What were they thinking?

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Dana67Dart

Dana67Dart

The parts you don't add don't cause you no trouble
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My daughter and I just replaced the drivers side engine mount on her 1996 318ci Jeep Grand Cherokee.

Who in their right mind decided to put a nut on the inside of the mount. I'm not referring to the two welded on nuts on the mount but the rear one with a loose nut and bolt.

With all the front wheel drive linkages etc in the way we had to become contortionists to get to it and to get the nut back on we had to tape the nut to a wrench and blindly attempt to get it started.

ARRRRRRGH!

Also why the 2 inches of additional threads on the through bolt with a locking nut so you have to wrench it the entire 2 inches 1/16 turn at a time.

OK I'm done venting! or is it whining?

have a great weekend!
 
Ah, the joys of owning a Jeep!!!!:lol:........but the good news is that it should have the large 2 1/4" exhaust manifolds!!!
 
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Heh heh . take comfort in knowing that the modern world is chock full of poorly designed garbage by people who are so well off that their hands will never have to touch an oily rotten poorly placed fastener !!! That's why there are idiots like me who should've went to college but instead go to work every day and work on that for- mentioned garbage.
 
I think ALL automotive designers should have to be fulltime mechanics for 10 years before they can even design a bolt
 
it's only going to get worse. Today's cars are all about more efficient packaging, and they have 3d design software, now, to make things even tighter.
 
Dana67Dart said:
I think ALL automotive designers should have to be fulltime mechanics for 10 years before they can even design a bolt
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Detroit would have none of that. I interviewed with Ford as an ASE Certified Master Tech who was getting his Mechanical Engineering degree. I was told that I would not be allowed to touch wrenches at work because the union would not stand for such a thing. That, and interviewing in Detroit in February pretty much sealed the deal for me.
 
rustycowll69 said:
it's only going to get worse. Today's cars are all about more efficient packaging, and they have 3d design software, now, to make things even tighter.
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The engineering design groups are very compartmentalized. The people that design one set of parts or components do not take part in integration. The software is to reduce the time from idea to part, and make it more cost efficient. Serviceability is not a primary concern.
 
Dana67Dart said:
What were they thinking?!
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Try a Dakota or two on for size The front differential and the engine mounts are INTEGRATED with the engine into one big mess!!!

The BRACKETS which connect the entire mess make it nearly impossible to remove the dust cover off the trans, if you are trying to pull the trans or engine!!!!

In other words the front differential hangs off brackets attached to the engine and engine mounts!!!!
 
Probably alot easeir to get to when the parts where asembled at the factory and thats all that mathers to the factory. Never looked at that application but i have learnt over the years that being creative with extensions and flexjoints can pay bigtime in some cases other times you need to either take more parts apart to get to whatever you are trying to reach or you need tiny hands on long thin arms adn preferable a few extra elbows and fingerjoints.
Worst thing i saw so far is headlights on Smartcars.
 
Job security for tech's everywhere. We had to R&R the front bumper cover on my son's late model Malibu to replace a headlight bulb. I call B/S. LOL
 
The answer is simple, design for manufacture ability and not service ability. They are building tens of thousands of these in an assembly line. A lot of parts go one before others block access. Is it good engineering? From a certain point of view. If it's like my world, the "engineers" don't even know how to use, set up, or design in the products they design but they do know that they are perfect and need no revision.
 
My son's Cadillac had a front parking light that went out. The light is incorporated into the front (Plastic) bumper. I couldn't figure out how to get to it so he took it to the dealer. They charged $300 for labor and $1.99 for the bulb!!!!!!!!!!!! If that isn't a rip of I don't know what is!!!:mad::mob::icon_fU::soapbox::BangHead:
 
dano said:
The answer is simple, design for manufacture ability and not service ability. They are building tens of thousands of these in an assembly line. A lot of parts go one before others block access. Is it good engineering? From a certain point of view. If it's like my world, the "engineers" don't even know how to use, set up, or design in the products they design but they do know that they are perfect and need no revision.
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You just reminded me of that engieer where i work who drew something up and was told it was not going to work and had to go and physicly check why a M10 bolt and a M8 nut would not work togheter. No BS its true.
 
