The financial benefits of maintaining our own cars

[OR VietVet]

As a young guy (36).. who is in a unique position (my wife and I have a house on the same property as my parents) which helps alleviate some of the dumb money decisions we made early on.. we are fortunate that we always have at least 1 spare vehicle during long repairs. This alone helps. I was able to spend 6 weeks messing with the wife's Yukon between the cooling system and pulling the head to get a broken bolt out. I don't even know how many hours I spent letting it heat up and then cool down to work on it.. but I bet I would have had at least a few hundred dollars in labor saved. And now I know more about my vehicle which is nice for when we are on long road trips and may have issues 100s of miles away from help.

Also.. buying tools for specific jobs . I used to think 'is x dollars worth it? Meh probably not I'll only need it this once or maybe a 2 time'.. then I bought the wrench for pulling mechanical fans off.. I feel like I'm cheating at that game now. What used to be 5 or more minutes of getting an old belt and vice grips lined up and on.. I can now get them off in about 30 seconds with far less effort and no chance of hurting myself or the part.. I now buy the correct tool for certain jobs lol

That is why, when I ran shops, my tech could beat book time that I sold the job for and he/she did that because they had the right tools and knowledge. That extra money he/she made by getting right on the next job quicker, was a way for them paying for those expensive and proper tools they used.

 

[GO0BER]

I need to start getting electric wratchets and tools too.. but Milwaukee is dang expensive

 

[Sparksalot]

I need to start getting electric wratchets and tools too.. but Milwaukee is dang expensive

I’ve got a couple of Ridgid tools. I really love the 1/2” impact wrench.

 

[OR VietVet]

I have Milwaukee 1/2" impact, 3/8" pistol grip impact and a 3/8" ratchet. Could not be happier and the quality is obvious. In the scheme of things, they are worth the money in the long run.

 

[LordWayback]

I need to start getting electric wratchets and tools too.. but Milwaukee is dang expensive

Hell yeah hand tools suck after cracking the nut , if you’re down for air tools you can get a decent used IR air ratchet or comparable for like $30 at a garage sale if it’s not a old school ones (production date 1995> I believe that’s around the time almost tool companies started making total junk unless you bought the top of the line stuff) don’t buy it ,I scored a old air ratchet for $10 when my dad still worked for sun bus and it lasted me until 2020 when my air compressor quit if I break it out and get a new or used compressor it should chooch right up and it’s almost twice my age. Its a Rockwell model 2206 I believe.

 

[LordWayback]

Full steel everything internals the only jank part is the actuator for the air a single 2mm? Pin is all that’s stopping the air from moving I believe.

 

[OR VietVet]

I like to buy tools once and be done with it all.

 

[gpracer1]

A tip I learned from the Powerstroke.org site when trying to remove the mechanical cooling fan clutch huge spinning nut from the water pump on my 7.3…….hit the nut corner with an air chisel, works in 1 second.

 

[OR VietVet]

I am still looking for a battery powered chisel. I used to use my air powered IR air chisel for all kinds of things.

 

[LordWayback]

I like to buy tools once and be done with it all.

If I didn’t cheap out on a air compressor this thing would still be running in fact I’m retiring this one and buying a identical similar serial number one tomorrow from eBay then I just need a air compressor and 1/2” skookum impact I’m probably gonna find a used milf***y or snap off that’ll outlive me and my willingness to work on vehicles.