What Do You Guys Use For A Helper When You Need Another Hand - Or Maybe Two Hands?

[jrichker]

My wife is great in the kitchen but getting her to come out to the garage to help is a major operation. It doesn't matter if it is something I am doing for her or if it is something on the Mustang. Stalls, sighs and signs of disapproval are the usual accompaniment for requests for help. Then when she does come out she manages to push when she should be pulling, or hanging on the wrong end of whatever it is that I am trying to do. She has zero mechanical talent and can't understand anything mechanical beyond how to unscrew a jar lid. My son is grown up and lives 2 1/2 hours away, so I can't call on him. There is a widow on one side of my house and a guy on the other side who has bad knees and lives in his PJ's. I can't remember ever seeing him outside of this house doing anything except cooking on the grill in his garage.

What are you guys doing when you need a helper?

 

[stpete]

My wife and kids are all similar to your wife. I have a buddy that's willing to help occasionally, but he prefers I go to his palatial garage and use his lift or he whines the whole time about laying on the floor and that there's no heat/AC. I have vac and pressure bleeders to do brakes and some spare jacks and jack stands so I can lift or hold things in place without help.

 

[General karthief]

I guess I'm pretty lucky, the kid next door, I've known him since he was 4 or 5 and he is like almost 20 now, has always been a good neighbor and willing to lend a hand otherwise I drag my crap down to my friends shop and someone there will help me fix whatever I've screwed up.
If you were near me I'd help you out , jsut call and have the coffee ready when I get there.

 

[RangerJoe]

I have become pretty good at doing it by myself, lol. My wife is the same way, hates to be asked to help. My son is only 19 months, and my daughter going on 6 years old. Just the other day I was building shelves in the garage. I had to build temporary rigs to hold lumber in place until I could screw it all together, then take it back apart. Several years ago I was roofing a small porch. I would put screws in the plywood, tie rope to the screws, crawl up the ladder, pull up the plywood, undo the rope and screws and repeat.

I can't wait for my son the get older, lol. A pic of my shelving minus the plywood.

Joe

 

[Boosted92LX]

I did things all by myself for years when I was a newlywed and my son was a baby. For the last few years I've had his help on most everything.. but now he's got a car and a girlfriend I'm back to doing things by myself again..

 

[Davedacarpainter]

Heyyyyyy....... @RangerJoe lives in Georgia too.......just sayin'.......

 

[CarMichael Angelo]

I've had to do everything by myself. I hung the trunk/hood/doors by myself (judicious use of rags and a prop rod and/or a floor jack.)
Everywhere I needed something held, it was done w/ a mechanical assist, or a clamp. Only the the final bleeding of the brakes needed the additional helper....You just gotta figure a way......

And at the very top of the irony ladder,...a perfect example to make my point..

I Even used the book "Working alone" as a shim while working alone.
The entire book is full of ways to make a helper out of scrap lumber.

 

[CarMichael Angelo]

And when you just gotta have a real set of hands.....6 words is all it takes.....Works every time.

1. Don't
2. Make
3. Me
4. Slap
5. You
6. Btch

 

[General karthief]

Does anybody else see a pattern here.


Do you realize the ammo we are providing noobz?

 

[MustangIIMatt]

Things I've used as a substitute helper over the years at home and work when turning wrenches:

1. Pry bars.
2. Vise Grips
3. Hose Pinching Pliers
4. Swiss Army Knife (not the knife blades, usually the bottle opener/flat blade screwdriver)
5. Floor Jack
6. Transmission Jack (fantastic for gas tanks and suspension work)
7. Block of Wood
8. Alligator Clips
9. Super Glue (Fantastic for holding a bolt in a socket just long enough to get the threads started in a tight spot, because that's about how long superglue is going to bond two pieces of metal, the second you put torque to it, the bond breaks.)
10. Rope
11. Ratchet Straps
12. T-pins (for electrical diag work)
13. Engine Hoist
14. Masking Tape (gets used a lot to hold things temporarily to free up hands at my current job since they give us all the rolls we want for free).
15. Magnets
16. Tire Lift (great for holding a door in a pinch)
17. The Ground (Frequently when working on a car in my driveway. I'll put the wrench/ratchet/breaker bar against the ground on one end and over the bolt on the other and use both hands on the other tool to break it loose).
18. Shop towels
19. My beer gut (the one and only advantage to being fat is being able to use my gut to hold things in place and to help lift tires/suspension stuff, I swear there's six-pack abs under all that flab!)
20. Bungee Cords

 

[Boosted92LX]

@madmike1157 I bleed brakes by myself with vacuum hose and a mason jar full of brake fluid.. works very well.

 

[Mustang5L5]

I've never used a helper. Everything I've done pretty much on my own.

I did my AOD to T5 swap myself. That's about the 1 time I injured myself from dropping the T5 on my finger. Got 5 stitches there. But even with the stitches, I managed to get the t5 in the very next day.

Rear axle went out and back in by myself as well. Just used a few jackstands and jacks and took my time.

 

[CarMichael Angelo]

@madmike1157 I bleed brakes by myself with vacuum hose and a mason jar full of brake fluid.. works very well.

Yeah,..I have that kit too,....but #2 was in his room next door doin nothin',......so I used him instead

 

[dr hook]

In for suggestions, since im always short handed

 

[Davedacarpainter]

In for suggestions, since im always short handed

I was waiting for you to chime in. If anybody here has made a way to do things, it would be you my friend.

 

[hoopty5.0]

I'm usually alone and too hardheaded to ask for help. Last time I tried to bench press my 3550 up into the car, I really screwed up my back and walked like the hunchback for a week.

Then I get the, "well i would hav ecome and helped you" response from friends, etc. "Oh yeah, when?"

 

[squeak93]

I use my wife--- but only when absolutely needed. Usually my brother is real good about coming up on weekends to assist (as he wants me to help on his projects too). I have a few buddies that are good about coming over, even if it's just to help load/unload one item the wifey can't do.

My wife helped bleed brakes, mount hoods, bumper (if fact I never can get my damn bumper tabs to release from the headlight panel and she can every time). She's a good helper monkey but I know better than to ask too much.

My oldest daughter is almost 8 and wants to help. So I let her tinker with hand tools on items that she can't hurt. She loves to hammer nails lol. I don't allow her or my wife for that matter in the garage when we have things hanging off of the cherry picker or the more dangerous stuff. (ok my wife may sit on the steps making sure I don't die or at least there to call 911 if my safety precautions fail.

 

[Chuckman]

i usually find a way to do stuff on my own. no wife/gf, no kids. used to have a couple people i could call that rarely had anything going, but they either moved or became total assholes. my new neighbor though has already volunteered to help with some of the interior stuff (he owns his own little upholstery business doing work for the local dealerships).

what i really need is a friend that can weld and help cleanup the mess ive made in my engine bay

 

[GroverDill]

I picked up a strong helper, pretty large but never a complaint to date.

 

[90sickfox]

I use ingenuity.... Its a real PITA not to have a helper. Its been rough for me because I'm used to having employees or friends that were always at my shop.

Now, its just the wife, my 10 yr old, and me. She rarely lends a hand, but I understand because she does a lot of other stuff. None of which envolve the possibility of getting dirty. Lol

I did the swap on my own with jack stands, blocks, and jacks. She did help me sit the engine in. She manned the hoist...and did a pretty damn good job.

She had a good opportunity to cash in on atleast 100k...guess she loves me.