Tough Stuff: Auto Mechanic

Alabama Mobile Mechanics face different car challenges everyday. Our “Tough Stuff” series continues with a look at the average brake job at Southern Automotive in Mobile.

by Chad Petri

Published: Wed, May 21, 2008 - 6:00 am CST Last Updated: Thu, July 31, 2008 - 1:06 am CST

Getting a truck off the ground is a piece of cake. Replacing its brakes is a little complicated though. They’re the most important part of the car.

“Making them go is one thing but if it doesn't stop you're in a world of trouble,” says owner Mark Hendry.

Mark and his crew have been repairing cars for the last 25 years. He's letting me try my hand at replacing the brakes on this Lightning Ford Crew Cab. There’s plenty of good advice along the way.

"You don't ever want to get under a car without a jack stand; if it falls it could ruin your day,” says Hendry.

A powerful air gun helps remove bolts in short order. It's so strong it's hard to get control of.

“It's a lot of torque when you go back on with it we're going to have to watch it kind of close because you can ring one of those wheel studs off,” says Hendry.

Next, the rotor heads to the lathe. It shaves away tiny bits of the rotor.

“We don't want to take off too much metal off them because it wouldn't be within its specs,” says Hendry.

After trimming the rotor, we begin washing greasy bearing parts. Bearing parts need a fresh coat of grease, the trick is to make sure the goo is packed into the moving parts. Finally, we put it all back together.

“I love the satisfaction of fixing things me personally and it's helping people because it's something that very few people have a working knowledge of how things work and why they fail,” says Hendry.

Watch the other stories in Chad's Tough Stuff series:

Tough Stuff: ZooKeeper

Tough Stuff: Tiny Diny

Tough Stuff: Firefighter

Do you have a job that you think is Tough Stuff? Email us at mornings@wkrg.com. Chad may try his hand at your job in a future Tough Stuff series!

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