Tough times making a DIYer out of you?

[ziggy]

Re: Tough times making a DIYer out of you?

Doing a front brake job yourself for $15- seems a bit low to me. Not sure what you can truly do for that amount.

this break job for $15 is killing me. you can do it for $15 i think. i i watched my neighbor do it on his old nova he had. drums all around. you just swap the shoes out ft. to back. that way you get full use of them he said........

as for the original question. i do as much as i can my self. but i know my limits. and i certainly have them. then ya gotta draw the line a let a pro do it... most recently for me was a tree removal. about 4-5' in dia., very tall, in between two houses. it just didn't seem a diy type deed for me...

 

[puddle jumper]

Re: Tough times making a DIYer out of you?

That's funny I am great with tools but when it comes money and legality I leave it to the pros.

 

[Tim Frank]

Re: Tough times making a DIYer out of you?

this break job for $15 is killing me. you can do it for $15 i think. i i watched my neighbor do it on his old nova he had. drums all around. you just swap the shoes out ft. to back. that way you get full use of them he said........

Ahhhh! That explains it.

 

[eaglejim]

Re: Tough times making a DIYer out of you?

I farm out a lot because I can make more money if I am not working around the house,and the vans well I let the pros take care of them because I generally need them, if I worked on them it would be several days to do what my mechanic can do in a day,and for that same reason people hire us to work on there house

 

[Tim Frank]

Re: Tough times making a DIYer out of you?

I'm far from a long timer here, having joined in November of 08 or somewhere close, but in that little time I have seen this place go from average banter and topics to a crazy amount of posts per day. I kind of pity anyone who clicks 'New Posts' only once per day.. you would have 30 pages to scroll through.

Is it the tough times getting people to do more work themselves or just a Spring thing?

I think you may be right with the "spring thing". Everyone is chomping at the bit to get going again.
What is a regular thing suddenly is the large number of threads that have resurfaced from last fall....or even longer ago.
I saw one restarted that dates back to 2006.

 

[SS MAYFLOAT]

Re: Tough times making a DIYer out of you?

I remember the traffic down here in dockside chat would be a page or 2 daily. Cutting out the politics and very controversial topics did a big change back in Sep 07. Many old timers went by the wayside and many were great contributors. However rules are rules and that is how it goes.

This time of year, especially us folk up north tend to flood the forum with new threads as our season begins. It also gets busy in mid to late summer and early fall.

 

[jkust]

Re: Tough times making a DIYer out of you?

I would agree that brake repair is not hugely difficult, but I would also be concerned what you could accomplish in terms of a "brake job on the front wheels" for $15-.
If I had gone as far as to jack the car up and take off the wheels I would at a minimum, reface the rotors and replace the pads and hardware....you can't do that for $15-.

I must have forgotten to subscribe to this post. Anyway for $15 I can buy one pair of front pads. There is a wholesale brake supply place close to my job and they will sell to individuals. Stuff is very inexpensive there. One of my other cars now needs rotors so I plan to replace those and puts some new pads on as well. New rotors are like $12 a piece if my memory serves me. I will also caviat that I grew up with a father that was an auto mechanic and I was always around when he did side jobs. I did not want to struggle money wise like my folks did when I was growing up so went a different direction careerwise. I have the unusual perspective of a lot of automotive logic just being around it but never caring to participate. I know when the auto shop is feeding me a line and when they are not. I just would not attempt any other types of maintenance or repairs. Plus I just call my dad up and ask him questions on any given situation. He actually came over and walked me thru my first brake job step by step.

 

[Gary H NC]

Re: Tough times making a DIYer out of you?

I do most everything myself...Fix the cars,plumbing and other home repairs.
I have good friends that do heat and ac work and one is a master carpenter..
Sometimes i get the advice from them.

Now after being unemployed since Jan 1rst with no good job prospects i have taken on starting a mobile boat service and repairs.
( Got the idea from TD )
So far i have about 9 jobs lined up for the next couple weeks..
Food on the table man!


Its unreal the people who have no idea how to even change oil.
I'm so glad when i was 12 years old my dad had me working in his auto shop.
I was doing brakes and tune ups and many other jobs by age 14.
By the time i turned 16 i was running the shop several days a week.
I owe my Father for teaching me so much....Too bad he died at age 63.
Hardest working man i have ever known.

 

[OldePharte]

Re: Tough times making a DIYer out of you?

I wish I could work on cars. I never learned as my dad didn't know anything either. Around our house it seemed that as he filled the ashtray, he traded in for another car. He was hooked up with a local dealer and always bought a demo, never new.

Around the house, I know what my limitations are. New sidewalk no way. My neighbor was redoing his driveway and I got them to do my sidewalk.

Decking - no problem.

New roof - No way.

New fence - still working on a solution. The retail cost for the lumber is $400. All bids that have been received exceeded $1,200. Huge profit margin there. So, when the weather improves I'll buy a compressor and nail gun, buy the lumber, and will be ahead by $400.

New windows - Again no way.

Electrical - Depends. I can do most stuff, but know when to get a pro.

 

[idrownworms]

Re: Tough times making a DIYer out of you?

When I was growing up I had a choice of staying inside with grandma or being outside with grandpa
Since it was grandpa who took us fishing in the boat it wasn't a hard choice. When we had to fix something he didn't just show me how to replace parts he explained how it worked and how to make it work again.
With the knowledge I gained I have since repaired everything from sewing machines to power dividers in a class 8 semi. Sadly the manufactures have decided that we need to live in a world where you simply replace not repair

 

[Tim Frank]

Re: Tough times making a DIYer out of you?

Sadly the manufactures have decided that we need to live in a world where you simply replace not repair

Can't disagree that we now live in a disposable world....but....
don't agree that it was a decision by the manufacturers.

Gains in manufacturing efficiency have dropped production costs for new items. They had to compete globally.
Increases in labour costs have driven repair costs in the other direction.
In the past two months i have purchsed a perfectly good DVD player for $39-....$39-!!!! ~ and ~ a microwave for $60-. Great prices.

But, if either of those break, how can I justify getting them repaired?