Incompetent Mechanics
 

So I bring my truck down to one of my local mechanics. I know the owner and he's a real straight-shooter. He is a mech to help the community; doesn't lie and tells it like it is without the bullsh*t.
I have him give my truck the once-over to make sure everything is up to par. When I went down there to pick it up later in the day, I noticed that one of the younger, less experienced mechanics was just putting the tires back on so he could lower it from the lift.

By the time I was home, the truck had some sort of death wobble that scared the hell out of me. I looked all over the front-end and couldn't find a thing. Then I pop off the lug nut cover...
Long story short, the lug nuts weren't tight on one of my tires.

I was pissed.

I just thought i'd share that with you guys.
Anyone else have something like that happen with your trucks?

Damn that sucks! Good thing it didn't fall off on you. Make sure it didn't damage the threads on the studs, if so they should replace them all on the wheel for free and they should re-torque all lug nuts by hand with a torque wrench to verify. If the owner is good on customer service he should have no problem with that. Good luck.

I normally do all my own work on my truck, but the one time I had someone else do it for me (because lack of free time this whole month), something like this had to happen. That's my luck haha.
But I checked everything out seems to be in good condition. The treads, studs, and lugs are are fine.

That sucks. I did that to myself once, nothing like a bad wobble at 75.

I could fill up the forums listing all the incompetent mechanics I've seen over the decades, but only a few names for the good ones.
That's why I don't hold any stock in being ASE certified..the few good ones aren't.
The same goes with our EPA requirements. I follow all the rules and watch as a high level dumps anti-freeze on the ground over a drinking water well...gezus.

p.s. Most tire mechanics are high school stoners hired at barely minimum wage.. I will just buy a tire buster and balancer on Craigslist since so many shops are going out of business.

got a front end alignment once, only had to go half a mile to get home, and something was really wrong.....they had over 60psi in the front tires....

same place lifted the rear of one of my cars, with the jack on the shock bolt, bent it good...

then I got a LOF there and the tech left grease on the drivers seat...

When I told management how service had been failing lately, he says, "well, some customers just can't be pleased"....

that was my last time there.

Noticed your address and avatar, I used to work in the Metrology lab at Palo Verde, and Units 1 I&C shop, and the radio shop....before getting transferred to the Deer Valley complex..

That would piss me off so damn much. I don't understand how some people lack that much common sense. And I don't know how businesses, like the one you just mentioned, are still in business if their customer service is that bad.

We took my girlfriends truck in to get a rear main seal replaced. It needed a tune up so I told him to go ahead and do that too. When he called me to tell me how much it would cost, I about crapped. I had him break down the cost for everything. He wanted to charge over $300 for the tune up! I asked why so much and he said "well that truck has 8 spark plugs". LOL, I told him he can skip the tune up, just do the rear main seal. I did the tune up for under $50 myself.

I took it to another mechanic because it had a miss. He grabbed a can of carb cleaner and sprayed it around the engine bay thinking it probably had a vac leak. Well let's just say it wasn't a vac leak, it was actually a spark plug wire not plugged in! The flames were shooting out of the engine bay high enough for me to think it was going to burn to the ground lol. I ran and shut the truck off and he grabbed a fire extinguisher. There was actually no damage, but was frekin scary! I haven't been back to either shop.

After the first three months of owning my 94 Dakota the rear freeze out plugs went.
At the time I didn't like messing around with Transmissions, so I had a local big box shop perform the fix. I told the manager my main concern is the transmission. It does not have a leak please be careful with the process.

Less than a week later my Fuel pump died and I had 0 experience performing that work, the truck is my only vehicle, and I had 0 time to do the work. So I went back again. After the work the rear seal started leaking and my fuel gauge stopped working. My family told me to go back to have them fix what they broke. I didn't have the time, but really I just didn't want to go back in case something else would be "fixed". A Rear seal is maybe 2 dollars? So cheap.

I went to a local transmission place my parents always went to and the guy does great work. He fixed the leak and added an aftermarket cooler for me. He even replaced an engine mount that he thought was going to fail soon for free. If anyone here is in South Jersey and needs Trans work I'll point you right to this guy.

I am waiting for the Spring to pull the bed of the truck to fix the sending unit. Also replacing my own shocks and brakes for now on. I am tired of morons touching my truck.

When my Transmission goes (hopefully in a long time and when I have a second car.) I'll be digging up a 5 speed manual and doing it myself as a fun learning project!

I will probably avoid mechanics for the rest of the time I have my truck. There is something to be said about doing it right with your own two hands. It's not just another job to pass time before the work clock ends it's your joy and hobby.