Why do your own maintenance & repair work?

[Ken]

rScotty The reason I repair my equipment is 125 per hour X2 employees to do anything at dealership.
Only warranty go to shop.
Last time called to get appt. for warranty work to save hauling bill carried to the shop and was told 4 days top fix the problem '
Consisting of replaced a carberator on engine because could not stop from flooding and blowing smoke.
waited a week and they had not started work .at 10 days called and they checked and ordered part. 2 weeks and the parts ordered had not fixed the carberator problem. Told shop Forman was coming to pick up the tractor and that with in hour would be there.
IN that hour engine problem was fixed and ready to load onto my trailer.
Now if had not been in warranty how many hours could of been put on the repair sheet.

My 4520 tractor need to be split to fix problem of locked into 4 Whl drive. estimate 2 men 2 days @8 hours each and 125 per hour.
the needed part cost 50 bucks and was identical to Gravely shipper shaft selector of 60 years ago. a piece of metal 3/4 inch by 1/2 inch with hole drilled middle to hold part to shaft. Reason I know the part had to be replaced because improper installation .
mechanics come and go there messed up repair costs the owner.
ken .

 

[webguydave]

Pretty much the same as all the responses above: I can do most all that I have the tools and tech manuals for ( or can get my hands on). It's time and $$ - if a machine / truck breaks, I generally need it asap, not when the shop can get to it.

And then there's the general competence level that I see...case in point: my 2010 f150 4.6L (210k miles) started misfiring, the local mech yanked out the spark plugs to find one helicoiled. He put in a new helicoil and in 1k miles, it blew out. (Misfire originally was caused by a bad coil pack). Digging around on the internet, I find that on the 4.6, the spark plug threads on the head only go 4.5(!) turns!!! If not properly torqued ( Fords specs are woefully low) they may well blow out. Installed a Calvan stainless insert ( requires simple in-place reaming and threading of the hole) and now the plug screws in 3/4"!

The garage mech simply didn't have the interest to research the problem - his solution was to screw in yet another helicoil, which fails to grip because of the conical shape of the chamber...btw, the same guy told me to quit using Costco gas, because "there was water coming out the tailpipe"...water, by the way, is a principle byproduct of the catalytic converter. I could understand if cats had just come into use, but 30 some years later?
So yep, whenever possible, I turn my own wrenches....

 

[BubbaJr]

I do my own to save time, and because I am still able. At 70 years old the gravity at my place is getting stronger every year making it harder to get up from the floor. So I'll keep doing it as long as I can. :laughing:

 

[fried1765]

When I do my own maintenance I save a 200 mile round trip at $4.oo/mile and I get the stuff done when I want it done.

$800 for a tractor repair trip?
Now I am duly reminded why I own a $4400 14K equipment trailer.
5-1/2 trips equals the price of my new trailer, and the trailer can likely be sold for nearly what I paid,...... making the 5-1/2 trips essentially free!
Plus...... A 20' 14K equipment trailer can haul all sorts of other things too.

 

[fried1765]

I do my own to save time, and because I am still able. At 70 years old the gravity at my place is getting stronger every year making it harder to get up from the floor. So I'll keep doing it as long as I can. :laughing:

I am 8 years beyond you, but I still keep on doing.

 

[ericm979]

Water is a product of combustion.

OBD2 is wonderful for the home mechanic. Use a good code reader and it'll tell you what or where the problem is. I've used it to figure out some really unusual problems that would be difficult to debug using old fashioned methods. Of course those basic debugging skills are still useful. OBD2 is an addition to them not a replacement. It's too bad that Tier IV for tractors did not also require OBD2 ports and standard data protocols. The OBD2 computers and software are dirt cheap to manufacturers now so it would not add significantly to the cost of new tractors- probably less than a proprietary system. There are some that do it but others use proprietary systems so you have to go to the dealer to get the codes read.

I do a lot of my own work, including rebuilding and modifying motorcycle engines. I started because in high school and college I could not afford to take my motorcycles to a mechanic. But it also saves me time vs going into town. If I don't have the special tools or it's something that's unpleasant I'll take it in but I do it most of the time.

 

[Oaktree]

I used to do most of my own maintenance & repairs when I was younger for many of the same reasons others have mentioned. The older I get (pushing 70) the less "fun" it is to lay on my back under something getting rust in my face trying to get a frozen bolt loose. I am fortunate in having a decent mechanic nearby whose rates are very reasonable, more and more it's just not worth the hassle to DIY.
Still do most of my own maintenance (brakes, fluid changes, etc.).

I still do most non-vehicle work myself, but even then there are things I'll leave to the pros...my roof is way steeper than I feel comfortable working on, for example, new floors too. My creaky knees are grateful.

 

[WranglerX]

Just got my tractor back from first 50 hour maintenance, they had to pull left rear wheel off to check/clean screen for HST.... Guess what, one lug bolt was 3-4 turn from being tight and other 4 were not torqued to spec... Bit the bullet spent $450 for first service to keep warranty valid... Guess what, service manager had a unpleasant e-mail to start his Monday morning off.....Could have probably saved $300 and 80 mile round trip and left wheel lug bolts loose myself....

Dale

 

[4570Man]

Why do your own maintenance & repair work?

Sometimes I don’t want to deal with a PITA part on a vehicle but I do most of my repairs on vehicles and all repairs on equipment and all the maintenance on both. The thought of paying for transport or wasting time hauling for simple work especially a long distance trip baffles me.

 

[California]

I've owned old-school Yanmars since 2003 and they've never seen a mechanic. These were designed to be owner-maintained but are so well built they've needed essentially nothing, replacing injectors (after 30 years) and the third-party loader control were about all, beyond maintenance, that I've done on them.

Then this spring I finally had a project that I considered - briefly - having a pro mechanic do but I wasn't willing to spend that much so I did it myself. I put a writeup in the Yanmar forum here:

Tore the 3-point pin out of the axle housing! $500 repair. Skip down to the photos. Summary - found an axle assembly complete, had it shipped and I installed it.

Yes 3-point backhoes are hard on tractors.

I've had the skills since building a sleeper street rod in HS. Back then I rebuilt (new clutches, bands, seals) a Hydramatic A/T. Bought my first motorcycle (BSA 650) as boxes of parts, for only the cost of paying the shop bill for its rebuilt engine. Luckily nothing was missing and it went together easily.

I always did my own work until years later when I had money but not time. I'm an old fart, FDR was my first President. I hope projects like the axle housing replacement I described above are rare! Maintaining one's own stuff just seems like the right way to do things.