Folks here have been very nice, helpful, and encouraging. Thanks for that. It might be a bit cheesy, but I feel like it's a decent enough place to share a story about tools.
I was replacing a steering stabilizer last night, and a stupid power steering pump. None of it was going all that well, I was tired, the floor of the garage to cold, but it all ended well. At the tail end of the process I used tools that my dad inherited from his, and how I have started to receive some of them. My Grandfather ran Graham Garage, Hubble Nebraska, Phone 4. Small town that isn't even classified as a town anymore. He did this until he lost his sight, and one leg, from diabetes. As a little kid I was a bit scared of him. He was a quiet fellow, blind, and missing a leg. I wish his age and mine, his capabilities and my interests, would have been able to better align for more time and talk together. Regardless, I'm proud of who he was, and am honored to have some of his tools.
So, in order to try and encourage my own father, I sent him this e-mail below that captures the tale of last night with the steering stabilizer, Grandpa Graham's tools, and why it matters.
"Dear Dad,
So, Grandpa Graham and his old mechanics tools = awesome!
I was changing a power steering pump in the Jeep last night, which completely sucks and I never want to do it again. I was also changing the steering stabilizer. It's a horizontally affixed shock that ties in to the steering system. Well, it was the original one, and one end is press fit into a cross member. It would not come out.
I used penetrating oil, a big ass hammer, a torch, a bigger-assed hammer, more oil, more torch. While Budweiser and I were spending some time together cussing the whole situation at around midnight, a thought came into my mind. "Didn't Dad give me a Plomb box with an ancient Plomb puller in it?"
Why yes, he did.
I tried it with the little jaws. No luck. I tried it with the medium jaws. No luck. I tried it with the big jaws. BOOOOOOOM! Stabilizer, puller, wrench go flying, and I try to get out from under the Jeep as quickly as possible. Scared the heck out of me, but laying there, removed from the vehicle, was the factory original steering stabilizer.
Popped on the new one for 38 and we're done.
Dad, it matters a great deal to me where I came from. Who my father is, and who his people were. I am proud of all of it, and I think about you, Grandpa Graham, and the Graham clan in general whenever I work on a car. That is partly why I continue to want to do so.
With love."
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