I Screwed Up

I promised when I started this blog to always be honest. Raw truth. Real stories. That is why I felt that I had to share this story, as bad as it might make me look. It is one of the reasons that I don't like social media. All you see is everyone’s good side, not their mistakes or problems. Well that isn’t the case here.

I have mentioned a couple of times that I do a lot of my own work on my Jeep. I am by no means an expert mechanic, not even close. I have gotten relatively good at it, mostly thanks to a combination of trial and error, Google, and Youtube. I never would have imagined this ten years ago as I didn’t even know how to change my own oil. But it doesn’t always go smoothly.

If you follow me on Facebook and Instagram you might have seen that I recently redid my rear brakes, replacing my pads, rotors, and calipers. While not overly complex, a Jeep with over 125,000 miles on it tends to fight you. First it took me forever to get the driver side rear rotor off, and it seemed like nothing I did could get the emergency brake to release it. Then one the slider bolts on the rear caliper wouldn’t go all the way in so it wouldn’t fit back on. I ended up having to run down to the auto parts store to pick up two new rear calipers to be safe.

It didn’t help that I was doing this in Maine in Winter and my Jeep is too tall to fit in my garage. It started the day at about 5 degrees and went up to about 10. I kept having to go in to warm up my hands. What should have taken a couple of hours on a good day ended up taking most of the day, and I was only able to finish one the driver-side rear.

When I started the day I loosened the lugs on both sides before I jacked up the rear end and didn’t think anything of it. I drove it for a couple of days with no issues. Until one night when I was driving to pick my wife up at work and I felt a weird shimmy. I have learned the hard way to trust that if something feels wonky with a car you really know, you are probably right. So when I get there I get out and check the tires. All of the driver-side tires were fine, and I almost told myself that I was imagining it but decided to go and check the passenger side as well.

Once I got to the passenger side rear the situation became apparent. The tire felt loose. Thankfully I carry a full set of tools in my Jeep at all times (another lesson learned the hard way) and pulled out my ratchet to tighten up the lug nuts. But I couldn’t get it to catch. So I grab a headlamp and look in at the lugs and then panicked, the lug had sheered clear off. I only had one lug nut left on and one other lug that was intact but didn’t have a lug nut on it.

Because I had left the lugs loosened the tire ended up wobbling and sheering off the studs. So I tightened up the remaining lug nut and grabbed another one from the spare tire, and drove carefully home. I made it without further incident.

The next day I got to work on the passenger side rear, finishing the brakes and fixing my screwup. To replace the studs you need to bang them out with a hammer, pull them out from behind, and then pull a new one in. This side went together without much incident, or so I thought. I finished up and went for a test drive, which I do whenever I do any major work and can test it while I am still close to home. Almost immediately it sounded like all hell was breaking loose and was making a racket. At first, I couldn’t figure out what it could be, and then it hit me.

One of the studs that I had knocked out got caught behind the emergency brake and I needed to get a screwdriver or something to reach in and pop it out. I kept working on the other lugs and told myself I would get it out when I was done replacing the others. Of course, I got tired and or distracted and ended up forgetting. As soon as I got the rotor back off it popped right out.

Thankfully no further damage was done except for the fact that I had now wasted most of another day and was now pretty sore and frustrated. I was so mad at myself for both of these mistakes.

But ultimately I have to remind myself that 1) I am not an expert and 2) Things happen. That doesn’t mean that I shouldn’t learn from my mistakes though. I learned not to put something off, I should have stopped and popped out the stud when it happened. I also should have checked to make sure both tires were tight to be safe. I also now know how to fix sheered studs if it happens again, possibly even somewhere remote, and before you ask yes I did buy extra studs and carry them with me now.

I wanted to share this story to show that it isn’t always, pretty, easy, and doesn’t always go smoothly. That doesn’t stop me from trying. I once heard someone that I felt was very knowledgeable say that they only know 95% of what they want to know, and I think that I have even more to learn. The only way you learn is to do it yourself and learn from your mistakes.

So what is stopping you?