my own meddling has mixed results if I'm honest, and there's a sliding scale of success usually the smaller the item the less likely its going to survive.
The tractor in example fared pretty well, big and robust passed through a couple of owners before me and made it onto a low-loader off to Norfolk still running on all cylinders despite my best efforts,
Electrical hand tools though not so good survival rate around here, both strimmer's expired, one survived the other for a short time but now I have a scythe instead.
I blame both built-in obsolescence, and patience deficit in equal parts
