In praise of my awesome Indie mechanic...

[Desert_Captain]

I have been using Carl Shirley {928 951-3500} here in Payson Arizona for all of my mechanical/RV repair needs for nearly 3 years and he is hands down the best I have ever dealt with. Not only is he a great RV technician {who is happy to make house calls} he is also an ASE certified mechanic with his own shop sitting on 3 acres about 4 miles from our home.

When we were camping at big Lake a few weeks ago a gully washing Monsoon storm generated the first leak I have seen in 10 years and it was just a very slow, minor drip that only happened at the height of the storm. I called Carl and he said "No problem, I've resealed lots of RV's drop it off on Monday.

The fiberglass roof on my Nexus is one piece with one piece endcaps front and rear. When I got home from that last trip I went up on the roof and did not see anything that looked like any kind of opening/crack. Carl stripped off all of the original caulking {our coach is 11 years old all of which having been spent in uncovered parking in the Arizona sun} including the endcaps, vent pipes, air, refrigerator and AC vents etc.. and resealed everything using two coats of Dicor self leveling lap sealer which he has used for years. Here are a few pics of the resealed roof:









Two additional Monsoon downpours gave his work a thorough test and not a drop found its way into our coach. The reseal job came to $670. Since he had the rig at his shop I had him change the oil/filter and the fuel filter on my Generac 4Kw generator. Despite spending about 70 percent of our time off grid it only has 110 hours on it as our DC usage is minimal and the two AGM group 27 house batteries carry us typically for 3 to 4 days.

Lastly about 6 months ago the dash AC on our E-350 lost nearly all of the air flow out of the vents. The fan ran fine for the defroster and we still got nice cold air that limped through the vents by convection but it too needed work. Once I described the symptoms he called out the problem immediately. A vacuum line that controls the AC actuators directing the fans output through the dash had been compromised. He correctly attributed it to a rat chewed vacuum hose and spent a couple of hours replacing the hose and recharging {for good measure} the AC system.

The total bill for the reseal, AC repair and generator maintenance came to $950. I use Carl for all of my mechanical, RV Technician needs and recently had him do the 30,000 miles service on my 2019 Honda Ridgeline along with rebuilding the power steering system in my brides Toyota Solara Coupe. His services always come in at just about half of what a dealer quotes and I appreciate the fact that every dollar I pay him goes into his pocket. I am happy to refer friends to him for their needs as well and he reciprocates by always finding time to take care of mine.

Simply put... Win - Win!

:B

[SCarlsen462]

I disagree Carl Shirley is someone I would never refer nor would I want you to trust in. He is a horrible mechanic and will only make it worse. He will only try to take advantage of you.  Do not, I repeat do not use Carl Shirley as your mechanic you will regret your decision. 

[SCarlsen462]

I decided to use Carl Shirley as a mechanic as he seemed like a good guy. I even tried looking for reviews on him and only found this post about him glueing a roof to prevent rainwater from getting in. In my stupidity and regret I decided to give Carl a try. Oh man if I knew the regret of this decision I would have ran and never give this guy the opportunity. In all my car had a vacuum pump failure. It should have been a easy quick fix, that I was actually willing to do myself but due to the fact I was on vacation visiting from mesa at a family reunion I thought my time was better spent with family rather then doing a 2 hour repair. Well Carl told us the problem was resolved and that he used a quality German part from the dealer that cost $250 dollars. After driving 40 minutes after the repair was done the same exact issue with the car occurred. In this case the breaks were difficult to use.  I tried to peacefully talk with Carl about the same issue he had just fixed and he refused to interact or take fault in his work and refused to fix the problem. Anytime I tried to speak with Carl he hung up or refused to speak. If he did speak he would cuss and treat me like the scum of the world with a hot headed temper that was unbearable to listen too. I ended up taking the car to the dealer who informed me the part he used was a cheap quality part that failed after 40 minutes of use.  Carl had also damaged multiple vaccum lines in the area and tried to glue and melt the lines together with a heat gun. All the lines he tried to jimmy rig together had to be removed and replaced. In all Carl is the horrible please I beg you run and do not use Carl Shirley in Payson Arizona. He will only try to take advantage of you and make it worse. 

[Grit_dog]

Always a win to find an honest and competent mechanic!

[PartyOf_Five]

That's great, and thanks for a nice write up. I know some of the folks here use rvservicereviews.com and I've found it helpful as well. Perhaps a positive review there, or at Google-?