I've still got the trolley jacks, socket set, torque wrench etc. but 5 minutes walk away is my independent's garage, owned and run by a friend I've known for years, who now does my servicing and MOT at a reasonable 'mate's rate'. He can do jobs on the lift a lot quicker than I could and now I really don't feel like crawling about under cars with the aches and pains that follow afterward. ( I did rotate my wheels in my own garage a month or so back, but wheels seem a lot heavier than they used to be.) I was born in the 1940s, that's my excuse for wimping out of oil changes and such.

I'll get underneath to do some rustproofing, take the wheels off to check brake hoses e.t.c but the main servicing I leave to my local garage who I've known for years, and always do a great job at a very reasonable price. They allow me to use my own choice of fluids and parts too. I consider myself lucky to have a trusted workshop when I hear of some peoples stories.

Working on cars at home is hard on the body, due to the contorted positions that one has to get in to. It's all low to the ground which forces stooping or crouching/kneeling. I have had previous back problems and still have chronic SI joint pain (that I am slowly getting on top of) no doubt due to poor posture and 20 years of physical labour. I am nowhere near some peoples ages here but I know that if I spend too much time bent over an engine or rolling around underneath a car, I'm going to suffer the next day, maybe more.

They should educate kids at school about maintaining core strength and flexibility while they are young. It would greatly reduce the burden on the NHS later.

I keep bees which means lifting 30-40kg boxes full of honey/bees so keeping fit is essential..

I try to find solutions to problems involving heavy lifting. I have a triple section ladder with a stabiliser bar which, although brilliantly stable, weighs a few kilos. Taking the top section and stabiliser bar off makes it easier, but I bungee cord a collapsible sack barrow to one end, then lift the other end and push it around customers houses on wheels. It only works on the big houses with plenty of space around them, otherwise I take it apart.

I've never done anything bigger than gapping or changing plugs on my cars, and as we all know, it's no longer possible to do much DiY like we used to.

.... just remembered I fitted new rubber mounts to the rear subframe a few weeks ago - two wheels off, car on bricks, lie on ground to get at the nuts underneath. You know the sort of thing, just to get the old jalopy through another MoT ....

You're only as old as (the women) you feel, and mine is 8-years younger than me...

66 too, but youngrovergirl is 16 years younger than me!

Keeps me busy, but walking Blodwen the dog twice a day ( aboit 6 miles does the trick.

Part of my problem is my job is much easier than it used to be, until about 8 years ago i drove car transporters for the previous 20 years, lots of yoga type exercise and very hard work, which although hard did you keep me physically supple (if mentally and spiritually exhausted), for the last 7 years i've driven tankers which is a far easier job involving fewer hours and days but is not really physically active, once i've set up just stand there making sure all is going ok for up to an hour at a time.

My knee problems however were exacerbated by the last 3/5 years on the cars when quality control got involved and made us use wheelstraps instead of strapping down underbody, that meant kneeling down on the stamped deck for every single strap or chock used un the upper and middle decks, a lot of kneelings that, brought back the injuries sustained to knees in my banger racing youth.

The past always catches up with you one way or another.

Glad most of us are still kicking along stubbornly doing our bit.

I'm also 62, GB, and have had a bad back on and off ever since I was a young teenager.

I had major problems at around age 13 which were never diagnosed, but despite that I've managed to maintain a fairly good level of fitness since, as well as coping with a physically strenuous job for almost 30 years.

My eventual downfall was not my back, but too much football and knackered knees. At one time I could stand up using my knees if my back was bad, but now I have full use of neither knees nor back, and rising from a kneeling position means reaching out, grabbing the nearest immoveable object and pulling myself to a standing position. Consequently, working on brakes, for example, has become much more onerous, and I may even be persuaded one day not to bother looking under my car for oil leaks, something which had become a regular weekend pastime when we had our old Focus.

Having said that, as the posts above so eloquently confirm, working on cars is not necessarily a young man's (or woman's) occupation. You just have to listen to the signals your body is sending you and moderate your activity accordingly. Having a hydraulic lift would help.

Edited by argybargy on 19/11/2017 at 10:18

At 58 I'm a relative youngster in this debate!!

In my youth I'd try and do lots of stuff myself, including replacing head gasket on a Mini. Was still doing oil/filter service until we got rid of our second BX in 2005. Newer vehicles under warranty and need to remove undertrays and acoustic covers to get at stuff made me file even that as 'too difficult' and I'll just pay a man to do it for me.

Still happy to tinker with electrics and skin my knuckles replacing headlight bulbs - not actually all that difficult on either Roomster or Berlingo. Although last one I changed on Roomster was corroded in and if I'd gone for new bulb before changing it I thnk I'd have said yes when Halfords asked if I wanted it fitted. But as I always have a full set of bulbs in the car I didn't get a new one until a few days later.