suggestion for the forum, valve adjustment

Suggestion:

I volunteer to contribute money to having a respected expert (Oldtime, for instance) videotaped and "youtubed" adjusting valves and adjusting brakes for those who never grew up working on vehicles.

Some people have had brain injuries in far-away, violent places few Americans can find on a map. For brain-injured people, reading instructions written by people who have forgotten what they didn't know when they were first learning, helps little.

Some people, who are afraid of revealing their ignorance on a forum for people to poke fun at, won't ask questions to become the butt of unkind jokes from people who have no idea whom they're insulting for fun.

And, when people ask questions, telling them to go do a search is, well, "typically male," meaning arrogant, cold, cursory, and unhelpful. I believe there are a whole lot of silent forum readers who would appreciate "seeing" someone (on a video do what they have to pay careless and costly mechanics to do.

Not everyone who reads forum entries is a gearhead. In fact, I'd bet someone lunch that the majority of people who read forum entries are afraid to ask questions because of how many questions are answered: "go search."

There are more people who could benefit from such videos about working on 3Bs and maintaining them yourself than those like Oldtime who have been doing nearly everything on their Willys for many decades, but the majority is silent, as usual.

Evolution of the species depends on transferring knowledge in a way that people besides experts can benefit from the knowledge transfer. Now, even a cell phone can take a video of a valve adjustment or brake adjustment, with comments about not only about what "to do" and why and when, but, equally important, what "NOT to do" and why. Look at most manuals. They rarely tell you what not to do, and it's the what not to do and why that is, often, most instructive. What separates men from lower animals is that we are capable of "binding time" with pictures and words. That's how we got to the moon when apes couldn't. The best many forum members have to offer isn't being shared, from my point of view.

Someone who cares about sharing knowledge, who knows what they're doing, who is precise and not presumptuous, could really help a whole lot of readers by taking 15 minutes to shoot the video and 30 minutes writing an explanation to go with the video, and get paid to do it. Such a person would be a hero to a bunch of mechanical dolts out there like me, who are not helped, at all, by most manuals, most of which are written by people who, as mentioned, have forgotten what they didn't know when they started doing auto mechanics. One of the smartest men I ever knew had nearly no formal education, and his favorite phrase was "I'm from Missouri. Show me." He thought if you show someone how to do something, you're really helped them. Telling and showing are two different things, and most people learn by being shown, not by being told. Technology now allows experts on this forum to "show" people like me who are not experts.

Topics like brake adjustment could be shot on a video, helping a whole lot of silent readers. Just look at the ratio of the the number of forum members who ask and answer questions and the number of those who only read the posting. The ratio difference suggests (to me) that there are a whole lot of people who don't want to ask a question and get the common answer: "Go use the search engine."

Some of us, like me, have learning disabilities, or experience deficiencies, or both, which make the vague and cocky answers to serious questions useless.

So, I volunteer to put some money where my big mouth is and set up a fund to pay someone like Oldtime to shoot some videos about doing some vital, maintaining work on old jeeps for people like me who didn't grow up working on cars and who don't feel that most manuals give them what they need to competently do the work themselves.

I challenge anyone else who reads this, who doesn't think they know everything there is to know about auto mechanics, who may benefit from what I've suggested here, to chip in to my $50 offer for someone like Oldtime to do a video on valve adjustment and brake adjustment, for starters.

Not everyone learns from vague, verbal instructions. Many people will learn more by watching and seeing and "hearing" someone do it while explaining what they're doing and showing and explaining what NOT to do and why ... or so I believe.

greg gianas

I'd like to see Oldtime in film,, but until that happens, You Tube has a few clips that are informative for us beginners. I'm sure there are many more.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywPAjyMQ-C4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQ9ccGXtZL0&feature=related

Greg,
Thank's for your confidence in my Willys mechanical ability.
I hope this forum can help you with your endevor.

I would be happy to demonstrate my understanding of CJ's on video but I have zero capability to do so.
As most all members have observed, I almost never post pics nor have I ever uploaded any videos.
This is mainly because I do not even have my own computer.
I make use of public internet access. (I'm at the library)
Until now this fact has been known to only a very limited few.
If circumstances change I will make use of available means.

I have not searched but believe that WALCKS may already have some Willys mechanical instructions uploaded on "You Tube".

Usually whenever someone mentions the SEARCH function, that implies the topic has been previously addressed.

One problem with video taping is that the Jeep topic itself potentially becomes exhaustive.

In the meantime please post your questions and I will see to it that they are adaquately answered.
That's the beauty of the open forum we (the forum members) can reply specific to the input requested.

Greg, Have you searched Youtube? Any possible topic that you can think of has at least 5 videos on how to do it. There are also at least a dozen other video sharing sites out there. The information has never been more available to anyone willing to spend any time at all searching. Anyone can learn to work on old iron if they are willing to do it.

Also Ken too many members still have dial up access and this would deny them access to the videos, if you do use video it would not be available to all.
I have been a member for over 12 years and all my knowledge has come from the search pages on the 3B pages.

