Good mechanic in Austin, TX

Steve wrote:

> Sounds about right, given the fact that you have to drop the
> transmission to change a clutch (labor time= $$). And reassembly
> requires careful alignment of all the parts. That's about what a
> co-worker paid recently at an Austin shop for a domestic truck.

that's why the Powers That Be toss in that handy clutch alignment tool
in those clutch kits.

i didn't make myself clear on the original post so i might sound a
little snappy he i am experienced at working on cars and motorcycles.
i do all the work on my motorcycle and truck. that doesn't just mean
tune-ups and oil, btw. i understand what goes into r'n'r-ing a clutch.
on top of this, i work for the company that makes _the_ premiere
automotive aftermarket catalog and let's just say i'm not their
receptionist or a frilly-froo-froo salesperson. that company's old name
rhymes with Driad.

my gut felt that 600 was a bit steep and 700 just plain riggin'
friduculous. jobber price for a Sacs clutch kit for this truck is $116.
hell, i can go down to the local CarQuest shop and buy the kit for $125
as your local idiot off the street w/ cash in hand. resurfacing the
flywheel costs the shop maybe 30 bucks. let's say that labor is 75 bucks
an hour. do you mean to tell me that a highly trained mechanic armed
with good tools, a lift and a tranny jack is going to take 7 hours to do
my clutch? or course, the shop is going to turn around and try to sell
the parts to me to me at full list of $199... so 6 hours to do my
clutch? not. more like 3-4 real hours on the lift, 125 in parts
(including rear main) and 30 for the machine shop. hell, i'll let them
mark the parts up to $199.

my gut feels that $500 is a more of a reasonable price to pay using good
parts and, hey, guess what? after making a few more calls from
recommendations, i got quotes in that range, which includes resurfacing
the flywheel and replacing the rear main. in fact, the original shop who
gave me the 600-700 quote turned around and requoted me $550 after i
laid down the law, mumbling something about assuming that my truck was a
4x4 when i called. doesn't hurt that i know how much their "high dollar"
super premium LuK (and totally unnecessary for a 2.4L ~100 hp trucklet
but they insist!) clutch kit cost because all i have to do is ask one of
MY customers who SELL THEM their parts! they wanted $250 for the kit
alone! NOT!!!!

rant over. thanks to everyone who gave meaningful advice and marriage
proposals.

-Beth

"beth" > wrote in message
...
> Travis Jordan wrote:
>
>> Shouldn't need to replace the rear seal unless it is leaking or they
>> have to pull the flywheel.
>
> that rear seal is 177K/16 years old. it can drive itself to the mechanic.
>
> it's gonna get replaced cuz murphy's law of vehicles states that once
> you've removed the Very Large Thing that is required to r'n'r a seal, if
> you don't replace it, it'll start leaking within 1000 miles.
>
>> Feel free to do it yourself. Be forewarned: it is a messy, hard job.
>
> oh my! i might stain my frilly dress!!! break a nail!
>
> -Beth

Y'all don't sound like the type to worry too much about those things. I
might damage my manicure, but I don't worry too much about it. (That's one
of the reasons I started getting manicures in the first place, is I was
roughing up my fingers more than I could decently repair the damage.)

Charles of Kankakee

beth wrote:
> Travis Jordan wrote:
> > Feel free to do it yourself. Be forewarned: it is a messy, hard
> > job.
>
> oh my! i might stain my frilly dress!!! break a nail!

I wasn't thinking about you or your clothing. Having done more than a
few clutch replacements in my life, I can tell you that this is a
difficult job even if you have a lift. You do have a lift, right?

beth wrote:

> Steve wrote:
>
>> Sounds about right, given the fact that you have to drop the
>> transmission to change a clutch (labor time= $$). And reassembly
>> requires careful alignment of all the parts. That's about what a
>> co-worker paid recently at an Austin shop for a domestic truck.
>
>
> that's why the Powers That Be toss in that handy clutch alignment tool
> in those clutch kits.
>
> i didn't make myself clear on the original post so i might sound a
> little snappy he i am experienced at working on cars and motorcycles.
> i do all the work on my motorcycle and truck. that doesn't just mean
> tune-ups and oil, btw. i understand what goes into r'n'r-ing a clutch.


Understood from later posts, I was simply pointing out that no matter
WHO does the job, its a pretty time-consuming job. A clutch is one of
those jobs where the labor cost/parts cost ratio is a fairly large
number, unlike (for example) bolting in a new engine controller which
has a very low labor rate/parts cost ratio. Also one of the reasons I
don't tend to buy manual trans vehicles... I love driving them, just
don't like clutch jobs ever 100k miles.

BTW- for some unknown reason I too was assuming it was a 4x4... don't
know why, since it was never stated or implied anywhere.

sorry about snipping at you. i get defensive sometimes due to prior bad
experiences.

yeah, it's a dirty job and it's an even dirtier job if you do it w/o a
lift. even though i keep the undercarriage of the truck pretty clean,
it's still grimy. i got dirty enough replacing the shocks and that's a
minor, minor job.

i have access to a tranny jack but it's still awkward to wrestle w/ a
tranny on the ground, as compared to having the truck up in the air.
upper body strength is a must and i'm afraid i don't have much of it.

i love a challenge, though. maybe next time.

