TheDirtman

I work on my own jeep and really enjoy it most of the time. It helps if you have the room and tools to be able to work on your own pace and have another vehicle to use as a daily driver. I am in the 100's of hour of work on my jeep and am always tinkering on it. I can't wait to get the new house build and get into my new shop as the rental I am in is tiny and a pain in the ass just to park in let alone work on stuff. I would look for a shop that is use to working on JK off road vehicles as many don't have a clue of the specific's.

I would agree with ABEDEX that working on it yourself will go a long way in fixing things that break.

deepjeep13

I do all my own work, bringing the jeep in for an oil change was the first time taking my jeep to a shop, over paid and took an hour. When you do work yourself you know how its dont an if it breaks you know how to fix it.

hypeiv

I didn't install everything by myself, but I didn't pay a professional to do it either. I found a local Jeep club and some local members on this forum to give me a hand and I have participated installing all of my mods. The only payments I have made for install is in the form of beer and food for those who helped me. Doing it this way I have learned a lot about my Jeep and feel more confident when I look under the Jeep to check for any problems. I have also been able to use this knowlege to help others with their installs. I would recommend trying to do something similar with your Jeep.

Twinpost

I'm probably luckier than most, been turning wrenches a long time, and have a fully equipped shop when I want it. But even if I didn't, nobody else is going to take the time to do things the way I want them done.

ronin2120

I enjoy working on my Jeep it's relaxing and I get a great sense of satisfaction when I successfully finish a project. Not everything I have done has been easy in fact with me doing the work I have probably created more problems that I needed to fix. In the end I have learned a lot more doing it this way which has made me more comfortable and knowledgeable with my Jeep. Another big thing for me is that the money I save from installing it myself gets put back in to the Jeep based on the agreement my wife and I have. You look at the cost of some of these installs for things that turns out to be some pretty good parts.

Mark Doiron

I've done everything but the regear my rig. Along with the regear, I had the axles sleeved and lockers installed (most of the labor was already paid for). I didn't do the regear because of a lack of experience with that type of work. Like OP, I'm "handy", but followed the advice on this forum to not tackle regearing because of inherent risks of screwing it up. However, I now have a friend who is comfortable installing gears (has done it numerous times), so I'm quite willing to tackle anything. Some of the work I've done, beyond the mods, includes:

1. Replaced clutch.
2. Replaced front inner axle seals.
3. Replaced ball joints.
4. Replaced engine front main seal.
5. Replaced e-brake pads (no, it didn't make the e-brake work any better).

If you can't see my signature, you can see by my rig that I have a few mods ...



My friend has a good shop with a lift (I have the tools, but no lift and must work outside my garage since the Jeep is too tall to fit in it!



I encourage everyone to do their own work--get a fellow Jeeper to help if you question your experience or don't have the tools. There's a great deal of pride in knowing you built it. And you'll know way more about your rig for when the inevitable breakage happens out in the middle of nowhere if you do!

coachholland

If you have no clue what you're doing, I'd trust a shop before someone who has never turned a wrench, but I'd also research the shop and talk to them myself to make sure they know what they're doing. Also, doing things yourself, is not always cheaper initially due to the investment in tools that you may not have. However, that investment does pay off long term and one can never have too many tools.

That said, working on my own rig has given me the knowledge to fix the majority of issues that can come up if on a trail or even out on the road somewhere. If you are clueless when it comes to working on rigs, then find a club and offer beer, pizza and/or payment and you get in and get your hands dirty too.

jnabird333

One thing that should be considered when paying for work is how the tech is being paid....

Most mechanics get paid "flat-rate" this means that a job pays a certain amount of time no matter how long it actually takes them to do it. For example: let's say front brake job pays 30 minutes. The mechanic will be paid for 30 minutes of work whether it takes them 5 minutes or 5 hours. This promotes a low quality of work, especially if problems arise. If a tech has a short week it becomes a race to get cars on and off their rack as quickly as possible to put food on the table. It is not uncommon for some mechanics to work for 30 hours and get paid for well over 40. If the shop is slow it is also not uncommon for a tech to work for 60 hours to get paid for 20.

With the above information in mind I ask you this: Who is most interested in the quality of the work being done on your vehicle? You or a mechanic that only sees your car and never faces you? (Most stay hidden behind a Service Writers these days.) It is my belief that even if you have less skill, you can actually do better work because you have more vested in the outcome.

Don't get me wrong. I know there are plenty of great mechanics that that pride in the work they do and treat every vehicle like it was their Mom's. But it seems like the number of these types is dwindling.

For me, there is absolutely nothing that I will not do myself. I feel so strongly about this that I just purchased my own 2-post lift for my shop and continue to spend the money I save on labor on high quality tools further enabling my abilities.

Maertz

diy vote here. especially if you plan to offroad it hard without a trailer. It will get you used to how stuff works so you know when it breaks.

T&ERun

The only thing I haven't been comfortable doing on my Jeep is installing gears and lockers. Everything else is done by me (and buddies with some beer and pizza of course). I agree that if you very little experience with wrenching you probably shouldn't attempt too much too quickly. Try to find some friends that know how and work with them and learn. I started welding about 2 years ago and pretty much taught myself (other than an 8 hour class at our local machine/gas supplier). I was able to get good enough in that time period to trust myself to weld on my evo sliders and make some brackets for my arb compressor, high lift, and a few others. It's a lot of fun doing it yourself as long as you know how or have someone there to help you if you don't.