Lawrence

Wow! I say three cheers for a guy who volunteered and has done an AWESOME job as a forum administrator FROM THE LIBRARY! Thanks Ken!

Greg, good suggestion, but like oldtime says, the topics could be exhaustive. I understand your plight however. It is very easy for the experienced individual to forget they are speaking a language and/or making assumptions very specific to their own awareness. And this isn't just mechanic related stuff, it is the same with any topic.

I don't mean to come off as redirecting you, but I would suggest perhaps an adult education basic automotive mechanics class at a local college. I don't know if you have one near by or what they might offer, but it might help provide you with the basics of things that would give you the foundation you seem to crave.

I for one received little tips and suggestions form my High School Mechanics teacher that have applied to so many variations of mechanical work over my past 30+ years since.

Hope this helps.

Absolutely, to say I’m impressed is a serious understatement.

Kudos to the man!

Hi Greg,
I understand your plight and can sympathize. I'm probably the second generation in my family to walk erect. Sometime it takes a bit more than text to permeate the cement between my ears. What has worked for me in the past? Get the shop manual and a parts manual. Go to Sears buy a $200.00 "lunch pail" of tools. Find someone local, or distant, AKA "a friendly" who is into the jeep hobby. Set some vacation time aside ,maybe make a road trip with the 3B on a trailer. Get ready to learn. Or, if money isn't an issue send the 3B out for repair. I get what Ken has to say. Sometimes I wish I used a public computer, it would be much cheaper. I don't know many in the hobby who have an A/V studio to produce a decent DVD on F-134 repair specific modules. Plus the detail involved to explain certain areas could go on too infinity. I've thought about doing a pictorial on "How to degree the F -134 Cam Shaft" and "How to correctly adjust valves". Sometimes pictures work with a narrative. None of these procedures are difficult. Finding the time seems to be the issue. These has been placed on my 'round-too-it list'. First hings first, I've got to get my own rig back on the road.



Dennis

Just a note...
Derek will be uploading some of the detailed technical data onto the CJ-3B Page from the B.B.
One main deturrent has been my lack of pictoral reference to back up the text.
When I find time to send Derek the archivable text I hope I can count upon members to donate appropriate pics.
I'll let you know what pics I need and we'll see how it goes.

Thanks !

Ken,
You can count on me for pics.

Lawrence

{Just a simple side note. } How does one do it with such an almost immediate response from a public library computer? Please, do tell. If one has a degree in "Library Science", then pardonne moi. Old Great One.

No formal education. But I did finish high school in 1974.

I lasted lived on a extremely remote farm deep in the virgin regions of the Ozarks.
To tell you the honest truth it was the most remote farm in all of Misssouri.
I lived in a barn / house. Half horse barn / half house.
15 miles to reach pavement, no phone no electric.
Indoor running water was provided by the million gallon per day spring and a homemade ram pump.
Lots of paw paws, lambsquarter, blackberries, quinsets, hazel nuts etc etc.
Raccoon, whitetail, Puma, black bear etc. etc.

Eventually my situation changed.
I went back to the city and my original homestead to look after my aging family.
I got to thinking the world will pass me by if I don't learn to use a computer.
I'm only about 3/4 mile from the local library that used to be a cow pasture.
Fancy library with lots of public computers.
A true survivalists always learns to adapt to whatever becomes available.
Enough about me...... we are all survivalists from somewhere.

When I get the time maybe this winter I'll tell you about my jeep travels into Death Valley CA.
Might even mention some mind alterring true tales around the infamous Barker Ranch.

Back in the early days of this Bulletin Board, there was no archive of old posts, so I would take the most useful threads and edit them, add pictures where possible, and post them on the website. This formed the nucleus of the Tech Tips section, and it made the advice available in a form that is more accessible and visual than being hidden away in the searchable archive.

In recent years I have not had time to do that, so most of the incredible contributions made by Ken and others are hidden away, but they do still exist. I have been hoping that some of the articles which don't require a lot of editing can still be posted on the website for posterity, and I am thrilled that Ken is willing to take on the challenge of looking for illustrations to enhance them.

I realize that this is not the same as demonstrations on video, but I do agree that pictures often do what words can't do. And I think it will be helpful to have the articles listed in the Tech Tips index, so beautifully organized by Ken, at http://www.film.queensu.ca/CJ3B/Tech.html

Derek

I've taken all the suggestions, even acted on them all.

Thanks,

greg

What's more important is a computer for Oldtime.

Hope someone besides Bob cares to insure that the much-needed moderator has less driving time to help those of us in need, meaning a computer within arm's reach at home.

It's sort of like taking care of the medic in an infantry company by ensuring that oldtime has a computer: enlightened self-interest, not to mention showing some appreciation for what he does.

bob, so will you be the bank for contributions for oldtime's personal computer?

I know squat about investments like stocks, but an investment in a jeep-forum moderator like oldtime is the best investment I could imagine or find at this point in time.