Anybody else work on their own truck?

[BeastMan]

I?ve never been a handy guy but between Tacoma world and YouTube I?ve started doing regular maintenance and small fixes on my truck. It?s not that hard and tons of folks have how-to videos. I?ve been saving a fortune. I hit a deer and did some bumper grill replacement myself recently and today I replaced my blower motor resistor. Regular stuff like oil change and air filter is a breeze. I?m thinking I need to add break pad replacement to my load. It?s kinda fun doing a job for $32 (like today) knowing a shop would be hundreds.

[msstatelp1]

..... I?m thinking I need to add break pad replacement to my load.....

Well, if you break enough brake pads, it'll get expensive real quick....sorry, couldn't resist.

If you got disc brakes all the way around, it'll be pretty easy to replace all of them. I'm not a big fan of drums and shoes because discs are so much easier, but I do most of my own maintenance cause I'm too cheap to pay the labor and parts markup.

[BrunswickDawg]

I've got a '94 Jeep Wrangler YJ that I use as my everyday driver. With no electronics, no A/C, no emissions controls, no ABS, it is a piece of cake to work on. I've replaced simple stuff like belts, alternator, plugs/wires/cap. The hardest thing I've done is replace the clutch master cylinder/slave assembly. I had 2 of them blow out on me in pretty quick succession that I paid a mechanic to do. After reading up on a Wrangler Forum, I found out why they blew out so easy (needed Jeep OEM not knock off parts) and a youtube video on how to do it myself. Took me 45 minutes, but it was not terribly hard. I've got a vacuum leak right now that my future SIL (a ME major at State) are going to try and tackle this summer for fun.

And trust me - I am not a mechanically inclined person. I don't think I would try any of this on a more modern vehicle.

[Howboutdemdogs]

I am not a grease monkey, but I work on my 2001 F150 that I hunt out of. It has been abused so much that something is wrong on it all the time. You tube and getting parts drawings online makes it easy and doable.

[aldawg]

I agree it has gotten a whole lot easier with YouTube. I had been having someone do the work for several years, but I have a teenage son now and I decided he needed to learn some of the basics of auto mechanics. It was actually really good to hear him say this is fun when we were under the truck changing oil this weekend. I have a 99 4Runner he is about to learn how to replace break pads on this summer.

[PCHSDawg]

I've been a parts swapper my whole life. Raised my boys to be the same. My nieces are going to learn the basics. I hate paying someone to do something I can do myself, with the exception of my wife's truck, I only do the basics, anything else I pay to have done.