Stupid Dumb.

[WE B CRUZN]

Back when I was fresh out of school I used to drive dump trucks. Well we were hauling sand to stock pile for later use a friend of mine who was also driving a dump backed up to the pile to unload. Well guess what his last load was gravel that had to be spread in a driveway for those that do not know to do this you hook up a set of chains on the tailgate so it only opens a small amount, OK I think you get where this is going by now and yup you guessed it. As his box went up at about the halfway point the load let loose and up goes the front of the truck. So here he is sitting back on the tailgate and the front wheels about 15 feet in the air, now for the tricky part the box won't come down because there is now no weight on the hoist. So he puts it in gear and begins to ride this long slow extremely high wheelie until the front finally comes down, I wouldn't have believed it unless I seen it myself.

[pwdcougar]

Back when I first got my 70 Suburban the old 307 was burning a quart of oil a week. Sourced a GM Targetmaster 350 and had a friend help me install it one weekend. No engine hoist so we had a come-a-long hooked up to the bucket of a backhoe. The hydraulics on the backhoe were leaky and we couldn't get the engine lined up before the bucket sank. My buddy started the backhoe and raised up the bucket and engine way too high while I was standing on the frame rails. While ratcheting the come-a-long back down the mechanism slipped and the engine fell the last foot and a half inches away from my feet. Luckily the only thing damaged was the oil pan.

Paul

[dirtyjim]

most of the stupid stuff I did was when I was younger but here are a couple I remember. I bought a truck and the owner said it needed tie rods and probably a few other front end parts and since I only lived a couple miles away it should be ok to drive home if I went slow. I drove it home and to work the next week, then that weekend I jacked it up to se how worn out it was. I could move the tires by hand around 4" from side to side from the tie rods, idler and pitman arm being completely shot.

another time I was putting a new transfer case in my land rover discovery. there are two versions of the lt230 transfer case. the later version is called a lt230q the q is for quiet. the output shaft on the transmission is slightly different between them, a lt230 will fit a lt230q output shaft but not vise versa because the splines on the lt230q shaft extend farther down the shaft and if you try to put a 230q transfer case on a 230 shaft the it will bottom out the splines about 1/2" before its mated up to the transmission. I snapped an ear off transfercase when it bottomed out. luckily once I figured it out all I had to do was pull the rear cover plate off the transfer case, slide the gear out, then remove one bolt to pull the transmission output shaft. the bolt the transfer case up. get the new shaft and install it all through the rear cover plate.
the bad part is that I was aware of the shafts and asked the place I bought the transfer case from that I also needed the output shaft if the transfer case cam out of a 97 and up land rover. and it takes a whole 30 seconds to remove the shaft. I was assured that it was from a 95 and I didn't need the shaft

[prairewolf]

... I paid about 110$ a month in High school for Insurance on my car as a junior, road school bus quite often as a senior. ...my Mom said some Lessons cost more than others. ... that is still true today I guess.

I left water in block on my GTO and it cracked once winter came.

I still have expensive lessons once in awhile, but no DUI handcuffs and I check to make sure coolant looks green enough.

[WE B CRUZN]

Originally Posted by pwdcougar

Back when I first got my 70 Suburban the old 307 was burning a quart of oil a week. Sourced a GM Targetmaster 350 and had a friend help me install it one weekend. No engine hoist so we had a come-a-long hooked up to the bucket of a backhoe. The hydraulics on the backhoe were leaky and we couldn't get the engine lined up before the bucket sank. My buddy started the backhoe and raised up the bucket and engine way too high while I was standing on the frame rails. While ratcheting the come-a-long back down the mechanism slipped and the engine fell the last foot and a half inches away from my feet. Luckily the only thing damaged was the oil pan.

Paul

I used to run a backhoe when I was younger found out when I got home it started leaking very little but just enough. I had it backed up to my stang and my mother and brother noticed it was starting to put a dent in the hood, neither one of them knew how to run the hoe and the car was out of commission so by the time I got home there was a nice little reminder left on the nose of my hood. That will teach me I should have parked it with the bucket on the ground.

[special-K]

