I miss the good ole days

[BlackSTX]

Did my front brakes today, and I would have replaced the rotors too, as I had hit metal w/ the pads, but since I don't have the correct socket or torque wrench that I can torque the spindle nut with, I had to pass on that for now. Replacing only the pads will have to do.
It just made me think of the old days when a simple set of tools would have been enough to do almost anything you ever had to do.... My how I miss those days. No ABS, no mass of sensors, harnesses, and dash lights to be concerned with. Sure, there is some benefit to the complexity that has been created, but there certainly has been a lot of additional training, tools, and time required to repair anything.
I miss using a timing light, adjusting the mixture screws on a carb, repacking wheel bearings, and simple HEI distributors.
Surely, the safety items have been a blessing for many people, but OBD systems I could really do well without.

Do you think that all of this new fangled complexity has really been worth it, or could we have bypassed much of this stuff and have been as well off?

[Jackpine]

Yep! I mainly see the "improvements" as more things that can break. It DOES get harder and harder to fix things, doesn't it?

- Jack

[Sburn]

Originally Posted by BlackSTX

Did my front brakes today, and I would have replaced the rotors too, as I had hit metal w/ the pads, but since I don't have the correct socket or torque wrench that I can torque the spindle nut with, I had to pass on that for now. Replacing only the pads will have to do.

Yeah, you have a 2WD like I do. I'm pushing 30K miles and it's also time for me to start thinking about doing the brakes and dealing with the big ol' nut problem.

I always hate to second guess about why somebody who designs that kind of thing for a living would use such a design. In the absense of any other information, I'll refrain from calling it a "brain dead". However, I will say that it's very, very unclear to me what the advantage of that design REALLY is.

It just made me think of the old days when a simple set of tools would have been enough to do almost anything you ever had to do.... My how I miss those days. No ABS, no mass of sensors, harnesses, and dash lights to be concerned with. Sure, there is some benefit to the complexity that has been created, but there certainly has been a lot of additional training, tools, and time required to repair anything.
I miss using a timing light, adjusting the mixture screws on a carb, repacking wheel bearings, and simple HEI distributors.
Surely, the safety items have been a blessing for many people, but OBD systems I could really do well without.

Do you think that all of this new fangled complexity has really been worth it, or could we have bypassed much of this stuff and have been as well off?

Hands down, ABS is a good thing. I've driven all sorts of vehicles in 30+ years of driving, and a full-on panic stop from 60 MPH in a non-ABS pickup, with no weight in the bed, is dicey, at best.

We diverge on the rest of your thoughts about carb screws, HEI distributors, sensors and such. I'm happy to never, ever see any of the above ever again.

I'll let the PCM adjust the idle speed, mixture, and timing any day. It's much faster and far more accurate than I could ever be.

I'm real happy to have coil-on-plug ignition that goes 100K miles, and not having to ever deal with melted, fried, or loose plug wires. And and I'm getting old enough to not really enjoy crawling over to the back of the engine block to adjust an HEI distributor.

Stuff doesn't seem to wear out or break down as much as say, 20 years ago. In, say 1980, a vehicle with 100K miles was pretty well used up. Shot. Now, a vehicle with 60 or 100K miles might still be under warranty, and with normal maintenance, could easily go another 100K.

[BlackSTX]

Oh, no ABS. Yes there's been times I may have liked it, but in general I can't stand it. Every time the roads have been the slightest bit slippery, the darn ABS kicks in and when you expect to have stopped, you just keep on rolling along. I hate it! Sure certain vehicles benefit from it under some conditions, but I find it more assuring to actually have control of my vehicle, and I can general stop in shorter distances under most circumstances without it.
Besides, in the rust belt it's just one more thing to become a future repair due to road salt corroding the wiring/connectors.