Does Google make me dumb...

[TrollFromDownBelow]

I bought an early 70's Ariens snow blower about 8 years ago. Found it at a garage sale, it was electric start, so asked the homeowner for a extension cord so I could fire it up (no battery, A/C motor)...the owner was very reluctant to do so, so assumed it didn't run. It had a pull cord, so pulled on it a few times; engine isn't seized. They were asking $60, I offered $40 ... they were whining about spending $100 to put a new starter in it... I was like, hey, I don't even know if it runs - I'm offering $40. They agreed, so loaded it up in the back of my pickup.

Carb was gummed up ... cleaned it out and "The Beast" has served me very well over the past 8 years. 24"auger with 6hp motor. It cleared out the driveway on my old McMansion, and it has cleared out the driveways of three houses here in the 'shores' ...mine, and the neighbors on either side of me.

Doing my annual PM this fall, decided to take a look at the friction plate/clutch .....yeah, it was toast. Ordered a new one. Spent a good chunk of today replacing it. What frustrated me, was I couldn't find the service manual on line, nor instructions on how to fix it. Winged it for several hours, took a break, then did a bit more googling, when one of the posts gave me the idea of popping off the chain, which ultimately provided the path to replace the plate.

So this begs the question...if it wasn't there era of the internet, would I have been able to figure it out? Does the internet with the wealth and easy accessibility to info make us think we are better mechanics than what we are?

What really frustrates me is that this is a fairly simple machine, robust in construction (similar to our VW's). With as much time I've spent wrenching on cars and trucks, and whatever, i should have been able to figure it out...but I couldn't. What would have I done if this was the late 80's or early 90's? That bugs me...

[Amskeptic]

A) So this begs the question...if it wasn't (this-ed) era of the internet, would I have been able to figure it out? Does the internet with the wealth and easy accessibility to info make us think we are better mechanics than what we are?

B) i should have been able to figure it out...but I couldn't. What would have I done if this was the late 80's or early 90's?

a) The internet doesn't make us think anything. It may help some people more readily dive into projects, it may lead some naive people into diasters, it is merely sheet music that we individuals have to interpret and play. The internet is actually a pretty thin source of information to the master mechanic, but it is a rich garden of possibilities to the newbie. We individuals have to develop a good sense of discretion to discriminate the crap from the good stuff. The internet has provided me instructions, yes, but I still have to do the work. I am only as good of a mechanic as my work.

b) You would have figured it out. The broad resources of the internet may have made you *lazier* in the realm of of "figuring it out". Looking for an easy answer, looking for some explication, some step-by-step, but once you found out that you were on your own, you might very well have zeroed in and focused and gleaned and executed. You would have figured it out.
Colin

[Jivermo]

One could argue that the internet, in a very large way, helps to preserve our air cooled vehicles. Imagine Colin without this website, Bus Depot and our suppliers without their broad coverage and easy accessibility, and the wealth of knowledge at our disposal on the 'net. When I first got my bus, finding the resource that Richard Atwell developed was a godsend. Then, through the Samba, I discovered Colin and this site. All of this has made me smarter about my bus, and lent me encouragment that I would be able to overcome any obstacle I might run into in my efforts to keep this thing on the road. I have worked on cars since about 1964, and what I have learned in the last 10 years exceeds all of the prior years knowledge that I gleaned from hard to find manuals, and conversations with "mechanics". The internet encourages me to "figure it out", and in a timely manner. At my age, I see no advantage spending countless hours trying to figure out how to solve a problem. Imagine trying to find a book that would have illustrated pages showing you how to refurbish a charcoal canister for your air cooled car. Would you dare cut the top off your NLA canister, if you did not know that you could safely do it without completely ruining the thing? The internet is fantastic, and it has extended the life of these vehicles that we love.

[TrollFromDownBelow]

I like the sheet music analogy!

BTW - I never did find step by step directions; read in a post about someone taking off the drive chain ... that sounded like a good idea. Once I did that, had all the clearance I needed to fix it. It bugs me that I didn't think of that myself. 5 hour project could have been done in about 1.

Hey Jivermo - I wasn't arguing that easy access to info was necessarily 'bad' .... it definitely makes us much more efficient, opened up all kinds of new commerce opportunities (eg Bus Depot) and ways to interact and communicate (eg Arab Spring). However, I was wondering (as have others) how it affects our critical thinking abilities. Those "countless hours trying to figure out how to solve a problem..." help build strong critical thinking and problem solving skill sets. If I had had better problem solving skills, I should have been able to look at the situation and determine how to resolve it.

It was really more of a personal rant about my own (lack of) mechanical problem solving abilities.

Although, on a side note, I learned how equipment like this has multiple 'gears'. Very simple, yet ingenious. There is one disk that rotates in unison with the engine. Then there is a second disk that engages at various points on the constantly rotating disk. 1st "gear" engages close to the center of the rotating disk, as it is near the center the effective diameter is fairly small, therefore moving the second disk only a small distance with one rotation. 4th 'gear' or high gear engages farther out at the edge of the rotating disk therefore the effective diameter is much larger, turning the second disk (and therefore the drive wheels) a much larger distance with one rotation.

CHeers,
Mike

[Amskeptic]

If I had had better problem solving skills, I should have been able to look at the situation and determine how to resolve it.
It was really more of a personal rant about my own (lack of) mechanical problem solving abilities.

Well, you should have seen me take five hours to install three drywall patches in the garage. Me and the mat knife weren't getting along, so I cranked up the dremel and sawed the damn drywall with a rooster tail of white dust, it was a mess.

Although, on a side note, I learned how equipment like this has multiple 'gears'. Very simple, yet ingenious.
Cheers,
Mike

Should have been there when the first person on Earth came up with the idea for gears.

"Thog! Thog! Me got "idea"!"
"What idea, Gak?"
"A series of rotating toothed wheels brought into engagement such that any power supply can offer variable torque or speeds?"
"You ate sick ox, Gak. "

[JLT]

As I see it, the internet is just another tool. We use tools to make our jobs easier. Poor tools do the job (usually), good tools do the job better. Results of the tool use depends on the skill the worker has with it, and on the worker's ability to discern which particular tool is best suited for the work.

When I was last immersed in the VW world, from roughly 1972 to 1992, we had the Muir book, the Bentley, and the people at VW dealerships who actually had experience with air-cooled engines. That last one has gone away, but instead we have a variety of information sources. Some are good, some suck, and some require a bit of cross-fertilization of data to get the Big Picture.

But the Internet has definitely made the search for information easier. Google doesn't make you lazier because it makes it easier to find information, but it does make you more efficient. And until such time as every person posts every experience with every fixable object, we'll still have to rely on our native smarts to suss out the problem.

[dingo]

Sailors sailed before GPS, Pilots actually flew the plane before automated FCS, and surely midwesterners figured out their snow-machinery glitches. Pre-internet i used to call long distance to Mofoco in Milwaukee and ask questions about engine assembly or whatever..they were always very helpful.