Sometimes working on your own vehicle isn't worth it

[ejay]

I've needed to rebuild the front end of the Excursion and thought I had everything I needed to do it. Bought the parts and had the tools. (Most of the tools)

Of course I picked a day to do the work that was below zero. The Excursion doesn't fit all of the way in the uninsulated garage without moving a bunch of stuff on the back wall. So it hung out and I covered the open area and rented a heater.

Fuck me everything went wrong.

Ball joints were seized beyond reason. Even with a decent press and separator. The vacuum hub seal would not press on no matter how hard I tried. Yeah..because I was using an improvised tool instead if the actual press tool I destroyed two Spicer hub seals trying to get it in. And the new hubs ended up having fine threads instead of corse threads on the wheel studs so new studs. I bent the vacuum hose hole with the three pound and don't have a tap that would fit the M10-1.0 or pipe thread to straighten it out. Nearly every step took three times as long as it should have taken.

Three days....when it should have taken me three hours. And I only got one side partially done. I put it back together with no vacuum seal just to get it out of the garage.

This is why I should have brought it in to get it done. Ridiculous prices for the work though. Something like $400 just for the ball joints in labor alone per side. At least I wouldn't have frozen my ass off for three days. I'm too young to be this sore and too old for this shit. Rant over...

 

[Zorba]

I feel your pain...

 

[TWiG01]

Unfortunately, I think we all know that feeling. Brings this to mind

 

[Jezza]

This is why I should have brought it in to get it done. Ridiculous prices for the work though. Something like $400 just for the ball joints in labor alone per side. At least I wouldn't have frozen my ass off for three days. I'm too young to be this sore and too old for this shit. Rant over...

I have to laugh a little bit. Folks love to complain about shop prices, then get a dose of what the tech has to deal with everyday. Somebody else's junk all rusty and broken. You buy your own tools and if the job goes sideways you loose you a$$.

 

[voodooridr]

I think my F250 is due for another set of ball joints, 35" tires are hard on ball joints

 

[WallyWest]

I have to laugh a little bit. Folks love to complain about shop prices, then get a dose of what the tech has to deal with everyday. Somebody else's junk all rusty and broken. You buy your own tools and if the job goes sideways you loose you a$$.

I complain about some shop prices because I know how long it would take me to do the job, and I expect they can do it much faster. And yet the labor price is still excessive.

But that's not even the main reason I do most of my own work. The main reason is I've had way too many bad experiences and frankly I don't trust any of them to do the job right. Yeah it's taken me a week to do a job that should have taken a day. But I learned new stuff in the process, saved money, and know that it was done right. Worth it, IMO.

 

[billiebob]

I've needed to rebuild the front end of the Excursion and thought I had everything I needed to do it. Bought the parts and had the tools. (Most of the tools)

Of course I picked a day to do the work that was below zero. The Excursion doesn't fit all of the way in the uninsulated garage without moving a bunch of stuff on the back wall. So it hung out and I covered the open area and rented a heater.

Fuck me everything went wrong.

Ball joints were seized beyond reason. Even with a decent press and separator. The vacuum hub seal would not press on no matter how hard I tried. Yeah..because I was using an improvised tool instead if the actual press tool I destroyed two Spicer hub seals trying to get it in. And the new hubs ended up having fine threads instead of corse threads on the wheel studs so new studs. I bent the vacuum hose hole with the three pound and don't have a tap that would fit the M10-1.0 or pipe thread to straighten it out. Nearly every step took three times as long as it should have taken.

Three days....when it should have taken me three hours. And I only got one side partially done. I put it back together with no vacuum seal just to get it out of the garage.

This is why I should have brought it in to get it done. Ridiculous prices for the work though. Something like $400 just for the ball joints in labor alone per side. At least I wouldn't have frozen my ass off for three days. I'm too young to be this sore and too old for this shit. Rant over...

View attachment 300043

Yep, did this for 40 years. Today the shop rate sounds like a good deal. I do very little in the driveway. I mostly add things that are not routine maintenance but all the regular maintenance, brakes, steering, driveline even oil changes go to the shop. My weekend shot vs 6 hours of shop time,,,,, I support the local shop AND when I need some emergency fixed, I'm first on the list jumping the que.

There are unseen benefits to supporting the local shop and with my own business supporting those guys it means I get references for my business. Its a big circle. Keeps the economy moving.

 

[ejay]

Unfortunately, I think we all know that feeling. Brings this to mind

View attachment 300047

You're God damn right. Story of my life and the bane of my wife's existence.

