Bill Hunt Loading

Getting your hands dirty

Not bearing up under the load; my busted up baby Stihl KM94 before being fitted with new bearings and seals.

When I was a kid I would do almost anything to get my hands dirty. I could sit for hours and watch anyone who was working on or with a machine-particularly engines.
The other day I had to replace the main bearings (see photo) in a machine of mine. Not having a shed or the like I performed the operation on the tray-back of the ute, parked out the front on the road.
As I finished the operation I realised that during the time I’d been working at least two-dozen school(mainly)boys had walked past, but not one had shown the least bit of interest in what was going on. It may be that I’m not a terribly entertaining mechanic, but I have a feeling that young people just aren’t interested in this sort of stuff anymore.

Bill Hunt
billhunt@unrepresentative.net