Learning can be expensive. I’m not talking about tuition per se, although tuition is its own expense. There are other types of learning and other types of lessons that cost money, too. Regardless, if we have gained knowledge, the cost can be justified. Or more accurately, we will try to justify it. We can chalk up our expense to information that could benefit us in the future, right? Maybe even financially, making our learning a true investment. Sure, and yet it still hurts a bit when we pay the price in the short term.

Let me preface my story by saying I learned a lot! And in addition to the completed project, I have the receipts to prove it. It all starts with my willingness to work on my own cars, especially when the bill is going to be significant. As I get my SUV ready for sabbatical (it’s going to be towed behind us all summer), I recently had some new tires put on. The shop let me know I had a leaking axle seal on one side and told me what it would cost to repair it.  Oh, and they let me know that they are typically done in pairs; if one has failed the other is often not far behind. They were correct; that is the common experience of mechanics everywhere and held true on my car.

To be fair, this would have been one of the biggest repair bills in my car ownership experience.  Only a transmission costs more than what this would have run me. So, I did a little research and realized I could "probably" do this myself, if I bought a few specialty tools. If I did, I could shave almost half off the cost; basically, the labor, which is substantial. The reasons the labor cost is so high is because you have to remove the tire, the brake system, and the axle itself. You have to press the old bearing off the axle and then press the new one on. In essence, every part that can come off that system has to come off, and then be put back on again, and when dealing with the studs and whatnot, it just takes time.  

I had to buy a 20-ton press and a bearing puller designed for my vehicle. I got to buy snap ring pliers (which I didn’t yet have, but always wanted) and a set of picks. I had everything else I needed in the tool department. Everything went smoothly on the disassembly. And, relatively speaking, on the reassembly. Had I done one of these jobs before, I would have realized that a piece of the old bearing stayed on the axle, which ruined my attempt to press on the new one. There went the first new bearing assembly, when it had to be removed, breaking it in the process.  

The second time around, having taken the axle to a machine shop in Brunswick, which had a press with more room to fit my hub, and thus get the last bit of the bearing pressed off, I made a stupid rookie mistake with the press when putting on the second new bearing assembly, although I didn’t know it right away. Everything looked great as I reassembled the axle. I spent an hour wrestling with all the springs and clips in the emergency brake shoe system, and then when I tried to put the rotor back on the hub, I quickly realized my mistake. To save time when my press sleeve didn’t fit, I had placed a hammer across the hub (between it and the press) to finish pressing the bearing, and in so doing had misshapen the hub, ruining the axle. I had to dissemble it again so I could use the parts on the new axle I had to order. There went the second new bearing assembly, and a need to buy a new axle.  

That was the end of my learning, in one sense. I didn’t make any other mistakes. I managed to do the repair to the leaking side and the other side without incident from there on out. It turned out that the bearing on the other side was about shot and hadn’t yet shown any obvious issues but was about to. I also made a friend in Brunswick, since the second side had the same piece stuck to the axle which my press was too narrow to handle. He got to press both of them off for me and we hit it off. It’s always good to know guys who can do just about anything with large tools.  

At the end of the saga, which saw my car up on jack stands for almost two weeks, while I waited on parts or couldn’t find time to finish it, I feel good about doing the work myself. I spent about what the shop would have charged me, but I also ended up with some new tools and a lot more knowledge. There was one more lesson associated with this repair, which I won’t say too much about. But I will give you some advice: if you’re using your iPhone to reference YouTube while making repairs, make sure you don’t set it someplace where you can accidentally drop a heavy car part on it. Just saying.  

Fortunately, most of my lessons aren’t this expensive. I collect information about projects like these the same way I collect tools. Since I plan to keep working on my cars, (largely because I enjoy it), I figure it will come in handy later, if not for me, then in helping a friend. We all know life lessons often come with a cost, as well. We learn about trust and love, betrayal and pain, and so much more. Sometimes we make multiple mistakes, sometimes once is enough. We may be slow learners, but we do tend to learn. Those lessons often elicit prayers as well, and I have found that to be true in life and in the garage. I don’t know how much God cares about my wrenches and hardware, but I know God loves me even when I have screwed up. That reality helps, maybe even more than YouTube.

Tom+

O God, whose blessed Son was despised and rejected of men, help us to accept our failures as real and necessary instructions in our pilgrimage toward freedom and wholeness in Jesus Christ our Savior.  Amen.