A first for me

[Chadly]

Yesterday I replaced the inner tie rods on the 97 and aligned it myself. At the auto hobby shop on base, I paid $55 total for parts and to rent the bay/alignment machine. Plus there was a tech there to guide me along. I will be gpoing there more often.

Found out they have a paint booth too. You rent it for $50 and they have someone spray it for you. You do your own prep work, but damn thats cheap!

 

[kustomizingkid]

Hell Ya!

 

[lincolnx2]

thats amazing, was it a hard replacement?

 

[LaserSVT]

Most excellent!

 

[Chadly]

No actually it was pretty easy.

 

[lsc8]

yea as long as you have an inner tie rod tool.

 

[topher5150]

what kind of a shop is this

 

[rayner601]

The military has these auto shops on base that you can rent out a stall and you can do your own work. IIRC, you can rent hand tools as well. If you get stuck on something, there is someone there that can give you some assistance. These shops are most awesome. When I was at Witcha Falls, TX, it was a basic shop, but it did come in handy more than a few times...made a bunch of money out of that shop and did my fellow airmen a favor as well.

 

[topher5150]

i wonder how successful this would be in a civilian application.

 

[Chadly]

Thats a good question. I think it would be good. I am sold on it. I get all the tools I need to use, plus professional help if needed, all for cheap. Here is a price list and their services. Unbelievable! I am going there for everything.

http://www.mccs29palms.com/pages/retailServices/autoPriceList.html

 

[CTX-SLPR]

The liability insurance would likely make anything like not really economical. Trust me I've thought about it too and one of the biggest things I miss about not being on a base right now, well that and the lack of a uniform store to buy a new cover when some punk decides he needs my BDU hat to make a visor out of and swipes it, though it would have been funny if they'd left me my bars when they took it.

 

[Rich88LSC]

That's awesome!

 

[96_Lincoln_LSC]

yea as long as you have an inner tie rod tool.

Didnt need the tool, the inners came right off for me... used an adjustible wrench and they spun right off... you just have to turn the wheel one way or the other to expose the nut on the end when the boot is off.

atleast thats the way I got to it...(did both sides inners and outters and done in 30 min.)

good luck.,

 

[Chadly]

Yep, just used a big ass wrench, 15/16", and turned the wheel to get access to the end. came off pretty easy.

 

[96_Lincoln_LSC]

Glad to hear a nother easy job completed on a Mark!

 

[Nova Prime]

Wow, the whole shootin' match sounds like a hell of a deal if you have an idea of what you're doing going in. Have to find out if they have that available at my local base.

 

[kustomizingkid]

yea as long as you have an inner tie rod tool.

There is a technical name for a big :q:q:q:qing crescent wrench?

 

[Stack]

HAHAHAHAHAH! Yeah... the hobby shops are a great place if you have some decent techs running the place... I miss mine

 

[micahs97m8]

Hobby shops are the way to go. I need to get up there and redo my front end. The one at sheppard was a lifesaver for me. The water pump on my '77 Skylark went out right before i graduated tech school. The old guys in there were cranky but helpful. lol. She made the trip from texoma to florida without a hitch.

 

[Chadly]

Yeah, LOL, old retired guys that arent very friendly, but they know thier :q:q:q:q.

 

[MediumD]

The liability insurance would likely make anything like not really economical.

I dunno, here in Albuquerque we have a civillian DIY shop:

http://www.myspace.com/diyauto (Yeah they only have a myspace - weaksauce I know)

They've been in business over a year now I believe. They're one of my Autozone commercial accounts and we sell them a decent amount of parts so they seem to be doing OK. Now that I think about it I'm gonna have to see if they'll let me use a lift to do a clutch on my TBird if I do some price overrides for them...