Maintenance, you vs. the dealership..

[falconbrother]

Just wondering, who does their own maintenance and who pays the dealership to do it?

As for me, I do all of my own repairs and maintenance. But, I'm getting older and I know that I'll need to start outsourcing repairs before too long.

[Camper_G]

thanks for all the comments, suggestions and replies to my post with words of encouragement. i do appreciate them very much. have a good Friday!

[Passin_Thru]

Do my own. Even have a tire machine and mount and balance my own tires. Paid for itself the first year. I need to get in mine a rewire the FM Radio.

[rbpru]

My oil change costs $48.00, it also includes tire rotation, cab filter check, tread depth readout, wheel alignment check and a car wash.

Yes it is twice the cost of many other places, but it allows me to track potential problems. Also there is no way I am going to slide under my TV anymore. More power to those who still can.

[badsix]

i'll be 69 next month and do all my own work. i have a independent rv repair shop here and they are good about giving out info if needed.
Jay D.

[midnightsadie]

dealer said they,d talk to the mech. I don,t go there no more and told all my friends about it. you young guys learn while you can, I,m 71 full of achs and pains and no knees but I get it done. there must be a pain pill out there that helps.but I havn,t found it.

[nineoaks2004]

Camper G wrote:
I have to tell you guys, I'm dang impressed with y'all! It's my sincerest wish that when I'm in my 60s and 70s like y'all, I'll still be physically capable of doing my own work.

I do as much as I can now also. I'm not a great carpenter but do what i can. I enjoy plumbing and electrical. I'm a former meduim/heavy truck tech and do all my own vehicle and equipment repairs. I simply don't trust others working on my stuff. Seen way too many mistakes over the years.

Y'all have inspired me today. I'm in my 40s now and can tell now I'm slower than i was in my 20s. One of my biggest fears is getting older and not being able to turn wrenches and take care of my equipment anymore, so thanks for all these posts from you older guys. I really appreciate them.

One thing I have found out, start at your age to "work smart" let the tools do the work, including heavy lifting ( I use the tractor with a boom pole) also remember (this is one thing I was told by my dad)"if you do not use it,then you lose it"

[jfkmk]

midnightsadie wrote:
a lot of true horror stories about shop repairs, I do most of my own. but when it has to go in for repairs I mark what has to come off ,so I know it was changed. had a oil service done one time ,and they never changed the oil filter. walked back in and told the service guy, he said not possible I showed him the red mark on my old filter still on the rv. I trust shop, well not some of the mech.

Out of curiosity, what did they say when you showed them the red mark on the oil filter?

I had tires put on my little CUV I use as a dd. The dealer offered a free alignment with 4 tires, and the price was the same as buying from tire rack and having them installed. I checked the tire pressure when I got home and found all the tires to be 10 psig over what the door sticker stated. This and something else that I can't remember right now, so I called the dealer back. He said the digital pressure gauges they use must be out of calibration. Yeah, right. It's no big deal, but if they can't handle putting air in a tire, what can I trust them with?

[Redwoodcamper]

I'm 30, and do everything myself. I grew up not knowing anything mechanical, losing my dad at a young age. Didn't take wood or metal shop in high school. Around 20yrs old I started learning. Now at 30 I've built houses, bridges, logged mountains, I'm a certified welder, backyard diesel mechanic, knifemaker...
Some of it comes from being self employed for most of my life. You figure it out yourself until you have more money than time, then on occasion it pays to pay others. But usually they screw it up. So I do it right myself the first time. Or if I screw it up then I learned something and im a better man for it.

[gmw_photos]

I do my own work on the travel trailer. It's really a very simple little tiny home on wheels.

My Nissan truck, I am lucky to have an excellent local dealer service dept. The fellas there do good work in a timely manner. If they need to keep the truck for more than a few hours, they give me a new car or truck to drive, no added cost. So I like to deal with them.

I do generally change oil myself since it's so easy.

My local Ford dealer is another story. I'm about to give up on them for service on the Fords in the family.

I'm 65, and am 8 years retired, so I have plenty of time on my hands to take the time to do the work slowly and correctly on the TT. I like working on it and tinkering with it, making mods to suit my use.

[midnightsadie]

a lot of true horror stories about shop repairs, I do most of my own. but when it has to go in for repairs I mark what has to come off ,so I know it was changed. had a oil service done one time ,and they never changed the oil filter. walked back in and told the service guy, he said not possible I showed him the red mark on my old filter still on the rv. I trust shop, well not some of the mech.

[falconbrother]

I ask this question because my dang eyesight makes it more difficult and after a full day of crawling all over the car Im quite sore. My travel trailer is ready to go for our big winter trip down the coast. The suburban is ready to go as well but, it was a lot of work. I did a front end alignment in my driveway, changed the transmission filter and fluid, oil and filter, lube job, etc, etc.. The reason I did my transmission was that the shop wanted dang near $700 bucks just for that. I also did the SumoSupersprings. Easy job. Nevertheless, I do feel sore when Im done.

We have been RVing since 1987. One time I took a motorhome to a shop to have it serviced. Mainly I thought I needed a pro to do the generator. Found out I already knew a lot about the thing and threw my money away on that deal. Over the years I have paid for shoddy repairs that I should have done myself.

[shum02]

I do everything on the F350 but mounting tires on rims.

Just completed the EGR/Oil Cooler R&R a few weeks back. Good for another quarter million miles.

Truck has only seen the dealer for E-testing.

My other vehicles and the RV the same.

There will be time for resting when I'm dead 😉 and DW leaves me be when I got my head buried into something mechanical! :B

[rightlaneonly]

I used to most of my maintenance on trailer and cars but now I'm almost 78 and honestly -----I just don't want to anymore:B

[rbpru]

At 73 most of my TV maintenance is farmed out to the Ford dealer. It is expensive but done right.

I cannot say the same for the TT dealers I have dealt with. Twice I had the bearings packed and the brakes checked only to find both dealers simply looked at the brakes and greased the axle zerks.

One even put the lug nuts on one side on backwards!! 😞

I doubt some of these repair guys are old enough to remember drum brakes and some of the magnets were worn through and not working.

So the TT maintenance is left to me. It is not really hard or heavy work. But at least I know it was done the way I like. 🙂