Treblig said:
My son's Cadillac had a front parking light that went out. The light is incorporated into the front (Plastic) bumper. I couldn't figure out how to get to it so he took it to the dealer. They charged $300 for labor and $1.99 for the bulb!!!!!!!!!!!! If that isn't a rip of I don't know what is!!!:mad::mob::icon_fU::soapbox::BangHead:
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On my 2014 Legacy, you either need to remove the inner fender shield and have tiny hands or remove the front bumper and pull the headlights to change the headlight and corner light bulbs. Subaru realized this oopsy daisy and its free to get them changed at a dealer.
 
Remember when it was fun to work on you car? Yea... what were that thinking!!

IMG_61345555555.jpg
 
Were there dots? I don't recall any dots;
that was 1983, and my first month on the job.Having never worked on anything but metrics, and never before employed at a bike shop, this was a classic case of God taking care of me. I needed a job. I had been working on my asphalt pad all summer, and I suppose building up a reputation. A guy knows a guy, who knows a guy, and out of nowhere I get a call, would I like to work for one of the biggest Shops in Winnipeg? HeckYa!. Next thing you know they are paying me the big bucks to work on "exotic" Italian dinosaurs, that nobody but my shop foreman knows anything about, and apparently, the new guy who can fix anything; which being me. It wasn't me who said I could fix anything. I said I would be willing to "WORK" on anything. And so here was this monster Ducati V-twin on my bench, and it needs a top end rebuild, and see what you can do with it; and by the way,it needs to be on the track ... the day after tomorrow. Everything was good until I hit; desmo-spastic valve gear; without a manual, and I'm a Ducati-virgin. Well the fact was that there was a manual, it just took me a while to find it. Com'on, I wasn't THAT smart, and still today, I know there's plenty smarter bike-mechanics than me.
The engine was back in the frame and ready to race, at the appointed time.
Somebody somewhere had a lotta faith in a metric-cowboy from Ft Garry, and that was the summer I became a bike mechanic, for a multi-multi-line dealer, with a high visibility in Italian jobs.
 
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Dana67Dart said:
My daughter and I just replaced the drivers side engine mount on her 1996 318ci Jeep Grand Cherokee.

Who in their right mind decided to put a nut on the inside of the mount. I'm not referring to the two welded on nuts on the mount but the rear one with a loose nut and bolt.

With all the front wheel drive linkages etc in the way we had to become contortionists to get to it and to get the nut back on we had to tape the nut to a wrench and blindly attempt to get it started.

ARRRRRRGH!

Also why the 2 inches of additional threads on the through bolt with a locking nut so you have to wrench it the entire 2 inches 1/16 turn at a time.

OK I'm done venting! or is it whining?

have a great weekend!
Click to expand...

Reminds me of the pinch bolts that hold out steering wheel sleeves and signal light pieces together. One of the most dumbassed things I
Treblig said:
My son's Cadillac had a front parking light that went out. The light is incorporated into the front (Plastic) bumper. I couldn't figure out how to get to it so he took it to the dealer. They charged $300 for labor and $1.99 for the bulb!!!!!!!!!!!! If that isn't a rip of I don't know what is!!!:mad::mob::icon_fU::soapbox::BangHead:
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I`ve never owned or wanted a cadilac, but my friends that own them all ay the same thing, one is a full fledged, owns his own shop mech., and cant afford to replace the struts on his.
 
A Pontiac GranPrix rolled into the shop one day,dragging it's tail. It had come from the factory with a self-adjusting rear air-suspension system. Well it had quit self adjusting,and IIRC, the owner had just jacked it up and jammed some wooden blocks in there.. A new system installed IIRC would have been $4000C , and the car wasn't worth half that. I'm not sure what I did, that was a long time ago. I seem to remember installing some regular coilspring struts in there that the service guys found.IDK, I don't try to remember non-Mopar stuff.
 
I've seen a lot of "what were they thinking" stuff.
BUT, sometimes the engineers do think of us mechs.
My dad had a 1980 Datsun 310. Bottom of the line, econo-box. Front wheel drive, transverse mounted engine. A clutch change took an hour and a half, start to finish. Basic hand tools. The clutch could be replaced from the top side of the transmission. The most time consuming part was removing the RF wheel to remove an access panel and pull the throw out bearing.
 
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