Most “enterprise-grade” equipment is easy to work on. Stuff like desktop PCs that pop open like a book and let you swap out drives, power supply, etc. and printers built so you can replace rollers and fusers in the office without a mechanic’s toolbox.
GFCI receptacles don’t last long. (My theory is that it’s primarily due to voltage spikes from nearby lightning strikes.) They are very easy to replace; if you’re the least bit handy, there’s no need to call an electrician.
Fender Stratocaster and Telecaster electric guitars. Designed for manufacturability and straightforward to work on. Heck, I have put together a couple of Tele’s myself, so they can’t be that tough!
Yep. I once replaced heat tape on a barn waterline. I had to dig down pretty deep in a tight area. The job sucked. When I plugged the new tape in it didn’t work, and I realized the outlet was bad; a five minute job.
Agreed - simple to work on your bikes at home, not had any of mine in the shop for years. Some suspension stuff, on the mountain bike side, needs a specialist service once in a while but that’s it.
You do need quite a few tools, though. It’s not a very standardised industry with respect to headsets, bottom brackets etc.
AR-15 type rifles. Parts don’t require fitting and no specialized tools are required. The only step that is even a little ticklish is attaching the barrel to the upper receiver properly and all that requires is that you pay attention to what you are doing and not try to be Burly Bear. Over torquing the barrel is the most common error.
Dyson vacuums as well. Usually a simple lever or slider to remove and replace parts. And best part: They send you parts for free long after warranty is over. I had a 10-year old Dyson and the rubbery retractable hose got a split in it. It wasn’t one of the replacement parts listed on their site you can purchase so I emailed and then sent one gratis.
Someone else mentioned enterprise grade computers. Tool-less cases are great (thanks Dell). Apple does not fall into this category. You have to buy specials tools for each model and stock up on things like suction cups, plastic crow-bars and pentalobe screwdrivers. Good luck getting everything back together and not having any parts left over!
Adjusting gears is just a case of knowing which bit to twiddle in which direction. Once you know that it really is very easy indeed. Youtube is a fantastic resource for this.
Replacing a rear cassette or removing the front chainrings/cranks takes a couple of specialist tools, but they pay for themselves with one missed trip to the bike shop. It is actually so quick to do that I regularly remove mine for cleaning rather than mess about with fiddly brushes.
Chainsaws is another one. They are designed to be maintained in the field. A few years ago I took a basic chainsaw qualification - pretty much a requirement in the UK if you need any third-party liability insurance. As part of the exam you have to strip down and reassemble your saw which is not hard.
Laptops aren’t too easy to get in to to replace guts-guts, but stuff like the hard drive, RAM modules, battery and disc drive all just pop right out. I never worked on one until this year (they always intimidated me! I can do desktops with ease…) so I’m not sure how they used to be…but upgrading laptops now is pretty easy.
Older cars used to be easy to work on; modern cars quite difficult. Things like changing a starter or fuel pump used to be easy to do; now I wouldn’t dream of doing either.
