on-line how-to videos (somewhat lengthy rant)

Teakettle

Member
There's something about the Internet that causes people to post videos on it that don't accurately reflect reality. Many how-to videos are of course quite useful, but others involve what I call The Magic Crescent Wrench. A few months ago I needed to replace the little threaded-hex vacuum switch on top of the transfer case in my truck. It's a really crowded neighborhood down there, there's only a couple of inches clearance above the thing, and one has to do the job blind. I took a look on YouTube to see if anyone had any tricks to share and ran across a mechanic who basically sat on the ground next to his truck (which was the same kind as mine), picked up a crescent wrench, slid his arm under the rocker panel, gave a couple of swings to the wrench, and pulled out the part. But on the planet where I live, there's so much plumbing and stuff around that little switch that no straight crescent wrench is going to get enough swing to be practical unless it's so short that it's impossible to give it any torque. I ended up having to use a flex-head ratchet and root around in my socket archives to find a socket that was long enough to engage the hex flats but short enough to fit in the little vertical space available. And even then to get the little obscenity removed I had to slip a two-foot piece of pipe over the ratchet handle.

Today I needed to replace a hundred-year-old angle valve on a steam radiator. I've done it many times before. If it's a good day, it works like this: apply ACDelco Rust Penetrant (it's the finest stuff in the world, buy a can if you don't have some already), find the largest pipe wrench you can (at least two feet), and find the largest friend you can (at least six feet) to hold onto it to prevent the pipe nipple from turning. Then take a really massive adjustable wrench, slip the longest cheater pipe you have over the handle, and have at the valve. As happens about a quarter of the time, that didn't do the trick (and the friend had other things to do). So plan B involves carefully using a Dremel with a cutting wheel to slit the threaded part enough so you can split a chunk out of the brass with a chisel (while not damaging the threads on the nipple). If it's a very bad day, you have to split more than one piece off. Eventually I got it done, and just for fun looked up an on-line video. Of course the guy there used The Magic Crescent Wrench, not even bothering to hold the nipple stationary, and the valve spun off like a top.

Mentioned this phenomenon to a buddy. He said that Magic Crescent Wrenches are readily available in the same place as the next-door-neighbor women in those other on-line videos that don't reflect reality either.
 
I feel your pain. Have found youtube videos in the past that are intended to show you how to do something tricky, and they stop the camera while doing something critical. When the camera restarts, the tough part is done. smdh
 
My trigger point on these types of videos is when you see the rig that is being worked on is sitting in the driveway on concrete blocks. Time to move on...

OTJ
 
[i:654c4848f0]He said that Magic Crescent Wrenches are readily available in the same place as the next-door-neighbor women in those other on-line videos that don't reflect reality either.[/i:654c4848f0]

And for about the same price...
 
just saw one on my tractor about splitting it was 60 sec. long, good luck putting a clutch in in 60sec.
 
Being an automotive professional, the YouTube videos that burn me are the ones that show messing with things you shouldn't without so much as a "hey, this can kill you". Any one about modern diesel injection, or hybrids. Modern diesels run enough fuel pressure to kill you instantly. The hybrid repair one's burn me the most. People are raised in the US to believe DC electricity is safe, and at low voltages, it is. But the 300-400 volts DC a hybrid operates at will kill you just as fast as 220 AC. These guys go around sticking their fingers in contactors and mess with the battery with no warnings to the viewer, or wearing isolation gloves. One even showed him welding a guide he broke on a Tesla battery connector. They are going to get somebody electrocuted.
 
The problem with videos is there is a lot of people making them that don't know what they are doing, only think they do. You have to watch many of them and only note the aspects which are in common with each other in order to weed out the folks that don't know what they are doing.
 
Good story Teakettle!

I know what you are talking about - my son the mechanic can reach up into places that I can't see and pull out an object that I didn't even know was in there - in a matter of seconds. It ticks me off. At least he could struggle a little bit to make the old man feel better.
 
(quoted from post at 02:35:58 11/05/18) There are a lot of bad ones, and a few good ones, just sort through them, they're free, right?

Anyone who is the least bit "mechanically adept" will rather quickly figure out which guy really knows what he is doing.
When I was installing laminating flooring for the first time, I found a guy who showed a very simple way to mark for cutting along doorways that saved me a bundle of time.
 
No different than the tv shows where another guy has pre-loosened all the bolts for a particular repair.
I would think by now you would know going in that the how-to videos are going to be that way..nobody is going to watch some guy fart around for 3 hours trying to get something done...
 
Good posting, Teakettle; The YouTube videos I totally fail to understand are the ones which show how to do something which just plain doesn't work. Crooked people sell products all the time that don't do what they're promised to do, but the point there is not hard to understand. They're robbing you, but getting your money is a reason that's at least easy to understand. What is the motive for showing what amounts to a fraud when there is nothing in it for them?

Stan
 
There's an important distinction here. Imagine you have an access cover held on by twenty ordinary bolts -- it's perfectly reasonable for the video not to show the entire time spent removing all of them. But imagine instead that you absolutely have to
use the candle-wax trick (or some other unexpected technique) because they always stick. Show that to me, not some guy spinning the bolts out with his thumb and index finger while drinking a beer.
 

Enjoyed the original post, good reading. Used to fool around with steam pipes quite a bit in my old place. Great heating system and I loved the sound effects.

A recent video showed how to "easily" replace trailing arm bushings on my Honda CR-V. It was going ok until the guy started beating on the old bushing. Said it would require about an hour of that, in the most awkward and miserable position imaginable.

I bought the specialty tool. Yes, the tool is only good for this job--on this car, but the local shop wanted a price that far exceeded the value of the car to replace both bushings so I am ok with the outcome. Very easy fix with the correct tool.
 
I don't go to YouTube to learn how to do something unless it involves a washer or dryer.

Dean
 
I have never made a video but I have encountered people that have had problems like you described.

What works for one does not work for all.

I am left handed and double jointed and can get my fingers into places to do things that right handed folk declare physically impossible.
 

We sell tractor parts! We have the parts you need to repair your tractor - the right parts. Our low prices and years of research make us your best choice when you need parts. Shop Online Today.

Back
Top