Tricks of the trade
I wrote a while back when we had some trouble with our car’s transmission. The problem recurred this week, but unlike last time, it didn’t get better, so today I had the car towed in for repair. The car’s problem is that it won’t shift out of park. It’s a front-wheel drive vehicle, so with the transmission stuck in park, you need to tow it from the front. But the car was parked in its garage space, nose-first, so the tow truck couldn’t get at the front wheels. I didn’t really have a good idea how the guy from the towing company would handle this, but luckily he did:
He backed up his tow truck and hooked up to the back wheels. He had another guy sit in the driver’s seat with his foot on the brake. Then he took a can of WD-40 and sprayed it under the car, beneath the front wheels. Then he went back to his truck, and skidded the car along the concrete floor of the garage out into the street, where he could maneuver his tow truck to the front wheels. It was quite impressive.
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That’s so backwoods. There’s a tools for that kind of job. One is a skate that goes under each tire and the other is dollies that cradle the non-moving wheels and lift them on to the dolly wheels. WD-40 and soap are like wiping your ass with your hand. It gets the job done but leaves a hell of a mess.
Comment by Go — October 29, 2006 @ 12:46 pm
wd40 is quite a backwards way of doing things, while dollies work, many tow truck operators should know that all modern automatic transmissions have a method to drop them into neutral, no need for time consuming dollies or messy wd40
Comment by auto repair school — November 5, 2007 @ 11:09 am
“WD-40 and soap are like wiping your ass with your hand. It gets the job done but leaves a hell of a mess.”
best qoute today !
Comment by paint protection — November 15, 2007 @ 7:51 pm
That is a sweet jimmy; definitely backwoods–something to be proud of.
Comment by Quality Directory — January 23, 2008 @ 8:07 pm
I have seen articles in newspapers in UK from people that have had relief from artritis by using WD40,reluctant to try!!.
Comment by eastleigh — March 10, 2008 @ 4:47 am
That is so sweet of yours! I hope will also do that!
Comment by Keeper Zipnet Series Cargo Net — March 17, 2008 @ 11:41 pm