All the more reason to bake a pie, have a slice
with a cup of coffee.

I say if you can bake a pie, you can work on your
VW. And then have a slice and a cup affter you're
finished.

My first repair was fixed the rear brakes on a
British Hillman. I had no tools, and borrowed the
Chilton's from the library.

Now days it cost so much to have work done that
may not be as thorough ,  that it pays to do your
own work.

And , just like ABC, with a good manual and a few
tools, you the everyday people can do it.  I
don't even own a roll around tool box, or air
compressor. Just basic Sear's tools.

I'm replacing a automatic trans in an 85 GL./
Local shop rate is $75.00 hour,  and they don't
clean or paint it.

The last time I had a shop do work for me, they
went $500.00 over the estimate.
Since that day, I am my own mechanic. I would'nt
own a car if I could'nt fix it myself.

Mechanics tend to be stubborn and like to do
things their way. I just can't stand that when
you are paying all that money.

After a while you become as knowledgable or more
than your mechanic. They are'nt rocket scientists
you know !

The basic rule for clutches and TO bearings is
always replace NEW. The expense of the parts is
far cheaper than labour.

These are parts that normally last a long time
and cost a lot in labour to replace, so the
wisdom is put new parts where it's not going to
be looked at for a long time.

Changing out a manual Vanagon trans is easy. It's
more complicated with the Syncro, and a real bear
in a automatic.

I make one concession- If I found someone to
replace the automatic trans for 1,000, and the
Vanagon was worth several thousand, like a
camper, I say- yes.

But this is just a Passenger for 2,500.

I have to remember to pick up those pie crusts
and a can of coffee at the store.

Drop in for a slice and coffee anytime.

Robert

1982 Westfalia

--- Christopher Gronski <gronski@GMAIL.COM>
wrote:

> I should have mentioned, after all that, he
> replaced the first dead
> bearing with ANOTHER USED BEARING from the
> other transmission. Despite
> me saying "Are you sure that is a good idea
> after the first one
> failed?" his reply was something like "Well it
> is a used transmission,
> used flywheel and a used clutch".
>
> Honestly I think he re-used the first bearing
> because he was in a bit
> of a hurry to get me out of his shop and did
> not want to order one,
> and same again with the second bearing. He was
> going on holidays for
> two weeks and wanted this off his plate.
>
> I'm going to give him the $200, but if the
> second used bearing fails
> its all on him.
>
> Chris
>
> On 7/6/06, John Bange <jbange@gmail.com> wrote:
> > >  I did SORT OF sanction the use of used
> parts
> > > (indeed the whole transmission was used.
> When he suggested a new
> > > clutch and flywheel I said: "Can you look
> at the old ones and see if
> > > it is OK to reuse them? But if its not then
> order a new one". That
> > > said, whenever he sugested a new part I
> said "no problem". The message
> > > could have been unclear, but was intended
> to be really "just to try to
> > > reuse what was pricy if it still seemed
> OK".  Indeed I replaced the
> > > perfectly functional starter at the same
> time because of the ease of
> > > access during transmission removal. I would
> not have blinked if he
> > > said we should get a new $17.82 release
> bearing.
> >
> >
> > Yeah, that's kind of a tough spot to be in,
> for both y'all. We run into
> > similar things all the time at work
> (locksmith/access control in
> > particular). My boss calls it "last man
> buys".  No matter what fool
> > originally installed the system you're
> repairing, and no matter how terrible
> > a job he did, if you come to fix part A and
> then a week later part B craps
> > out too, they look at YOU! Normally we follow
> the policy of "when in doubt,
> > change it out", but sometimes the client is
> cost conscious (usually property
> > managers with a limited budget) and asks us
> to reuse as much as we can. When
> > that happens, it turns into a bit of a crap
> shoot. We have to then start
> > gauging the DEGREE of doubt about the
> serviceability of a part. Generally,
> > we end up leaving in expensive parts and only
> replace the cheap ones, but
> > the mindset of "save money" is already there.
> Sometimes we'll leave a crappy
> > low voltage transformer that would only cost
> $20 to replace, and sure
> > enough, that's the next part to die. Usually,
> if they're a decent client,
> > we'll just replace it for the price of the
> part if it's not too hard to get
> > to, but nowadays we always HEAVILY disclaim
> (in writing) all work where the
> > client asked us to save money because
> otherwise we'd spend half our time on
> > non-paying callbacks. Really, if you make
> cost is the bottom line, you'll
> > pretty much always end up with a compromise
> job and something, somewhere is
> > probably going to die early. I think the best
> way to get a "max quality" job
> > done is to say "change whatever you would
> change if this was your own". If
> > you've got an honest technician, you'll pay a
> little more, but the system
> > will be less likely to fail, and if it does
> happen to fail, he'll be more
> > likely to  stand behind his work and fix it.
> > In the case of your crapped out bearing, It
> seems like the mechanic feels
> > really bad because he knows he probably
> should have just replaced it when he
> > had the chance because it's a cheap part
> that's hard to get at, but at the
> > same time, you DID ask him only to replace
> parts that looked unserviceable.
> > Personally, I'd pay him the $200. I don't
> have a lot to go by, but he sounds
> > like an honest guy who knows what he's doing,
> but got the poopy end of the
> > stick on a tough judgement call and had to
> eat a whole bunch of labor on it.
> > 200 samoleans seems like a fair compromise.
> > --
> > John Bange
> > '90 Vanagon - "Geldsauger"
> >
>

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