Nailed my first major rail replacement in a 30 year old Otis today

I'm still buzzing honestly. Building was a 12 floor office tower in downtown Minneapolis, the rails had like 1/8 inch wear in spots. Took me three tries to get the alignments perfect on the first car, but once I got the hang of it the second car went smooth. Anyone else find older hydraulic systems easier to work on than modern ones?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_rose16d ago

Nah, modern systems are way easier to work on with all the diagnostics and tech support available.

abby_fisher15d ago

Oh man, I feel you on that! It's so frustrating when people act like older stuff is just better without remembering how much of a pain it could be too.

the_sage15d ago

Oh hold on, I gotta push back on that one. I've been burned by modern diagnostics more times than I can count - half the time the OBD-II scanner gives you some vague code and you're still chasing wires for hours. At least with older systems you could actually see what was happening, trace the fuel line, check the carburetor with your own eyes. And tech support? Good luck getting someone on the phone who knows more than a script, half the time they tell you to reboot or replace the whole module. I'd rather have a manual and a multimeter than a touchscreen that glitches out in the rain.