ShadeTree Mechanics

[Irishman999]

That is sad, and how garages operate. I followed my dream of working in a garage when I was 18 which did not end well. The guy that owned the shop had the typical ******** mechanic personality, the guy was always a dick to me as well.

I would not mark things on the inspection sheet that did not look like they needed replaced, the new technician they got would write down a bunch of ******** trying to sell the customer a ton of work and parts. I remember the exact car it was, a red Geo tracker that belong to a girl I knew in high school. The new technician put it on the rack right after I got done with it and wrote down a bunch of ******** he said it needed. The whole time this ********** was rushing me to let him have the lift.

All the stress, greed and extreme heat in that shop got to me, I walked in to quit and they fired me for not selling a bunch of work on the Geo tracker. Way to cuthroat of a game for me.

 

[crazy4offroad]

I took an S-10 4wd pickup/4.3 TBI in to a shop last time I EVER took anything to a shop. Told the guy it was running a bit hot and I suspected it was a head gasket, but wanted them to do a leakdown test and verify what it was before they tore into it. He said OK, called me back 2 days later and told me the truck was ready. Went to pick it up, asked them what turned out to be wrong and he said "oh, I dont know, you seemed pretty confident it was a head gasket so we replaced both of them. That'll be $800..." I fuggin blew up on the guy. If you find yourself in Charleston, WV DONT take your vehicle to Jeff's Auto out Pinch Road, he'll pinch you for all he can get that's for sure. I would have done it myself but was working fulltime and didnt really have the time, or the energy at the end of the day to get it done. Turns out it was digital dash and it was running normal temp just showing higher on the bar graph gauge. Not only that, they didnt get one of the valves adjusted right, which I went ahead and did myself. Couldnt bring myself to take it back there for anything, didnt want to have to end up doing 10 years in jail for wringing the guy's neck.

 

[CaliDude76]

I think that a lot of mechanics these days would rather just plug the car into a computer and let it spit out the issue rather than actually troubleshooting the problem.

I like working on my own stuff because I know its done right. I don't skimp or cut corners, and am usually thorough, where I think mechanics just throw crap together as fast as they can to get onto the next job, especially if they are paid by flat rate instead of hourly. When I was 20, I worked at a Firestone as tire changer and lube tech. I seen some of the stuff other techs did to make money.
I'll never forget the day, an alignment tech said, hey come here, let me show you how to make some money. You see this idler arm? Its common these are bad. Flat rate pays 1 hour to change it, but it only takes 10 minutes when you have the right tools, so here's what you do. The tech took an air hammer pickle fork, and with it bolted in place, he air hammered the joint and trashed a perfectly good Idler arm. Then he goes out in the lobby and gets the owner and brings her into the shop and shows her the damaged idler arm. The lady was scared shitless when she seen the slop it put in the steering. She asked how much it cost to be replaced, and started crying because she didn't have the money to get it fixed and refused to drive it that way since the tech scared the hell out of her telling her she could lose her steering on the highway. She told him to go ahead and fix it, but didin't pick up the car for 4 days since she had to wait til payday to come up with the $80 to cover the bill. The tech admitted he picked the wrong person to F over that day and said he looked at the invoice and it was a credit card customer, but didn't know the card was maxed with the 2 tires and alignment she originally came in for.

That is sad, and how garages operate. I followed my dream of working in a garage when I was 18 which did not end well. The guy that owned the shop had the typical ******** mechanic personality, the guy was always a dick to me as well.

I would not mark things on the inspection sheet that did not look like they needed replaced, the new technician they got would write down a bunch of ******** trying to sell the customer a ton of work and parts. I remember the exact car it was, a red Geo tracker that belong to a girl I knew in high school. The new technician put it on the rack right after I got done with it and wrote down a bunch of ******** he said it needed. The whole time this ********** was rushing me to let him have the lift.

All the stress, greed and extreme heat in that shop got to me, I walked in to quit and they fired me for not selling a bunch of work on the Geo tracker. Way to cuthroat of a game for me.

