Many of you snow birds or full timers are probably getting ready to head south to avoid the coming winter. If you're like me, you probably do some of your chassis maintenance along the way.
I've been searching casually for months for a 'stop in, get it done, leave' shop along the road with an eye out for a nice RV park to stay at nearby, but I'd not found any shops or locations to my liking. Until I got to Hines, Oregon, along US-20. There I spotted what looked like a good shop, it was busy but not too busy. The shop is attached to a restaurant & convenience store along with a Sinclair truck stop (large enough for big RVs and the best fuel prices locally). Hines is very close to Burns, Oregon, which has a nice RV park where I stayed for a week.
With regular maintenance and a small repair to my exhaust system in mind, I stopped in at "The Truck Shop" and talked to the owner Mike. And yes, they do maintenance on RVs so I make an appointment. What I liked about the shop is the no BS zone attitude of the owner and employees. And they were familiar with RVs. The shop was full with big rigs in various stages of repair and on appointment day Mike backed my RV into the only open bay. I'm familiar enough with big shops to know an efficient one when I see it, and I like the looks of this shop.
I always felt involved with the (admittedly simple) work that needed done. Just an oil change, along with filters, along with fluid level checks. I did not have the maintenance records for this Winnie Journey DP with Cat 3126 engine and I knew the consignment dealer would never have done much more than topping off the fluids before I bought it so after 1.5 years of driving it, it was certainly time to get it done.
I had brought my own oil, oil filter, and fuel/water separator and the shop had no objections to using them. As it turned out though, the Cat dealer sold me the wrong fuel/water separator. But no problem, The Truck Shop picked up the right one from the local NAPA store and we traded straight across.
They took care of the oil and filters, topped the radiator, as well as lubed the chassis and checked the transaxle fluid. All in under an hour. The office manager also tracked down and ordered on their dime a couple parts needed for the exhaust work I needed, arranging an appointment at a local shop they partner with nearby for the metal cutting and welding.
The grease, a 1/2 gallon of antifreeze, parts for the exhaust, and labor all came to $146 at their normal rate of $92/hour.
I'm a happy camper. I'd recommend this shop if you're going to be passing by this direction. Makes for a good reason to stop and visit the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge nearby.
Happy Travels!