 

[Jezza]

I complain about some shop prices because I know how long it would take me to do the job, and I expect they can do it much faster. And yet the labor price is still excessive.

The question you need to ask yourself is what would you charge to do the job for someone else. If you had to rent a building, pay a technician, buy equipment, pay utilities, pay insurance, pay for marketing, pay a bookkeeper and or accountant. Shop supplies and tool bills. Then the local softball team wants a sponsor or some other non-profit wants a donation. Oh, and you have to cover your salary. I got out years ago. We were doing 50k a month and barely making it.

 

[R49]

I have to do the work on my 2 vehicles. As a mechanic, I’m the only one I can trust to work on my rigs.
The wife’s car on the other hand I will take to a shop if it’s something I don’t want to do.
Every dollar I save on labor is a dollar freed up for my TJ mods.

 

[cliffish]

I like to do most of my work...that I can, but I still farm out to my mechanic even though he is at $120/hour. If I feel it is above my "pay grade" or I dig myself into a hole it goes to his shop. He knows on an yearly inspection if brakes are needed he asks me If I want to do them myself. He also knows if I bring him a vehicle with a noise/issue I will not take his diagnoses and then leave and fix it myself. The old rule $5 for the screw and $100 to know where and how to install it.

 

[steelhd]

I do some work myself and send the hardest jobs to a professional. The Jeep is just a recreational tool and I've reached a point in life where my free time and physical comfort is worth more than dollars.

 

[RINC]

I do some work myself and send the hardest jobs to a professional. The Jeep is just a recreational tool and I've reached a point in life where my free time and physical comfort is worth more than dollars.

X2

 

[Squatch]

I still do most of my own work, but bitch, piss and moan all the way through it, these days. I have the tools, but I usually ache for a couple days afterwards, and finding the space and time to do things anymore is difficult, at best. Still, I'm a cheap bastard when it comes to paying someone else to do something I know, or even suspect, I'm capable of doing myself.

 

[Mike_H]

I do my own work on the Jeep. On my dailys, they generally go to the dealer. I'll do brakes and easy stuff, but even that is getting tough to do without access to the onboard computers.

I replaced the struts on my wife's Audi. There is a pinch bolt that likes to seize on the front suspension. The driver's side took me about three days to get out. That job went sideways in a hurry. The rest of the struts took me about 3 hours...

 

[JeepZilla380]

I try to do most of the work myself, but regularly run Into the same issue you encountered. A few years ago I paid a shop to install my lift and they mega fubard'd the install. Found a shop near me that agreed to help me get it installed right, and I spend the better part of a week in the evenings helping the shop owner get it dialed in. At the time the guy wanted a Jeep, so a friendship was formed. As long as the shop isnt busy I an use a lift and his tools to get done whatever I need to do, and ask him questions so I can learn as well. Might be with shopping local small shops, might luck into something similar.

 

[freedom_in_4low]

it's all about having the proper tools and time vs money for me. I'll pay $80 to have the oil changed on my wife's 4runner because by the time I screw around with the skid plate and clean up the mess caused by the inverted cartridge oil filter, it's at least an hour long job.

I'll pay for tire work because there wouldn't be a good ROI for me to get a tire mounting machine or a balancer.

I pay for gear work because I rarely find a long enough period of uninterrupted time to do it while also learning since it would be my first time.

Those are the only things I've used a shop for in the last decade.

 

[JMT]

I do most of the work on the Jeep bc I can, I’m cheap, and I know it will get done right. I don’t do tires and gears, though I’d like to learn gears (just don’t have that much time).

As for my wife’s Yukon, I do what I can and try to figure out how. I’m on another forum for that, but it’s a 2014, so it hasn’t had many issues, yet. Right now the evap system needs to be replaced. I think I can do that.

Mainly shop prices are so high (and I get why and it’s justified) and I just don’t trust them. Had too many bad experiences.

 

[tworley]

...because by the time I screw around with the skid plate and clean up the mess caused by the inverted cartridge oil filter, it's at least an hour long job.

Ugh my wifes KL is that way. Inverted oil filter that no matter how careful I am or how may oil pans I have underneath, oil still spills everywhere.

 

[WestCoastDan]

This is exactly why I paid a shop to replace the front suspension on my Charger, as well as why I paid a shop to put the lift kit on the TJ.
The single greatest quality that a man can possess is the ability to recognize and accept his own limitations (and those of his tools).