By: Mauro Iasparri

Gunny Yarborough... Here's another story. Gunny Yarborough. Seems the last two stories I have shared revolve around cars. LOL... Well, Here's another one.

My TR6 is making a noise. I talk with Gunny Yarborough about it. When I first bought the car Gunny liked it and we talked about it. If memory serves me, he had a Datsun 240Z or a 260Z at his house he was working on.

Back to the noise. Gunny gets in and drives a little bit and nods his head and has a smile on his face and says I know what it is. Upon further inspection her confirms it is the Universal joint. He tells me go buy the part and come by my house and WE can fix it. So, we agree to meet at his house on the next day. I bought the new part and arrive at his house. He says pull up over there and jack up the car. He has a dirt driveway. I had one of those scissor jacks so I had to get a block of 2x6 or something like that to put the jack on so it didn't sink too far into the dirt...LOL. About three blocks of wood later the car was finally in the air...He gets down on the ground tells me, "You see that right there, That's the drive shaft and the universal joint is right there you have to take off them there bolts and take the drive shaft out". 

He goes into his house. Keep in mind at the time I was really not a big-time wrench turner or auto mech.... I was familiar with nuts, bolts and the like, taking things apart and putting them together. So, I get under and with a fair amount of cursing finally get the bolts of and drag the drive shaft out from under. Here I am staring at the universal joint saying to myself how is HE going to get that off...Hahahahaha.... Gunny comes out, and I’m all proud of myself show him the drive shaft and ask him how does the universal come off and how HE is going to do it... I look at him and he looks at me with that big smile on his face (If you knew Gunny Yarborough, you Know the Smile). ME, no, you’re going to get it out and proceeds to hand me a socket that fits the inside where the caps on the joint that hold the long roller bearings and a baby sledgehammer and says hit them until it pops out... Grrr.... Here I thought HE was going to do it...LOL. 

I get the old one out after a lot more choice words. Gunny comes out and says "Ok, now put in the new one..... and goes back in the house. Here I am wondering What the Heck...!!! Knowing how the old one came out it was easy to figure out how to put the new one in, but here's the thing. You know the long roller bearings in the joint? Well, let's just say it wasn't fun picking them up out of the dirt and cleaning them off and trying to get them all back where they belonged .... (I may have missed one or two).... HAHAHAHA....... After sweating my butt off and fighting all throughout the task, I finally get it all put together. Got the drive shaft back in and all Done. 

Gunny comes out again with his smile and says, "I knew YOU Could Do It”. LMBO.... So, that day sent me on a course of being a Lifelong Shade Tree Mechanic doing all kinds of work on all my autos to include removing and replacing everything from engines to transmissions, clutch assemblies, and everything in between. Now-a-days with all the fancy-dancy tech I just pay to get most of the harder heavy work done, you know us Senior Citizens have to take care of ourselves... Thank You Gunny Yarborough...............!!!