?

That sounds like it'd be rather flame-buoyant., I'm feeling rather punny tonight

 

[DeathStarr89]

Love this topic.. lol


I've lived all around the US and it's bad for sure, the things i've found on the curb or in an alley are nuts.


Here is one example.. My Flow bench.

I found 2 large 3M anti-static vacuums and 4 industrial (giant) carpet cleaning machines sitting next to a construction dumpster. Inside the dumpster i found a large steel storage cabinet (3' x 3' x 4' tall ish) and a bunch of random other things like speakers etc... Was some kind of warehouse cleanout.

I used one of the speaker boxes to house 4 of the motors i found, few mods to the metal cabinet, Bought some PVC and other misc small parts, bought an Arduino and some sensors... wrote some code and bam... reliable 300+ CFM capable flow bench for a couple hundred bucks at the most.


My practically new GX390 was a throw away because the company had failed to keep up on the maintenance of a pressure washer.



I'm a technical manager at a Casino, even in that industry where there is a 300% markup on everything the common theme is "Just throw it away and get a new one". I've worked hard over the last 10 years to develop repair programs for everything. We went from spending 20K/month to hardly spending 3K. Converting LCD monitors with bad CCFL tubes to LED back lights has been our latest project. Great results so far.

 

[matman55]

Anoththing is my bros old car. It was a cutlass supreame late model and all it needed was a new water pump. Other than that the car was fine. But instead he sold to this shady guy for 200$. Same as throwing it away n my opinion.


I don't have a "good" camera!

 

[Doc Sprocket]

And since I'm feeling so rantalicious-

the fact that tecumseh has an aluminum sleeve and steel rings while the predator and any other well designed engine uses a steel sleeve. the fact that tecumseh's are known to be bad engines and they're out of business.

"Name Withheld" (LOL) needs to get his st straight.

1)It's not an "aluminum sleeve". That would be a plain bore. If it's aluminum, there is no sleeve.

2)Tecumseh is not the only engine manufacturer to have used a plain bore in an industrial engine. Remember Briggs And Stratton, everybody's hero? Yeah. Google "Kool Bore" and get back to me.

3)Tecumsehs are not "known to be bad engines". You don't stay in business as long as Tecumseh did, by constantly churning out crap. Every manufacturer has high and low points. Funny. I don't seem to have any problems with these "known bad engines".

4)Steel sleeve? No. Cast iron. Bit of a metallurgical difference.

5)You may not be aware of this, but there's more than one possible reason for going under. Remember Comet? Yeah- we all know what kind of crap they made. How about AVRO? Ya might have to look that one up. What about Tucker? DeLorean? Come to think of it, didja happen to notice that at least two HUGE, reputable american automobile manufacturers were this close to being reduced to a memory a couple years ago, if not for massive government financial bailout packages? Yeah.

The prosecution rests, Your Honour.

Dang... That felt pretty good!

 

[jamyers]

"rantalicious"...

BWA-HAHAHAHAhahahahaha!!!! Good one!

 

[Doc Sprocket]

Yeah- It was either that, or "Rantastic"...

 

[crazzywolfie]

i hate how wasteful everybody is now a day. a couple months ago i guess a store a couple doors down from were i work went out of business or something and everything seemed to end up in a dumpster at there back door. by the time i got there you could tell other people had gone through some of it but there was so much there i still managed to find a lot of good stuff. found at least $200 worth of LED lights and stuff. there was even lots of stuff that was still brand new and in it packaging. if i had a large space to store the stuff i would have loaded up as much of the good stuff as i could and sell it.