truck repair shops ain't worth a #### anymore

Not all shops are the same. Detroits are common enough, they should be able to work on it. Shame on them. But, at least they were honest with you and didn't spend hours and hours and waste more of your time and money. Find somewhere else.

 

I live about 5 miles from my local Volvo dealer. I wouldn't let them touch my truck if they did the work for free.

I go 1800 miles from my home to get work done on my truck. Found a decent dealer in Yakima Wa. of all places lol.

Or, there is a little bitty shop about 20 miles from my house for small stuff like axle seals.

Found a Freightliner dealer in Orlando FL the other day. Give me fifty cents and I will burn it down. Worst screwing I have ever taken!!! Billed $450 for a $.50 part, and 20 minutes worth of work.

 

Best mechanic I've found so far is me. Screws up just as much. Costs a whole lot less.

But being real, I just did my overhead last night on my C15 and there is NO WAY I'd pay to have that done ever again. Too easy IMO. My truck hasn't seen someone else's shop since I had the last alignment done. I even do the tire work about 50 to 75 percent of the time. Just not worth paying $100/hr to a shop with little more actual skill than I have myself. If I can get the manuals or other information necessary to do the work, the only limit becomes any specialized tools.

Water pump, wheel bearings/seals, thermostats, brakes, tires, exhaust, wiring, body work, suspension, fifthwheel rebuild, A/C work, oil changes, starters, and some stuff I know I'm forgetting, has all been done on our trucks or our good friends trucks. Between my father, myself and our circle of friends, we have the skills to do almost anything we should need to.

I'm even expecting to see us do our own inframes in the future. The last one went out because of time constraints and by the time they finally got it done, I think we could have done it anyway. Just not seeing much advantage in paying others to do things we mostly can and certainly like doing ourselves anyway. We all like working on cars as a hobby to start with and what the hell, it's just bigger...

 

Your not gonna get a Detroit worked on anywheres but Stewart & Stevenson or Freightliner and its been that way for at least 10 years now every since Daimler bought Detroit. Rush truck centers will work on them but they dont like to and they wont warranty them. Although you can take your Navistar powered Ford to a Ford dealer and expect service, it is what it is and it has been that way for quite a while.

 

That's just sad...

 

TRS and SRS sensors?

 

Empire Truck Sales in Mobile, Al some of the best service I have ever received.

Three times I drove in there this week and each time they were on my truck in less than 1.5 hours.

And their prices were VERY good.