Do you do your own work

[Willys41]

I have been a mechanic most of my life' I am now 67
I grew up in my dads gas station and at the age of 12 did my first valve job on a ford 170 cid
In 2020 I purchased my first jeep. A Willys
Knowing it was not the right thing to do I took it in for its first free oil change and it was fine
The second free oil change however was a mess
I had added a oil pan skid plate that had an opening to drain the oil
When I got home there was a lot of oil dripping on the driveway
They misted the oil drain opening in the skid pan and let it fill up my skid pan so I had to remove and clean it
In my 50+ years working on cars and truck I have NEVER let a car live my shop with oil dripping from any part of the car
That same and last time I was at the dealer I told them there was something wrong with the brakes The pedal is low and mushy. They told me there was nothing wrong with the brakes and said there is and as I walk out I said I will fix it myself. I did and it was air in the ABS and needed an ABS bleed
Although I have done a lot of body and Paint I will leave that to a shop if needed
My Jeep is now highly modifier and if I pop a trans or motor its on me

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[Malyk]

Oil change to a motor swap to full restorations. I've always done everything myself. Except tires because I dont have a tire machine ?
I'm a cheap sob and paying a shop to do the work that I enjoy as a hobby doesn't make sense.

As for the jeep I'm getting the regear outsourced as that's one thing I'd rather have someone else do for piece of mind

 

[XtremeRetard]

Id argue if you dont do your own work you will suffer in terms of time and money.
Being without the jeep for weeks while you wait for the mechanics to get around to yours, plus how they treat it.
The main dealer didnt bother to put half the bolts back into the underbody skid trays on my Hellcat Redeye, plus torqued the oil drain to like 80ftlb, etc, etc.
Total cluster.

Add to that the fact that if you offroad seriously you will have virtually weekly maintenance, from checking torque settings, to replacing broken parts, to near constant upgrades etc.

I ended up getting a lift and building a workshop to deal with it all. Now I do all the maintenance on the rest of the vehicles. Forums and Youtube are your friend. There is pretty much nothing you can't do.
I do my own wheels/tires as well.

Sure there is a lot of setup cost to chip away at over time. But I have no doubt I have saved like $10k in costs already... Now just to work off the rest of the garage! But I hope to do that over time.

 

[Terrymo]

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.

You’ve paid your dues and got nothing to prove

 

[NWJeepr]

I agree that youtube *can* be a good resource, but you also need to be able to identify hacks.

For example, I watched one guy flushing the power steering system with hydro boost on his chevy pickup when I was trying to service mine. He had the engine running and let the p/s pump run dry. "Get all that dirty fluid out of there, till the last drop" - as the pump was chattering away. I've watched a youtube video of a guy doing the same thing on a JK. Absolutely wrong, wrong, wrong.

Best thing you can do is consult the factory service manual for whichever car you're working on, if you don't know.

I'm all for DIY maintenance, repairs, as long as it's done 100% to factory spec, or better. If I can't do it, that's when I reach out to a shop.

 

[roaniecowpony]

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 provided 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.

Joe, You should pick up a book on AC work. It really isn't terribly technical nor difficult. And it's one of the most expensive services on vehicles. I end up doing more AC work for friends and neighbors than for myself. But it's good to be able to fix my own vehicle AC.

 

[grimmjeeper]

I agree that youtube *can* be a good resource, but you also need to be able to identify hacks.

For example, I watched one guy flushing the power steering system with hydro boost on his chevy pickup when I was trying to service mine. He had the engine running and let the p/s pump run dry. "Get all that dirty fluid out of there, till the last drop" - as the pump was chattering away. I've watched a youtube video of a guy doing the same thing on a JK. Absolutely wrong, wrong, wrong.

Best thing you can do is consult the factory service manual for whichever car you're working on, if you don't know.

I'm all for DIY maintenance, repairs, as long as it's done 100% to factory spec, or better. If I can't do it, that's when I reach out to a shop.

Wow. Running a pump dry. That's... one way to do it I guess. Well, if you want the pump to shred itself and contaminate the whole system with metal dust.

I mean, if you are looking to have an excuse to replace the pump, the steering gear box, hydroboost, and all the hoses. That would do it.

I would second the recommendation to use a factory service manual. Even one of the Haynes or Chiltons manuals would be better than nothing.

 

[me109stock]

On my "I do everything" I need to add an asterisk - I didn't do my gear change and I don't do my alignments.

 

[Obviousbicycleco]

I only do the things I’m not willing to pay someone for. I installed my own rack, pillar lights, head unit, tail lights, grille, and replaced all speakers including the knee speakers on my own, and built the top lift. However, tint got done by someone, I don’t rotate my own tires because that’s what Discount is for, and although I loved to do brake jobs and oil changes, I don’t have the time or the space to do those kinds of activities anymore.

With Youtube videos, I’ve done more than previous vehicles just because they’re informative and it’s still fun to turn a wrench.

 

[Mike_Hawk]

I'll do most things myself, but if it involves suspension, I don't touch it with a 10' pole... It's the most dangerous part to tinker with.

 

[arcticaaron]

I'll do most things myself, but if it involves suspension, I don't touch it with a 10' pole... It's the most dangerous part to tinker with.

Man I think the suspension on these is really simple and lift kits from most companies are well thought out and tested. Just need to make sure you torque everything correctly.

 

[arcticaaron]

Certified YouTube mechanic here.

 

[Beachcomber72]

You self taught, take classes, or work on cars for a living by any chance?

I do all my own work as well. I learn as I go. Forums. Installation manuals. YouTube. My brother is electrician for 20 years and helps with most wiring, harness builds, etc and also contemplated career in automotive and studied it until he decided he liked it as a hobby not profession. But he has all every tool you could imagine and is a good resource although I try not to rely on him

I was just curious if it’s purely to save money (why I began doing my own work) but then I loved the process. Using hands, fixing or upgrading, solving the never ending unforeseen problems that arise. Plus I have OCD and want it perfect.. that’s how I do it. Doesn’t matter how long or what I have to do, I do it right. I made the mistake yesterday after installing 10-12 parts, nothing went right, slotting, grinding, running to get tools, snapped a bolt (76in lbs and ft lbs are not the same ??‍), adjusting and readjusting, painting.. I was over it. Done. Paying to get toe corrected and alignment. Welp.. huge mistake. Alignment was great. Drag link was not at the right angle. Steering stabilizer all off and wrong. Went to adjust it so shaft had more travel on full lock instead of bottoming out, and he jammed a Torx in the Allen bolts for tie Rod clamp and striped em.. sooo… I one time didn’t do it myself and now I got more work to do. Don’t really want to take it back to fix it as I don’t trust their work or them at this point. Anyways. Curious why others do it or don’t..

I also had a feeling with it being a jeep forum there wouldn’t be many that don’t do anything at all. Lol. Never know tho.

Self taught as a teen, then went to technical engineering for BMW, then onto Mercedes where I helped develop the Smart car along with Swatch Watch then off to 6 years of engine oil analysis, we created the machines most companies use for the service. Then retired and jumped into the off-road product market.

19 years of wrenching combined experience through various companies. I literally could take a JK apart and reassemble while blindfolded. Good fun stuff, and it’s just more rewarding to do your own work.

 

[JLeco2022]

I just wanna find a tire balancer for big tires then everything will be self done, kinda tired of the cali balancing where they just throw on 50 pounds of weights and call it good

 

[Mike_Hawk]

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