Learning to work on your own truck, how did you learn?

[Mark & Silvia]

I would really like to learn how to work on my own truck. If been thinking for some time, that if something happens while I’m off grid, that could get expensive to get back to civilization for repairs. So if I learned how to do some of the mechanic work myself, this could be a big deal.

That said, I’m curious how others learned how to work on their own trucks.

How did you learn these skills?

 

[smritte]

Start with doing your own maintenance, doing your own mods. Yes, this means you get to buy more tools. More than anything, learn how to check things for wear. People have it in their head how long things should last and most are wrong. None of this stuff is that hard. Remember, off-road driving shortens the life span of things.

Bigger tires: Accelerated wear on bearings, steering, ball joints, axles. More load on the trans and diff. That means stress on fluids and possibly needing coolers added.
Dirt roads: accelerated suspension wear.

This means more maintenance. Again, learn how to check for wear.

 

[Vance Hogg]

Yeah, I've been wrenching on my trucks and cars for some time. That said, I don't do larger things like transmission or pistons as examples. Actually adding to what was already mentioned, suspension alignment is another one I don't touch. I just don't have the equipment and I don't have the patience to do it by hand.

 

[Tom Scherb]

My dad taught me and I just kept tinkering around through my adult life. Don't get into the deep stuff these days, but certainly very comfortable in my garage.

 

[Carbon Dude]

My dad was always tinkering around the in the garage when I was growing up. He had restored a number of cars and I had helped. So learned a lot with him.

 

[Trail Mule]

I'm not a hard core mechanic, so all the big stuff, I have a professional do. Other stuff I learned as I went along.