After July’s adventures in mud and malfunctions, you’d be forgiven for thinking the hardest part for me was blindly feeling around through years of built-up grease for that. one. stupid. adjusting bolt (Note to self: tighten the fan bolts at LEAST once a week. That assembly is Not easy to put back together. Let’s do it as infrequently as possible.) OR attempting to dig a 7500-pound machine out of ankle-deep gravel (spoiler: the digging didn’t work, but I did get a good workout). But honestly? The real challenge came when I went digging for a service manual.
Now, it is possible to find one… if you’re lucky enough to have the right make… and the right model… from the right series… or you don’t mind handing over your firstborn in exchange for a PDF. Seriously, it is a wild information jungle when it comes to this stuff, where key details are hidden in a maze of paywalls, secret-forum-handshakes, and fake information posing as real.
Of course, the reality is that the less we know, the more dependent we are – which is fabulous news for the people who profit from that dependence, and not so fabulous for the rest of us. And that’s where “just enough knowledge to be dangerous” comes in.
On one hand, too little knowledge can give us that dreaded unearned overconfidence – you know, the kind that comes from watching a couple YouTube videos and declaring ourselves experts. On the other hand, every bit of knowledge we do find for ourselves is dangerous to the folks who’d rather keep us hooked and helpless. And let’s be real: there are plenty of them. Dependence is profitable. Resilience, oddly enough, is not. At least not in our current reality.
For me, the quest for knowledge and some semblance of skill led through a sketchy website or three, a half-dozen tractor forums, and many, many YouTube videos showing how to service the engine on pretty much every type of skid loader except mine, including one filmed in what I think was a potato cellar. Eventually, though, I did find the correct service manual, and for only $50 instead of the $150 some sites were charging. Then I had to figure out how to read the dang thing. Several hours later, I sorta knew what I was doing. Kinda. And I DID get the machine humming again. Not perfect, I’m sure, but enough to keep working and not blow up.
And…maybe that’s the point: to know enough to know we don’t know it all. To keep learning, keep tinkering, and stay humble – even when we’re dangerous.
Selina Pedi-Smith
Founder, Pellere Foundation
Beneficial. Equitable. Impact.
