This is not a story about the Bronco. It is a story about our F-250 diesel, and a lesson on knowing when to power through and figure it out, and when to stop and just get the right tool for the job.

Background: we had to get the transmission rebuilt on our 1996 F-250 (no, I was not going to do that myself). The mechanic did an inspection while they had the truck, and found that one of the front ball joints was bad. Cue me tearing the front and apart to replace four ball joints, and “let’s do the wheel bearings while we’re in there.”

As some of you out there may know, part of the disassembly process is to remove the spindle from the steering knuckle. Which after years out in the weather is always easier in the manual than in real life. You see, in this axle (a Dana) there is a small lip on the spindle that presses into the knuckle. Not much, maybe an eighth of an inch, but enough that the following shenanigans ensued.

Normally, the intrepid mechanic whacks said spindle a few times with a rubber mallet and voila - spindle falls off.

Guess what didn’t happen, kids.

I hammered on it with a rubber mallet, then with a smaller hammer and a block of wood (always use a block of something when hammering so you don’t mar the surface), then progressively larger hammers until I got to the small sledge. No dice. Repeat this process, but now add heat - torch the knuckle to try to expand it so the spindle will pop out.

On and on for a week, maybe two. All the while getting more and more frustrated at both the stubborn hunk of steel in front of me and my own failure to to dislodge it. I’m smart and capable of something so simple, right? Right?

To wrap this story up, finally I gave in to the online recommendations and swung by Harbor Freight to pick up a slide hammer. I’m assuming you can surmise what happened next? You’d be correct - half a dozen whacks with that sucker and POP…spindle on the floor! Victory! Ha ha, I win, puny axle!

It wasn’t until a couple of weeks later that I realized the poignancy of that moment, and that there was a global lesson buried amongst the greasy towels.

We hear so often in life that we need to “learn how to use what we got” or “that’s how we always did it.” Programming is especially rife with these - “all you need is vim” and “this is the database our company uses.” And a great deal of the time, that wisdom rings true. Our creativity can be brought out when we have constraints, and learning to use the tools you have is a valuable skill to possess.

What happens, though, when the “tools you got” end up being the barrier? When fighting with the same problem over and over, firefighting with your garden hose leaves you hot, miserable, and sometimes even burnt. So often I’ve played that firefighter only to realize that if I had brought the correct tool, a fire hose and hydrant, the problem would be solved, be better, and I wouldn’t be worn out.

A better approach - try with the tools you have, but give yourself a deadline. If you can’t unstick your spindle by then, stop and have a look around to see if there is a better tool/strategy/product for the job and use that. You’ll save yourself so much time and frustration.