Do you take it to the dealer for maintenance or do it yourself.

[oldballs]

Back in the 70's my motorcycle dealer had a sign that read.......

Our labor charge is $50 per hour. unless you have worked on it first......Then it is $100 per hour.

Cheers,
Mike

 

[Doughknob]

Myself. For everything. Always.

 

[duffer]

Learned a valuable lesson from my Dad when I was 8-9 yrs old. He's in the basement working on Mom's wringer washing machine. I'm sitting on the basement steps and ask him "Why don't you just call the repair man?" Dad turns to me and says (I'll never forget it) "The repair guy won't charge me anything more if I mess it up, but if I can fix it, I just saved a bunch of money".

Even when I didn't know if I could fix stuff, I always tried. Took me longer than a pro, but on the other hand, I've probably saved $100's of thousands of dollars over my life doing it myself, including building 6 homes for ourselves.

I do all the maintenance on everything. At some point I'll be too old and crinkly to do it, but for the next few years, it's still me.

 

[Tinhack]

That's the same question I had.....Not sure about the "beat up" part.

That was the OP's choice of words.

 

[Wagtail]

Simply put, if the procedure is written in your Owner Manual, then you can competently do it yourself.

With forethought, you can gather the tools/containers prior to performing. YouTube videos can be a help and offer 'tips' that others have learnt.

 

[WM75Guy]

I am probably in the minority. The daily maintenance stuff such as checking and topping off fluids, greasing the FEL, clean or change an air filter, or change a light bulb I do. Any fluid change or repair it goes back to the dealer. Each tractor sees about 100 hours a year so that is not too often. After knee replacement I am past the point of being able to get underneath a tractor or wanting to dispose of large quantities of fluids.

 

[ljjhouser]

Maintenance items I usually do myself. More than that I would consider dealer work.

Used to be when I was helping out others with repairs, building, or other projects and someone would say to me "Wow, that really looks professional" - I usually answered "Oh, I'm sorry."

There are so many times that only the person doing the repair really knows where the weak spots are and how well the work is done. That is the advantage of doing it yourself if you are competent to do the repair. Today, so many shops only seem to care about getting it back together and out of the shop.

But if it is a repair you don't feel good about beginning, don't. Take it to the dealer and bite the bullet.

 

[timbatrader]

Who does the maintenance has nothing to do with how beat up the machine looks.

My dealer is 9 hours and 536 miles away.... I do it all myself.

My suppling dealer for one of my machines is in china But he seems to be able to get me parts quicker than the local dealer on my other machine

 

[hube2]

Maintenance I do myself. If anything is not working right I will call the dealer.

 

[Egon]

If it requires more than a crescent and three pound sledge I have a tendency to have it done!