I took an S-10 4wd pickup/4.3 TBI in to a shop last time I EVER took anything to a shop. Told the guy it was running a bit hot and I suspected it was a head gasket, but wanted them to do a leakdown test and verify what it was before they tore into it. He said OK, called me back 2 days later and told me the truck was ready. Went to pick it up, asked them what turned out to be wrong and he said "oh, I dont know, you seemed pretty confident it was a head gasket so we replaced both of them. That'll be $800..." I fuggin blew up on the guy. If you find yourself in Charleston, WV DONT take your vehicle to Jeff's Auto out Pinch Road, he'll pinch you for all he can get that's for sure. I would have done it myself but was working fulltime and didnt really have the time, or the energy at the end of the day to get it done. Turns out it was digital dash and it was running normal temp just showing higher on the bar graph gauge. Not only that, they didnt get one of the valves adjusted right, which I went ahead and did myself. Couldnt bring myself to take it back there for anything, didnt want to have to end up doing 10 years in jail for wringing the guy's neck.

ALL THIS IS EXACTLY WHY I LET NO ONE TOUCH MY SQUARE!!!!

Except my dad, of course =0)
Sucks though... because there's some things I flat out can't do: Mount tires on rims, Have it smog tested, and had a new exhaust sysyem put in...

even then, I'm standing there waiting and watching like I'm waiting for a kid to be born or something... LOL

Plus it's just good skill and knowledge to have about your own ride...
It just pays to keep it in tip top shape....
and the fact that it's my only mode of transportation at the moment... I know a majority of you all are lucky enough to have your trucks as a Sunday driver.... but I use my square day in and day out,.. and you know what... it hasn't left me stuck.. not once!!!!

Chevy was absolutely true with their slogan: "Like a Rock.....Longest lasting most dependable trucks on the road......"

 

[nxtlevl]

I used to love tinkering on my vehicles....Every spare moment I had was spent adjusting this, or replacing that.....Over the years, my body started fighting back and reminding me of the abuse I gave it, and I am limited to what I can and can't do anymore......This last go around with shoulder surgery made me realize that I need to slow down and do what I can and have somebody else do the rest....

 

[Irishman999]

You CAN mount tires on rims. Keep an eye out for old cheap tire machines on craigslist. The one in my dads shop is about 50 years old, we got it for free behind an old garage that closed years ago. We put air to it and the thing works. The other option is a manual tire machine, We just got one of those too. Option three is a bead breaking hammer and a couple pry bars. I hate people doing my tires because they can rip the bead or dont understand how a static wheel balancer works. Its hard to take someone seriously fresh out of high school telling me my steel rally wheel is bent so it wont balance out. Solution to the balancer is a small thing called a bubble balancer, the one in my dads shop has universal wheel lug patterns so you just lay the tire flat on it and place your weights until the bubble is in the center.

Way back in the day my dad ran a Goodyear store, he said one year a Indy car race team used their shop to balance the tires for the race car, and they used a bubble balancer, so if its good enough for those tires it should be plenty accurate for anything we will be driving.

 

[CaliDude76]

Over the years, my body started fighting back and reminding me of the abuse I gave it, and I am limited to what I can and can't do anymore......

Sorry to hear that Bro!

Wish you the best, and keep on Truckin'

 

[CaliDude76]

You CAN mount tires on rims. Keep an eye out for old cheap tire machines on craigslist. The one in my dads shop is about 50 years old, we got it for free behind an old garage that closed years ago. We put air to it and the thing works. The other option is a manual tire machine, We just got one of those too. Option three is a bead breaking hammer and a couple pry bars. I hate people doing my tires because they can rip the bead or dont understand how a static wheel balancer works. Its hard to take someone seriously fresh out of high school telling me my steel rally wheel is bent so it wont balance out. Solution to the balancer is a small thing called a bubble balancer, the one in my dads shop has universal wheel lug patterns so you just lay the tire flat on it and place your weights until the bubble is in the center.

Way back in the day my dad ran a Goodyear store, he said one year a Indy car race team used their shop to balance the tires for the race car, and they used a bubble balancer, so if its good enough for those tires it should be plenty accurate for anything we will be driving.

