The hardest DIY task IN THE WORLD!

[jiggerypokery]

Bring me your tales of derring DIY do............

Half an hour to get it off.

Half an hour to figure out how to get it on.

An hour to actually get it on.

Another twenty mins to work out how to cinch in the retaining clip.

Torn cuticles, skinned fingers and a thick ear from my wife for swearing rather crudely in front of our son.

I give you.......the Ariston WF000 1000 Washing Machine Door Seal

So simple yet so bloody wrong at the same time and 30 seconds after fitting it I remembered that the bloody washing machine os covered by a repair policy!!!!!!!!!

I did have a little satisfaction tho when I had got the thing on.

 

[swee'pea99]

Ariston and on and on and on and off.

Incidentally, for future reference, it helps if you can warm seals up a bit first. In a pillow case in the tumble drier for a few mins, eg. Still a bugger of a job, mind.

 

[Piemaster]

We have THE SHELF. This was bought for DD room when we first moved into the hose some 12 years ago.
It is still in the shrink-wrap and now lives in the loft

 

[gbb]

Rear brake cylinders on an Lancia Beta, circa 1980

Leaking cylinder...well, i'll have a go. Brought a new cylinder and a Haynes manual.
They had a wierd self adjusting mechanism where the adjuster screwed itself inside the piston. You had to back it off or summit to get the new shoes on..
I sat at the car for a whole day, reading the manual, trying to work it out. Over and over again...
Got the old assembly off, couldnt retract the adjuster, couldnt get the bleed nipple off for corrosion, couldnt get to the shops for a new one...cos my car's in bits ...
I just threw my hands in the air, put the old cylinder back on...and sold the car to a mate as an imminent MOT failure (although it was driveable)

Talking to an engineer years later....'yeah, they were right b'stards '

I cant remember another time where a cars beaten me....

 

[gbb]

Changing radiators on minis. I cursed the evil mind of Alex Issigonis for all eternity.

Removing the carburetter from a mini...equally as difficult.
You needed tiny hands, double jointed wrists to get in, and you could only turn the nut 1/8 of a turn at a time, then get your hands out...turn the spanner, then get your hands back in for the next 1/8 turn !...ond so on, over and over.

**&%ing @**&

 

[mr_hippo]

Only tried it once many years ago - papering a ceiling.

 

[tyred]

Fitting an exhaust on a Mk1 Golf diesel. Silly spring clips to hold the down pipe flange on to the manifold and they are in an awkward to reach place.

 

[HelenD123]

Only tried it once many years ago - papering a ceiling.

Scraping the paper off a ceiling...

 

[peanut]

lifting an overdrive gearbox into place from under the car on a MGB on my own probably. it rained heavily and the water run down the gutter into the neck and out at the bottom of the legs of my overalls

or maybe the time I lifted a full 1500 Spitfire block out of the engine bay using a rope strung round my neck and shoulders ouch

 

[speccy1]

I look back on two incidents with great pleasure

When I first bought my house I was a bit concerned as to why the main bedroom ceiling had been papered when the rest of the house was artexed, when I started tripping it I could see why - there were mirrors underneath held up by NO NAILS!! Weeks and weeks of scraping followed....joy!!

The other was when I changed the head gasket on my mate`s astra, as I had done my own a few years ago with relative success I offered to do this one. Took a day to do the job (not too bad) and then another 8 evenings to get it started. Found the problem eventually - two bloody timing marks 180 degrees apart, I had used the wrong one....ahem

 

[jiggerypokery]

Tut!

Stop with all the mechanical mayhem, this is the DIY Derring DO thread lol

Besides, I don't even own a car so I can't compete!

 

[speccy1]

Oh sorry

 

[Davidc]

Getting wood chip paper off a wall.

 

[jay clock]

fuel pump on a 1974 Citroen Dyane - 12 hrs for a £15 part. I had to borrow a homemade tool from a Citroen garage. The dealer said he allowed 6 hrs

 

[TheDoctor]

I have just finished assembling a computer desk.
Do NOT buy Argos item 621-1721.
It ends up just slightly wonky, and it's very difficult to get the top on. Grrrr!