Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire German engineering,

German engineering looks like something made in Mexico or China, why in the [bleep] would you put the bolts in backward so the transaxle/front differential has to be dropped to take it out other than to [bleep] the average
DIYer into taking it to the dealer. I used my Mexican wrench and cut it off. Put it on right now. Gl550 Rack and pinion mount bushings.

so the average joe has to go to the stealership.

So the engineers can figure out a special tool to get to it.

Germans love that engineering stuff

People who own mercedes don't work on their own cars, and the vast majority of people don't work on their own cars anymore. So all companies can do shenanigans like this and most are oblivious to the issue. Most newer vehicles aren't worth owning as their planned obsolescence is built into them, much like apple products. Ignorance truly is bliss it seems.

Or it could be that the Didn't Earn It worker installed the bolt backwards, so I guess you could call them to ask, but I don't think they care either way.

It's a conspiracy.

It's a simple 30-minute fix if you don't have to cut that bolt off then buy another.

Nazi revenge!... ever try to reassemble an Audi 5000 drive axle?... one of the balls & the slot it rides in is just a few thou bigger than the others, so it only goes together one way... take that you Swinehunds!...

Been thru that various times.

Roger….It’s posts like this that bring me comfort, not because you are frustrated but because I’m not a mechanic and I’ve never played one on TV….in fact I didn’t even stay at a Holiday Inn recently either. When a man like you who is far more mechanically inclined than myself finds himself fighting stupidity like that bolt I feel significantly less dumb. I think damn near every single time I’ve worked on a vehicle I’ve found myself faced with the something similar. I now figure that if the Good Lord wanted me to work on vehicles he never would have made mechanics. Considering how the smallest job usually entails me using $200 in gas running back and forth to the parts store and at least $150 in wrong or unnecessary parts I’m happy to pay my mechanic.

I think I have the only 1 armed mechanic this side of the International Date Line…leave it to me. 😂. He’s a retired army mechanic and Vietnam veteran who suffered a stroke in retirement but he charges less per hour and doesn’t add extra time for his disability. He’s far more dexterous than I am with 2 hands and arms….hell, he has more dexterity than me if I had 3 arms and hands and he’s extremely honest. His shop is immaculate too.

We had lots of german made equipment at work. Panel saws, dryers, pluggers . And owner and repaired our vw’s until the wifes rabbit. The germans over engineer and under build. And the like 1.25 thread pitch on sizes the rest of the world uses 1.50. Enjoy the install, with a grolsh beer!

6-dollar bolt versus dropping the transaxle or paying several hundred to the dealer, no brainer.

this bolt was 1.50

WORD!

Yep….several hundred dollars for a mechanic it is…😂

I truly admire guys like you but I don’t envy you. 😀😉. I just ain’t smart enough nor patient enough to do that stuff….plus after I throw the wrench through a window I figure I’m money ahead hiring a professional anyway.

I've owned a LOT of cars from a LOT of countries.

The German cars I've owned include 7 Porsche's from an E series 911T to a 997.
Also owned 4 M3s and 2 M5s.
My first AMG was an M177 V8.
Currently, my wife's summer car is an AMG E53 and mine a GT63.
We also have a Winnebago Revel.

Though of course everyone's mileage will vary my German cars have given me more pleasure than any others, so as far as I'm concerned, let them keep on engineering and I'll keep buying.

🤣🤣🤣

Timely Roger. I recently sold my 2017 Porsche Boxster S (turbo 4) and bought a 2022 Boxster GTS (NA 6) and, as usual, started looking for YouTube videos on routine maintenance. Here's what an air filter change entails. Not difficult but...

https://www.718forum.com/threads/bgts4-0-intake-air-filter-access.28061/

Nice carpet.

That's not bad, I think the worst one I ever heard was the Ford you had to pull the cab off to change the back spark plugs.

It sure beats laying on bare concrete.

I took apart apart the hydrostatic drive on my riding lawnmower the other day because it had a bad leak. I showed it to my neighbor who's an engineer and told him I may need help putting it back together. He said ok what's next? Are you going to completely take apart the 10 speed auto in your f150 if it springs a leak.

The seal kit should be here tomorrow. Be watching for my how does this go back together posts.

Bb

Can't learn how to put it back together unless you take it apart.

Farfegnugen!!!

I grew up on VW stuff after my family lived in Europe for 3 years. I quit when they went to the non air cooled stuff, Rabbits etc. Did have a VW Diesel Dasher Wagon in 1981. The Diesel was fine.. the rest of the car wasn't.

Went to Volvos, and then finally to Toyota and Hondas.... Still driving the latter two brands... but all of them are bought used and then I put some high miles on them. When my Pilot hits 400K, I'm going to have to start looking for a lower mileage one. Same with my Camry and Tacoma...

But they will probably outlast me.

Just replaced one of the belts on my 325xi BMW last night. Not sure if the Japanese or Germans win the award for maximum use of all available space. Not that Americans are better. I'd like to meet the engineer that thought putting two gas tanks in a Corvette was a good idea, and therefore making the fuel pump a treat to access.

Yep. Ford and GM pull the same kind of crap. I've no doubt Dodge has too.

Back in the early '70s, Dayton, OH , almost Thanksgiving, took our VW 411 to VW dealership for a oil change, basic engine tune-up and just a overall general checkup before we made the drive to KY for the holiday weekend with family.

Watched in amazement as a group of young, "VW Factory trained specialist" mechanics struggling, trying to push a small foreign car with rear end jacked up off the floor on a Handyman jack through the garage and into a bay area. Me, standing next to a salesman also watching, salesman chuckling and shaking his head at the show. Salesman yells out to the "Factory Trained specialists" Tried taking the Damn thing out of gear yet... ?

"Factory Trained specialists" replied "engine is locked up" then laughing, "doesn't matter anyway with the rear end jacked up off the floor..." then added, "you best stick to selling cars an let us "Factory Trained specialists handle the mechanical stuff" Ha Ha Ha.... Salesman answered back with "That's a front wheel drive car and I bet it's still in gear you idiots are trying to shove around"...

...Dead Silence ...

Sure didn't give me much confidence in them working on my car but I was already committed...

Sure enough they screwed up my VW so bad it would hardly run. On the way back home that same afternoon I pulled into the first independent garage I passed and they got it back running like the VW Factory Trained specialists should have done...

My son needed a better car and bought a Jetta before I could stop him......
What were they thinking to build a car so backwards to work on?
He's learned the lesson but it's cost more money!