I don't even let others take my tires off. If I need them balanced or need
> new tires, I jack her up, take off all 4 wheels, throw em' in my other truck
> and take them to the tire place. Alignments are the ONLY thing I let others
> do as I simply don't have the equipment, and even then, I only take it to
> one place that's a 2 hour drive from where I live now as I trust ONE > mechanic there.
>
> Lower balljoints? I'd yank the control arm and take it to a shop to have
> the new ones pressed in, then put it back together myself. AT overhaul?
> I'd yank it, put it in my other truck and drive to Gary Glaenzer's shop (or
> maybe ship it there) and pay him to do it.
>
> It's not hard to find good help these days, it's IMPOSSIBLE. A peer of mine
> just lost the motor in his new Grand Cherokee due to a Wal-Mart employee not
> tightening the oil filter properly. Puked out all the oil within 5 miles
> and she locked up. Honestly, how f**kin hard is it to tighten an oil
> filter? These are guys that got fired from the toothpaste factory as they
> couldn't quite master screwing the caps on the tubes.................. >
> Basically, when a job comes up I don't have the tools for, I just buy the
> tools and do it myself.
>
> Doc
>
>
Looks like you and I came from the same school Doc, except I'm not lucky enough to have that '2nd truck' to throw the tires and tranny into. *But* I do watch the guy that handles the wrench when he takes off my tires, and make sure he properly torques 'em back down. As for the tools, the way I see it - if I need it once, I'll need it again. :-)
Jeremy