Ran into an old timer at a job site in Cleveland last spring

This guy must have been 70 years old, watched me struggle with a sticky leveling valve on an Otis for like 20 minutes before he walked over. He didn't say a word, just handed me a can of WD-40 and pointed at a specific pivot point I'd been ignoring. Anyone else ever get schooled by a retired mechanic who barely talked?

4 comments

4 Comments

hugoj121mo ago

Used to roll my eyes at that stuff until one saved me two hours on a freight car.

ninaowens1mo ago

Nah hard disagree. Those old timers are usually just gatekeeping knowledge that should be in a manual somewhere. If he really wanted to help he could have said something instead of playing games with the WD-40.

victorh811mo ago

Whoa wait, TWO HOURS? That's nuts. I gotta ask @hugoj12 what the hell was wrong with that freight car that took two hours off the job. I've seen guys spend all day fighting a seized axle on a trailer, can't imagine cutting that down to nothing with just a spray can.

ray_martinez821mo ago

Hugo got saved by two hours? Man I gotta hear that story too. I've been on jobs where a simple brake adjustment turned into a whole afternoon because I was missing some trick the old guys just know. Two hours is crazy, like you could wrap up early or actually get to lunch instead of fighting a rusty bolt. There's probably a specific model or a weird trick with the linkage that isn't written down anywhere. Makes me wonder how many other shortcuts are just sitting in some retired guy's head.