Shoutout to the old guy who taught me to listen for a worn bearing with a screwdriver

Three years ago on a Cessna 172 in Wichita, he showed me how to press the handle to your ear. Last week I caught a bad alternator bearing on a Piper before it failed, just from that sound. Anyone still use that trick or is it all fancy vibration analysis now?

3 comments

3 Comments

willow_ellis1mo ago

My dad did that with a wooden broom handle on our old tractor.

robinc251mo ago

See, I always thought you needed the exact part for stuff like that. But hearing about the broom handle trick, it just makes sense. Sometimes the simple fix is the one that works forever. My uncle's old truck had a coat hanger holding up the muffler for like ten years. Guess they don't make things to last like that anymore.

taylor8216d ago

Wait, a wooden broom handle held up a whole tractor?