-Beth

maybe i come across as a 4x4 type of woman? don't know. i really
wanted a 4x4 when i was shopping for this truck. my stepmom, the
infinitely sensible, talked me out of it. she said "a lot of things
you'll need to have done in a shop will cost tons more." thank you,
mom. as usual, you're right.

there's no arguing - pulling a tranny is a labor intensive job. also,
you never know WHAT you're going to find when you agree to do a job
like that. it could be an easy job and you take 2.5 actual hours. it
could turn into a major nightmare and take 8 hours and you have a dead
vehicle up on the lift for 2 days waiting for parts. i can understand a
shop wanting to quote high hours, especially on a high mileage vehicle
that's 16 years old.

beth wrote:
> sorry about snipping at you. i get defensive sometimes due to prior
> bad experiences.
>
> yeah, it's a dirty job and it's an even dirtier job if you do it w/o a
> lift. even though i keep the undercarriage of the truck pretty clean,
> it's still grimy. i got dirty enough replacing the shocks and that's a
> minor, minor job.

No offense taken, and no apology necessary, Beth.

I spent a few years as an import auto mechanic (back in my post high
school daxe...me and my pal Lucas, Prince of Darkness) and one day I got
to the point that I earned enough money to pay others to do the 'hard
stuff'. Now I let the trade professionals do those jobs that I just
don't want to do... which includes just about any work that requires
putting the car on a lift <grin>. Someitimes it bothers me to see the
absurd prices that these 'experts' ask, but on the other hand it just
isn't worth the pain and hassle for me to do it, so most of the time I
just grin and bear it. I think of it as my small contribution to the
U.S. economy.

I admire you for tackling your own shocks, I'm not sure I'd even want
to do that job.

Good luck - I'm sure the clutch job will turn out great for you.

beth wrote:

> sorry about snipping at you. i get defensive sometimes due to prior bad
> experiences.

No problem, just wanted to part on good terms with a fellow Austinite.
Last thing I'd want is a driver specifically angry at ME out on MoPac-
there are enough of them out there that are ****ed at the world in
general already :-)

>
> yeah, it's a dirty job and it's an even dirtier job if you do it w/o a
> lift. even though i keep the undercarriage of the truck pretty clean,
> it's still grimy. i got dirty enough replacing the shocks and that's a
> minor, minor job.

Brake and exhaust work are the ones I hate. Simple *jobs*, but filthy.

OTOH, I love working on automatic transmissions (though getting them out
of the car is repulsive, for all the reasons you mentioned). Clean as an
operating room once you get inside them.


> i love a challenge, though. maybe next time.
>

Heh... careful what you wish for!

> I spent a few years as an import auto mechanic (back in my post high
> school daxe...me and my pal Lucas, Prince of Darkness)

Lucas did once make something that didn't suck..

'Twas a vacuum cleaner.


> and one day I got
> to the point that I earned enough money to pay others to do the 'hard
> stuff'. Now I let the trade professionals do those jobs that I just
> don't want to do... which includes just about any work that requires
> putting the car on a lift <grin>.

Lifts are getting pretty cheap now.. I know I've saved enough in the
past two years alone to pay for one.. (one car is '97 Sebring droptop..
head gasket, lower ball joints ($300 for parts alone), struts, tires,
etc.)

> Someitimes it bothers me to see the
> absurd prices that these 'experts' ask, but on the other hand it just
> isn't worth the pain and hassle for me to do it, so most of the time
I
> just grin and bear it.

Recently had some quotes for tree removal.. want to talk about widely
varying estimates <grin>? I had noticed that manner of pricing before
in the building trades.. when I had the chance I asked some of them
about it. The response I got was that it's not only a question of type
of materials used and quality of workmanship, but how bad does the
contractor want to do the work. The one guy explained it by saying that
he was full up with work... if we wanted him to do the work, we'd have
to make it worth it to him. The guy who's hungry will bid lower to try
to get the work.

I do try to stay away from the quick lube places.. and the best thing
about some of the parts store chains is the lifetime warranty. If the
part is easy to change, I'll get the cheap part with the lifetime
warranty and when it fails get another for free.

>
> I admire you for tackling your own shocks, I'm not sure I'd even
want
> to do that job.

Struts on the above mentioned Sebring.. the upper control arm comes
out with the strut.. what a delightful surprise.

Jim

wrote:
> Recently had some quotes for tree removal.. want to talk about widely
> varying estimates <grin>? I had noticed that manner of pricing before
> in the building trades.. when I had the chance I asked some of them
> about it. The response I got was that it's not only a question of type
> of materials used and quality of workmanship, but how bad does the
> contractor want to do the work. The one guy explained it by saying
> that he was full up with work... if we wanted him to do the work,
> we'd have to make it worth it to him. The guy who's hungry will bid
> lower to try to get the work.

The one guy with the explanation must have stayed awake in his high
school economics class.

I had a barber one time who did just an outstanding job of cutting hair.
He didn't charge any more than the other barbers in town (about $7.00 in
those days) but he gave you one stylish razor cut for that price. He
was so busy I was always waiting for 90 minutes or so just to get in to
see him. So one day I mentioned his workload and he sez "yep, I'm so
busy I'm working 12 hours a day, and I don't know if I can keep up this
pace much longer". So /me gives him a 3 minute lesson in supply and
demand theory and suggests that he raise his prices to the point where
he is as busy as he wants to be, but no more.

A month later his prices were at $11.00. Two months later they were
$13.00, and three months later I found another barber.

Later I heard he retired and moved to a house on the beach in Florida.