Hmmm.. interesting, never thought about that... might have to check into that, but i never really swap out tires enough to really matter...

The thing that DID suck was when I had a new set mounted on my freshly painted rally's.... I told the dude to be careful... and not to scratch em with his machine...

I get the truck back... and what do I see... a nice gouge in my rim... I like to pull my hair out... it's not so bad tha you'd notice, but I still seen it...( I guess it was my fault for not lettng the rims fully cure for a few days.. I was too excitied to mount em and see what they looked like.. like a darn kid!! LOL.....)

oh well... par for the course, I suppose
It just wasn't worth me making a fuss over....

 

[Irishman999]

Hmmm.. interesting, never thought about that... might have to check into that, but i never really swap out tires enough to really matter...

The thing that DID suck was when I had a new set mounted on my freshly painted rally's.... I told the dude to be careful... and not to scratch em with his machine...

I get the truck back... and what do I see... a nice gouge in my rim... I like to pull my hair out... it's not so bad tha you'd notice, but I still seen it...( I guess it was my fault for not lettng the rims fully cure for a few days.. I was too excitied to mount em and see what they looked like.. like a darn kid!! LOL.....)

oh well... par for the course, I suppose
It just wasn't worth me making a fuss over....

Its strange they scratched your wheel like that. All the old style machines are being phased out for the new clamp style ones, mostly because of wheel sizes getting bigger and bigger. The new style tire machines have an adjuster so that no moving parts contact the wheel, if you dont adjust the arm it will rub on the wheel however. Using the old style machine you just wrap the bar in duct tape and it wont damage the wheel.

 

[davbell22602]

You CAN mount tires on rims. Keep an eye out for old cheap tire machines on craigslist. The one in my dads shop is about 50 years old, we got it for free behind an old garage that closed years ago. We put air to it and the thing works. The other option is a manual tire machine, We just got one of those too. Option three is a bead breaking hammer and a couple pry bars. I hate people doing my tires because they can rip the bead or dont understand how a static wheel balancer works. Its hard to take someone seriously fresh out of high school telling me my steel rally wheel is bent so it wont balance out. Solution to the balancer is a small thing called a bubble balancer, the one in my dads shop has universal wheel lug patterns so you just lay the tire flat on it and place your weights until the bubble is in the center.

Way back in the day my dad ran a Goodyear store, he said one year a Indy car race team used their shop to balance the tires for the race car, and they used a bubble balancer, so if its good enough for those tires it should be plenty accurate for anything we will be driving.

I got a manual tire changer. I would like to have a old electric one thats free of dirt cheap.

 

[Irishman999]

I've never seen an electric one, this sounds interesting.

 

[davbell22602]

I've never seen an electric one, this sounds interesting.

I mean old electric tire changer. I seen them in the Northern Tool for like $6,000.

 

[HotRodPC]

That **** is phuked up.

Yes it is, but I bet it happens every single day. I have said before, I have only paid people to mount tires and align my vehicles cuz I didn't have the equipment.

 

[HotRodPC]

I got a manual tire changer. I would like to have a old electric one thats free of dirt cheap.

I have seem them old Coats brand type for $500 that run off air. I wouldn't mind having one of those and a spin balance machine myself.

 

[Old77]

I mean old electric tire changer. I seen them in the Northern Tool for like $6,000.

$6k??? Good golly!!!!

 

[HotRodPC]

I used to love tinkering on my vehicles....Every spare moment I had was spent adjusting this, or replacing that.....Over the years, my body started fighting back and reminding me of the abuse I gave it, and I am limited to what I can and can't do anymore......This last go around with shoulder surgery made me realize that I need to slow down and do what I can and have somebody else do the rest....

I'm in the same boat myself with lower back, upper back, neck, arms, shoulders and hands. I'm do for 4 surgeries. I am told I should be good as new after that. Funny thing is, I was told the same thing after the first 2 surgeries. Now I even wonder if I should the other 4. But, I still work on my stuff, just very slowly now and at my own pace.