I have a 10' utility trailer I bought new in '97. It's a HD one with 3500# capacity and 15" wheels. I always assumed the wheels were 5 on 5 GM pattern. I always wanted to get some styled steel wheels, center caps, and beauty rings from an 88-98 1/2t to match up to the factory wheels on my '92 K3500 I towed it with, just never got around to it. Fast forward many years and the '92 ended up with the Ford Accurides and 76-91 hubcaps, so I came up with some 5-lug steelies for it. I was waiting till I bought new tires to put them on. The truck saw it's end before that happened and now I pull it with the '95 K2500 Suburban that I put the wheels from the '92 on, which I painted a dark grey. Last fall I was ready to get tires, so I sand blasted the wheels and painted them the same color. I went and had new tires mounted. brought them home, went to mount them up and DOH!!! Wrong lug pattern! Turns out they are 5 on 4 1/2"! Where the heck do you find the small Ford lug pattern in a 15" wheel that used outer nubs? Mopar used a smaller hubcap (a few exceptions). By the time cars started using outer nub style hubcaps they were running 14" mostly. This is just an old trailer, but I want to lose the now crappy looking typical wagon wheels. Not into buying brand new for about $100@.
I went a local swap meet a couple weeks ago that is mostly inside, but there were a couple vendors set-up outside (rainy day). There was a guy with a lot of old steelies and they were even marked. I looked and looked and found two 15 x 5s that were 5 on 4 1/2" and had outer nubs! I was all excited and ready to buy before even going in to the big show, but the guy wasn't around. I went in for a while, but could only think of those wheels. I went out and there he was, I bought them cheap, and ran them back to the 'Burb. I told the guy they were going on the trailer and he said, "Good, because they're no good for any car". I guess he meant there are so few cars those would be right for that he felt lucky I could use them. I felt lucky,too! So lucky that when I left the swap meet I ran them straight to the sand blaster. I painted them, let them cure, and last Thursday had the new two sizes over tires mounted. Just hauled a load of firewood home yesterday and am a happy camper, except now I want to find another for the spare!

[Front Range]

Backed up a 26 foot U-Haul into the driver's bedside of my Wife's C10 pickup. She was not happy.

[ranger danger]

Double post. Sorry

[ranger danger]

When I was about 16 I had a 1964 Pontiac Catalina. I got a flat and was changing the tire with the bumper jack. I was having trouble getting the wheel off the car so i sat down with my legs on either side of the tire. I got the wheel/tire off and turned to set it down when the jack slipped out from the bumper. The brake drum landed on the ground right between my knees! I was pinned to the ground but was not hit by the car at all!!! I sat there for about 10 minutes until a guy stopped and jacked the car up so I could get out. I have never used a bumper jack since that day.

[LostMy65]

Originally Posted by ranger danger

When I was about 16 I had a 1964 Pontiac Catalina. I got a flat and was changing the tire with the bumper jack. I was having trouble getting the wheel off the car so i sat down with my legs on either side of the tire. I got the wheel/tire off and turned to set it down when the jack slipped out from the bumper. The brake drum landed on the ground right between my knees! I was pinned to the ground but was not hit by the car at all!!! I sat there for about 10 minutes until a guy stopped and jacked the car up so I could get out. I have never used a bumper jack since that day.

I'm seriously chuckling reading some of these 'Stupid Dumb' stories. I can just see you sitting there thinking OMG!

[CRGRS 66]

My most recent dumb dumb moment was trying to fill my differental through the vent hole. I connected a 30" section of clear tube to the vent, and a funnel to the other end of the hose. I used zip ties and a chair sitting on the frame to hold the funnel in place. Pretty clever huh??? It took about 45 minutes to get a quart into it. After the aha moment, I am pleased to report that the square head fill plug hiding on the passenger side of the diff case has a 5/8 square head on it.

[xs-style]

Here's one for a good laugh. I had a 99 c5 Corvette. My ignition switch went out. No biggie to change, so I swapped out and the car wouldn't start.

Did you know the ignition switch wire and the outside air temp wire have the same style plug in? And both have to be disconnected to change that ignition switch.

I hadn't noticed that they had the same end...a good friend mine who used to work for a Chevy dealer pointed it out to me, well after he got done laughing.

[forestb]

When I first bought a front cross member from a 77 pickup it was sitting in the bed of my 62. I decided I would take it apart in the bed of my truck instead of trying to lift the hole thing. After I removed the lower ball joint from the spindle I heard a loud boom and then I removed the other side and heard a loud boom. It was only later that I realized that because of the coil springs were still under pressure that the noise was the control arm smacking the bed of my ruck. I had no idea how easily I could have broken my leg or made a huge dent in the side of my bed.

[Keith Seymore]

Originally Posted by LostMy65

I just searched thread titles for the words stupid or dumb. I hoped to find a thread on stupid dumb mistakes we've made. Couldn't find anything where we've had ongoing posts of stupid dumb things we've done.

...

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...highlight=fire

K

[Keith Seymore]

Originally Posted by Front Range

Backed up a 26 foot U-Haul into the driver's bedside of my Wife's C10 pickup. She was not happy.

I did something similar at my brother in law's: backed a U haul cargo truck all the way up (up hill) his long and twisty driveway and proceeded to back into his garage eave trough.

Helping him move into a new house.

Oops.

K

[Warrens69GMC]

On our 1969 GMC, I put half the money down on it without telling my Finace when we were paying for a wedding

Almost didn't get married, she was pissed....