Do you do your own work

[Jtphoto]

All our JKs and JLs. Everything from regular maintenance to lifts and gear swaps.
Love the process of building and rebuilding and have been doing it over 40 years. Building a Jeep is as much fun and as much a part of the hobby as wheeling it.

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[Traveller128]

All our upkeep and mods so far. Including regear and suspension work. But I also repair Euro cars for a living and have for a long time. I've done everything from building our own RV/toy hauler van to custom cars, and I've been to race engine training and was an engine machinist also. I still do cylinder head porting and engine builds on the side. I've been a motorhead for coming up on 50 years. Not going to drag race this year other than test and tune, but we'll be open road racing again this year. My wife navigates. Total blast, high stress, adrenaline, but great fun, I highly recommend it.

 

[NWJeepr]

I do most maintenance on my vehicles and straightforward repairs and modifications. I have a lift and good collection of tools which makes it easier.

I don’t get into body work. And some things just need to go to a professional shop. For example, I’m not set up to do alignments, nor do I have truly robust scan tools.

 

[rcadden]

I do as much as I can myself. Most maintenance - oil changes, tire rotations, etc - is pretty easy, even with basic hand tools. And it's a fun and rewarding way to spend a Saturday afternoon.

Bigger jobs kind of depend on the job and my workload at the time. I did my puck lift, armorlite install, front bumper replacement, winch install, and a-pillar light install myself. But when I got the death wobble, I took it to a reputable shop. On a previous vehicle, I replaced the rack and pinion myself (with a couple of buddies) to save ~$400+ in shop labor.

If/when I do a proper lift, I'm debating whether to let the shop do it. I also despise electrical work, so if I do any other wiring, that'll go straight to a shop.

 

[MalaysianMafia]

I like to, yeah - changed sparkplugs in my old '16 Renegade Trailhawk last year, but I dunno that I wanna do maintenance on the '24 4xe that definitely is somebody else's job (and money) during the life of the warranties.

 

[KHR Racing]

I believe and have seen 99% of installers out there at the shops will not do as good as a job as I would. I wish they would…….. Pictures of Before/After of removing factory suspension brackets.

 

[roaniecowpony]

I buy tires and let the store change them. The purchase from Discount Tire included rotation and balancing.

I paid to have a lift installed, but had to completely disassemble it and re-do it.

I paid to have it re-geared. Last time I re-geared something was 40 years ago. I don't do it often enough to be proficient at it, nor do I enjoy it.

The rest, I pretty much do all myself. I'm getting old and have arthritis throughout my body, bone on bone in my back, a bad ankle and pay a high price in pain for a few days after working hard on a vehicle. I'm not done doing it, but I'm getting closer to paying for more services.

 

[VKSheridan]

Like the title says, do you do all your own work on the Jeep?

Why do you do your own work? If you do your own work, when do you decide to let someone else do something and why? If you don’t do your own work, Why don’t you do it?

Excluding warranty work, I do all the repairs, upgrades and maintenance myself. I don’t necessarily mistrust others, I just have more confidence of proper torque wrench usage, alignment, fit and no shortcuts when I do the job myself. Yeah, installing a lift kit, bumpers, rock rails, etc. takes some mechanical aptitude but I take pride and enjoy building my ride, not merely buying it.

Some folks don’t get that same giddy from accomplishment so they outsource their needs and I respect that just the same

 

[Terry R]

I think you need another option, “Not much now, but wanting to learn”.

That is where I am. Never worked on vehicles before, did the minor job on my F150’s; cold air intake, installed running boards, replaced front struts and rear shocks (which should be a story for the “This should be a quick fix”….Not thread). With my Jeep I have already installed a steering stabilizer (with some help from a friend), Nerf step bars and changed the oil (first time ever solo). Looking to do a 5 tire rotation very soon. My Jeep is my daily driver, so I am very cautious about tackling any ”major“ projects. But I would like to learn.

 

[The Last Cowboy]

I grew up with my dad buying cars in various states of disrepair, fixing them and flipping them. I was fixing my bike, and all the other kids bikes, since I was 8. When I started driving, I would have done a lot of walking if I didn't fix all the issues on the old cars and trucks I could afford. When I was in high school, I would fix them clean them up and flip them. I've workrd in the aftermarket truck accessory business both retail and manufacturing. I've worked in a tire shop where we serviced everything from cars and pickups, to 18 wheelers, to farm and construction equipment. I've been a welder and fabricator.

So, now I find that not many places provide the level of service and attention to detail that I do. I have the tools to do most anything. What I don't do is AC work, machine work or tires (except lawn equipment and trailers) as I don't have a mounting and balancing machine. If I did, believe me, I would do that too.

 

[Terry R]

I believe and have seen 99% of installers out there at the shops will not do as good as a job as I would. I wish they would……..

I’m such a novice at auto repairs and modifications, that I have no idea what story your pictures are telling. Couldn’t even label most of the parts in the pictures. But I appreciate your confidence in doing the work better yourself.

 

[grimmjeeper]

I work on Jeeps with a buddy and his wife. Between us, we have the tools and equipment to do just about everything. About the only thing we don't do is tires and engine machine work. It's a hobby for us and one we enjoy.

She started filming our work, mostly because there wasn't much on doing a back half kit on a TJ. And she likes producing the videos. So we have a channel that documents what we've been doing for the last few years. We're never going to be a huge channel but there are some good videos on how we did some of our work. And a few that show how not to do some things.

https://www.youtube.com/@karoffroad

 

[Vinman]

The only thing that I don't do is re-gearing axles.

I regeared my last LJ Rubicon axles myself. First and only time doing it and they came out perfect. More than pleased with the results considering I have never even watched anybody changing gears before.
Great pattern, preload and backlash both in the middle of the acceptable range and they were dead quiet.
I got lazy with the JL and had a shop do them. While not overly annoying I can definitely hear both front and rear gears.
I have a Mustang that needs a pinion bearing and while in there I’m going install new gears and a Tru-trac diff myself.”, hopefully I get it right.

 

[KHR Racing]

I’m such a novice at auto repairs and modifications, that I have no idea what story your pictures are telling. Couldn’t even label most of the parts in the pictures. But I appreciate your confidence in doing the work better yourself.

Every single person was a novice at one point. It just boils down to if you have the time and interest to learn. Some people have the time in their life and some do not. Understandable.

 

[grimmjeeper]

Every single person was a novice at one point. It just boils down to if you have the time and interest to learn. Some people have the time in their life and some do not. Understandable.

Exactly. At this point I'm pretty accomplished for a shade tree mechanic. But I've had over 30 years of working on things as a hobby to develop my skills. I started out not knowing anything as well.

While youtube is great for finding tons of how-to videos, you do end up running into a bunch of videos that are "less than competent" people showing you the wrong way to do things. So don't take random youtube videos as gospel. Watch a bunch and experiment. Start small and grow your skills a little at a time.

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