I'm the same way. As a machinist I've always been aware of how things might try to kill me, but in recent years I take my safety a lot more seriously. I won't get under a car unless its not only on jack stands but also a jack lightly resting at the jack point, and a wheel under the vehicle. I figure the chances of all 3 failing at once is pretty unlikely.
guys over 50 doing maintenance
- Thread starter MaximaGuy
- Start date
My friend had an old torque wrench that he got from his grandfather. It has a 10 inch long socket extension welded to the end of the handle. It seems his grandad didn't quite have the muscle power to torque head bolts any longer but he wasn't going to let that stop him.
You don't slow down when you get old
You get old when you slow down
71 in a couple of months and trying to keep to this mindset.
I used to think that way when I was 71. At 76+, I am really feeling it. Rotated tires and serviced caliper pins this week…really struggled getting wheels back on. Still feeling it 3 days later.
I'll be 59. Recovering now from 2nd back surgery. I attribute that to 36 yrs Construction, and almost 50 yrs wrenching. Surprised at only 2 back surgeries. Spine is loaded top to bottom with arthritis. I was 5'10". Now I'm 5'6". Degenerating discs. Can only do 1/3 of what I used to do, and takes 4X longer. Forget engine/tranny swaps. Lucky to do brakes / tune ups / belts/ alts. Small stuff. Gotta put headlight assemblies in my Honda. Bumper gotta come off / grille/ etc. Been kickin that can down the road. Found something that helps. Mineral spirits and a razor blade. Scrape that haze off, then go over it with a ceramic coating. Works for awhile. Sux to get old. ALL MY TOOLS !!!!! What to do with them ????? Quik struts put me out of commission for 2 days....So sad 
To think what I used to do when I was 18 just kills me.
To think what I used to do when I was 18 just kills me. Gotta look after your health- you lose that, you're left with nothing. I've been very fortunate.
Aging is no fun. I worked too hard replacing a clutch and a timing belt, and now I think I have early onset carpal tunnel.
Turning bolts burns my wrists, and they continue to tingle and ache a week after I stopped wrenching.
What’s so helpless is my mind and will is completely determined to wrench, but my body says otherwise.
Turning bolts burns my wrists, and they continue to tingle and ache a week after I stopped wrenching.
What’s so helpless is my mind and will is completely determined to wrench, but my body says otherwise.
I still turn my wrenches.
My hands are what hurt these days. I think it's Arthritis in the first knuckle on both thumbs. Anything that requires a lot of grip strength has my hands hurting for days. I've learned to work smarter not harder because of it.
I'm 55 and try to do as much maintenance as possible on my cars. I do a fair amount of work (at work) keeping riding mowers, tractors, Bobcats running plus all the other work that our plant requires. I will admit that I'm getting lazier and would rather pay the local shop to replace things like shocks and struts. If I can only convince my wife to buy a 2 post lift for our garage....
56 and love doing it. Not in summer though. I try to avoid that. Fall/winter in South arolina is nice to do car maintenance/work.
I turned 50 this spring. I still do everything on my cars including transmission out jobs like clutch replacements. I even tackled some body work which included cutting, grinding and welding on my back under the car. It's definitely getting harder but I still enjoy the challenge and the sense of accomplishment. When that evaporates, I will stop.
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Almost 45 here and I am down to just doing basic maintenance because its more convenient( like oil changes for me and it saves us some money, but its hot here during most of the year so that me not willing to want to do a lot of things, I still like wrenching on things but I am just pickier now.
Just about 59. Recovering from 2nd back surgery. 1- year recovery per surgery. Saddens me to see what I've become. Went from 5'10" to 5'6". Back discs are disintegrating and I'm getting shorter. All of them loaded with arthritis between wrenching in freezing temps and working Construction. FINALLY, retired from construction, so that will help, but damage is done. Reduced to minor maintenance . Do still take on bigger jobs ( brakes-exhausts-water pumps-alternators-etc ), but takes me days to complete now. Sit on my stool and pan around garage, tool boxes, shelves full of fluids and filters, and start tearing up. What am I going to do with all this stuff now ???? Where do I begin. Have some tools since 1977. The brain says WRENCH !!!!!!! Body says " NO MORE, SORRY !!!! "
When I was 20, I drove to California and briefly lived in my 1971 VW Bus until I found housing. I remember waking up and adjusting the valves on a turnout in the road.
Today, I have a garage with a solid concrete floor, a creeper, and every kind of tool I can imagine, plus a bunch of power tools. So car repair is way easier than it used to be. Good things too, cause maintenance on my BMW is many times more technical than an old Volkswagen. I go at it pretty slowly and sometimes my 60+ year-old body is sore afterwards, but I love doing it.
Today, I have a garage with a solid concrete floor, a creeper, and every kind of tool I can imagine, plus a bunch of power tools. So car repair is way easier than it used to be. Good things too, cause maintenance on my BMW is many times more technical than an old Volkswagen. I go at it pretty slowly and sometimes my 60+ year-old body is sore afterwards, but I love doing it.
I know this is the wrong thread/post to be explaining this. I joined BITOG on 3/24/25. Yes, I'm a newbie/noob, whatever you want to call me. I felt a need to be somewhere where I kinda " fit in" ???. Why, after all these years, I can't answer. Was it retirement from my 36 yr incarceration at the NY Utility Company Con-Ed ??? All my friends have left hands. Lucky to change a battery on their own. I was fixing their bicycle's before we all started driving., then fixing their cars... I was always the odd ball grease monkey. I just finished 1.50 miles on a treadmill as part of my recovery exercises. The treadmill is located in my daughter's " playroom" on the ground floor of the house. Nice size room ! I almost immediately commandeered it to store oil, filters, ATF, new tires, spare car parts in those storage bins, carb cleaner, brake fluid, spray paint, undercoating, you name it. I have jugs of oil ALL OVER the place. She was booted out by age 6. She's 13 now. Am I "normal". Do I have an underlying psychological problem ???? Please help me....Am I a BITOGER ????? Stuff has date marks on them in boxes ....Does a " rational" person do these things ?????? Please..any answer will help. Thank you..
Nah… you’ve just got weird friends. You’re the normal one.
I think you don't begin to feel your age doing wrenching until 65+.
