Why not doing your own repairs will make you go bankrupt.

New or old. Sometimes you can’t get work done. Worst case with either, you get raked over the coals for things done wrong. I think it depends a lot on if you enjoy mechanical things or not. I need to know if the work being done is necessary and that it’s done correctly. I understand not wanting to do repairs. Often I don’t either. Sometimes there’s literally no choice. I get a lot of satisfaction knowing I’ve saved a ton of money by avoiding Shops. Last brake job on my Trailer cost $2100 at the best Shop in town. Same job shoes and drums cost me $588, a couple weeks ago. Took Me 8 hours, working in a foot of sloppy melting snow. I didn’t want to do it. I think it was well worth it though. Didn’t lose any work because of it, regardless It’s hard to average $1418 after fuel in one day. I’d have to average that amount to justify spending it. My recent double debacle is a perfect example. Woke up Thursday morning, about sunrise, got going. 100 miles from delivery, noticed I had a bad alternator. Only nearby Dealer was out of stock. Pressed for time, I bought a battery just in case I needed it. Made my delivery and picked up my next Load 60 miles away. Had to put the battery in along the way to avoid shutting down, Got Loaded, Drove another 60 miles, got an alternator and installed it. Ran another 200 miles and went to bed. Woke up Friday, ran a bit, and it shut down, had a hole in my new radiator. Took a few hours to patch it up. Ran another 600 miles through storms, and delivered Today on time. The difference is a lot of hassle, $300 spent on parts, Probably 12 hrs of my own labor, by the time I properly repair my radiator, vs. at least one tow bill, and a Shop bill. Along with $2400 net revenue lost on canceled Loads. I had to really scramble, and everything worked out. It doesn’t always, but feels great when it does. Nothing beats overcoming a challenge, instead of being helpless, and at the mercy of others. I still can’t believe everything worked out. It was looking grim. New or old, things are going to happen. Costs need to be minimized.

 

That’s not bad. Parts alone are probably $1500.

 

Thats what I figured. I didn’t get the breakdown of cost. He has an excellent reputation, he is local to where I’m working (.5 miles off the interstate) and he shared his knowledge with me. If a man isn’t willing to answer questions and help me out, I walk away. Some mechanics are just angry and look at you as a dumbarse. Well……I can’t change that without knowledge passed around.

 

Jubal Early

 

Yep, bad attitude is a rad flag. The sayings true. You get what you pay for.

 

Ok. Its $80 a day whether it’s parked at my house or in Lincoln. It’s not costing me money or losing revenue days because I schedule things for when I’m going to be home. I guess my 114 days off last year cost me $9120, if that makes you feel better. And my 42 days off so far this year have cost me $3360.

I ran my last truck for 300k past warranty and paid out of pocket for one nox sensor and the def level sensor. The only things done to my new one was an update on the latches for my side fairings and two software updates on the dash. Zero out of pocket for 140k miles so far. I’ve ran old trucks and newer and then brand new and for me it’s cheaper running new, especially since I have no desire to be around the truck when I have other plans for my time off.

To put it simply, I value my time and I would rather pay someone to work on the truck so my time and energy can be focused on other things going on in my life. And when I decide to start on my cabover project I will write checks for that too.

 

Yeah they're honest people. A while back he looked at spring bushings on one side and said they're fine. I can replace them if you want but they're fine. Looked at the other side too and only charged like 150

 

He made a great first impression. I even had to go back because he found an overlap in model years vs what springs were used and he didn’t want to order wrong ones. Turns out he almost did. Of course everything is covered in mud so they got muddy looking for stamped numbers. Told him I will have it washed before dropping it off. I would never expect someone to work on it filthy like that unless it was an actual breakdown.

 

Costs Me about $100 a day running or parked, to be self employed. Every year it’s more. Probably $115 per day now. That’s without any payments. Makes it hard to relax at home knowing that. Lol. A real argument can be made against buying a used 500k mile Truck that’s going to need a lot of maintenance vs. a brand new one. Not even counting resale values, the used one often costs more to operate.

 

I didn't ask you why I simply said It doesn't sit in your drive way or the dealers shop for free
Neither does mine & I haven't had a truck payment for 27 years but Insurance and license have a cost
I really could give a rat's ### if you work 1 day or 350 days a year thats your choice more power to ya if your Independently wealthy.
To split hairs .. YOUR so called cab over project isn't technically YOUR project.. its just your checkbook buying someone else's knowledge and skill .. any one with a bank account can achive that.. nothing to brag about there other than the amount of money you spend ..Again it matters not to me I'am just pointing that out and will keep my view point of doing that to myself