debating whether to goto jiffy/mr lube vs local mechanic to grease my front end

J

jalikaria24

Joined
Sep 23, 2017
Messages
433
so my truck has the following grease points:
-2 on upper control arms
-2 on lower control arms
-1 on Idler Pivot assembly
-1 on Idler Arm
-1 on Pitman Arm
-2 on tie rod outers
-2 on tie rod inners

i know the control arms and tie rods are easy to get to and i bet any shop would do those properly but i dont think ive ever had the idler pivot or the idler arm or the ptiman arm ever greased or greased in a while so i really want to get those greased. my skid plate will have to be removed to reach those, and i called around to most of these lube shops and they all said they would do it for free to $15 which is pretty fair but the things im scared for is that ill drive up into the shop and they will end up only greasing the easy points like the ball joints and tie rods and then i wont be able to see if the the idler pivot or pitman / idler has been greased once the skid plate is put back on. i was thinking of going to a craigslist mechanic but all of them are rip offs, they want like $50 just to grease the front end???

i was thinking of going to one of these grease shops and explaining to the service guy that i really want them to ensure they grease the idler/pitman etc

is that the best way to get this done and hope for the best or what would you do? i cant do it myself since i dont have a grase gun or a place to do all this

thx
 
What truck is this? If it's high enough, you might be able to slide under and grease everything yourself.
 
What vehicle?

Nobody in their right mind would grease all that for $15, assuming some of those do not have grease zerks and require moving the boot? Or worse, lazily stabbing a hole in it with a grease needle.

Did you list all these things to the lube places, explaining what it entails so they don't think they're just sticking a nozzle up in there and taking 3 minutes to do it, if they're slow at it?

Do remove the skid plate yourself before you take it to them if you need to inspect the work. Besides, the last thing I want is some kid a a lube place, taking fasteners off and on, is a good way to damage them. To be fair I'm overgeneralizing, there are competent people at lube places too, but many of them are not and you're asking for trouble when they do more than simple things. If I ever take a vehicle to a lube place, I will instruct them NOT to touch my air filter or anything else, so they don't break anything.
 
Besides the skid plate, the wheels may need to be removed to reach the upper and lower ball joints. Jiffy Lube garages typically park the car over a pit to change oil, so they're not prepared to remove wheels at all. This is not a $15.00 job or something to expect free as part of an oil change.
 
on my truck all 11 of them have grease/zerk fittings. no need to use a needle or anything. i called around and i even told the guy on the phone that they have to take off the skid plate and hes like yah np we wont charge for that, he wanted $7.50 and some others wanted $10-15 and they all seemed fine to remove the skid plate and to grease all 11 of them, they said np..

this is without any service, i told them i dont need a oil change
 
The Craigslist mechanics I assume would come out to the vehicle to do this job? $50 seems more than fair for a house call where they have to come to you, remove a skid plate, grease 11 points, then reattach a skid plate. Personally, unless it was a friend, I don't know that I'd do that for $50 and I have a grease gun.

The only way you will know for sure if they greased everything is to look behind them and see for yourself. Otherwise you don't know if the $50 guy just took a nap under your truck, or if the free guy hit every single zerk after wiping it off. If you want to be sure, you need to do it yourself or at least check the work yourself. Barring physical ability limitations, this is a job that can be done in just about any parking lot. You can give the service writer information on all the grease points, but you will only KNOW if you look yourself after the work is completed. Nobody here can tell you for sure if Jiffy Lube, the dealer, or anyone else will get every grease point without checking behind them also. You either need to have trust that they will, or check for yourself.
 
skyactiv said:
I would imagine Jiffy lube would not remove a skid plate as needed to grease fittings.
Click to expand...

If they did, they would mess it up.

I seriously thought about taking my car to a local Valvoline Instant Oil Change center but I thought about it.. they would see that the only thing that doesn't work on my car are the windshield washer nozzles and then read me the riot act. Then pressure me. Then pressure me more. And they had two guys under the hood of a car at once. Whatever they were doing.. looked like a scam and I decided against it.

Though.. for those of us without the resources to do it ourselves. Can't change oil on the street, have to buy all tools including ramps, no place to put said tools.. do need to find a way to get car oil changed, reasonably. What do we do?
 
apollo18 said:
on my truck all 11 of them have grease/zerk fittings. no need to use a needle or anything. i called around and i even told the guy on the phone that they have to take off the skid plate and hes like yah np we wont charge for that, he wanted $7.50 and some others wanted $10-15 and they all seemed fine to remove the skid plate and to grease all 11 of them, they said np..

this is without any service, i told them i dont need a oil change
Click to expand...

Would be curious to see how much that changes when you get there.
 
RadioMannnn said:
Would be curious to see how much that changes when you get there.
Click to expand...

Yes or if they screw up and do something else.

IMO there are too many other factors that might go wrong. I'd be looking to do it yourself and do it right. If it was only $15 how do you know they will do them all? If you need to go back multiple times that $15 wasn't a good deal since your time is worth money as well.
 
JC1 said:
Yes or if they screw up and do something else.

IMO there are too many other factors that might go wrong. I'd be looking to do it yourself and do it right. If it was only $15 how do you know they will do them all? If you need to go back multiple times that $15 wasn't a good deal since your time is worth money as well.
Click to expand...

That is like what happened when the hack mechanic used what looked like Permatex Red as a valve cover gasket and called it good. That car never ran right and that work was part of a $600 bill, including items changed I could have sworn were working fine.

Scams.

You don't think they happen but they do.

Now, my car is a Limited Edition of what it is and started life in California and aside from getting slightly beat up the last couple of months there is still nothing wrong with it.. 8300 miles on new oil, it should be changed but still looks very clean.. I do not trust VOIC or anywhere that will charge me $120 to strip bolts

I'm not sure I trust these garages, either.

Just might do it on the street when I find a place to store the ramps...........................
Drain pans, duh.....
 
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